Crown, Church and Constitution: Popular Conservatism in England, 1815-1867 / Edition 1

by Jörg Neuheiser

Overview

Much scholarship on nineteenth-century English workers has been devoted to the radical reform politics that powerfully unsettled the social order in the century’s first decades. Comparatively neglected have been the impetuous patriotism, royalism, and xenophobic anti-Catholicism that countless men and women demonstrated in the early Victorian period. This much-needed study of the era’s “conservatism from below” explores the role of religion in everyday culture and the Tories’ successful mobilization across class boundaries. Long before they were able to vote, large swathes of the lower classes embraced Britain’s monarchical, religious, and legal institutions in the defense of traditional English culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785331404
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Series:	Studies in British and Imperial History , #4
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jörg Neuheiser is a lecturer at the Eberhard Karls Universityin Tübingen, Germany. In addition to publications on British politics and the Irish question, he has written several articles on German and transnational histories of labor, politics, and culture. His current book project examines attitudes toward work and unemployment in Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Celebrating the Monarchy: Loyalism, Radicalism and the Crowd, 1820-1832 37

Analysing Crowds and the Popularity of the Monarchy 39

The Monarchy in the Provinces 42

The Capital Celebrates the Crown 51

Chapter 2 'True Friends of Her Majesty': Plebeian Conservatives and Crown, Constitution and Patriotism 66

Operative Conservative Associations and Popular Constitutionalism 69

The Crown and the Constitution in Election Campaigns and Celebrations 78

National Elements and Local Differences 90

Chapter 3 Above All, Be Faithful to Your God': Confessional Conflicts and Plebeian Conservatives 114

The Conflicts over the Emancipation of the Catholics 118

Contesting the Cities: Confessional Conflicts in Local Power Struggles 132

Conservative Constitutionalism after Catholic Emancipation 141

Chapter 4 Conservative Antics, Protest or Racism? Anti-Catholic Aspects of English Street Culture 154

Guy Fawkes Day Celebrations before 1850 157

The 'Papal Aggression' and Its Consequences 163

The English Orange Order and Preachers of 'No Popery' 174

Protest, Spectacles and Anti-Catholicism: St George's-in-the-East, 1859-1860 181

Chapter 5 In the Name of Inequality? Tory Radicalism, Social Protest and Plebeian Ideas of Justice 196

Social Structures and the Political Language of Protest in the 1830s 199

Local Alliances between Tories and Radicals 215

Oastler's Friends? The Operative Conservative Associations after 1842 225

Chapter 6 'Beer and Britannia' or 'Moral Reform'? Paternalistic Populism, Self-Improvement and Gender 238

Early Paternalism and Calls for Moral Reform 241

The Family, Domesticity and the Political Mobilization of Women 250

Conclusion 259

Bibliography 267

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

“Neuheiser’s work provides a useful corrective to the view that the lower classes’ identities and political activity were driven exclusively or even chiefly by narrow economic or bread-and-butter concerns in the early and mid-nineteenth century.” • History: Reviews of New Books

“This is a powerful book that questions many orthodoxies, but it is not a revisionist polemic, the mode being constantly to touch the tiller rather than attempt any sudden tack. As such, there can be few books in which an author engages quite so thoroughly in conversation with his secondary sources, and to that end the discursive reference sections seem entirely appropriate.” • English Historical Review

“The German Historical Institute is to be commended for appreciating the value of this study by publishing an English translation of a title that originally appeared in German…Neuheiser makes some insightful criticisms of the established historiography on popular politics, and his study is a useful corrective to an over-emphasis on popular radicalism and protest…As this welcome contribution to the historiography attests, the debates surrounding Britain’s avoidance of revolution, the character of popular politics, and the extent of popular monarchism and anti-Catholicism in British society are far from over.” • Journal of Church and State

“Neuheiser’s book is a fascinating and important monograph for all scholars and students of British political history. It is also a timely and pertinent one. At last, more and more nineteenth-century political and intellectual history is beginning to realise the importance of the constitution for shaping political identities. As Neuheiser shows, the liberties of the English, or British, Constitution could be treasured and defended just as fiercely by the English working classes as by their social superiors right across the political spectrum.” • Cercles. Revue pluridisciplinaire du monde Anglophone

“All in all, Jörg Neuheiser offers a well‐crafted and well‐drafted example of "seeing the masses", especially conservative plebeians, in 19 century English social history. The text…stands out for its clarity and attention to detail. It is also a condensed and tightly written volume…Having been favourably received by the German‐speaking community, Neuheiser's important study will now be appreciated by a larger number of both specialists of the 19 century English lower classes, and more general readers interested in how to write social history as a cultural history of political communication.” • Sehepunkte

“Neuheiser’s study enriches the scholarship on England, without question. He does not turn prevailing interpretations upside down; rather, his study shows that interpretations of English social history continue to be hotly debated and will remain a field for further research for some time to come.” • Neue Politische Literatur

“This is a remarkable study that offers new perspectives methodically through skillful linking of discourse analysis and social protest as well as through new material. Its results cannot be ignored in future research.” • Historische Zeitschrift

“Carefully arguing against influential, if not dominant, research positions, Neuheiser… manages to shed new light onto a number of research discussions… Overall, his argument is convincing, particularly when he is able to point out that working-class people acted independently and occasionally took the initiative.” • H-Soz-u-Kult

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