Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780-1850 (Past and Present Publications)

Cambridge University Press, 8/16/2007
EAN 9780521039499, ISBN10: 0521039495

Paperback, 364 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
Language: English

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.

Notes on contributors
Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction Joanna Innes and Arthur Burns
2. 'Reform' in English public life
the fortunes of a word Joanna Innes
3. Parliament, the state and 'old corruption'
conceptualising reform, c. 1790–1832 Philip Harling
4. 'Old wine in new bottles'
the concept and practice of law reform, c. 1780–1830 Michael Lobban
5. English 'church reform' revisited, 1780–1840 Arthur Burns
6. Medicine in the age of reform Ian A. Burney
7. British antislavery reassessed David Turley
8. 'The age of physiological reformers'
rethinking gender and domesticity in the age of reform Kathryn Gleadle
9. Reforming the aristocracy
opera and elite culture, 1780–1860 Jennifer L. Hall-Witt
10. Reform on the London stage Katherine Newey
11. Reforming culture
national art institutions in the age of reform Holger Hoock
12. Irish reform between the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine Jennifer Ridden
12. Empire and parliamentary reform
the 1832 Reform Act revisited Miles Taylor
14. Reforms, movements for reform and possibilities of reform
comparing Britain and continental Europe Jonathan Sperber
Index.

'The examination of the contested meanings of the language of reform is productive and, as the editors hope, opens up many lines of enquiry for future work ...' Reviews in History