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Seminar 10

Seminar Questions:

  • What were the public and private consequences of the Queen Caroline affair?
  • How was the Queen Caroline affair represented in the popular press?
  • Do the Queen Caroline case and Peterloo demonstrate that a ‘class’ analysis of radical politics in the early nineteenth century is redundant?
  • Why did constitutional reform take so long to emerge given the tensions in the period 1819-21?
  • How 'popular' were radical movements before 1832?
  • Account for the failure of radical movements to achieve reform before 1832.

Reading

See O’Gorman, The Long Eighteenth century and Evans, The forging of the modern state

J Belchem, ‘Republicanism, popular constitutionalism and the radical platform in early nineteenth century England’, Social History, 1981

J Belchem, ‘Orator’ Hunt: Henry Hunt and English working-class radicalism

M L Bush, 'The Women at Peterloo', History, 2004

J Cannon, Parliamentary Reform

A Clark, ‘Queen Caroline and the sexual politics of popular culture in London, 1820’, Representations, 1990

A Clark, Struggle for the Breeches, chap 9

L Colley, Britons, [chap on Womenpower]

James Epstein, ‘Understanding the Cap of Liberty: Symbolic practice and social conflict in early 19th century England’, Past and Present, 1989

J Fulcher, ‘The loyalist response to the Queen Caroline agitation’, Journal of British Studies, 1995

J Fulcher, ‘Gender, politics and class in the early 19th century English reform movement’, Historical Research, 1994

A Howkins and I Dyck, ‘“The Time’s Alteration”: Popular ballads, rural radicalism and William Cobbett’, History Workshop Journal, 1987

T Hunt, ‘Morality and Monarchy in the Queen Caroline affair’, Albion, 1991

T W Laquer, ‘The Queen Caroline Affair: Politics as Art in the reign of George IV’, Journal of Modern History, 1982

Philip Lawson, ‘Reassessing Peterloo’, History Today, 1988

Iain McCalman, ‘Unrespectable radicalism: infidels and pornography in early nineteenth century London,’ Past and Present, 1984

Iain McCalman, Radical Underworld: prophets, revolutionaries and pornographers in London, 1795-1840

James McCord Jr, ‘Taming the female politician in early 19th century England: John Bull versus Lady Jersey’, Journal of Women’s History, 2002

Rohan McWilliam, Popular Politics in nineteenth century England

R Melikan, ‘Pains and penalties procedure: how the House of Lords “tried” Queen Caroline’, Parliamentary History, 2001

D Read, Peterloo

J Stevenson, Popular disturbances in Britain

M Thomis and P Holt, Threats of revolution in Britain

E P Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class

Dror Wahrman, ‘“Middle-class” domesticity goes public: gender, class and politics from Queen Caroline to Queen Victoria’, Journal of British Studies, 1993