Cron, Church and Constitution Popular Conservatism in England, 1815-1867 [Hardcover]

Much scholarship on nineteenth-century English workers has been devoted to the radical reform politics that powerfully unsettled the social order in the centurys first decades. Comparatively neglected have been the impetuous patriotism, royalism, and xenophobic anti-Catholicism that countless men and women demonstrated in the early Victorian period. This much-needed study of the eras conservatism from below explores the role of religion in everyday culture and the Tories successful mobilization across class boundaries. Long before they were able to vote, large swathes of the lower classes embraced Britains monarchical, religious, and legal institutions in the defense of traditional English culture.

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Celebrating the Monarchy: Loyalism, Radicalism and the Crowd, 18201832

• Analysing Crowds and the Popularity of the Monarchy
• The Monarchy in the Provinces
• The Capital Celebrates the Crown

Chapter 2. True Friends of Her Majesty: Plebeian Conservatives and Crown, Constitution and Patriotism

• Operative Conservative Associations and Popular Constitutionalism
• The Crown and the Constitution in Election Campaigns and Celebrations
• National Elements and Local Differences

Chapter 3. Above All, Be Faithful to Your God: Confessional Conflicts and Plebeian Conservatives

• The Conflicts over the Emancipation of the Catholics
• Contesting the Cities: Confessional Conflicts in Local Power Struggles
• Conservative Constitutionalism after Catholic Emancipation

Chapter 4. Conservative Antics, Protest or Racism? Anti-Catholic Aspects of English Street Culture

• Guy Fawkes Day CelebrationslS°