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This series comprises contemporary or near-contemporary accounts of the political, economic and social history of the British Isles during the nineteenth century. It includes material on international diplomacy and trade, labour relations and the women's movement, developments in education and social welfare, religious emancipation, the justice system and special events including the Great Exhibition of 1851.

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240 results in Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, 19th Century

Page 6 of 12

A Gentlewoman's Home
  • The Whole Art of Building, Furnishing, and Beautifying the Home
  • Jane Ellen Panton
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    16 August 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • Jane Ellen Panton (1847–1923) was the second daughter of the artist William Powell Frith, and an expert on domestic issues. First published in 1896, this is her guide to creating the 'dream house'. In it she draws on the experiences of Deborah and Dick, clients who sought her advice after looking unsuccessfully for a suitable home. The book is based on the notion that turning an existing building into a dream house is impossible, and begins by offering advice on finding land and building on it to create a home that could be 'the cradle of the race', passed on to successive generations. Panton devotes a chapter to each of the different parts of the house, from the governess's rooms to the maids' quarters. Providing a revealing insight into domestic middle-class tastes and concerns in late nineteenth-century England, this book remains of interest to social historians.

From Kitchen to Garret
  • Hints for Young Householders
  • Jane Ellen Panton
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1893
  • Jane Ellen Panton (1847–1923) was the second daughter of the artist William Powell Frith, and a journalist and author on domestic issues. First published in 1887, this is the revised 1893 edition of her guide for young married couples on how to set up their first home. In it she draws on twenty-three years' experience of living in London to advise on everything from choosing a house and internal decoration to budgeting effectively and entertaining friends. Updated extensively, the book contains a thorough index, a selection of illustrations, and new information on many of the topics discussed. The author devotes each chapter to a different part of the house, and concludes by advising her readers to let 'love, beauty, carefulness and economy' rule their lives. Providing revealing insight into domestic middle-class life in late nineteenth-century England, this book remains of interest to historians and sociologists.

Suburban Residences and How to Circumvent Them
  • Jane Ellen Panton
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    16 August 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • Jane Ellen Panton (1847–1923) was the second daughter of the artist William Powell Frith, and a journalist and author on domestic issues. First published in 1896, this was one of a series of advice guides written by Panton on life and work in the middle-class home. In it she offers ideas to those with 'middle sized incomes' for overcoming the pitfalls of suburban life, such as selecting the optimal location, avoiding noise and disputes between neighbours, decorating and furnishing the home, and employing various domestic techniques in order to achieve the 'perfect house and housekeeping'. Drawing on twelve years' experience of suburban living, the author makes suggestions for each part of the house, and the concluding chapter addresses the question of whether to employ a servant. Providing a revealing snapshot of life in late nineteenth-century England, this book will be of great interest to historians and sociologists.

The Life of Mrs Jordan
  • Including Original Private Correspondence, and Numerous Anecdotes of her Contemporaries
  • Volume 1
  • James Boaden
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1831
  • The actress Dorothy Jordan (1761–1816), contemporary of Sarah Siddons, was born in London, one of nine children. Her reputation as the greatest comic actress of her time was secured upon joining Sheridan's company at Drury Lane in 1785. Remembered particularly for cross-dressing roles such as Rosalind in As You Like It and Viola in Twelfth Night, she brought great charm and spontaneity to her interpretations. Her life off-stage was equally colourful, and she was for over twenty years the lover of William, Duke of Clarence, with whom she had ten children. This two-volume biography, first published in 1831, was written by her friend James Boaden (1762–1839), a playwright who later turned to theatrical biography. In it, he relates the extraordinary and poignant story of her life from acclaim to obscurity. Volume 1 covers events up to 1798, including her establishment at Drury Lane and her liaison with Clarence.

The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen
  • A Judge of the High Court of Justice
  • Leslie Stephen
  • Published online:
    05 April 2013
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1895
  • Although James Fitzjames Stephen (1829–94) was a successful barrister, he also had a prolific journalistic and literary output throughout his legal career. He contributed more than three hundred essays on subjects such as law and ethics to the Saturday Review within the space of a decade, and more than eight hundred articles for the Pall Mall Gazette. This biography was written by his younger brother, the equally successful critic and editor Leslie Stephen (1832–1904), and published in 1895. Stephen paints an affectionate portrait of this leading Victorian legal and literary figure. He begins with a brief history of their influential family and his brother's early life and education, before discussing Fitzjames' professional successes, including his work on the Indian Viceroy's Council, the publication of his highly regarded History of the Criminal Law of England (1883) and his eventual appointment as a judge.

Domestic Economy, and Cookery, for Rich and Poor
  • Containing an Account of the Best English, Scotch, French, Oriental, and Other Foreign Dishes
  • Maria Eliza Rundell
  • Published online:
    05 March 2013
    Print publication:
    28 March 2012
    First published in:
    1827
  • Maria Eliza Rundell (1745–1828) was a phenomenally successful cookery writer. Originally compiled for her daughters, the first edition of this work was published in 1806, with improved and illustrated editions following regularly. It became one of publisher John Murray's chief assets, but after legal disputes between author and publisher over the profits, Rundell transferred the work to Longman in 1821; by 1849 it had reached its 73rd edition. The 1827 edition is reissued here. The book was the first manual of household management which aimed at completeness, including advice on servants, shopping with economy and attention to seasonal food, hygiene, and nutrition for children and invalids. It was much imitated, although apparently not used as a source by Mrs Beeton. It is surprisingly cosmopolitan, including French, German, Turkish and Indian recipes, and is a fascinating source for social historians on standards of living and fashions in food and entertaining.

The Political Writings of Richard Cobden
  • Volume 2
  • Richard Cobden
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1867
  • Richard Cobden (1804–65) was the leading liberal thinker of his generation, and it was primarily through his efforts that the Corn Laws were repealed and that classical liberalism became the dominant political theory of the United Kingdom for over half a century. His first pamphlet was published in 1835 and his last in 1862. This collection was published two years after his death, and was regularly reprinted on both sides of the Atlantic well into the twentieth century. Volume 2 contains Cobden's later writings. With a background of war in the Crimea and the United States, his emphasis shifts from advocating free trade to the need to promote international treaties and co-operation. In his final work, The Three Panics, he is able to use the experience gained while negotiating a commercial treaty with France to highlight the folly of the anti-French hysteria that still frequently erupted in Britain.

Round about Piccadilly and Pall Mall
  • Or, a Ramble from the Haymarket to Hyde Park
  • Henry Benjamin Wheatley
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1870
  • Henry B. Wheatley (1838–1917) was a prolific writer, an energetic founder of societies, a keen student of London history, and a first-rate bibliographer. He was also an expert indexer, and because of his contributions to the subject he is sometimes called the 'father of British indexing'. He had a wide range of interests and founded the Samuel Pepys Club, the Library Association (now CILIP) and the Early English Text Society. He wrote two classics of indexing, What Is an Index? and How to Make an Index, as well as a three-volume history of London, called London Past and Present. (All of these titles are now available in the Cambridge Library Collection.) Published in 1870, this book is his historical journey through Piccadilly and Pall Mall, the 'court end of London'. It explores the characters, the buildings and the institutions that make up this history-packed area of the city.

Model Dwelling-Houses
  • With a Description of the Model Tenement Erected Within the Grounds of the International Exhibition of Industry Science, and Art, Edinburgh, 1886
  • James Gowans
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1886
  • This detailed guide to the model tenement building displayed at Edinburgh's International Exhibition of Industry Science and Art in 1886 was first published in that year. A prominent figure in Scottish architecture and engineering, Sir James Gowans (1821–90) designed and built railways, roads, and stone houses during his long career, including a model village in West Lothian named Gowanbank. His intention in designing tenement buildings was to produce a standardised model that would make homes more affordable. This short book considers the tenement designs, including the situation of staircases, drainage, materials, and the mode of construction. Gowans' book also features chapters on the Prince Albert Victor Sundial, built to commemorate the opening of the exhibition by the prince, the Memorial Mason's pillars erected in Edinburgh, and the Electric Tramway. Gowans was made Lord Dean of Guild of the city of Edinburgh in 1885.

The Wonderful Century
  • Its Successes and its Failures
  • Alfred Russel Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    17 November 2011
    First published in:
    1898
  • The British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the nineteenth century. He is best known for working in parallel with Darwin on evolution and natural selection. A social reformer and a prolific writer, he criticised the social and economic system in nineteenth-century Britain, and raised concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. First published in 1898, this book looks back over the history of the nineteenth century, and describes its material and intellectual achievements with the aim 'to show how fundamental is the change they have effected in our life and civilization'. The book surveys technological inventions such as the railway, the telegraph and telephone, as well as photography. But it also analyses the century's 'failures', and discusses the issues of poverty, greed and militarism.

The Journals of Walter White
  • Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society
  • Walter White
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1898
  • Although he left school at fourteen to work as an upholsterer and cabinet-maker, Walter White (1811–93) would spend forty years working in the library of the Royal Society. White was mostly self-taught, a voracious reader who also learnt German, French, and Latin, and a diligent attender at lectures and other events offering self-improvement. After a brief emigration to the United States, he returned to Britain in 1839, and was offered a post as 'attendant' in the Royal Society's library in 1844; this led to his cataloguing much of the collection, and in 1861 he was appointed Librarian. He became acquainted with many of the Society's members, including Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, and Lord Tennyson. These journals, published posthumously by his brother in 1898, begin with a brief account of his early years before charting his intellectual progress and career, ending in the year he retired, 1884.

The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B.
  • Late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, Senator of Italy, Etc.
  • Volume 2
  • Louis Fagan
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 February 2012
    First published in:
    1880
  • Anthony Panizzi (1797–1879), born in Brescello, Italy, qualified as a lawyer, but fled to Switzerland in 1823 to avoid arrest for political activities in support of Italian unification. He then moved to England, where he became a naturalised British subject. The patronage of Lord Brougham, the Lord Chancellor, got him a post in the British Museum Library, where he remained for thirty-five years. He was responsible for the great expansion of the library, the building of the famous round Reading Room, and the compilation of cataloguing rules which remain influential today. Volume 2 of this two-part 1880 biography by his colleague Louis Fagan (1845–1903) begins with Panizzi's promotion in 1856 to Principal Librarian, a post he held for ten years. He remained involved in Italian politics, acting as an unofficial ambassador to British politicians, and received many honours, including a knighthood and a seat in the Italian senate.

Memoirs of the Life and Philanthropic Labours of Andrew Reed, D.D.
  • With Selections from his Journals
  • Andrew Reed
  • Edited by Andrew Reed, Charles Reed
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1863
  • Andrew Reed (1787–1862) was a Congregational minister, an energetic philanthropist and a highly successful fundraiser. He began to study theology at Hackney Academy in 1807 and was ordained minister in 1811, serving in this role until 1861. He helped to found numerous charitable institutions, most notably the London Orphan Asylum, the Asylum for Fatherless Children, the Asylum for Idiots, the Infant Orphan Asylum, and the Hospital for Incurables. In addition to his charitable work, he found time to write. He compiled a hymn book, and published sermons, devotional books and an account of his visit to America in 1834, when he received a Doctorate of Divinity from Yale. This biography of Reed, compiled by two of his sons, was first published in 1863. It describes his many achievements, using selections from Reed's own journals, and includes a list of his publications.

‘These Eighty Years'
  • Or, The Story of an Unfinished Life
  • Volume 1
  • Henry Solly
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1893
  • Henry Solly (1813–1903) was a British Unitarian minister and social reformer who supported universal suffrage, the abolition of slavery and free education. He is remembered today for his contribution to the development of the working-class movement in late Victorian Britain, and especially for being involved in the foundation of institutions such as Working Men's Clubs, the Charity Organization Society and the Garden City movement. First published in 1893, this two-volume autobiography combines the account of Solly's personal life as a Unitarian minister and father of five with the various social, religious and educational movements he was involved with during his career as an activist. Volume 1 focuses on Solly's childhood and school days, and provides fascinating insight into Solly's early intellectual and political development, first as a student of University College London, then as a minister at the Unitarian Chapel at Yeovil, Somerset.

National Evils and Practical Remedies
  • With a Plan for a Model Town
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1849
  • James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) was a Cornish-born traveller and writer. As a member of Parliament in the 1830s he campaigned for reforms in the army and navy as well as for the temperance movement. He travelled widely to the Middle East, Israel and America, wrote travel books and also founded a number of journals. One of these was The Athenaeum, a weekly London periodical covering a wide range of topics from literature to popular science. In this work, published in 1849, Buckingham names seven evils threatening contemporary society (ranging from ignorance from intemperance to war and competition), proposes a number of economic reforms that primarily target the existing taxation system, and pleads for a new Reform Bill. Buckingham develops in great detail his vision of a model town and the community inhabiting it, and offers his thoughts on how a such city should be planned.

James Mill
  • A Biography
  • Alexander Bain
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1882
  • Who was James Mill (1773–1836)? What was his legacy to British society and culture? The achievement of this Scottish-born political philosopher, economist and historian has been overshadowed by that of his son, John Stuart Mill, but as Alexander Bain (1818–1903), himself a philosopher and empiricist, shows in this biography, published in 1882, Mill's range of interests was remarkable. He wrote on education and psychology, and developed theories on political economy and the need for parliamentary reform. Mill was also critical of the history of British colonialism (his three-volume History of India is reissued in this series), and argued for religious tolerance, as well as collaborating with Jeremy Bentham as a proponent of utilitarianism, the philosophy which sought 'the greatest happiness of the greater number'. Bain places the facts of Mill's life in the context of the remarkable changes undergone by British society and culture in this period.

Life of Henry Fawcett
  • Leslie Stephen
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    24 November 2011
    First published in:
    1885
  • Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge, MP and Postmaster General, Henry Fawcett (1833–84) was a radical supporter of both feminism and class equality. He campaigned for the widening of access to universities and the preservation of public open spaces, and oversaw the development of the telephone network. This biography, first published in 1885, was written by Leslie Stephen (1832–1904), Fawcett's contemporary at Cambridge, who later helped found the Dictionary of National Biography. Although their ideologies diverged later in their careers, Stephen and Fawcett's friendship lasted for over thirty years. Stephen, who was uncertain at their first encounter whether Fawcett was a Cambridge undergraduate or a farmer, gives a lively account of his friend's years at Cambridge and his successful academic and parliamentary career, achieved despite his blindness (the result of an accident in 1858). The book provides fascinating insights into the life of this often overlooked but remarkable politician.

The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, 1783–1919
  • Volume 3, 1866–1919
  • Edited by Adolphus William Ward, George Peabody Gooch
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1923
  • With contributions from leading historians of the day, alongside chapters by politicians, journalists and lawyers, this three-volume work was the first comprehensive survey of foreign policy during the rise of Britain as a major power. Published between 1922 and 1923, it is unashamed in its aim to present 'a national point of view [with] an avowed regard for the interests, and above all for the honour of Great Britain', but is all the more illuminating for that. Including some original memoranda and documents, it takes as its starting point the Treaty of Paris ending the American War of Independence, and concludes with the Treaty of Versailles (1919). Volume 3 deals with the early twentieth century, culminating in chapters on the First World War and on the Peace Conference (the latter written by George Gooch, a participant). This volume also includes a chapter on Britain's foreign secretaries, from Fox to Balfour.

A Statistical Account of the British Empire
  • Exhibiting its Extent, Physical Capacities, Population, Industry, and Civil and Religious Institutions
  • Volume 2
  • J. R. McCulloch
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    15 December 2011
    First published in:
    1837
  • John Ramsay McCulloch (1789–1864) wrote numerous articles, pamphlets and books about the emerging field of political economy. This two-volume work, published in 1837, focuses on 'the British Empire, exclusive of its foreign dependencies', in other words, Great Britain and Ireland. McCulloch drew information from the 1821 and 1831 census returns and commissioned contributions from experts including William Jackson Hooker, who provided the article on botany. His book was the first such overview to be compiled in more than a century and is an indispensable contemporary source on life in Great Britain and Ireland at the close of the Georgian era. Volume 2 examines industry, commerce and foreign trade, beginning with coal production and consumption. Later chapters address social institutions including parliament and local government, the courts, the established church and other religions, and topics such as education, taxation, defence spending, health and life expectancy, and the poor laws.

The Criminal Prisons of London
  • And Scenes of Prison Life
  • Henry Mayhew, John Binny
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    08 December 2011
    First published in:
    1862
  • Henry Mayhew (1812–87), social reformer and journalist, is well known for his classic work of research on the London poor (also reissued in this series) and as one of the co-founders of Punch magazine in 1841. While working as the metropolitan correspondent for the London Morning Chronicle, Mayhew initiated several investigations into London's poor and the state of the city's prisons. Sourcing his information from guards and from prisoners themselves, Mayhew's monumental study of London criminal life (co-written with John Binny and published in 1862) includes analyses of crime areas, crime classifications and the state of the different prisons connected to them, observations on juvenile delinquents, and methods of discipline and control of prisoners. The book also provides detailed police and criminal statistics. His survey ultimately concluded that all of London's prisons were lacking in basic human necessities and were greatly in need of reform.

Page 6 of 12