A Brief History of Britain 1851-2010

by Jeremy Black

  Again, this account is misleading, notably because it simplifies the past, giving it a misleading aggregate description, while also inscribing on the British characteristics that might be more generally true of the entire age, for example the role of inherited privilege in the eighteenth century. Yet, the strength of visual impressions in films such as The Patriot (2000), with its very hostile, and highly misleading, account of British conduct during the War of American Independence, works more powerfully on modern audiences than the balancing arguments of scholars.

  So also, more insidiously, as another form of simplification of the past, does the impression, created by television, film and historical novels, that people in the past were like us, an approach particularly seen with the rendition of classic novels, such as those of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, as well as with reconstruction dramas based on what did occur or implying that they are thus based. This approach removes the distance of the past and encourages the view that people would have behaved like us. Thus, when they did not, they can be criticized or made to appear quaint or ridiculous, which, indeed, is how Dickens treated historical episodes.

  Britain, of course, is not alone in receiving this treatment, but it is particularly pronounced in the treatment of British history because of the strength and accessibility of its literary tradition and the extent to which this tradition has become common property. It was always thus. Dickens was very popular with American readers, so modern Anglo-American co-productions of television series based on Austen novels are in a long tradition. As a result, the past appears clear.

  Like the frequent denunciations of British imperialism, this last feature, however, leads to a lack of engagement with the past for its own sake, and this absence of specificity captures a key problem with British history. Where it most attracts attention, it is frequently misconstructed, in a new version of the Whiggishness often decried by scholarly commentators. The highly misleading perception of the First World War in terms of the war poets of the period, such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, is a notable instance, and one that tells us more about anti-war values from the 1960s on, than about the character of the war and the impression it made on all contemporaries.

  Indeed, the grasping of the past in the image of the present represents an unwillingness to think historically that is an important indication of a desire for simplicity that says much about current popular culture. In particular, there is a desire to emote about the past, which is an obvious result of being asked to empathize with figures from history. This process of empathy is carried further forward by the current vogue for genealogy, which indeed accounts not only for a television genre, but also for the largest category of visits to archives and of hits on online archival sources. Thus, the past is seen in a dialogue with the present, with the emotional as much as intellectual drives of the latter inscribed in history.

  The misleading character of much of this process is neglected, not least the extent to which important elements of the recent past no longer command such sympathetic attention, notably the role of religion. The space devoted to the latter in this book reflects the importance to the last 160 years of shifts in religious commitment and in the religious paradigm for social values. This is particularly true of Victorian values and of the major changes seen in the 1960s. These points scarcely exhaust the subject. For example, the marked rise in the number of Catholics in Britain (due to Irish immigration) and the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy represented a key, and highly controversial, feature of the 1850s for many contemporaries, and one that linked both circumstances in the localities to wider cultural, political and ideological issues.

  A very useful exercise for readers is to consider how far they would offer a different prioritization for the issues tackled in this book, and, more significantly, why; specifically whether the decision reflects an engagement with the period or, rather, factors more pertinent to an understanding of the present world. Having considered this for the issues tackled, the same approach can be adopted to their organization and my coverage.

  In practice, once great, Britain had a more noble and more distinctive history than is often allowed for, but it is also a history that has been superseded by, and in, a very different age. The greatness of the past is sadly missing in the present. If there is cause for optimism, then it lies in the freedoms and tolerance that still thrive, the ability, independence and resilience of individuals, the varied and rich achievements of the culture, and the beauty, charm and comfort of so much of the landscape that yet survives the advance of concrete. It is also possible to write a history of modern Britain without being worried about criticizing the present government or particular governments of the past. Whether this freedom of expression will continue in the decades ahead is less clear. The presentist pressures of conformity with norms judged politically appropriate leave only limited room for hope on this head.

  SELECTED FURTHER READING

  The emphasis on books cited is on recent works, and earlier works can be followed up through their footnotes and bibliographies, but it is more useful to encourage readers to turn to sources from the period. Newspapers offer much, and many libraries will hold newspapers, either in hard copy or on microfilm. It is very instructive to read national newspapers, such as The Times and the Observer, which survive in widely held microfilm editions, while local newspapers show how national developments, such as the spread of the railway, affected communities and were perceived. For example, Manchester Central Library holds microfilm of eighty-eight newspapers from this period.

  It is also useful to turn to visual images, such as caricatures, for example those in Punch and Private Eye.

  Maps are important, as changing editions of the Ordnance Survey show some aspects of how areas have altered. Historical atlases can hold much of value, for example Simon Foxell’s Mapping London: Making Sense of the City (London, 2007). Specialized works include Robert Woods’ and Nicola Shelton’s An Atlas of Victorian Morality (Liverpool, 1997). Historical geography, a key element, is best approached through the articles in the Journal of Historical Geography. The local and regional perspective often receives insufficient weight, but the Longman series ‘A Regional History of England’ includes valuable works, as do local history publications such as the transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society and the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. Literary sources provide many insights and readers should turn to Collins, Orwell and other writers. Simon Dentith, Society and Cultural Forms in Nineteenth-century England (Basingstoke, 1999) and David Daiches (ed.), The New Companion to Scottish Culture (Edinburgh, 1993) contain valuable introductions.

  General

  Black, J., Britain Since the Seventies (London, 2004)

  Childs, D., Britain Since 1939 (London, 2002)

  Harkness, D., Ireland in the Twentieth Century: Divided Island (London, 1995)

  Mohan, J., A United Kingdom?Economic, Social and Political Geographies (London, 1999)

  Pittock M., The Road to Independence? Scotland Since the Sixties (London, 2008)

  Smout, T.C., A Century of the Scottish People, 1830–1950 (London, 1986)

  Prologue

  Davis, J., The Great Exhibition (Stroud, 1999)

  Chapter 1

  Daunton, M.J. (ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, Vol. 3, 1840–1950 (Cambridge, 2000)

  Englander, D., Landlord and Tenant in Urban Britain, 1838–1918 (Oxford, 1983)

  Freeman, M.J. and Aldcroft, D.H. (eds), Transport in Victorian Britain (Manchester, 1988)

  Halliday, S., The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis (Stroud, 1999)

  Pollard, S., Britain’s Prime and Britain’s Decline: The British Economy, 1870–1914 (Cambridge, 1988)

  Priestley, J.B., English Journey (London, 1933)

  Rubinstein, W.D., Capitalism, Culture and Decline in
Britain, 1750–1990 (London, 1990)

  Chapter 2

  Barker, R., Politics, People and British Political Thought Since the Nineteenth Century (London, 1994)

  Belchem, J., Popular Radicalism in Nineteenth-century Britain (London, 1995)

  Biagini, E., Gladstone (London, 1999)

  Fraser, W.H., A History of British Trade Unionism 1700–1998 (London, 1999)

  Hawkins, A., British Party Politics 1852–1886 (London, 1978)

  Jenkins, T., Disraeli and Victorian Conservatism (London, 1996)

  Jenkins, T., The Liberal Ascendency 1830–1886 (London, 1994)

  Machin, I., The Rise of Democracy in Britain, 1830–1918 (London, 2001)

  McWilliam, Robin, Popular Politics in Nineteenth-century England (London, 1998)

  Packer, I., Lloyd George (London, 1998)

  Powell, D., The Edwardian Crisis: Britain, 1901–1914 (London, 1996)

  Chapter 3

  Boyce, D.G., The Irish Question and British Politics (London, 1996)

  Hirst, D., Welfare and Society 1832–1991 (London, 1991)

  Kidd, A., Society and the Poor in Nineteenth-century England (London, 1999)

  McIvor, A., A History of Work in Britain 1880–1950 (London, 2001)

  McLeod, H., Religion and Society in England 1850–1914 (London, 1996)

  Mingay, G.E., Land and Society in England 1750–1980 (London, 1994)

  Taylor, D., Crime, Policing and Punishment in England 1750–1914 (London, 1998)

  Tosh, J., A Man’s Place: Masculinity and the Middle-class Home in Victorian England (New Haven, Connecticut, 1999)

  Chapter 4

  Beckett, I., The Great War, 1914–18 (Harlow, 2001)

  Liddle, P.H., The British Soldier on the Somme 1916 (Camberley, 1996)

  Porter, A., The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. III: The Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1999)

  Chapter 5

  Booth, A., British Economic Development Since 1945 (Manchester, 1996)

  Martin, J., The Development of Modern Agriculture: British Farming Since 1931 (London, 1999)

  Saint, A. (ed.), London Suburbs (London, 1999)

  Simmons, I.G., An Environmental History of Twentieth-century Britain (London, 2002)

  Chapter 6

  Dorling, D., A New Social Atlas of Britain (London, 1995)

  Gladstone, D., The Twentieth-century Welfare State (London, 1999)

  Goulbourne, H., Race Relations in Britain Since 1945 (London, 1998)

  Holt, R., Sport and the British: A Modern History (Oxford, 1989)

  Lowe, R., The Welfare State in Britain Since 1945 (London, 1998)

  Tranter, N.L., British Population in the Twentieth Century (London, 1995)

  Chapter 7

  Bartlett, C.J., British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century (London, 1989)

  Greenwood, S., Britain and the Cold War (London, 1995)

  Loughlin, J., The Ulster Question Since 1945 (London, 1998)

  McIntyre, W.D., British Decolonisation 1946–1997 (London, 1998)

  Ovendale, R., Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century (London, 1998)

  Young, J., Britain and European Unity 1945–1999 (London, 2000)

  Chapter 8

  Brown, C., Religion and Society in Twentieth-century Britain (Harlow, 2006)

  Campbell, J., Edward Heath (London, 1993)

  Hall, L., Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain Since 1880 (London, 2000)

  Hewison, R., Culture and Consensus: England, Art and Politics Since 1940 (London 1995)

  McAleer, J., Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain, 1914–1950 (Oxford, 1992)

  Pimlott, B., Harold Wilson (London, 1992)

  Smart, N., The National Government, 1931–40 (London, 1999)

  Thorpe, A., A History of the British Labour Party (London, 1997)

  Wood, I., Churchill (London, 1999)

  Index

  Abortion Act (1967) 1

  Adams, Richard 1

  Addison, Christopher 1

  Afghanistan 1, 2, 3

  Africa 1, 2, 3–3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  agriculture 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Albert, Prince 1, 2, 3

  Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence 1

  Anglo-Irish Treaty 1, 2

  ‘Angry Young Men’ 1

  architecture 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  armed forces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Armstrong, William 1

  art and culture 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Artisans’ Dwellings Act (1875) 1

  ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders) 1, 2

  Asquith, Herbert 1, 2

  Atlantic (Anglo-American) Alliance 1

  Attlee, Clement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Austen, Jane 1, 2

  Baden-Powell, Robert 1

  Baldwin, Stanley, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley 1, 2, 3

  Balfour, Arthur 1, 2, 3

  Balfour Declaration (1917) 1

  Barlow, W.H. 1

  Barnado, Thomas 1

  Barnett, Correlli 1

  Barry, Sir Charles 1

  Barry, Sir J.W. 1

  Bazalgette, Joseph 1

  The Beatles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  beer-brewing industries 1

  Belgium 1

  Betjeman, John 1

  Bevan, Aneurin 1, 2

  Beveridge, Sir William 1

  Blair, Tony 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11–4, 12–10

  Blitz 1, 2, 3

  Boer War 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Booth, William and Catherine 1

  Boy Scout movement 1, 2

  bricks and brickmaking industries 1

  British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 1, 2, 3, 4

  British Empire 1, 2, 3, 4–46, 5–10, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  decolonization 1, 2, 3, 45

  see also the Commonwealth; foreign policy

  British Empire Exhibition (1924) 1

  British National Party (BNP) 1, 2

  British Nationality Act (1948) 1

  British Overseas Airways Corporation 1

  ‘Britishness’ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  see also ‘Englishness’; nationalism

  Britten, Benjamin 1

  Brown, Ford Madox 1, 2

  Brown, Gordon 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Browning, Robert 1

  Bryant, Arthur 1, 2

  Burne-Jones, Edward 1

  Butler, R.A. 1

  Butterfield, William 1

  Callaghan, James 1, 2

  Cameron, David 1, 2

  Campaign for Nuclear

  Disarmament (CND) 1, 2, 3

  capital punishment 1, 2, 3

  Cardwell, Edward 1

  Carlile, Wilson 1

  Carr, Jonathan Dodgson 1

  Catholic Church 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  in Northern Ireland 1, 2, 3

  Cecil, Robert, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1, 2, 3

  censorship 1, 2, 3, 4

  Chamberlain, Austen 1, 2

  Chamberlain, Joseph 1, 2

  Chamberlain, Neville 1, 2, 3, 4

  chemical industries 1

  childbearing and childbirth 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Childers, Erskine 1

  Christie, Agatha 1, 2

  Church Army 1

  Churchill, Winston 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

  Second World War and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  cinemas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6–5, 7–50, 8

  Citizens’ Charter (1991) 1

  class structure consumerism and 1

  economy and 1, 2, 3

  imperialism and 1

  ‘New Elite’ 1

  politics and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  social segregation (‘underclass’) 1, 2

  social tensions and 1, 2

  upper classes 1

  see also middle-classes; working-classes

  Clean Air Acts (1956, 1968) 1, 2

  climate change 1

  coal mining industries 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  labour relations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  coal
ition governments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Cold War 1, 2

  Collins, Wilkie 1, 2, 3

  Colonial Laws Validity Act (1865) 1

  commerce 1, 2, 3, 4

  Common Market see European

  Economic

  Community/European

  Union (EEC/EU)

  Commonwealth 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  see also British Empire; foreign policy

  Commonwealth Immigrants Act (1968) 1

  communism 1, 2, 3

  Community Charge (‘Poll Tax’) 1

  Como, Perry 1

  Compton-Burnett, Ivy 1

  conscription 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Conservative Party

  agriculture and 1

  ‘Blair Years’ and 1, 2, 3

  Boer War and 1, 2

  environmental issues and 1

  First World War 1

  housing and 1

  leadership:

  Anthony Eden 1, 2, 3

  David Cameron 1