Great Britain 1815-1850
1815 1820 1825 1830 1835 1840 1845 1850
-Peterloo Massacre (1819)-Six Acts Passed
-Irish Potato Famine begins
-Corn Laws repealed
(1846)
Chartists issue Six Points (1836)
Great Reform Bill (1832)
Corn Law passed
Mines Act
(1842)
Victorian Era
begins (1837)
First (Irish) Home Rule
bill rejected (1886)
Victorian Great Britain
1850 1860 1870 1884 1890 1900 1920
Gladstone’sGreat Ministry(1868-1874)
Second Reform Bill
extends vote to workers
Forster Education
ActUniversity Tests Act
(1871) removes
religious tests at Oxford and
Cambridge
Reform Bill of 1832
extends vote to middle
class
Compulsory school
attendance in Great Britain
(1876)
Disraeli’s Great Ministry
Great Exhibition in
Crystal Palace (1851)
Government of Ireland Act (1920)
Easter Uprising in Dublin
Victorian Zeitgeist• Values• Hard work, thrift, sobriety, self-reliance, rugged
individualism, family, restraint, separate spheres• Samuel Smiles
– Wrote “Self Help”– Applied Darwinian ideas to society– Advocated that laws could not alter a person’s
behavior, must come from themselves– Low wages would encourage a person to be thrifty,
responsible, etc.• Extreme self confidence
– Viewed British exceptionalism with backdrop of Revolutions of 1848
• Religious– GB experienced a religious revival (1840-1870) among
middle class• 1, 700 new churches built
• Reformers– Bourgeoisie felt it was “God’s Will” that they teach
lower classes to be moral• Temperance Movement
– 33% of all arrest were for drunkenness• Salvation Army (1875)
– Offered help on condition that helped must join religion
Victorian/Edwardian England (1850-1911)• GB was the greatest example of a peaceable
parliamentary government• Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and her reign mark era
of material, literary progress, political stability• most prosperous period in British history• Unprecedented economic growth• Heyday of free trade• New fields of expansion shipbuilding from
wood to iron• By 1870, Britain’s carrying trade enjoyed a
virtual monopoly• Br. engineers were building RRs all over the
world• Br.’s foreign holdings nearly doubled
• Liberal and conservative parties battled over control of government
• Disraeli vs. Gladstone
• 1832 Reform Bill extended vote to wealthy middle class
• 1860s, the lower middle class and working class had grown wanted suffrage
• This era saw the realignment of political parties in the House of Commons:• Tory Party Conservative
Party under Benjamin Disraeli• Whig Party Liberal Party
under William Gladstone
Conservatives vs. Liberals
* William Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister
1868-1874
1880-1885
1886 1892-
1894
* Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative Prime Minister
1868 1874-
1880
Gladstone and Classic Liberalism(1868-1874) William Gladstone (liberal) 1868-1874
Classic Liberal Reformer Wealthy middle class origins Known for his populist speeches
(whistle stop campaigns) Foreign Policy
Supported a “Little England” foreign policy
believed Britain should look after her own people at home rather than looking to conquer other lands
Imperialism invites war Wars are bad for trade, expensive Supported Irish Home Rule Bill
Domestic Policy “Gladstonianism”
Decrease public spending Supports a meritocracy
Supported reform bills of civil service, entry into military post
Reluctant to extend suffrage to worker
Supported secret ballot in voting Protect democracy/nationalism
through public education Promote peace abroad to help
reduce spending and taxation, and to help enhance free trade & Low tariffs
Gladstone and Classic Liberalism(1868-1874)
“He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting” Queen Victoria on Gladstone
Disraeli and Conservatism (1874-1880)• Disraeli
• Leader of conservatives & Realpolitik• Italian Jewish origins but raised as Anglican
• “The blank page between the Old and New Testaments
• A dandy• man who places particular importance upon
physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self.[
• Foreign Policy– Supports “Greater England”– Promoted British exceptionalism, nationalism &
Imperialism– Acquired control of Suez Canal by buying stock from
bankrupt Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt– Royal Titles Act in 1876 made Queen Victoria the
Empress of India– Against Irish Home Rule– Favored protectionism (high tariffs to protect landed
aristocrats)
• Domestic Policy• believed in paternalistic
legislation to protect the weak• Not supporters of business (or
laissez faire)• Passed numerous laws
protecting workers, public health, foods and drugs, factory conditions• Supported Reform Bill of
1867• extended to working
class• Lord Derby (overall
leader of Conservatives) called it a “leap in the dark”
Disraeli and Conservatism (1874-1880)
The Reform Bill of 1867• Disraeli outflanked the liberals
– They had proposed a modest extension of who could vote
• Disraeli 1867 Reform Bill (the Second Reform Bill)– Vote was extended to most workers– extended from 1.5 to 2.5 mil (increase
of 88%)– Lord Derby (overall leader of
Conservatives) called it a “leap in the dark”
– Hoped Conservatives would get credit for inevitable law
– Thought suburban middle class would become more conservative• (They would but not right away)
– Liberals won election of 1868 and put Gladstone in as PM
The Irish Question• What should Great Britain do
with Ireland?• Act of Union 1800 – incorporated Ireland into
the UK during French Rev• Penal Laws– Irish peasants could not
own land and were reduced to tenant farmers
– Land owned by “absentee landlords” who had no motive to improve it
• Potato Famine (1843-46)– Resulted in over 1 million
deaths and millions more emigrating to US, Canada, Australia
– Classic Liberal laisssez-faire
"A family evicted by their landlords" (Source: Lawrence Collection, National Library of Ireland).
Irish Land League• Irish peasants were in permanent debt to
Protestant landlords• Hatred of British rule + growing nationalism
united various Irish republicans, constitutionalists with some British M of P
• Irish Land League (1870s)• Led by Irishman Charles Parnell
• An Protestant Irishman• Refused to buy from landlords who
evicted Catholic farmers• Charles Boycott was 1st to be
ostracized• Led bloc in HOP• Goals: Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free
Sale • Offered votes to party who supported his
goals• Irish Republican Army• Radicals who wanted complete Irish
independence from UK
Home Rule• Gladstone • Introduced an Irish Home Rule Bill
(1886) & (1893)• Would give Ireland a
Parliament of its own• Did NOT offer Ireland
independence!• This issue split the Liberal
Party• Conservative • became party of industry, laissez
faire, Manchester School and landed wealth
• Labor party • Party of workers, social programs,
government intervention
Home Rule• Home Rule Bill passed 1914
– Enactment put on hold for the duration of WWI
• In the meantime, Protestants (Ulstermen) in northern Ireland objected to inclusion with Catholic majority– backed by British Conservatives
• Irish Republic Army (1919)– Conducted guerilla warfare against British
army– Led by Michael Collins
• Easter Rising (1916)– 7 day insurrection aimed at ousting British
rule• Civil War seemed imminent• Government of Ireland Act (1920)
– Ireland granted dominion status except for the Ulster region (remained within Britain)
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