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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 9 of 12

An Inquiry, whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, by our Present System of Prison Discipline
  • Thomas Fowell Buxton
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1818
  • Thomas Fowell Buxton, M. P. (1786–1845) was a philanthropist who had many connections with the Quaker movement through the family of his wife, who was the sister of Henry Gurney and Elizabeth Fry. He was a passionate opponent of slavery, and campaigned to end it at a time when most British people believed that enough had been done by the abolition of slave trading in 1807. His other great interest was the punishment of crime: he wanted the death sentence abolished, and his campaign succeeded in reducing the number of capital crimes from over two hundred to eight. This book is a plea for a complete change in the purpose and operation of prisons, and an argument (still valid today) that prisons actually encourage crime and produce recidivists rather than reformed characters. Buxton draws on own his experience as a visitor to produce a harrowing account of Victorian prison conditions.

To-morrow
  • A Peaceful Path to Real Reform
  • Ebenezer Howard
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    28 October 2010
    First published in:
    1898
  • Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928) travelled to the USA and was inspired by the rebuilding of Chicago, as well as his interest in social welfare, to found the Garden City Association in 1899. Howard believed that the solution to overcrowding and poor conditions in modern industrial towns was to produce new planned communities which created a 'joyous union' of town and country. The goal of the garden city was to combine the attractions of town life with access to nature and a healthier lifestyle. The first of these communities, Letchworth Garden City, was established in the early 1900s, followed by Welwyn Garden City in the 1920s. This volume, first published in 1898, sets out Howard's utopian vision in full; explaining how a garden city would be financed, planned and administered. Energetic and conversational in style, this book is a charming introduction to Howard's ground-breaking and influential ideas.

Rural England
  • Being an Account of Agricultural and Social Researches Carried Out in the Years 1901 and 1902
  • Volume 1
  • H. Rider Haggard
  • Published online:
    05 December 2011
    Print publication:
    13 January 2011
    First published in:
    1906
  • H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) is best known as the successful writer of adventure stories with exotic backgrounds such as King Solomon's Mines and She. However, he also served on a number of royal commissions, and in managing his wife's Norfolk estate became a recognised expert on agricultural matters. Rural England, published in 1902 and reissued in 1906, was the product of his travels around England and Wales writing articles for the Daily Express. They show a picture of agriculture in poor condition, and suggest reforms which would improve matters. The book was well received, and subsequently many of his suggestions were included in the Development Act of 1909. He favoured co-operative societies such as were found in Denmark, an increase in the number of smallholdings, and a national forestry commission. Volume 1 discusses conditions in a large part of the south and west of England, and the Channel Islands.

A Farmer's Year
  • Being his Commonplace Book for 1898
  • H. Rider Haggard
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    13 January 2011
    First published in:
    1899
  • H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) is best known as the successful writer of adventure stories with exotic backgrounds such as King Solomon's Mines and She. However, he also served on a number of royal commissions, and in managing his wife's Norfolk estate became a recognised expert on agricultural matters. A Farmer's Year is his diary for 1898, recounting the work of the farm, month by month, together with observations on rural life and the state of agriculture in general, which was suffering due to the population drift to the towns and competition from cheaper imported food. His descriptions of country life are beautifully written, with many illustrations: he clearly loves the land and is concerned for its future, but does not ignore the hardship faced by many farmers and their workers. The book is a fascinating mixture of anecdote and natural history, as well as depicting late Victorian agricultural methods.

The Book of the Farm
  • Detailing the Labours of the Farmer, Farm-steward, Ploughman, Shepherd, Hedger, Cattle-man, Field-worker, and Dairy-maid
  • Volume 3
  • Henry Stephens
  • Published online:
    05 November 2011
    Print publication:
    06 January 2011
    First published in:
    1844
  • Henry Stephens (1795–1874) was a farmer and later a writer on agriculture. After attending lectures on chemistry and agriculture at the University of Edinburgh he boarded with a Berwickshire farmer, George Brown, and gained experience of agricultural work. In 1820 Stephens acquired his own farm, on which he used modern and experimental farming methods. In 1837 he sold the farm, and devoted the rest of his life to writing guides to farming for the use of inexperienced farmers. These influential volumes, first published in 1842, contain Stephens' detailed descriptions of contemporary farming practices. He describes in meticulous detail all aspects of farming, including livestock care and slaughter, dairying, irrigation practices and crop culture. Arranged by season and including copious high-quality illustrations of farming equipment, these extremely popular and fascinating volumes were considered the standard work on practical Victorian agriculture. Volume 3 describes tasks performed in summer and autumn.

A History of the Royal Society of Arts
  • Henry Trueman Wood
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    30 June 2011
    First published in:
    1913
  • Published in 1913, this book by Sir Henry Trueman Wood (1845–1929) is widely acknowledged as the first historical account of the Royal Society of Arts. Spanning 125 years, from the Society's foundation in 1754, through the Great Exhibition of 1851, it terminates with the start of Wood's own term as secretary in 1879. As well as its famous association with manufacturing, the Society's involvement with forestry and agriculture is also addressed. Containing not only an authoritative chronology of the RSA, but also comprehensive lists of past officials and a preface by its Chairman, Lord Sanderson, this work provides rare insights into the motivations and aspirations of generations of British engineers and artists. Illustrated by 28 full-page illustrations and 19 smaller vignettes depicting members, maps, medals and inventions, this study is underpinned by the author's own powerful conviction that, when combined, art and science can transform the world.

Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry
  • With Extracts from Her Journal and Letters
  • Volume 2
  • Elizabeth Fry
  • Edited by Katharine Fry, Rachel Elizabeth Cresswell
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    07 July 2011
    First published in:
    1847
  • Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney, 1780–1845) was descended from two wealthy Quaker banking families. Her Quaker faith was crucial to her adult life and she became active in social reform. Despite having eleven children, she was active in community work, and became a Quaker minister. Persuaded to visit the women's wing in Newgate Prison in 1813, she was appalled at the conditions in which the prisoners, and their children, lived. She became a pioneer in seeking to improve the situation for women in prisons and on transportation ships. The British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners was probably the first national British women's society. Fry's ideas on the humane treatment of prisoners influenced international legal systems. This memoir, based on her letters and diaries, was edited by two of her daughters, and was first published in 1847. Volume 2 covers the period from 1826 to 1845.

Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth Fry
  • With Extracts from Her Journal and Letters
  • Volume 1
  • Elizabeth Fry
  • Edited by Katharine Fry, Rachel Elizabeth Cresswell
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    07 July 2011
    First published in:
    1847
  • Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney, 1780–1845) was descended from two wealthy Quaker banking families. Her Quaker faith was crucial to her adult life and she became active in social reform. Despite having eleven children, she was active in community work, and became a Quaker minister. Persuaded to visit the women's wing in Newgate Prison in 1813, she was appalled at the conditions in which the prisoners, and their children, lived. She became a pioneer in seeking to improve the situation for women in prisons and on transportation ships. The British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners was probably the first national British women's society. Fry's ideas on the humane treatment of prisoners influenced international legal systems. This memoir, based on her letters and diaries, was edited by two of her daughters, and was first published in 1847. Volume 1 ends in 1825.

Women's Suffrage
  • Margaret Mary Dilke
  • Introduction by William Woodall
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    07 July 2011
    First published in:
    1885
  • Margaret Mary Dilke (1857–1914) was a leading campaigner for female suffrage. In 1878 she became an active member of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and later was appointed to its executive committee. After the society split in 1888, she joined the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage and was appointed treasurer in 1896. This volume, first published in 1885 as part of Charles Buxton's 'The Imperial Parliament' series, contains Dilke's response to some of the major contemporary anti-suffrage arguments. Women's suffrage is introduced in its contemporary political context. Dilke also discusses medical assertions such as that women were mentally and physically inferior to men, and the idea that female suffrage would erode women's commitment to marriage and family life. This fascinating volume succinctly describes and rejects the main contemporary anti-suffrage arguments, illustrating the connections between the issue of female suffrage and other areas of contemporary society.

History and Description of the Crystal Palace
  • and the Exhibition of the World’s Industry in 1851
  • Volume 2
  • John Tallis
  • Edited by J. G. Strutt
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1854
  • In May 1851, the doors opened on the Great Exhibition, a celebration of British industry and international trade that spawned numerous imitations across the globe. The scale of the exhibition was immense and publishers responded quickly to the demand for catalogues, guidebooks and souvenir volumes. In a marketplace swamped with exhibition literature, Tallis' three-volume History and Description of the Crystal Palace, originally published in 1852 and reproduced here in the 1854 edition, quickly established itself as the definitive history for middle-class readers. Illustrated with high-quality steel-engraved plates of the most popular and eye-catching exhibits, Tallis' book provides a fascinating contemporary account of this cultural and commercial highlight of the Victorian age, and reveals the mind-set of a society at the peak of its imperial power. Volume 2 describes exhibits including toys, fabrics and printing for the blind, and assesses the influence of the Great Exhibition on art and science.

The Life of William Ewart Gladstone
  • Volume 3, 1880–1898
  • John Morley
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    10 March 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Morley's authorised biography of Gladstone (1809–1898) was published in 1903, and is a landmark of political biography. Four times Liberal Prime Minister between 1868 and 1894, Gladstone had left an enormous archive of letters, papers and diaries, which Morley (1838–1923), himself a noted Liberal politician and writer, spent five years distilling into three volumes. Although many other biographies and editions have since been published, Morley's work is still valuable for his use of primary sources, especially for the earlier part of Gladstone's career. Morley avoids overt party bias, but is understandably discreet in his treatment of more recent political events. He also ignores more private aspects of his subject's life and, as an agnostic, did not empathise with Gladstone's strong religious convictions. Volume 3 covers the period from 1880 to Gladstone's death in 1898, including the Sudan crisis, and the fierce debates over Irish Home Rule.

English Agriculture in 1850–51
  • James Caird
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1852
  • Sir James Caird (1816–1892) was a Scottish agriculturalist and M.P., who wrote widely on agricultural matters, not only in Britain but in Ireland, Canada, America and India. British agricultural incomes had been falling due to low grain prices since 1846, and Caird was commissioned by The Times to undertake a survey of English agriculture. His county-by-country reports were published in 1852 as English Agriculture in 1850–51. The work was also published in America, and in German, French and Swedish versions. Changing patterns of trade meant that British agriculture had to adapt to compete with cheap imports, and tenant farmers needed greater security. Caird campaigned in Parliament for regular and official agricultural statistics to be collected, so that the agricultural economy could be made more efficient, though it was nine years before this happened. Caird was knighted in 1882, and served on many official committees.

Imperialism
  • John Atkinson Hobson
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1902
  • J. A. Hobson (1858–1940) was an English economist and early socialist, whose writings on capitalism and industrialism influenced Lenin and Trotsky, and were highly regarded by John Maynard Keynes. Imperialism, published in 1902, is considered his most important work. Employed as a war correspondent by the Manchester Guardian to report on the Second Boer War, he became convinced that imperial expansion was driven by the desire to find new markets and investment opportunities, resulting in capitalistic exploitation of the colonies. He argued that imperial policies were a fundamental cause of international conflict, as greed led to aggression and militarism. While modern critics have seen weaknesses in his arguments, such as his failure to examine the development of the British Empire out of early private trading enterprises, Hobson was a very influential and prolific writer and social theorist, who helped shape British welfare policy in the twentieth century.

The Life of the Fields
  • Richard Jefferies
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    18 November 2010
    First published in:
    1884
  • Richard Jefferies (1848–1887) remains one of the most thoughtful and most lyrical writers on the English countryside. He had aspirations to make a living as a novelist, but it was his short, factually based articles for The Live Stock Journal and other magazines, drawn from a wealth of knowledge of the rural community into which he had been born, which, when brought together in book form, brought him recognition (though not wealth) and which continued to be read and admired after his early death. This volume, first published in 1884, contains a collection of essays and articles previously published during his career. Written in Jefferies' highly descriptive style, these essays describe rural life and nature in England, illustrating folk traditions and important natural events in rural communities. The mysticism and wonder of the natural world which exemplifies Jefferies' works is fully illustrated in these essays.

Rural England
  • Being an Account of Agricultural and Social Researches Carried Out in the Years 1901 and 1902
  • Volume 2
  • H. Rider Haggard
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    13 January 2011
    First published in:
    1906
  • H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) is best known as the successful writer of adventure stories with exotic backgrounds such as King Solomon's Mines and She. However, he also served on a number of royal commissions, and in managing his wife's Norfolk estate became a recognised expert on agricultural matters. Rural England, published in 1902 and reissued in 1906, was the product of his travels around England and Wales writing articles for the Daily Express. They show a picture of agriculture in poor condition, and suggest reforms which would improve matters. The book was well received, and subsequently many of his suggestions were included in the Development Act of 1909. He favoured co-operative societies such as were found in Denmark, an increase in the number of smallholdings, and a national forestry commission. Volume 2 examines the east of England and parts of the Midlands and Yorkshire.

The Hills and the Vale
  • Richard Jefferies
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    13 January 2011
    First published in:
    1909
  • Richard Jefferies (1848–1887) remains one of the most thoughtful and most lyrical writers on the English countryside. He had aspirations to make a living as a novelist, but it was his short, factually based articles for The Live Stock Journal and other magazines, drawn from a wealth of knowledge of the rural community into which he had been born, which when collected in book form brought him recognition (though not wealth), and which continued to be read and admired after his early death. The Hills and the Vale, first released in 1909, contains a collection of published and unpublished essays and articles. Written in Jefferies' highly descriptive style, these essays describe rural life and nature in England, illustrating folk traditions and important natural events in rural communities. The sense of wonder evoked by the natural world, which permeates all of Jefferies' works, is fully exemplified in this volume.

The Life of Sir Halliday Macartney, K.C.M.G.
  • Commander of Li Hung Chang's Trained Force in the Taeping Rebellion, Founder of the First Chinese Arsenals, for Thirty Years Councillor and Secretary to the Chinese Legation in London
  • Demetrius Charles Boulger
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    17 February 2011
    First published in:
    1908
  • Demetrius C. Boulger (1853–1928) published several works on Asia, including this 1908 biography of Sir Halliday Macartney (1833–1906), a military doctor turned diplomat. Boulger describes how, interrupting his studies, Macartney served as a medical volunteer with the Anglo-Turkish contingent in the Crimea. After completing his medical degree Macartney joined the army and travelled to India and China. In the early 1860s he took an active part in crushing the Taiping Rebellion under the leadership of the young General (then Captain) Gordon, joined the Chinese Service, and was swiftly promoted. Macartney founded the first ever arsenal in China at Nanking and was its director for ten years. He transferred to the diplomatic service, and for over thirty years was a lead negotiator in Anglo-Chinese affairs. He also organised the diplomatic representation of China at various European courts and became a Counsellor to the Chinese Embassy in London.

The Life of Richard Cobden
  • Volume 2
  • John Morley
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    09 December 2010
    First published in:
    1881
  • Richard Cobden (1804–1865) was a manufacturer and Liberal politician, campaigning for the repeal of the Corn Laws, and for a free market economy. His laissez-faire views on protectionism and the role of government intervention in economics had a lasting influence on British politics throughout the twentieth century as the antithesis of socialism. This Life, first published in 1881, set new standards for biographical documentation. Morley had the advantage of having not only Cobden's journals and letters to use, but access to those of many of his friends and political associates. Volume 2 deals with Cobden's career after the success of the Anti-Corn Law League, particularly his work on international relations between 1846 and his death. He spoke against Palmerston's foreign policy, and argued for closer ties with France at a time when Napoleon III's coup d'etat produced much anti-French feeling in England.

History and Description of the Crystal Palace
  • and the Exhibition of the World’s Industry in 1851
  • Volume 3
  • John Tallis
  • Edited by J. G. Strutt
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    19 May 2011
    First published in:
    1854
  • In May 1851, the doors opened on the Great Exhibition, a celebration of British industry and international trade that spawned numerous imitations across the globe. The scale of the exhibition was immense and publishers responded quickly to the demand for catalogues, guidebooks and souvenir volumes. In a marketplace swamped with exhibition literature, Tallis' three-volume History and Description of the Crystal Palace, originally published in 1852 and reproduced here in the 1854 edition, quickly established itself as the definitive history for middle-class readers. Illustrated with high-quality steel-engraved plates of the most popular and eye-catching exhibits, Tallis' book provides a fascinating contemporary account of this cultural and commercial highlight of the Victorian age, and reveals the mind-set of a society at the peak of its imperial power. Volume 3 describes displays of machinery and the 'Ladies' Department', the close of the exhibition, and the Palace's new site in Sydenham.

Memoirs of Baron Stockmar
  • Volume 2
  • Ernst Alfred Christian Stockmar
  • Edited by F. Max Müller
  • Translated by Georgina Adelaide Müller
  • Published online:
    07 September 2011
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1872
  • Christian Friedrich Baron Stockmar (1787–1863) was physician and advisor to Prince Leopold, son-in-law of George IV and later King of the Belgians. He was influential in promoting the marriage of Leopold's nephew Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, and became a trusted advisor to them both. His involvement in English politics was often seen as German interference in English matters, while in Germany he was regarded as a spy. These two volumes of his papers, selected by his son Ernst, were published in both German and English in 1872, and displeased Queen Victoria by its revelations about clashes between Lord Palmerston and the Prince Consort. Volume 2 focuses on the period 1838–1863, beginning with the Queen's engagement and marriage to Prince Albert, and describing the difficulties of the Prince Consort's role. It also covers English politics and foreign affairs, including the European revolutions of 1848 and the Crimean War.

Page 9 of 12