A COMPANION TOEIGHTEENTH-CENTURY

BRITAIN

Edited by

H. T. Dickinson

A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Britain

A COMPANION TOEIGHTEENTH-CENTURY

BRITAIN

Edited by

H. T. Dickinson

© 2002 by Blackwell Publishers Ltda Blackwell Publishing company

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A companion to eighteenth-century Britain / edited by H. T. Dickinson.p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to British history)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.ISBN 0-631-21837-81. Great Britain – History – 18th century – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Great Britain –

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BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO BRITISH HISTORYPublished in association with The Historical Association

This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of the scholarship that hasshaped our current understanding of British History. Each volume comprises up to fortyconcise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The aim ofeach contribution is to synthesize the current state of scholarship from a variety of historicalperspectives and to provide a statement on where the field is heading. The essays are writtenin a clear, provocative and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars,students and general readers.

The Blackwell Companions to British History is a comerstone of Blackwell’s overarchingCompanions to History series, covering European, American and World History.

PublishedA Companion to Britain in the Later Middle AgesEdited by S. H. Rigby

A Companion to Stuart BritainEdited by Barry Coward

A Companion to Eighteenth-Century BritainEdited by H. T. Dickinson

A Companion to Early Twentieth-Century BritainEdited by Chris Wrigley

In preparationA Companion to Roman BritainEdited by Malcolm Todd

A Companion to Britain in the Early Middle AgesEdited by Pauline Stafford

A Companion to Tudor BritainEdited by Robert Tittler and Norman Jones

A Companion to Nineteenth-Century BritainEdited by Chris Williams

A Companion to Contemporary BritainEdited by Paul Addison and Harriet Jones

The Historical Association is the voice for history. Since 1906 it has been bringing togetherpeople who share an interest in, and love for, the past. It aims to further the study of teach-ing of history at all levels. Membership is open to everyone: teacher and student, amateurand professional. Membership offers a range of journals, activities and other benefits. Fulldetails are available from The Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, LondonSE11 4JH, enquiry@history.org.uk, www.history.org.uk.

Other Blackwell History Companions include:

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO HISTORYPublishedA Companion to Western Historical ThoughtEdited by Lloyd Kramer and Sarah MazaIn preparationA Companion to Gender HistoryEdited by Teresa Meade and Merry E. Weisner-Hanks

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO EUROPEAN HISTORYPublishedA Companion to the Worlds of the RenaissanceEdited by Guido RuggieroIn preparationA Companion to the Reformation WorldEdited by R. Po-chia HsiaA Companion to Europe Since 1945Edited by Klaus LarresA Companion to Europe 1900–1945Edited by Gordon Martel

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO AMERICAN HISTORYPublishedA Companion to the American RevolutionEdited by Jack P. Greene and J. R. PoleA Companion to 19th-Century AmericaEdited by William L. BarneyA Companion to the American SouthEdited by John B. BolesA Companion to American Indian HistoryEdited by Philip J. Deloria and Neal SalisburyA Companion to American Women’s HistoryEdited by Nancy A. HewittA Companion to Post-1945 AmericaEdited by Jean-Christophe Agnew and Roy RosenzweigA Companion to the Vietnam WarEdited by Marilyn B. Young and Robert BuzzancoIn preparationA Companion to Colonial AmericaEdited by Daniel VickersA Companion to 20th-Century AmericaEdited by Stephen J. WhitfieldA Companion to the American WestEdited by William DeverellA Companion to American Foreign RelationsEdited by Robert Schulzinger

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO WORLD HISTORYIn preparationA Companion to the History of AfricaEdited by Joseph MillerA Companion to the History of the Middle EastEdited by Youssef M. Choueiri

Contents

List of Maps x

List of Contributors xi

Introduction xv

Maps xix

Part I Politics aand tthe Constitution 1

1 The British Constitution 3H. T. Dickinson

2 The British State 19Eckhart Hellmuth

3 Finance and Taxation 30Patrick Karl O’Brien

4 Local Government and Local Society 40David Eastwood

5 Parliament, Parties and Elections (1688–1760) 55Brian Hill

6 Parliament, Parties and Elections (1760–1815) 69Stephen M. Lee

7 The Jacobite Movement 81Daniel Szechi

8 Popular Politics and Radical Ideas 97H. T. Dickinson

9 The Crisis of the French Revolution 112Emma Vincent Macleod

Part II The Economy aand Society 125

10 Manufacturing and Commerce 127John Rule

11 Agriculture and Rural Life 141Gordon Mingay

12 The Landed Elite 158Richard G. Wilson

13 The Middling Orders 172Nicholas Rogers

14 The Labouring Poor 183John Rule

15 Urban Life and Culture 196Peter Borsay

16 Women and the Family 209John D. Ramsbottom

Part III Religion 223

17 The Church of England 225Jeremy Gregory

18 Religious Minorities in England 241Colin Haydon

19 Methodism and the Evangelical Revival 252G. M. Ditchfield

20 Religion in Scotland 260Stewart J. Brown

21 Religion in Ireland 271Sean J. Connolly

Part IV Culture 281

22 Print Culture 283Bob Harris

23 Political Ideas from Locke to Paine 294Pamela Edwards

24 The Making of Elite Culture 311Maura A. Henry

25 Literature and Drama 329J. Alan Downie

viii contents

26 Popular Culture 344Bob Bushaway

27 Crime and Punishment 358James A. Sharpe

Part V Union aand Disunion iin tthe British Isles 367

28 Integration: Patriotism and Nationalism 369Colin Kidd

29 Scotland and the Union 381Alexander Murdoch

30 Wales in the Eighteenth Century 392Geraint H. Jenkins

31 Ireland: The Making of the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’, 1690–1760 403Paddy McNally

32 Ireland: Radicalism, Rebellion and Union 414Martyn J. Powell

Part VI Britain aand tthe Wider World 429

33 Britain’s Emergence as a European Power, 1688–1815 431H. M. Scott

34 Britain and the Atlantic World 447W. A. Speck

35 Britain and India 460Bruce P. Lenman

36 The British Army 473Stanley D. M. Carpenter

37 The Royal Navy 481Richard Harding

38 Britain and the Slave Trade 489John Oldfield

Bibliography 499

Index 516

contents ix

List of Maps

Map 1 The counties of England and Wales in the eighteenth century xxMap 2 Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland, 1707–1832 xxiMap 3 Ireland in the eighteenth century xxiiMap 4 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1700 xxiiiMap 5 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1750 xxivMap 6 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1801 xxvMap 7 British North America c.1763 xxviMap 8 The Caribbean in the eighteenth century xxviiMap 9 Europe c.1775 xxviiiMap 10 Expansion of British power in India xxx

Peter Borsay was educated at Lancaster Uni-versity and is at present Professor of History at the University of Wales, Lam-peter. His publications include The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society inthe Provincial Town, 1660–1770 and TheImage of Georgian Bath 1700–2000: Towns, Heritage and History.

Stewart J. Brown took his Ph.D. at the Uni-versity of Chicago. He is Professor of Eccle-siastical History and Dean of the Faculty ofDivinity at the University of Edinburgh.His publications include Thomas Chalmersand the Godly Commonwealth in Scotlandand The National Churches of England,Ireland and Scotland, 1801–1846.

Bob Bushaway gained his first degree and his doctorate from the University ofSouthampton. He is currently Director ofResearch Support and Business Develop-ment of the University of Birmingham andan associate member of the History depart-ment there. He is the author of By Rite:Custom, Ceremony and Community inEngland 1700–1880 and of essays in booksand journals.

Stanley D. M. Carpenter has higher degreesfrom the University of St Andrews andFlorida State University, Tallahassee. He isnow an Associate Professor at the UnitedStates Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He has contributed articles

to various encyclopaedias and historical dictionaries.

Sean J. Connolly was educated at UniversityCollege, Dublin and the University ofUlster. He is currently Professor of IrishHistory at the Queen’s University, Belfast.His publications include Religion, Law andPower: The Making of Protestant Ireland1660–1760, Priests and People in Pre-Famine Ireland 1780–1845 and, as gen-eral editor, The Oxford Companion to IrishHistory.

H. T. Dickinson has degrees from Durham,Newcastle and Edinburgh universities andhas been Richard Lodge Professor ofBritish History at Edinburgh since 1980.His publications include Liberty and Property: Political Ideology in Eighteenth-Century Britain and The Politics of thePeople in Eighteenth-Century Britain.

G. M. Ditchfield was educated at Cam-bridge University and is now Reader in Eighteenth-Century History at the Univer-sity of Kent at Canterbury. He is the authorof The Evangelical Revival and co-editor ofBritish Parliamentary Lists 1660–1800.

J. Alan Downie was educated at the Uni-versity of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is currently Senior Pro-Warden (Academic) and Professor of English at Goldsmith’sCollege, University of London. His publi-cations include Robert Harley and the Press:

Contributors

xii contributors

Propaganda and Public Opinion in the Ageof Swift and Defoe and Jonathan Swift:Political Writer.

David Eastwood was educated at OxfordUniversity and taught there before becom-ing Professor of History at the Universityof Wales, Swansea. He is currently ChiefExecutive of the Arts and HumanitiesResearch Board. His publications includeRural England: Tradition and Trans-formation in English Local Government,1780–1840 and Government and Com-munity in the English Provinces 1700–1870.

Pamela Edwards gained her Ph.D. at theUniversity of London and teaches at Richmond University in London. She iscurrently a visiting fellow in the Historydepartment at Yale University. She has published learned articles in the History of Political Thought and Enlightenmentand Dissent, and is revising her book on the political thought of Samuel TaylorColeridge.

Jeremy Gregory was educated at OxfordUniversity. He is currently a Senior Lecturerin the Department of Religions and Theol-ogy at the University of Manchester. Hispublications include Restoration, Reforma-tion and Reform, 1660–1828: Archbishops of Canterbury and their Diocese and, as co-author, The Longman Companion toEighteenth-Century Britain, 1688–1820.

Richard Harding graduated from LeicesterUniversity and took his Ph.D. at BirkbeckCollege, University of London. He is currently Professor of Organizational His-tory at the University of Westminster. Hispublications include Amphibious Warfarein the Eighteenth Century and Seapowerand Naval Warfare 1650–1830.

Bob Harris was educated at Durham andOxford universities. He is currently SeniorLecturer in History at the University of Dundee. His publications include APatriot Press: National Politics and theLondon Press in the 1740s and Politics andthe Nation: Britain in the Mid-EighteenthCentury.

Colin Haydon was educated at Oxford University and is now Reader in History

at King Alfred’s College, Winchester. Hispublications include Anti-Catholicism inEighteenth-Century England, c.1714–80and (edited with John Walsh and StephenTaylor) The Church of England, c.1689–c.1833.

Eckhart Hellmuth gained his doctorate and his habilitation at the University ofTrier. He is currently Professor of ModernHistory at the Ludwig-Maximilians Uni-versity in Munich. His publications includeNaturrechtsphilosophie und bürokratischerWerthorizont and (as editor) The Transfor-mation of Political Culture in England andGermany in the Late Eighteenth Century.

Maura A. Henry studied for a time at theUniversity of Sussex and graduated fromSmith College in Massachusetts. Havinggained her doctorate at Harvard Universityshe has held a number of posts there,including Lecturer in History and Women’sStudies and Assistant Director of Women’sStudies.

Brian Hill gained his doctorate at CambridgeUniversity and taught for many years at theUniversity of East Anglia, where he retiredas Reader in History. His publicationsinclude The Growth of Parliamentary Parties 1689–1742 and British Parliamen-tary Parties 1742–1832.

Geraint H. Jenkins was educated at the Uni-versity of Wales, Swansea. He is currentlyProfessor of Welsh History at the Univer-sity of Wales, Aberystwyth and Director ofthe Centre for Advanced Welsh and CelticStudies. His publications include The Foun-dation of Modern Wales 1642–1780 andLiterature, Religion and Society in Wales1660–1730. He is also general editor of ASocial History of the Welsh Language.

Colin Kidd studied at Cambridge, Harvardand Oxford universities and is now Reader in History at the University ofGlasgow. His publications include Subvert-ing Scotland’s Past and British Identitiesbefore Nationalism.

Stephen M. Lee is a graduate of EdinburghUniversity and gained his doctorate atManchester University. He now teaches atTorquay Boys’ Grammar School. He haspublished articles on aspects of the career

contributors xiii

of George Canning and is working on astudy of Canning and liberal Toryism.

Bruce P. Lenman is a graduate of Aberdeenand has two graduate degrees from Cambridge University. He is currently aProfessor of Modern History at the Uni-versity of St Andrews. His many publica-tions include England’s Colonial Wars1550–1688 and Britain’s Colonial Wars1688–1783.

Emma Vincent Macleod was educated atEdinburgh University and is now a Lec-turer in History at the University of Stirling. She is the author of A War ofIdeas: British Attitudes to the Wars againstRevolutionary France, 1792–1802.

Paddy McNally was educated at Queen’sUniversity, Belfast and is currently SeniorLecturer in History at University College,Worcester. His publications include Parties,Patriots and Undertakers: ParliamentaryPolitics in Early Hanoverian Ireland.

Gordon Mingay was educated at Notting-ham University. He is now retired, but his last appointment was as Professor ofAgrarian History at the University of Kent. Among his many publications aretwo large-scale edited works: The VictorianCountryside (2 vols) and The AgrarianHistory of England and Wales, vol. 6:1750–1850.

Alexander Murdoch was educated at GeorgeWashington University and the Universityof Edinburgh and is now Senior Lecturerin Scottish History at the latter univer-sity. His publications include ‘The PeopleAbove’: Politics and Administration in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Scotland and BritishHistory 1660–1832: National Identity andLocal Culture.

Patrick Karl O’Brien was educated andtaught at the University of Oxford beforebecoming Director of the Institute of Historical Research in the University ofLondon. He is currently Centennial Pro-fessor of Economic History at the LondonSchool of Economics. His many publica-tions include Revolution in Egypt’s Eco-nomic System: From Private Enterprise toSocialism, 1952–1965 and (with CaglerKeyder) Economic Growth in Britain and

France, 1780–1914: Two Paths to the Twen-tieth Century.

John Oldfield was educated at CambridgeUniversity and is at present Senior Lec-turer in History at the University of Southampton. His publications includePopular Politics and British Anti-Slavery:The Mobilisation of Public Opinion againstthe Slave Trade, 1787–1807 and Civiliza-tion and Black Progress: Selected Writings ofAlexander Crummell on the South.

Martyn J. Powell gained his first degree andhis doctorate at the University of Wales,Aberystwyth, where he is at present a Lec-turer in History. He has published severalarticles on British and Irish politics in thelater eighteenth century and is completinga study on Britain and Ireland in the Eighteenth-Century Crisis of Empire.

John D. Ramsbottom was awarded hisPh.D. by Yale University and is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has published articles in learned journals on theRestoration Church of England.

Nicholas Rogers was educated at Oxford andToronto universities. He is at present a Professor of History at York University,Toronto. His publications include Whigsand Cities: Popular Politics in the Age ofWalpole and Pitt and Crowds, Culture andPolitics in Georgian Britain.

John Rule was educated at Cambridge andWarwick universities and is currently a Pro-fessor of Modern History at the Universityof Southampton. His publications includeAlbion’s People: English Society 1714–1815and The Vital Century: England’s Develop-ing Economy.

H. M. Scott was educated at the Universityof Edinburgh and the London School ofEconomics. He is currently Professor ofInternational History at the University of St Andrews. His many publicationsinclude British Foreign Policy in the Age ofthe American Revolution and The Emer-gence of the Eastern Powers.

James A. Sharpe gained his doctorate atOxford University. He is currently a Pro-fessor of History at the University of York.His publications include Crime in Early

xiv contributors

Modern England 1550–1750 and Instru-ments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England1550–1750.

W. A. Speck was educated at Oxford Uni-versity. He was a Professor of History atHull and Leeds universities. He is now anemeritus Professor of History of the Uni-versity of Leeds and at present a visitingprofessor at the University of Northumbria(Carlisle campus). Among his many publi-cations are Tory and Whig: The Struggle inthe Constituencies 1701–1715 and Stabilityand Strife: England 1714–1760.

Daniel Szechi graduated from Sheffield Uni-versity and gained his doctorate at Oxford

University. He is at present Professor ofHistory at Auburn University, Alabama.His publications include The Jacobites:Britain and Europe, 1688–1788 and GeorgeLockhart of Carnwath, 1689–1727: A Studyin Jacobitism.

Richard G. Wilson gained his doctorate atLeeds University and is now Professor ofEconomic and Social History at the Uni-versity of East Anglia. His publicationsinclude (with T. R. Gourvish) The BritishBrewing Industry, 1830–1980 and (withAlan Mackley) Creating Paradise: TheBuilding of the English Country House,1660–1880.

IntroductionH. T. Dickinson

Fifty years ago historians studying eighteenth-century Britain would probably haveagreed on what were its most important features. These historians stressed the aristocratic nature and characteristics of Britain, with a long-established landed elitedominating politics and society. They would have emphasized widespread supportfor a limited monarchy and have highlighted the prestige of a parliament dominatedby the landed elite, but they would also have stressed that government and parlia-ment did little to interfere with the lives of most British subjects. They would haveacknowledged the importance of agriculture, but would have recognized the growingwealth of the country based on commercial and industrial improvements. They wouldhave praised Britain as an enlightened, modernizing society, becoming increasinglyurbanized, secularized and tolerant. They would have celebrated the military, navaland imperial successes which Britain gained in her long rivalry with France, with buta passing nod to the failure in the War of American Independence. Aristocracy, stability, improvement and growing prosperity would have been regarded as the principal features of eighteenth-century Britain.

Today, historians of eighteenth-century Britain are much more sharply dividedover what they regard as its central features. There are those who see Britain as verylike the anciens régimes of continental Europe, dominated by monarchy, religion andthe aristocratic elite. There are those who see Britain as significant because of thosepolitical, financial, economic, social and cultural changes which were making her themost dynamic and modern society in Europe, indeed in the world. There are thosehistorians who stress stability and cohesion in eighteenth-century Britain, and thosewho emphasize almost constant instability and the continual tension between the traditional forces of order and the abiding threat to these forces at home and abroad.There are those historians who still stress the significance of the major political and economic developments in eighteenth-century Britain, and those who believethat the most interesting features of Britain are its intellectual, social and culturaldevelopments. Religion has been restored to a central position in British life in theeighteenth century and there is now much interest in intellectual discourse, in therole of gender and of women, and in crime and disorder. Whatever their particular

research interests, all historians now agree that eighteenth-century Britain was avibrant, multi-faceted and multi-layered society that cannot be understood withoutmaking an effort to examine the old and the new, the traditional and the dynamic,the changes and the continuities.

This Companion, produced jointly by a range of experts drawn from several coun-tries, endeavours to explain to the student and the intelligent lay reader what werethe most important developments in eighteenth-century Britain that have made hersuch a fascinating subject for serious historical inquiry. It is not an encyclopaedia, soit does not seek to present a comprehensive coverage, in short compass, of all aspectsof eighteenth-century Britain. Instead, it covers in greater detail a wide range ofimportant topics which will provide the reader with a sound understanding of manyof the most important features of eighteenth-century Britain as they are now beinginvestigated and understood by leading historians in these fields.

The essays in this Companion on politics and the constitution deliberately seek todo justice to the old and the new. They show how much remained unchanged duringthe long eighteenth century from 1688 to 1815: the importance of the monarch andthe strength of crown influence; the domination of parliament by the aristocratic,landed elite; the importance of patronage and influence over election results; the survival of ancient institutions of local government; and the predominance of ratherconservative political views among the propertied elite. On the other hand, theseessays also show: that the sovereignty of crown-in-parliament became increasinglyassured; that, for the first time in its history, parliament met every year after 1689;how political parties rose, declined and began to rise again; and how both centraland local government were not entirely dominated by a narrow landed elite, butcould be influenced by large numbers of people. Moreover, while Britons enjoyedthe rule of law and greater liberties than before, and while Britain became the mostefficient fiscal-military state in Europe and developed a particularly effective financeand taxation system, the political system and the ruling elite were seriously challengedat different stages during the century by Jacobite and American rebels, by Frenchrevolutionaries, and by domestic radicals.

In economic and social spheres the essays here acknowledge that Britain was primarily a rural country and an agrarian economy, and a hierarchical and patri-archal society, in which a narrow landed elite exercised very considerable power andthe majority of the population paid due deference to their economic and social superiors. The peerage remained an exclusive elite which retained wealth, status andpower across the whole eighteenth century and well into the nineteenth. The landedgentry also retained and expanded their influence, though they were more open toinfiltration by newcomers who gained wealth by other means than the ownership ofland. The essays here make it clear that land was not the sole source of wealth, statusand power. Over the century parts of Britain at least were gradually being transformedinto a modern, urban, commercial and then industrial society. Although many historians now eschew such terms as the ‘industrial revolution’ and the ‘agriculturalrevolution’, because technological change and economic growth and output weresimply not that rapid in the eighteenth century to justify these terms, there is nodenying that the British economy was advancing on many fronts in a manner and ata rate that made Britain a far more prosperous country and a more advanced economyby the end of the century than she had been at the beginning. These cumulative

xvi h. t. dickinson

developments ultimately had a significant effect on British society, creating in par-ticular a more powerful urban middle class, in terms of wealth, status and even power,at least at the local level if not yet at the political centre. It was not only middle-classmales, however, who were affected by economic and social changes; both the poorand women of all classes began to escape from those economic fetters and socialchains that had previously bound them and still bound a higher proportion of thesubjects of other European states.

Contributors to this Companion clearly recognize the fruits of recent scholarshipthat have stressed the powerful influence of religion in general on eighteenth-centuryBritain and the significant spiritual, moral and political role of the Church of Englandin particular. They appreciate that Britain was not so secularized as historians onceclaimed and that the Church of England was not so politicized as once was thought.On the other hand, they also demonstrate that Britain was more pluralistic and tolerant in religion than most European states. Protestant Dissenters remained a forceto be reckoned with throughout the eighteenth century, and Methodists became a rising force in the late eighteenth century. Scotland retained her own distinctiveestablished church after the Union of 1707, but it too faced competition from othersects and churches. In Ireland Protestant Dissent was a major influence in Ulster and in the other provinces the majority of the population remained Catholic. TheCatholic question and sectarian divisions bedevilled internal relations on that islandand undoubtedly soured relations with Great Britain.

There is now widespread interest in cultural history. There are essays in this Com-panion that show how eighteenth-century Britain became both highly admired byeducated people across Europe and increasingly divided at home between its elite,bourgeois and popular cultures. The landed elite developed an impressively cohesiveculture that enabled it to maintain its dominant political and social position. Themiddling orders in society sometimes sought to ape that culture, but in urban areasan enlightened culture arose which was both distinct from and also intersected withthe elite culture of the landed classes. The people at large, in both urban and ruralBritain, retained a wide range of cultural practices and traditions, which were distinctfrom those of their social superiors and which sometimes brought them into conflictwith the governing elite. Eighteenth-century Britain developed a popular press whicheducated, influenced and informed a higher proportion of the population than everbefore – and far more of the non-elite than in any other European state. Such a freeand active press allowed a wide range of political ideas to be more intensely debatedin Britain than in any European state prior to the French Revolution of 1789.Britain’s free press and capacity for open political debate were much admired byenlightened opinion in Europe. Her literature and drama were also deeply admiredin Europe as Britain escaped to some extent from the cultural hegemony of France.Satiric verse, comedy dramas, and especially the periodic essay and the novel had aprofound impact both throughout the British Isles and far beyond their shores. Thestudy of crime and punishment has also become a growth area in British historicalstudies since the 1970s. This research has demonstrated that the eighteenth-centurycriminal justice system was neither as brutal nor as chaotic as earlier generations ofhistorians had claimed. It also shows how Britain became one of the first countriesto experience the growth of urban and commercial crime, and sought to develop newmethods of policing urban areas and punishing those guilty of such crimes.

introduction xvii

Abroad, the essays here explain how Britain became a major European power forthe first time for centuries and how she felt compelled to wage another ‘HundredYears’ War’ against France. They also explain the strengths, particular qualities and specific weaknesses of the army and navy, which were so essential to the growthof British power and her remarkable imperial expansion. In the eighteenth cen-tury Britain could reasonably claim to be the most liberal country in Europe, andcertainly many Britons were enormously proud of their ‘liberties’, and yet Britain also came to dominate the Atlantic slave trade and to govern large numbers of non-European subjects across the world. These achievements brought resentmentand even resistance, as well as political and economic benefits. Without clear gov-ernment planning or a decided imperial strategy, Britain acquired a large empireacross the Atlantic, stretching from Hudson Bay to Trinidad. In the later eighteenthcentury British ministers drifted into a political crisis with British subjects on themainland of North America and failed to avoid a disastrous war which resulted inBritain losing these valuable American colonies. This apparent calamity did not,however, have quite the devastating effect on British prestige and power that manycontemporaries feared. This was, in part, because Britain remained by far the great-est commercial partner of the new United States and, in part, because Britain beganto acquire another, very different, empire in India. Britain’s successes and endeav-ours in wars in Europe and across the world are shown to owe much to her eco-nomic power, her financial strength, her rather old-fashioned but vastly augmentedarmy, and her more professional and effective navy. While her successes may havebeen built on an army, navy and financial system that were not radically differentfrom what they had been at the end of the seventeenth century, they did dramati-cally alter Britain’s position relative to the other major European powers. Britain in1815 was a formidable power, a far stronger and much more important state thanshe had been in 1688.

Finally, the essays here take up a recent subject of much historical enquiry: to whatextent was there a unified and coherent British state as distinct from a collection ofdifferent countries within the British Isles that were increasingly brought under thepolitical sway of England? The contributors to this section of the Companion all seekto show what was distinctive about Scotland, Wales and Ireland, how far differentcommunities flourished across the British Isles, and to what extent they were fullyincorporated with England into a greater and more integrated ‘British’ state. Theydemonstrate that many different societies and distinct communities continued toflourish across the British Isles throughout the eighteenth century, despite effortsfrom Westminster in particular to achieve greater political integration. While majorstrides were made towards the political integration of the various parts of GreatBritain, some of those most distant from London were not fully ‘Anglicized’ (or evenEnglish-speaking) by the end of the century. Throughout the century Irelandremained a particular problem and it exploded in rebellion in 1798. The Act of Unionin 1800, and the creation of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801, was an effortto solve this problem and to make all inhabitants of the British Isles into ‘Britons’,but it ultimately foundered on the rocks of religious, social and economic divisions.

xviii h. t. dickinson

Maps

1

2 5

4

3

3

78 9

10A

B C D

E

F

G

J K I

LM

H

11

12

13 14

20

15

1617

18 19 21 22

2425 26

23

27 28

3132

3433

36

38

37

29 39

35

ABCDEFGHIJKLM

AngleseyCaernarfonshireDenbighshireFlintshireMerionethMontgomeryshireCardiganshireRadnorshireBrecknockshirePembrokeshireCarmarthenshireGlamorganshireMonmouthshire(technically anEnglish county)

Counties of Wales

123456789

10111213

NorthumberlandCumberlandLancashireWestmorlandDurhamYorkshireCheshireDerbyshireNottinghamshireLincolnshireShropshireStaffordshireLeicestershire

Counties of England27282930313233343536373839

HertfordshireEssexSomersetWiltshireBerkshireMiddlesexSurreyKentCornwallDevonDorsetHampshireSussex

14151617181920212223242526

RutlandNorfolkHerefordshireWorcestershireWarwickshireNorthamptonshireHuntingdonshireCambridgeshireSuffolkBedfordshireGloucestershireOxfordshireBuckinghamshire

6

0 50 miles

0 80 km

‘Ridings of Yorkshire –West, North and East’

Map 1 The counties of England and Wales in the eighteenth century (adapted from Geoffrey Holmes and Daniel Szechi, The Age of Oligarchy, London, 1993).

Group of burghs with name of group.Edinburgh returned one MP for itsgroup and one MP itself

Note:Counties with the samenumber took turns electingan MP before 1832

Elgin

Inverness

Montrose

St Andrews

KirkcaldyStirling

Falkirk Leith Haddington

Edinburgh

Kilmarnock

Dumfries

Wigtown

Wick

8

296a

25

8a 124

16

1

17

14

232

7a7

13

289

24

6

3

1120

1922

5

15

2627

10

1830

Glasgow

Ayr

1234566a

AberdeenArgyllAyrBanffBerwickButeCaithness

77a88a9

1011

ClackmannanKinrossCromartyNairnDumbartonDumfriesEdinburgh

12131415161718

ElginFifeForfarHaddingtonInvernessKincardineKirkcudbright

192021

222324

LanarkLinlithgowOrkney andShetlandsPeeblesPerthRenfrew

252627282930

RossRoxburghSelkirkStirlingSutherlandWigtown

21

Map 2 Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland, 1707–1832 (adapted from W. A. Speck,The Birth of Britain, Oxford, 1994).

Londonderry

Ballymena

Omagh Belfast

Sligo

Castlebar

Westport

Cavan

DownpatrickArmagh

Dundalk

Newry

Drogheda

Trim

Maynooth

Naas

Wicklow

Nenagh

Ennis

KilkennyCashel

Tipperary

Mallow

KillarneyYoughal

Waterford

Wexford

Dungarvan

Cobh

Tralee

Bantry

DONEGALLONDONDERRY

TYRONE

FERMANAGH

SLIGO

LEITRIM

DOWN

ARMAGHMONAGHAN

ANTRIM

Enniskillen

MAYO

GALWAY

ROSCOMMON

LONGFORD

WESTMEATH

CAVAN

OFFALY

LAOIS

KILDARE

WICKLOW

MEATH

KILKENNYTIPPERARY

CARLOW

WEXFORD

WATERFORD

LIMERICK

CORK

KERRY

GalwayDublin

Cork

Limerick

LOUTH

CLARE

A

B

C

D

Provinces

A UlsterB ConnaughtC MunsterD Leinster

Boundaries of provinces

County boundaries

0 50 miles

0 80 km

Map 3 Ireland in the eighteenth century (adapted from Geoffrey Holmes and Daniel Szechi,The Age of Oligarchy, London, 1993).

Population

Over 100,000

20,000– 100,000

10,000– 20,000

5,000– 10,000

2,500– 5,000

0 5 miles

0 8 km

N

Map 4 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1700 (adapted from P. J. Corfield, The Impact ofEnglish Towns 1700–1800, Oxford, 1982).

20,000– 100,000

0 5 miles

0 8 km

N

Population

Over 100,000

10,000– 20,000

5,000– 10,000

2,500– 5,000

Map 5 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1750 (adapted from P. J. Corfield, The Impact ofEnglish Towns 1700–1800, Oxford, 1982).

Population

Over 100,000

20,000– 100,000

10,000– 20,000

5,000– 10,000

2,500– 5,000

0 5 miles

0 8 km

N

Map 6 Towns with 2,500+ inhabitants in 1801 (adapted from P. J. Corfield, The Impact ofEnglish Towns 1700–1800, Oxford, 1982).

Boston

New York

Philadelphia

Baltimore

Richmond

Wilmington

Charleston

Savannah

New Orleans

RHODEISLAND

CONNECTICUTPENNSYLVANIA

VIRGINIA

NEW JERSEY

MARYLAND

DELAWARE

NORTHCAROLINA

SOUTHCAROLINA

GEORGIA

WESTFLORIDA

EASTFLORIDA

Original 13 colonies

Other British territories

Foreign areas

Ft Niagara

Quebec

M A S S

AC

HU

SE

TT

S

NEWYORK

L. SUPERIOR

L. HURON

L. M

ICH

IGA

N

L. ERIE

L. ONTARIO

NEWHAMPSHIRE

PROVINCEOF QUEBEC

Montreal

Ft Detroit

Ohio R.

Mia

mi R

.

Wab

ash

R.

Hud

son

R. Con

nect

icut

R.

St L

awre

nce

R.

James R.

Savannah R.

Ottawa R.

GULF OF MEXICO

0 250 miles

0 400 km

I N D

I A

NR

E S

E R

V E

Proclamation Line of 1763

Map 7 British North America c.1763 (adapted from H. T. Dickinson, ed., Britain and theAmerican Revolution, London, 1998).

Havana

Santiagode Cuba

Port Royal

Cap Francois

San DomingoSt Eustatius

St Nevis

St K

itts

Montserrat

The Saintes

Antigua

Marie GalanteDominica

Fort RoyalMartinique

St LuciaBarbados

Grenada

St Vincent

Tobago

TRINIDAD

VIRGIN Is.PORTORICOHAITI

C U B A

BAHAMA

ISLANDS

FLORIDA

JAMAICA

PanamaDarien

Porto Bello Cartagena

Curaçao

0 500 miles

GUADELOUPE

NAVAL BASES

Map 8 The Caribbean in the eighteenth century (adapted from Derek Jarrett, Britain 1688–1815, London, 1965).

LeithEdinburgh

St. Marys I.Newcastle

Whitehaven

Liverpool

Belfast

Dublin

Cork

Bury St Edmunds

LondonAmsterdam

AustrianNetherlands

Le Havre

Paris

BrestSt Malo

Lorient

Bordeaux

Mahon

Lisbon

Madrid

Cadiz

Algeciras Gibraltar

Ceuta

0 250 miles

0 400 km

Austria

Prussia

Orkney Is.OuterHebrides

I. of Man

FlamboroughHead

Texel

Ushant

Normandy

R. Thames

R. Seine

R. Loire

R. G

aronne

R. R

hône

MINORCAMAJORCA

PORTUGAL

SPAIN

Ferrol

Corunna

CapeFinisterre

CapeSt Vincent

FRANCE

NORTH

SEA

ENGLISH CHANNEL

Bay ofBiscay

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

R. Tagus

IRELAND

GREATBRITAIN