The attention of most political histories of Warwickshire in the long nineteenth century has been centred on Birmingham. That is not to say that other areas of the county have been neglected. In particular, the tangled politics of Coventry as it made the transition from a freeman borough to a post-1832, £10 householder franchise, have been explored, focusing on aspects such as the paternalism of the town’s corporation and the role of the Municipal Reform Act in diminishing corruption in the town. But it is Birmingham, with its large electorate and engaged population, which has fascinated scholars, most of whom have viewed the city as a pioneer in many aspects of the political life of nineteenth-century Britain. Yet these political histories have largely been written with a masculinist lens, echoing the voice of John Bright, the radical MP for the city in the mid-Victorian period:

Bright’s inaugural address to an adoring Birmingham public at the Town Hall in October 1858 came after he had been elected unopposed as one of the two members for the city, a position he held until 1889. Thousands of men and women attended the event, which was followed by a banquet hosted by the great and the good of the city. Bright alluded to Birmingham’s radical past, and in particular its role in pressuring, via the Birmingham Political Union, for the passage of the 1832 Reform Act. But he also spoke to the sons of the ‘strong men’ of the 1830s, calling on them to continue the fight for parliamentary reform. This focus on the ‘great men’ of Birmingham’s political life is a common theme in political histories written since Bright’s stirring appeal.