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My thesis aims to analyse the ways in which the Victorian intellectual and traveller, Richard Francis Burton, has been viewed by contemporaries and more modern critics. In 3 particular, I point out that while most views of Burton in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were positive, in recent times his achievements have been rather neglected in certain academic circles (though there has been no shortage of interest in his life with the publication of a steady stream of biographies). As I show in the thesis, this is largely due to the negative views of Burton expressed in Edward Said's influential book, Orientalism. With the subsequent development of Said's treatise into the branch of modern criticism known as post-colonial theory, Said's views on Burton have become ossified within the discourse. In post-colonialism, Burton is often used as an archetype of everything that was wrong about Victorian imperialism and paternalism. For example, Mary Louise Pratt portrays Burton as a prime example of an English traveller whose "imperial eyes" survey and control everything they light upon (in the case referred to, Lake Tanganyika). On the other hand, biographers and historical writers such as Dane Kennedy have had many positive things to say about Burton, and one of my major concerns in this thesis is to bring together the differing viewpoints of the biographers and post-colonial critics (who up to the present time have largely ignored each other) in a mutually beneficial process of crossfertilisation that will reveal a more complicated-and also more accurate-Richard Burton for detailed future consideration and discussion. In the thesis I assert that we should view Burton as a man of his time who contributed much that was previously unknown to the fledgling Victorian sciences of anthropology and ethnography. In particular, I emphasise Burton's contribution to the development of a relativistic view of religion and cultural traditions that challenged the monolithic view of the Victorians concerning the absolute superiority of their own religion-Christianity-over the native peoples they ruled. In essence, my thesis is an attempt to put Burton back where he belongs as a significant contributor to the developing world-view that gained such huge momentum in the late nineteenthcentury and subsequently led to what is, usually, roughly termed as "the scientific method". Furthermore, it is my belief that this aim can best be realised by dissociating Burton from Said's discourse on "Orientalism" and placing him in other, more positive contexts connected with Victorianism such as Victorian travel writing, Victorian intellectuals with a sympathy for Islam, and the development of Victorian science.

This thesis explores British reactions to the persecution and mass murder of the Jews under Nazi rule. It uniquely provides a deep context by examining British responses to a number of man-made humanitarian disasters between 1914 and 1943. In doing so it takes into account changing context, the memory of previous atrocities and the making and re-making of British national identity. It shows that although each reaction was distinctive, common strands bound British confrontation with foreign atrocity. Mostly, the British consciously reacted in accordance with a long ‘tradition’ of altruism for the oppressed. This tradition had become a part and parcel of how the British saw themselves. The memory of past atrocity provided the framework for subsequent engagement with an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable world. By tracking the discursive pattern of the atrocity discourse, the evidence reveals that a variety of so-called ‘others’ were cast and recast in the British imagination. Therefore, a disparate group of ‘foreign’ victims were the beneficiaries of nationwide indignation almost regardless of the way the government eventually was able to contain or accommodate public protest. When Jews were victims there was a break with this tradition. The thesis shows that atrocity was fully comprehended by Britons but that Jews did not evoke the intensity or longevity of compassion meted out to others. In other words it shows that the reaction to Jewish suffering was particular. They were subject to a hierarchy of compassion.

This thesis examines material culture and control at Staffordshire County Gaol and Lunatic Asylum between c. 1793 and 1866. Staffordshire was one of the first counties to voluntarily establish and operate a modern prison and asylum. The institutions were conceived as holistic approaches to cure. The intentions and practice of both facilities are scrutinised in order to present a synthesis of institutional provision in the county town. This thesis aims to foster a better understanding of the realities of everyday life inside by studying and comparing the `things' that surrounded the prisoner and the patient. By looking at location, space, architecture, dress, the paraphernalia of work and leisure and diet at both establishments; secondary punishments at the prison; and medicine and restraint at the asylum, it is proposed that control was manifested in three different ways at Stafford: implicit, direct and intrusive. These types of control formed three concentric circles that gradually encroached on the body of the inmate. The effectiveness of the three forms of control, and therefore the institution itself, was ultimately dependent on the response of the inmate to their surroundings

This thesis examines, by reference to the political, institutional, organisational, personnel, operational, methodological and technical aspects of naval intelligence work, the developmental aspects of its history from 1880 to 1945. By analysing specific naval operations and discussing the strategic and tactical ramifications of intelligence it seeks to throw light on the impact of intelligence on naval warfare in this period. In so doing it reveals the place of intelligence in the general naval history of the period. It is not a definitive history, but rather a discursive analysis of those aspects considered the most important. In the pre-1914 era the N.I.D. was the heart of the emergent Naval Staff, involved in strategic planning at the highest level. World War I brought the need for an operational intelligence organisation, with the priority of locating, identifying, and deducing the intentions of major German units. Experience in war revealed the necessity for a clear definition of the relationship between the Operations Division and the N.I.D. The use of radio intelligence and cryptanalysis gave N.I.D. great operational successes and Admiral Hall the opportunity to involve N.I.D. in political issues.The latter led to the review of N.I.D.'s role post 1918 and, in part, its run-down. The inter-war period witnessed N.I.D.'s decline as the most dynamic and influential Naval Staff department. Until the foundation of O.I.C. and the coming of war N.I.D. was a backwater. World War It witnessed a re-vitalisation, a more structured and tightly controlled N.I.D., and the D.N.I.. as an important echelon of the C.O.S. and J.LC. organisations. N.I.D. regained its previous supremacy and was instrumental in the process towards intelligence integration at the end of World War U. It scored great operational successes. The function of intelligence is demonstrated as being paramount in the naval organisation and critical to the interests of the State. Its maintenance was contingent upon variables which, throughout this period, were neither constant nor always recognised.

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This thesis examines the formation, decline and contribution of the Labour Church during the formative years of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and Labour Party between 1891 and 1914. It provides an analysis of the Labour Church, its religious doctrine, its socio-political function and its role in the cultural development of the early socialist arm of the labour movement. It includes a detailed examination of the Victorian morality and spirituality upon which the life of the Labour Church was built. It also challenges some of the existing historiography and previously held assumptions that the Labour Church was irreligious and merely a political tool, providing a new cultural picture of a diverse and inclusive organisation, committed to individualism and an individual relationship with God. The Labour Church was founded by the Unitarian Minister John Trevor in Manchester in 1891 and grew rapidly. Its political credentials were on display at the inaugural conference of the ILP in 1893, and the church proved a formative influence on many pioneers of British socialism. As such, the thesis brings together two major controversies of Nineteenth Century Britain: the emergence of independent working-class politics and the decline of traditional religion. This thesis considers the Labour Church's role in an era of cultural change, in increasing secularisation and politicisation. It examines the disagreements between John Trevor and his political allies regarding the format, purpose and the morality of the Labour Church; the distinctive character of the Church's theology and doctrine within the wider religious and political debates of the period. Beyond the labour movement, it charts links between the Labour Church and the women's movement, children's associations and with regard to radical literary traditions.

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From the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the First World War was the hey-day of the professional gardener. However, time has eroded the memory of these men and many of the gardens where they worked have disappeared or have been radically altered. Most garden history has been written from an artistic or design perspective. No-one has studied the lesser head gardeners who worked in British gardens and estates, nor has there been a county study such as this which considers the working lives of gardeners from a commercial and practical point of view. Yet research using contemporary documents, such as the census and estate records, suggests the number of working gardeners increased significantly throughout the nineteenth century. Private gardeners worked in growing numbers of middle-class villa gardens, or for estate gardens which had returned to formal planting and mass bedding. Nurserymen contributed plant material to support garden owners' aspirations and ambitions to purchase the newest imports or fashionable hybrids and to furnish glasshouses and arboreta. Market gardeners supplied fruit, vegetables and flowers to satisfy the demands of a society which had changed from being largely rural to predominantly urban and began to specialise and produce for long distance markets. Working gardeners were compelled to change their practices and products in order to accommodate scientific advances which fuelled a rise in interest in gardening across all classes of society. As the century progressed it became harder for a garden labourer to attain the position of head gardener. Increasingly, it was a man with some education who underwent a gruelling apprenticeship and training to reach the top of his profession. Different branches of the trade had their own hierarchy led by nurserymen at the top, jobbing gardeners and labourers at the bottom. This thesis discusses the growth of professionalism of gardeners and concludes that practical training was insufficient for success; self-education, determination, experience of a wide variety of gardens, good management skills, and sometimes luck were needed in order to succeed.

This thesis seeks to analyse the intellectual contribution of James Bronterre O'Brien to working-class anti-capitalist political economy, while placing it in its true historical and intellectual context. In so doing, the thesis aims to fill significant gaps left by O'Brien's biographer, Alfred Plummer, who dealt only cursorily with O'Brien's ideas. In contrast to past accounts of O'Brien, which tended to analyse him purely in terms of his significance vis-a-vis Marx, the thesis considers O'Brien's work on its own terms, analysing both its continuities with early nineteenth-century anti-capitalist political economy, and the significant ways in which it marked a break from previous work. In particular, the thesis argues that O'Brien evinced a uniquely broad vision of the role democracy would play in the post-capitalist society; for in O'Brien's new society democracy's remit was to extend far beyond Parliament. Further, O'Brien took the nascent class analysis of Hall and others, and constructed his entire political economy on the basis of a mature, and fully elaborated, antagonistic class model. The originality of his analysis, it is argued, is intelligible only if sufficient attention is paid both to the historical moment at which O'Brien began writing, and to his intimate connection with the `Political Owenism' of Henry Hetherington and others within organisations such as the NUWC. The concept of class allowed O'Brien to combine Owen's environmentalism with the demonology of older, Cobbettite radicalism. He was thus able to formulate a political economy which spoke to workers in a language with which they were familiar, but which was also more relevant to the social and economic realities of 1830s Britain. The thesis also considers the evolution of O'Brien's vision of the good life during the 1830s and after, and argues that O'Brien's relationship with his imagined audience is the crucial factor in this regard. From 1841, a break occurred, with O'Brien now oscillating between his old analysis and a liberal political economy criticising excessive taxation etc. rather than capitalism per se. The reasons for this shift, and for O'Brien's eventual abandonment of democracy in the late 1840s, are also explored