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In 1841 Edward Miall began his career as a radical journalist and politician. He soon became one of the leaders and propagandists of radical dissent, and was a figure of increasing importance in this field, both as editor of the Nonconformist and as member of Parliament, up to his retirement from active politics in 1874 The central theme of his public life was the attempt to disestablish the Church of England. Though he failed to achieve this, his life's ambition, its pursuit involved him in campaigns for educational reform, university reform, electoral reform, the abolition of church rates, as well as campaigns against established churches in Ireland and in the colonies. These campaigns, to whose success Miall contributed, necessitated alliances with other pressure groups, and led him to found the British Anti- State Church Association, later known as the Liberation Society, one of the most formidable and highly organised of mid-Victorian political bodies. Miall's career as a political tactician exemplifies the problems which confronted dissenters in particular in their search for the redress of their grievances: in general, these were the problems encountered by extra parliamentary pressure groups seeking to secure legislative change from the reformed House of Commons, Miall's aspirations compelled him to seek a wide range of support, radicals, Irish Catholics and working class leaders, and he was among the politicians who helped construct the Liberal coalition which Gladstone led to victory in 1868, and to defeat in 1874. In the Nonconformist, Miall possessed his own organ of opinion: this, together with his numerous tracts, pamphlets and books, makes it possible to reconstruct in considerable detail the history of dissenting agitation in the mid-nineteenth century, its successes and its failures, from his standpoint, and to see in detail the working of a Victorian pressure group, endeavouring to force causes upon Parliament.

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This thesis attempts to describe and evaluate the contribution of the popular radical Left to the development of socialist ideas and the emergence of a distinct socialist movement in Britain during the 1870s and early 1880s. The first two chapters focus upon the early 1870s, first examining the general tendencies of popular radicalism in this period and then analyzing the characteristic demands of some of the most militant radicals with a view toward showing how they helped prepare the ground for the seemingly sudden appearance of the new socialist movement a decade later. The third and fourth chapters are concerned with a number of historical factors which combined to create favourable conditions for the initiation of the movement - both general factors such as Britain's changing economic circumstances and the growing challenge to orthodox beliefs about society and the economy, and more specific developments like the anti-Liberal revolt among radicals opposed to coercion in Ireland in 1880-82, the strong land-reform agitation Inspired largely by Henry George and the new ideological ferment on the London radical left at this time. My final section on the Radical newspaper in Chapter IV begins the detailed study of the emergence of a nascent socialist movement in this context, and its consolidation within the Democratic Federation during the period 1881-84, which is carried on through the last four chapters. These chapters deal with the foundation of the

This thesis examines the history of British anarchism in the late Victorian and Edwardian era against the background of the movement's popular image. The prevalent image of anarchism assumed the individual to be an unscrupulous criminal and the movement to be a conspiracy intent on unleashing revolutionary violence upon the world. Such a description imparted little of the authentic pursuits and beliefs of British anarchism and proved to be one of the major obstacles even to a partial understanding of the movement. However, it was precisely through this image that anarchism penetrated the social consciousness and exerted its most noticeable impact on society. In this light, the thesis is divided into two parts: the first discusses the reality of British anarchism and the second its image. Part one consists of three chapters. Chapter one chronicles the various streams and groupings that made up the British anarchist movement. The second chapter details some of the social and ideological marks that characterised the movement while the third studies the interrelationships between anarchism and the wider socialist movement. Part two consists of three chapters. The first two depict the image as it appeared in the press and the literature of the time. The concluding chapter indicates some of the practical implications of the image as reflected through the treatment of anarchists by state organs and the public at large; the use that was made of it as a political weapon against other causes, and the political debates it generated.

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This thesis is a study of the career of James Perry, editor and proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, from 1790-1821. Based on an examination of the correspondence of whig and radical politicians, and of the files of the morning Chronicle, it illustrates the impact which Perry made on the world of politics and journalism. The main questions discussed are how Perry responded, as a Foxite journalist, to the chief political issues of the day; the extent to which the whigs attempted to influence his editorial policy and the degree to which he reconciled his independence with obedience to their wishes, the difficulties he encountered as the spokesman of an often divided party; his considerable involvement, which was remarkable for a journalist, in party activity and in the social life of whig politicians; and his success as a newspaper proprietor concerned not only with political propaganda, but with conducting a paper which was distinguished for the quality of its miscellaneous features and for its profitability as a business enterprise. There is also some account of the whigs' attempts to gain the support of other newspapers, but they had little success in this field. The structure of the thesis is chronological, with the exception of chapter four which contains an account of Perry's advertising policy, and illustrates for the first time the amount and importance of a newspaper proprietor's income fran advertisements. The absence of any collection of Perry papers has precluded a study of the internal management of the Chronicle, but it is shown that from a political point of view Perry enjoyed, despite increasing criticism of him after about 1807, a position as the whigs' leading journalist for over thirty years, and that he exercised great moral influence in raising the character of the press.

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This thesis is concerned with the role of East India patronage in British social history. It is a study of the recruitment, social origins and training of the East India Company’s civil and military servants, and of the men who recruited them. The Directors of the East India Company presided over a great reservoir of middle-class patronage in a society where access to genteel employment was monopolised by the landed political establishment. The patronage system which, after due regard for their own personal and family interests, they administered with a surprising degree of disinterestedness and integrity, became the means by which the poor and humble were able to realise aspirations to gentility and obtain social status for themselves and their families. India offered few attractions in its own right; its appeal to recruits to the Indian army and civil service lay in the social and economic realities of British middle-class life. In face of these facts the East India Company's attempts to instill in its servants an understanding and appreciation of Indian society and culture proved hapless. The remarkable institutions of' Haileybury and Addiscombe serve only as a reminder of a great opportunity tragically missed.