This thesis examines aspects of the history of the ancient parish of Audley between 1840 and 1939 through the concept of ‘unifiers and dividers’. This short phrase encapsulates the idea that people are brought together and separated by factors beyond themselves and that individuals actively shape the world around them. Large-scale cultural and economic movements and individual action are entwined and expressed through observable behaviour. The three-word phrase therefore also encompasses change over time, sees human relationships as a process and avoids reified concepts such as ‘community’. It is a means of describing changes rather than identifying causes. The focus of the thesis is on microhistory, broadly understood, and the parish of Audley is well suited to this. Over most of the period its mining industry expanded rapidly in several distinct settlements, though in the last two decades that industry declined rapidly. Audley was a semi-industrial, changing and reasonably populous place, of a type not often used in this way. A number of aspects of life are taken as illustrations of the value of the idea of unifiers and dividers. There is consideration of the parish as part of a wider, even international, context as people migrated in and out, while it is recognized that the boundary had practical significance; and it is noted, also, that two people brought up together in the same place, Audley, might live in different and mutually incomprehensible universes. The poor law, friendly societies and the churchyard are given as examples of how life in the parish can illustrate the concept. Finally, there is an exploration of the way catastrophes of varying sizes can initiate unifiers and dividers and also illustrate them in ‘ordinary life’ before the catastrophe occurred.

This thesis examines the impact of the First World War on the town of Wednesbury. Although receiving limited scholarly consideration to date, it is contended that this Black Country town played an important wartime role and this study, based upon extensive archival research, has investigated the key economic, political and social consequences and changes occurring during this period. Embedded within the broader contexts of time and place, it draws extensively on the experiences of the town's working-class community to demonstrate how a local history can enrich our appreciation of the lives of working people and inform our understanding of the national picture. Following the establishment of the rationale, methodology and the principal historiographical debates, life and society in Wednesbury on the eve of war are described. Reaction to the outbreak of hostilities, economic and manpower mobilization, and wartime industrial relations are assessed. Also charted are the main social and political developments. There is a chapter devoted to the locality's first air raid, when the German Navy's airships bombed Wednesbury, Bradley, Tipton and Walsall. In evaluating this community's patriotism, it is concluded that whilst the adjustment of attitudes was unavoidable, many aspects of Wednesbury's contribution should be viewed as truly unique.