The Co-operative Party, despite representing the largest consumer and social movement in Britain, is systematically overlooked or misunderstood in twentieth century British political historiography. What makes this neglect more surprising is that from 1927 the Co-operative Party had a formal electoral agreement with the Labour Party, the basis of which remains in place today. Through this agreement the two parties agreed to work together to return joint Co-operative-Labour candidates in certain constituencies. This unique political alliance reflected a shared ideological ground between the two parties, united in their aim to displace capitalism with common ownership. However, despite this common aim, the methods through which this would be achieved varied and whilst the Labour Party focused on state ownership as key to the ‘socialist commonwealth’, the Co-operative Party, as the political arm of theco-operative movement embodied the ideal of a‘co-operative commonwealth’ built on the principles of democratic voluntary association. Historians who have addressed the relationship between the Labour Party and the co-operative movement have argued that co-operative methods of ownership were systematically marginalised, overlooked and ignored by the Labour Party, particularly during the 1945 to 1951 period of Labour Government. In this context, this thesis will examine the political relationship between the Co-operative Party and the Labour Party in the broader period from 1931 to 1951. It will argue that both organisational and ideological factors contributed to the invisibility of co-operative methods of ownership in the policies of the Labour Party. Moreover, this will provide an additional perspective to debates regarding the development of the Labour Party during the 1930s and over the future direction of nationalisation post 1945. Despite its marginality the Co-operative Party represented a large body of working class consumers and a significant business organisation, which straddled both the labour movement and co-operative movement. Whilst this thesis agrees that co-operative ideas of ownership remained a minor influence on the Labour Party throughout this period, it will nevertheless argue that Co-operative Party contributions to policy discussions provide an alternative perspective from which a growing recognition of the diversity of influences on the Labour Party can be explored. In doing so this thesis will also provide an original interpretation of the organisational and policy history of the Co-operative Party. This will highlight tensions not only with the Labour Party, but also within the co-operative movement with regards to the function and purpose of the Co-operative Party - and more significantly the role of the co-operative movement in a socialist society.

This study sets out to investigate the nature of the Victorian child's standing in society using pictorial means. It takes the view that the picture, or visual image, has something important to tell us about attitudes towards childhood, and how children were regarded as a group, between 1869 and 1908. As a piece of scholarship, it is situated between the disciplines of art history and social history. Little work has been done on the child's visual representation, and its contribution to the historical record. The rich visual material that forms part of the archive of Victorian philanthropy in general, and temperance in particular, remains largely untapped. The study is a response to this scholarly neglect, with the uses made by charity of the pictured child forming its central site of inquiry. Philanthropic images of childhood will be set in their pictorial context by reference to their appearance in other parts of the public domain. The history of the relationship between adults and children has been called `age relations' by one historian. This study will apply general and specific practical approaches, drawn from critical visual techniques, to age relations, leading to an interpretation of how Victorian childhood was pictured for its audiences. Images will be approached as pictorial puzzles, and priority will be given to those solutions which formed part of the historical record. The main analytical tool to be used is adopted from critical theory's notion of the metapicture. This acknowledges the capacity of the visual image to tell us about itself when viewed in relation to other images. It will be combined with established art historical approaches to the picture. The study discusses the range of contemporaneous meanings assigned to the picturing of childhood, and how the relationship between some of these meanings held significant implications for children's social standing. Its sustained approach to visual interpretation can be said to uncover the extent to which conflicting expectations were placed upon children by the sacrifice of the real to the ideal in adult notions of childhood.

A single industry town and an important munitions centre, Barrow-in-Furness experienced the full force of industrial mobilisation, government intervention, and mass unemployment in the years between 1914 and 1926. In analysing the responses to these events, the thesis will give insights into their impact on a town dependent on industries stimulated by war and crippled in the post-war economic climate. The study comprises of two interrelated components. The first section establishes the socio-economic context at the outbreak of the war and examines the influence of war and depression on the occupational and social structure of the town, together with health trends and housing conditions. In doing so, the thesis will analyse the dual effects of higher wartime earnings and long term mass unemployment on popular health, and the role of housing reform in maintaining social stability. Having established the context in which ideology and social attitudes developed, the second section will interpret the impact of war and depression in terms of the pressures placed on industry, the local authority and the wider population. This section will address three key themes, beginning with an examination of the divisive impact of leftwing ideology on the Labour Party, political allegiances and the composition of local authority bodies. Moving on, the study will assess the implications of these developments for local authority policy and the material well-being of the unemployed, giving particular attention to the distinctive response of Barrow's Board of Guardians and the application of the Poor Law. Thirdly the thesis examines the strategies adopted by the wider community to meet the demands of the depression, beginning with key local organisations, but focussing closely on methods of working class self-sufficiency. The thesis will conclude by addressing three important questions which emerge from this study. Firstly, drawing the various themes together, the thesis will analyse the impact of war and depression on social perceptions and levels of social antagonism. In demonstrating that to focus on workplace militancy and 'class conflict' is to miss the thrust of local developments, the thesis will argue that the tensions, hardships and uncertainties of the period stimulated social cohesion rather than class conflict. Secondly, the thesis will examine the nature of the communal identity that emerged during these years, and finally, will determine whether Barrow, as a result of the town's distinctive response to the post-war crisis, can be included among the 'Little Moscows'of the period. By examining these salient themes, the thesis provides fresh insights into the nature of social relationships and levels of class antagonism throughout the period, and makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of the impact of war and depression, and the social dynamics of distress.

This thesis examines a suspected demographic crisis in Lancashire in the latter years of the 1720s utilising evidence from a wide selection of parish registers and a number of contemporary accounts. Lancashire has proved to be an excellent county to study this crisis given its diverse topographic and economic characteristics, and a division of the county into four regions enhances the understanding of the incidence of crisis. Previously this crisis had been unexplored in Lancashire, with the regional studies conducted in the midlands and to the east of the country. Glimpses of crisis were evident in the forewords of the transcriptions of the parish registers by the Lancashire Parish Register Society and from contemporary accounts. Thus a full study of the parish registers would enhance the knowledge of the crisis in Lancashire. During the undertaking of this study an article considering the experience of the Lancashire crisis was published, which has provided a number of suppositions which this study explores in greater detail. In considering the data provided by the parish registers, the study explores a number of observations; a subsistence caused by harvest failures and disease, with the countryside being greatly affected. That the experience of crisis was socially selective in which the older members of the community formed the majority of the burials and that the poor and vulnerable were hardest hit Consideration of the experience of crisis is best explored through the review of one community that recorded exceptionally high levels of modality and had not only detailed registers but a record of the poor accounts.

This thesis relates to the earliest West Saxon charters, that is those dating from the period c. 670 to the end of the reign of Ecgberht in 839. All charters which have any direct and specific relevance to the West Saxon kingdom in this period are included. The early West Saxon charters are among the most problematical and neglected of all Anglo-Saxon charters. There are various reasons for this: only a small amount of material survives, and it is difficult to form any judgement of, or base any conclusions on, such fragmentary evidence; there are no original West Saxon charters for the period before 838, and consequently no fixed point from which a study of the material could proceed; the main collections, such as those of Malmesbury and Glastonbury, have been widely regarded with suspicion; there is a dearth of other types of evidence for the period which might have illuminated the charters; and the whole period has been largely neglected by modern historians in comparison with the earlier and later periods of West Saxon history. The purpose of this study is to examine each of the documents in detail, to establish as far as possible which of the texts or portions of them are authentic, and to identify a body of genuine material which scholars may in future use as historical evidence with some confidence. Charters are arranged under the archives in which they survived in the medieval period, and each document is discussed individually. Judgements regarding authenticity are presented, and, where the document is genuine in whole or in part, some attempt is made to suggest the historical conclusions which can be drawn from it. A summary of early West Saxon diplomatic is provided and an analysis of the charters according to authenticity. The chief conclusion of this study is that a substantial proportion of the early West Saxon charters are authentic in whole or in part, and that they constitute a considerable body of evidence for the history of the early West Saxon kingdom.

Earlier histories of the Scottish parliament have been somewhat constitutional in emphasis and have been exceedingly critical of what was understood to be parliament's subservience to the crown. Estimates by constitutional historians of the extreme weakness of parliament rested on an assessment of the constitutional system. The argument was that many of its features were not consistent with a reasonably strong parliament. Because the 'constitution' is apparently fragmented, with active roles played by bodies such as the lords of articles, the general council and the convention of estates, each apparently suggesting that parliament was inadequate, historians have sometimes failed to appreciate the positive role played by the estates in the conduct of national affairs. The thesis begins with a discussion of the reliability of the printed text of APS and proceeds to an examination of selected aspects of the work of parliament in a period from c 1424-c 1625. The belief of constitutional historians such as Rait that conditions In Scotland proved unfavourable to the interests and. effectiveness of parliament in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is also examined. Chapter 1 concludes that APS is a less than reliable text, particularly for the reign of James I. Numerous statutes were excluded from the printed text and they are offered below for the first time. These statutes have been a useful addition to our understanding of the reign of James I. Chapter 2 analyses the motives behind the schemes for shire representation and concludes that neither constitutional theory nor political opportunism explains the support which James I and James VI gave to these measures. Both these monarchs were motivated by the realisation that their particular ambitions were dependent on winning the support of the estates whose ranks should include representatives from the shires. Chapter 3 examines the method of electing the lords of articles, the composition of this committee, and some aspects of its operation. The conclusion is that in the main the estates were the deciding force in the choice of the lords of articles. The committee's composition was more a reflection of a desire for a balance between representatives from north and south of the Forth and for the most important burghs and clergy to be selected than an attempt at electing government favourites. The articles did exercise a significant control over the items which came before parliament but this control was not absolute and applied to government as well as private legislation. Chapter 4 questions the traditional view that the general council and convention of estates were the same body. It is argued that they were two different institutions with different powers, but that they nevertheless worked within certain limits and were careful not to usurp the authority of parliament. Chapter 5 concedes that taxation was sometimes decided outside parliament; that the irregularity of taxation certainly weakened the bargaining power of the estates and that the latter did not appear to capitalise on these occasions when taxation was an issue. But the tendency was to ensure that, whether in or out of parliament, the decision to impose taxation was taken by a large number of each estate. The infrequency of taxation was a direct consequence of an unwillingness among the estates to agree to a regular taxation and their preference to ensure for the crown an alternative source of income. Moreover taxation was one issue, which more than any other, would be subject to contentious opposition by the estates, and could lead to the crown's defeat. Chapter 6 is concerned with ecclesiastical representation after the Reformation and the church's attitudes to the possibility of ministerial representation. Some ministers had doctrinal misgivings but the majority came to believe that the church's absence from parliament bad severely reduced. the influence of the church. That no agreement was forthcoming on a system of ministerial representation, particularly after 1597, is attributable to the estates' unwillingness to compromise and, not to the strength of opposition in the church. Chapter 7 examines the institutions which are sometime seen as 'rivals' of parliament and concludes that institutions such as the privy council were generally very careful in matters which needed the approval of parliament, and seemed aware of the greater authority of parliament. Chapter 8 which illustrates how parliament had the right to be consulted in all important matters of state, brings together the main points of the earlier chapters and offers further illustrations of the essential role which parliament played in the conduct of national affairs. Whether or not the system can be regarded as constitutionally sound, the estates in Scotland could observe parliament's day-to-day operation with some satisfaction. All in all, there is little convincing evidence that parliament was as weak as some historians would have us believe.

This thesis examines the career of Hubert Hall (1857–1944). Hall began work at the Public Record Office in 1879, ending his career there as an Assistant Keeper in 1921. At the same time, and until 1939, he was heavily involved with many organizations and institutions, most notably the Royal Historical Society, the London School of Economics and the Royal Commission on Public Records. His numerous activities as a ‘historical worker’ were aimed at the ‘promotion of historical enterprise(s)’. Before 1900 his writing, on historical topics, and his editorial work were carried out primarily independently. After that date much of his published work derived from his teaching work (most successfully from seminar-based collaborations); this included works which addressed archival science and archival management. The shift in the type of work produced can be attributed to the furore, orchestrated by John Horace Round, surrounding his edition of The Red Book of the Exchequer, a dispute which had a notorious public airing in the late 1890s, but a longer and more private genesis dating back to the previous decade. The context for this examination of Hall’s career is the professionalization of history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the period during which he also began and ended his PRO career. The consolidation of the professional infrastructure of history by the early 1920s also signalled the divergence of archival management and academic history as separate disciplines. As a result, archivists in particular lost sight of their professional antecedents, with received opinion now dating the start of British archival thinking to the appearance of Hilary Jenkinson’s Manual of Archive Administration in 1922. These antecedents include a rich seam of archival writing (both theoretical and practical) by Hall and his PRO contemporaries (notably Charles Johnson and Charles Crump) and the work of a generation of women historical workers, many of whom have been identified as benefiting from Hall’s teaching, and his support. The ‘disappearance’ of these women from university-based history after the 1930s has been well documented in the literature; it is anticipated that future research would identify their re-emergence in, or their transfer to, the post-World War 2 archival domain.

There is much written history for the military professional to read, but little is of value to his education. While many works are often wonderful reading, they are too broad or narrow in scope, often lacking the context to be used for serious study by professional soldiers. This work was written with two audiences in mind; my colleagues in the academic world, along with my many comrades who are professional soldiers. The present work was originally conceived as a contribution to historical literature on the subject of military education. More specifically, it was to be an exploration of the concept of operational art and the manner in which planning was doctrinally conducted to articulate battle on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. Any study of war devoid of the theory and doctrine of the period would be of little use to academics and military professionals alike. By the same token, it is often necessary for an author to relate the unfamiliar feelings of combat to a reader in order to give the perspective needed to understand war. Military professionals should study history to become better decision makers. Peter Paret best explained the role of history in relation to military professionals or historians when he said, “ By opening up the past for us, history added to the fund of knowledge that we can acquire directly and also made possible universal concepts and generalizations across time. To enable history to do this, the historian must be objective or as Clausewitz would have said- "as scientific or philosophical as possible.” Decision making must be looked at through the lens of what Clausewitz called “critical analysis." Clausewitz sought to answer the question of “why” something happened in terms of cause and effect. A decisions being examined can only be understood if we know something of the character of the man who made it. These thoughts together provide the foundation on which greater understanding of the art and science of war is built, thus giving the military professional the tools to deconstruct a decision in terms of the problem historically in time and space. This facilitates a greater appreciation and understanding of his trade. The “reenacting process” allows scholars and professional soldiers to reconstruct problems in terms of the terrain and material used during the period; giving a clearer view into the heart of the problem. As students of the art and science of war, we must make every effort to morally, mentally and physically put ourselves in a position to understand why leaders made the decisions they did. While the sheer terror of combat can never be properly replicated, our studies must find a way to understand them. The English language, or any language for that matter has a poor ability to explain in words, written or spoken, the horror of war. War is not just the extension of policy by other means, it is a societal interaction where human beings struggle within the phenomenon called war. We must understand war to be a human activity, thus a social affair. Grasping human emotions, we see events capable of motivating or terrifying combatants in the lonely hours with the extreme violence typical of combat. In this light, we correctly educate ourselves about the true nature of war. War studied at the strategic, operational or tactical-levels should always consider decisions made, particularly in terms of their moral, mental and physical properties. Common elements to the offense or defense are the weather and terrain being fought on. While the weather will ultimately affect each differently, weather has the ability to complicate terrain in ways man to this day cannot conquer. The following pages reflect a military professional’s understanding of the events at Leningrad, Narva and Sinimäed from 68 years ago. Understanding of these events was achieved through German plan for Operation BLAU. An examination of this and other operational-level documents has yielded a tremendous understanding of how the Germans envisioned the retrograde of their forces into the Baltic states. It brings the author joy to know this work can be used to explain the monumental events and sacrifices of others. To this end, I have made my finest attempt.

This thesis is concerned with the changes and continuities in the discourses surrounding sexual-economic exchange in colonial Jamaica in the ‘long’ nineteenth century. More specifically, it explores the shifting relationship between representations of concubinage and street-based sexual labour amongst women of African ancestry and broader socio-cultural and political developments in Jamaica from the 1780s to the 1890s. The central argument of the thesis is that heightened discussions about sexual-economic exchange amongst local and imperial elites reflected concerns about race, labour, disease and civilization in the colony. Further, as Jamaica transitioned from a slave society to free and modern nation, the operation of sexual-economic exchange became an increasingly regulated and stigmatized form of sexual praxis amongst poor, subordinate women. Drawing on the theoretical framework developed by feminist scholars in the emerging subfield of Caribbean Sexualities, this thesis examines practices of sexual-economic exchange in nineteenth-century Jamaica as a form of women’s labour. While it recognizes the centrality of sexual violence and rape in the lives of poor, subordinate women, particularly during the period of slavery, this thesis seeks to broaden the discussions of black and brown women’s sexual experiences within the historiography of slave and post-slavery Caribbean societies. Thus, one of the central premises of this thesis is that despite the confines of slavery, patriarchy, and colonialism, some women engaged in transactional sex as a means of achieving financial stability and social mobility. In this way, this thesis contributes to emerging research on the centrality of sexual praxis to the developments and transformations in Jamaican society.

This dissertation interrogates the ways in which a series of critical newspapers, federal agencies, and private industries sought to re-shape and negatively frame the public image of post-war conservation and environmental groups in Utah and the Intermountain West. It traces, through a series of environmental-energy conflicts located around southern Utah's Kaiparowits Plateau, how commentators employed attacks on public image to de-legitimise and contain what was seen as the escalating spread of a political and cultural force: environmentalism. Beginning in the early 1950s and proceeding through much of the United States' 'environmental decade,' I detail the mutating nature and variable efficacy of these attacks as environmentalists were alternately associated with Communism, Middle Eastern oil cartels, and the counterculture. Recognising environmental groups as co-producers in this shifting public image, I also account for their counter-attempts at defending their reputations using advertising, photography, and promotional materials. This project offers a revisionist approach to standard narratives of the ascendancy of environmental organisations. Historical accounts have typically focused on the increasing competency, professionalism, and popularity of these advocacy groups. However, few explorations have focused on the way public understandings of the movement were shaped by a range of hostile critics that constructed environmentalists in a series of decidedly pejorative frames. I argue that even as several environmental organisations achieved increased political access and potency in the years 1950-1980, their reputations in the same period experienced a comparable decline. This resultant divisive reputation in the Intermountain states would come to play a central factor in the movement's subsequent loss of political and cultural agency in the region in the 1980s.