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Lowestoft, Suffolk, 1665

S. J. Connolly

in Divided Kingdom: Ireland 1630-1800

This chapter provides a description of the death of Cormac McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, at the naval battle off Lowestock in 1665 and introduces the book's central themes: the radical changes in ... More

This chapter provides a description of the death of Cormac McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, at the naval battle off Lowestock in 1665 and introduces the book's central themes: the radical changes in political and cultural identity and allegiance that took place across time in early modern Ireland, and the inadequacy of narrow or deterministic ethnic or confessional labels.Less

James Bryce and the Future1: CENTENARY ESSAY

William Ranulf Brock

in Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 115 Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, I

James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. ... More

James Bryce (Viscount Bryce), who was elected President of the British Academy in 1913 and delivered his last presidential address in July 1917, had a distinguished career in letters and public life. His essay, ‘Holy Roman Empire’, established his reputation as a historian, and he also qualified as a barrister. In his address to the British Academy, ‘The Next Thirty Years’ (1917), Bryce outlined a strategy for higher education. Article by William Brock FBA.Less

Imperial Crisis

S. J. Connolly

in Divided Kingdom: Ireland 1630-1800

The administration of Viscount Townshend, replacing reliance on local undertakers with direct rule by a resident lord lieutenant, was part of a wider tightening of imperial control. Between 1776 and ... More

The administration of Viscount Townshend, replacing reliance on local undertakers with direct rule by a resident lord lieutenant, was part of a wider tightening of imperial control. Between 1776 and 1782, on the other hand, a patriot opposition within the Irish parliament, backed by the Volunteers, achieved both free trade and legislative independence. This period represented the high point of patriot enthusiasm. However, the rejection of proposals for parliamentary reform along with the continuation of religious tests meant that Grattan's claim that Ireland was now a nation remained a hollow one.Less

Fair Trial: ‘One Golden Thread’

Anthony Hooper

in The Judicial House of Lords 1876–2009:

This chapter begins with a description of the case of Reginald Woolmington, aged twenty-one, a dairy man who killed his newly wedded wife, Violet, aged seventeen and a half. This case is analysed ... More

This chapter begins with a description of the case of Reginald Woolmington, aged twenty-one, a dairy man who killed his newly wedded wife, Violet, aged seventeen and a half. This case is analysed against the backdrop of the Viscount Sankey's famous quote: ‘Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception. . . No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained.’ The chapter argues that the golden thread is so deeply woven into the fabric of our society that it is difficult to understand the importance at the time of Woolmington, not only in England but in the numerous dominions and colonies which then formed part of the British Empire. The requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases was embedded in the laws of all those countries which then formed part of that Empire. However, it is shown that Parliament is less attached.Less

The Government of Wentworth, 1632–40

Aidan Clarke

in A New History of Ireland: Early Modern Ireland 1534-1691

This chapter describes the government of Thomas Viscount Wentworth, who became lord deputy of Ireland January 1632. He was one of a group who were loosely associated together in support of the king's ... More

This chapter describes the government of Thomas Viscount Wentworth, who became lord deputy of Ireland January 1632. He was one of a group who were loosely associated together in support of the king's aim to govern England without parliament. Wentworth had worked to create a new source of power for the crown in Ireland. In the summer of 1639, when the resources at Charles's disposal had proved insufficient to preserve his authority in Scotland, the time had come for Wentworth to fulfill the real political purpose of his deputyship by showing how Ireland could be used to redress the balance of power elsewhere in the king's favour. The king had already decided that, alone among his advisers, the lord deputy of Ireland seemed capable of solving his problems. On 23 July he wrote to ask Wentworth to join him in England.Less

War and Peace: 1855–1858

Angus Hawkins

in The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

This chapter discusses the political activities of Lord Derby from 1855 to 1858. In February 1855, Derby was confronted with the problems of how to oppose the British Prime Minister, Viscount of ... More

This chapter discusses the political activities of Lord Derby from 1855 to 1858. In February 1855, Derby was confronted with the problems of how to oppose the British Prime Minister, Viscount of Palmerston, how to handle William Gladstone, and how to bolster his ally Benjamin Disraeli. Derby's relationship with Palmerston is complex. Disraeli remained deeply mistrusted by many of the conservatives, and Gladstone refused to join Derby in his Conservative Party. However, despite all these challenges, Derby was able to regain power as prime minister in February 1858.Less

Watching and Waiting: 1859–1866

Angus Hawkins

in The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby

This chapter discusses the political activities of Lord Derby after his second term as prime minister of Great Britain ended in June 1859. Derby resumed opposition to Viscount Palmerston's government ... More

This chapter discusses the political activities of Lord Derby after his second term as prime minister of Great Britain ended in June 1859. Derby resumed opposition to Viscount Palmerston's government with a keen sense of expectation. Benjamin Disraeli suggested that Palmerston's new ministry would be merely a refacimento of the old Palmerston clique. In a gala dinner on July 16, Derby assured the Conservative Members of Parliament and peers that the Conservative Party would soon gain the majority in the House of Commons.Less

‘Persian’ Jones, London Welshman, Surveys his Roots

Michael J. Franklin

in Orientalist Jones: Sir William Jones, Poet, Lawyer, and Linguist, 1746-1794

This chapter moves back eight years to August 1775 with the 28-year-old barrister Jones looking out to ‘Anglesey, the ancient Mona, where my ancestors presided over a free but uncivilized people’. It ... More

This chapter moves back eight years to August 1775 with the 28-year-old barrister Jones looking out to ‘Anglesey, the ancient Mona, where my ancestors presided over a free but uncivilized people’. It was a crystallizing moment as he recalls his father and his relation, the celebrated polymath Lewis Morris. As he considers his family and achievements, the chapter illustrates his Celtic cultural inheritance; early academic prowess at Harrow and Oxford; his tutorship of young Althorp; his driving ambition and lust for fame. The key Orientalist influences, especial the mixture of scholarly and popular Orientalism in Antoine Galland, and Madame de Vaucluse, and his early experience of collaborating with native informants are examined together with his first four publications to show how Jones had become the greatest Oriental scholar in Europe. Poems (1772) introduces sophisticated ideas concerning comparative literature and cultural translation, creating a public taste for the genuine ethnic commodity.Less

Educating the Orator

Christopher Reid

in Imprison'd Wranglers: The Rhetorical Culture of the House of Commons 1760-1800

This chapter looks at the education of the eighteenth-century parliamentary elite and considers how school and university prepared them for a role in public life. It begins with the idea of liberal ... More

This chapter looks at the education of the eighteenth-century parliamentary elite and considers how school and university prepared them for a role in public life. It begins with the idea of liberal education, and asks how far Roman models of the making of the orator (especially those set down by Cicero and Quintilian) retained their influence in a commercial age. In eighteenth-century England, as in republican Rome, a preparation for public life turned on moments of initiation and trial. Focusing on the unusually well-recorded educational career of one MP, Viscount Althorp, the chapter reconstructs these moments in the training of the public speaker, with a particular emphasis on rhetorical exercises such as declamation. It concludes with the most daunting trial of all, the maiden speech in the House of Commons, and the methods used by MPs such as George Canning to survive it successfully.Less

A New Lord Bolbec

in Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

This chapter details the birth of Oxford's son and heir. 24 On February 1593, Countess Elizabeth gave birth to her first and only child, Henry Vicount Bolbec. It also presents a letter Oxford wrote ... More

This chapter details the birth of Oxford's son and heir. 24 On February 1593, Countess Elizabeth gave birth to her first and only child, Henry Vicount Bolbec. It also presents a letter Oxford wrote to Burghley on 25 October, renewing his effort to recover Waltham Forest.Less

North and South

Lucy Riall

in Under the Volcano: Empire and Revolution in a Sicilian Town

Italian unification brought a series of disappointments, as reflected in the later life of Nino Bixio. These disappointments were felt most clearly in the South, where a series of military campaigns ... More

Italian unification brought a series of disappointments, as reflected in the later life of Nino Bixio. These disappointments were felt most clearly in the South, where a series of military campaigns were necessary to subdue peasant unrest. Despite an agreement in 1861 in which the Duchy ceded half of its territory to the commune of Bronte, the conflict in Bronte did not cease. Peasants did not receive their share of common land, and there were new outbreaks of violence during the crisis that swept Italy during the 1890s. But Bronte also acquired a new reputation as a romantic destination for British travellers to Italy. Writers, poets and artists visited the estate and were captivated by its wild beauty. Under the direction of Alexander Nelson Hood and his managers, the now much smaller estate became more productive and cash crops such as vines and oranges were cultivated; and Nelson Hood also built a villa in Taormina, helping to develop the town as a luxury resort for gay men from Northern Europe. But the divisions between the British and the local community remained, and the memory of what had happened in 1860 persisted.Less

Epilogue: The Long Goodbye

Lucy Riall

in Under the Volcano: Empire and Revolution in a Sicilian Town

The Seventh Duke of Bronte sold the estate in 1980. He lives in Geneva and has largely forgotten the conflicts in Sicily that beset his family for so long. But behind his ‘forgetting’ lies another ... More

The Seventh Duke of Bronte sold the estate in 1980. He lives in Geneva and has largely forgotten the conflicts in Sicily that beset his family for so long. But behind his ‘forgetting’ lies another conflict. Fascism profoundly affected the Duchy. After 1935, the rapid deterioration of Anglo-Italian relations produced a new anti-British rhetoric. In 1940, following Mussolini's declaration of war on Britain, the Duchy was confiscated by the regime while, after the war, political activists rediscovered the Duchy's early history, condemned the gift to Nelson in 1799 and began to write about the peasant revolt: indeed, Bronte's modern fame owes much to the struggles of the 1940s and 50s. Bronte today is a place of memory, part of the present-day fight for control of Italy's national past. When the government of Bronte gained control of the Duchy in the 1980s, they renamed the castle of Maniace (the British family residence) the ‘Castello Nelson’.Less

Law, Obligation, and Consent: Reflections on Stair and Locke

Neil MacCormick

in Legal Right and Social Democracy: Essays in Legal and Political Philosophy

The theme of this chapter is law, obligation, and consent. The chapter discusses the work of two great men of the seventeenth century: John Locke, the greatest of English political philosophers, and ... More

The theme of this chapter is law, obligation, and consent. The chapter discusses the work of two great men of the seventeenth century: John Locke, the greatest of English political philosophers, and James Dalrymple, Ist Viscount Stair, the greatest of Scottish legal writers. Stair and Locke were almost exact contemporaries. They held strikingly similar opinions on certain key issues as they drew upon common sources belonging to a common tradition. The aim of this chapter is to expound in more detail the arguments of Stair and Locke, giving slightly more emphasis to Stair than to Locke, because his work is the less familiar of the two. Furthermore, this chapter also advances some personal ideas on law, obligation, and consent arising from a discussion of elements of similarity and difference in the Stair/Locke position.Less

Viscount Bolingbroke:an atypical commonwealthman

Rachel Hammersley

in The English Republican tradition and eighteenth-century France: Between the Ancients and the Moderns

Given his French connections and influence, Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke played an important role as a conduit for the transfer of English republican ideas across the Channel. It seemed that ... More

Given his French connections and influence, Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke played an important role as a conduit for the transfer of English republican ideas across the Channel. It seemed that despite his Tory credentials, Bolingbroke's political thought had much in common with that of the Real Whigs. In addition to expressing views very similar to theirs, Bolingbroke also appears to have shared their cosmopolitan outlook. His works included numerous examples drawn from the history of other European countries, which revealed the depth of his knowledge in this area. His expertise on French history and politics was particularly strong and he engaged directly in the controversial contemporary debates concerning French history. Bolingbroke's works also became well known in France.Less

Egypt’s Bid for Mastery of the Middle East, 1831–1841

Evan Braden Montgomery

in In the Hegemon's Shadow: Leading States and the Rise of Regional Powers

This chapter examines how Great Britain responded to Egypt's bid for mastery of the Middle East during the period 1831–1841. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the emerging rivalry ... More

This chapter examines how Great Britain responded to Egypt's bid for mastery of the Middle East during the period 1831–1841. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the emerging rivalry between Great Britain and Russia centered on one particular issue: the future of the Ottoman Empire. The so-called Eastern Question was how to manage the decline of Turkey. Before discussing Great Britain's decision to support the Ottoman Empire and oppose the rise of Egypt, this chapter considers the emergence of Anglo-Russian antagonism and the decline of Ottoman power, along with the causes and consequences of the first Syrian war. It then explores British foreign secretary Viscount Palmerston's views on the Eastern Question as well as his assessment of the risks of containment failure and access denial with regards to Egypt as a rising power. It also analyzes the second Syrian war and the agreement signed by Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia that would govern the use of the Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits.Less

‘Society of Snobs’

Anton Howes

in Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation

This chapter refers to William Shipley, who had benefited from the aid of the Royal Society of Arts' first two presidents, Viscount Folkestone and Lord Romney, for his visions to be taken seriously ... More

This chapter refers to William Shipley, who had benefited from the aid of the Royal Society of Arts' first two presidents, Viscount Folkestone and Lord Romney, for his visions to be taken seriously and initiate the Great Exhibition. It points out how the Society capitalised on the credit it got for initiating the Great Exhibition in the 1950s and used that reputation to push for reforms. The chapter talks about the “Albert Medal” that commemorates the death of Prince Albert and was awarded to people who had done much to aid arts, manufactures, and commerce. It mentions Rowland Hill as the first recipient of the Albert Medal for his campaign to create the Penny Postage system. It also explains how the awarding of the Albert Medal each year allowed the Society to associate itself with household names or recognise its own activists, such as Henry Cole or John Alexander Milne.Less

Sons and Lovers

Elizabeth Harlan

in George Sand

This chapter focuses on how George Sand made the acquaintance of Alfred de Musset at a dinner party in honor of Francois Buloz and a group of his authors. The second son of an aristocratic Parisian ... More

This chapter focuses on how George Sand made the acquaintance of Alfred de Musset at a dinner party in honor of Francois Buloz and a group of his authors. The second son of an aristocratic Parisian family, Alfred de Musset was a rising star in the Parisian literary galaxy at only twenty-three. His father had died the previous year, leaving Musset emotionally vulnerable despite his newly acquired title of viscount. In response to the flattering lines he wrote to Sand following their meeting, she sent Musset a copy of Indiana. Several days later, Musset wrote her an impassioned, praise-filled poem titled “After Reading Indiana”; soon he was sending notes pressing the illustrious author for further meetings.Less