British Politics in an Age of Reform is a detailed examination of the political history of late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Britain. It evaluates recent research, links the politics of the elite with the politics of the people, and seeks to explain significant developments. Among the issues addressed are: the relative powers of crown, cabinet and parliament between 1760 and 1832; the impact on domestic politics of revolution and war abroad; the growth of radicalism and popular political activity; agitation for reform and the responses of government; the rise of party; the connections between extra-parliamentary pressure and instability at the center of power.

This book takes a look at the 'age of reform', from 1780 when reform became a common object of aspiration, to the 1830s - the era of the 'Reform Ministry' and of the Great Reform Act of 1832 - and beyond, when such aspirations were realized more frequently. It pays close attention to what contemporaries termed 'reform', identifying two strands, institutional and moral, which interacted in complex ways. Particular reforming initiatives singled out for attention include those targeting parliament, government, the law, the Church, medicine, slavery, regimens of self-care, opera, theatre, and art institutions, while later chapters situate British reform in its imperial and European contexts. An extended introduction provides a point of entry to the history and historiography of the period. The book will therefore stimulate fresh thinking about this formative period of British history.

Between Waterloo and Gladstone's first ministry, Britain underwent a series of rapid and complex changes. At home, repression gave way to reform of the franchise, local government, education, poor relief, and the factory and legal systems. Further agitation arose in the 1840s over the CornLaws, the People's Charter, and the Irish Question. By the 1860s, Britain was able to bask in the glow of the mid-Victorian supremacy forged by its economic might and the foreign policy pursued by Castlereagh, Canning, and Palmerston, which maintained the balance of power and extended the colonialempire. Authoritative and incisive, this newly paperbacked volume in the Oxford History of England is a classic study of Britain in the ascendant.

The Second Reform Act, passed in 1867, created a million new voters, doubling the electorate and propelling the British state into the age of mass politics. This study provides the first analysis of the subject from the demise of Chartism to the passage of the Act.

This is an essential textbook for all students of nineteenth-century British political history, the Conservative Party and modern Conservatism, and includes themes of striking contemporary relevance.

In 1988 Iain McCalman's seminal work, Radical Underworld, unravelled the complex and clandestine revolutionary networks of democrats that operated in London between 1790 and the beginnings of Chartism, to reveal an urban underworld of prophets, infidels, pornographers and rogue preachers where powerful satirical and subversive subcultures were developed. This present volume reflects and builds upon the diversity of McCalman's discoveries, to present fresh insights into the culture and operation of popular politics in the 'age of reform'. It is a coherent and integrated treatment of the subject that offers a window into this 'unrespectable' underworld and questions whether it was a blackguard subculture or a more complex and rich counter-culture with powerful literary, legal and political implications. This book brings together an international team of experienced scholars to explore the concepts and subjects pioneered by McCalman. The volume presents a focused and coherent review of popular politics, from the meeting rooms of a reform society and the theatre stage, to the forum of the courtroom and the depths of prison.