Citizenship 1789-1906 |
| 1789 - the year of the French Revolution
- was an important date for Europe. For many historians, it
marks the beginning of modern European politics and society.
But the events in France were not widely welcomed in Britain,
as political unrest spread across the Channel, threatening the
monarchy and government and challenging a whole range of established
ideas.
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The French Revolution
was to play an important role in many of the political, social
and economic changes that transformed Britain during the 19th
century - not least because people began to think of themselves
as 'citizens'. Previously the concept of citizenship hadn't
been part of British people's lives, but the idea soon became
linked with political radicalism
and the growth of political and social rights. |
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Why the changes?
At the end of the 18th century Britain was not
a democratic nation. With fewer than one in eight Englishmen
entitled to take part in elections, only a fraction of the
people in Britain had the right to vote. If you were a woman
or working-class you were excluded from the electoral process,
and so were most middle-class men. Among the elite ruling
class, many were opposed to change and had no desire to alter
Britain's ancient 'constitution', since political reform would
mean they had to give up some of their privileges. |
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Anti-Catholic and anti-Whig poster,
1830
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(179k) |
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At this time there was prejudice against
minority groups - particularly Catholics, who faced persecution
and discrimination in their day-to-day social and political
lives. Also, Britain was still involved with the African-Atlantic
slave trade, despite anti-slavery campaigning in the early 1780s.
The population was now growing rapidly and, without electoral
reforms, by the 1790s Britain had become increasingly undemocratic.
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| In the 19th century a series of Reform Acts were
brought in, mainly entitling more men to vote, and the number
of voters rose from little more than 200,000 to over 8 million.
The Catholic Emancipation Act (1829) lifted the ban on Catholics
holding public office. Then four years later the Slavery
Abolition Act
finally made slavery illegal and gave all slaves within
the British empire their freedom. With these changes, new parts
of the British community were given civil and, in some cases,
political rights. |
Letter complaining about above poster
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Yet democratic progress could not
be taken for granted. There were still barriers to the rights
boldly proclaimed by the most famous document of the French
Revolution, the 'Declaration of the Rights of Man'. Yet even
after the third Reform Act (1884), the right to vote was still
based on what property a person owned rather than the principle
of universal
suffrage.
During the 1830s and 1840s the radical Chartist
movement called for universal suffrage and annual elections.
The ruling elite rejected these views, but gradually the rights
of trade unions grew, enabling them to represent the views of
the working class effectively on various political and economic
issues. |
| Not all groups were
as lucky. Women, for example, had no voting rights whatsoever
in parliamentary elections. Non-white 'citizens' of the British
empire lacked political power and were denied representative
government - usually on the pretext that they were not yet ready
to take on the complex system of constitutional government enjoyed
in Britain. |
Chartist poster, 1842
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Economy and society
In the late 18th century, Britain entered a period of rapid
economic change known as the 'industrial revolution', and
during the 19th century became the world's strongest economic
power. By this time Britain had thriving export industries
(particularly in textiles), vastly improved transport networks,
and an expanding empire. |
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massive growth, as witness the Great Exhibition held in London's
Hyde Park in 1851. Although promoted as a celebration of 'the
works of industry of all nations', the emphasis was on the achievements
of Britain and its empire. The exhibition was a phenomenal success,
attracting 6 million visitors during the five months it was
open. |
'Labour at the gate', 1905
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(154k) |
Transcript |
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What did the industrial revolution
achieve?
There are many arguments regarding the causes and consequences
of Britain's industrial revolution. In the long term, it undeniably
led to higher living standards for the vast majority of the
British population. However, this growth was uneven. In the
1830s and 1840s, when Chartism
was at its peak, Britain was far less prosperous than in the
1850s and 1860s. Moreover, those who benefited from the successes
of industrialisation did not include the working classes.
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| Statistics reveal that, despite claims of
'wealth...; within the reach of all', 19th-century Britain
suffered from increased inequality. The commercial and manufacturing
middle classes thrived thanks to the successful campaign for
'free trade' based around the Anti-Corn
Law League.
But not everyone in Britain's rapidly growing population was
as fortunate. Conditions in many of the large factories at
the centre of the industrial revolution were harsh, and poverty
in rural areas - particularly between the 1780s and the 1850s
- was widespread. As Britain's towns and cities became larger
and more industrialised, in the poorer parts dirty and overcrowded
living conditions increased. |
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A powerful and wealthy elite dominated
Victorian Britain, but by the early 20th century the attitudes
of British society were changing. The rights and needs of the
lower classes were being addressed, and the (now legal) trade
union movement was becoming increasingly influential. With the
foundation of of the Independent Labour Party, in 1893, there
was increased pressure for more political and economic rights
for the working class. Also around this time, children in Britain
were given the right to an education, and the worst excesses
of child labour were outlawed. |
Women in late Victorian Britain did not have the
vote and were denied the opportunity of pursuing most of the
professions open to men. In the eyes of most men, their rightful
place was in the home, where as dutiful wives they would produce
and raise children. Even though divorce was available after
1857, very few women applied for divorce because it was a difficult
and humiliating experience. By the 1890s, the women's suffrage
movement was challenging these prejudices, and during the early
part of the 20th century the radical activities of the Women's
Social and Political Union (better known as the Suffragettes)
turned the issue of women's rights into a major national political
issue.
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