The reputation of Kingston Borough Council during the nineteenth century has been that it was dilatory in operation and reluctant to meet the challenges that were associated with an expanding community. The thesis, reassesses that reputation, in comparison to similar communities, and addresses possible reasons for reluctance. As the main theme is the response of the local authority to both permissive and mandatory legislation imposed by central government, research has had to consider who constituted the local authority. Questions have therefore focused on the type of men who served on the council for the period following the introduction of the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 and ending in 1900. In particular, the occupational representation on the council has been analysed in order to establish whether there may have been influence from any one sector of the social and economic life of the borough, and whether that changed over the peirod of research. Answers have been sought also as to the level of kinship, both contemporaneous and between generations, and the social networks, or associations, which linked councillors. To facilitate analysis of data retrieved from sources that recorded the life and work of individual councillors, including council and newspaper reports, a computer database has been designed to bring together information from the contemporary sources, bith manuscript and printed. Capable of supporting analytical procedures, the database is in the form of a list of 240 names compiled from the councillors listed in the Council Minutes, Board of Guardian Minutes and the recorded proceedings of other formal bodies. Other possible causes for the manner in which Kingston council reacted to the needs of an expanding population have been sought. What influenced the decision making process most, was it inexperience, an inability to accept the changing machinery of government, both central and local, a lack of understanding of the role of modern local governance or other issues which fuelled the lengthy debates that preceded every move toward improvement? It has been necessary to consider the extent to which Kingston council's dilatory behaviour, if proven, rests with the caste of men who exercised authority, concern about finance or whether there was a combination of contributory factors. What emerges from the analysis is a picture of a council dominated by a group of men who made up the burgeoning middle class society of the borough. It would be a exaggeration to call them a self-perpetuating oligarchy, but they certainly had a core of first families who, for much of the nineteenth century, sought to maintain the status quo. By studying the various inputs into a particular local authority, for instance the level of competence, local circumstances, reaction to change, professionalism and financial management, to name but a few, it could be possible to determine why it functioned as it did and make a contribution to the administrative history of the region.

This thesis investigates the process of reforming the rule relating to celibacy for Fellows of Oxford and Cambridge colleges. This is the first full length study of the changes in Statutes removing the ban on marriage for Fellows of university colleges, combining research into university, religious, legal and social history. This study traces the origins of the obligatory rule of chastity at the universities' foundations until revision of their Statutes in 1882. Originally students at the universities undertook training as priests even if destined for other professions, therefore chastity was obligatory. The roles of the Church, Crown, and Parliament have been studied in relation to the origins of celibacy for priests, its continuance at the university colleges, throughout the reformation of religion, its preservation until almost the end of the nineteenth century and the consequences of intervention from all three establishments. The main structure of college administration, staff, way of life, and the impact upon reform of events, arguments and debates on the advantages and disadvantages of the system have also been examined and assessed. Key stages, incorporating a chronological view, in the process of changing university colleges from monastic type establishments into environments where married Fellows with families were accepted have been investigated and evaluated. This thesis demonstrates how political, economic, social and legal factors combined, both within and outside the universities, together with the efforts of a few persistent and far-sighted individuals, to create a climate favourable to change. The documents consulted cover a wide range of sources including college archives, government reports, parliamentary speeches, political and ecclesiastical proceedings, diaries, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies and newspapers. This study contributes to an understanding of the process of reform and seeks to demonstrate how, not one single event, but a variety of factors combined over a period of time created circumstances making changes acceptable and possible. It also throws new light on the influence and achievements of individuals, in particular James Heywood, Robert Potts, and Lord John Russell, and points to the need for further research into their lives and work.

This thesis is concerned with the way in which child murderers have been viewed in the past. Not the killing of children by adults, but the more unusual occurrence of children killing other children. Focusing on the earliest recorded cases in medieval society, up to and including Mary Bell, it will be argued that English societies of the past were as much preoccupied as the contemporary world with the vexing issue of where childhood ended and adulthood began. The genesis of a child's status in law evolved, in part, through connection with these crimes. The religious source of a child's moral discernment was formative in early legal discussions on the age of criminal responsibility. The state of a child's soul was relevant to the judgements that could be made of him, not only in a narrow legal sense, but also in wider cultural ways. In the eighteenth century, the opinion individuals and communities held about child killers were inseparable from the sensibilities of that period and the conflicting imperatives of mercy and retribution. The perceived content of a child's moral knowledge changed in line with shifting debates about childhood. The ideas of Rationalism and Romanticism were placed under considerable tension when viewed through the example of the child killer. In the first half of the nineteenth century, discussion on criminals, especially murdering children, became in effect, a commentary on different political visions of humankind. In later scientific narratives of morality, the example of child killers furnished medical categories of mental disease. The issue of moral responsibility in law was increasingly challenged by the developing psychology of human behaviour. Freud's innovative understandings of childhood raised the problem of how to attribute guilt to developing capacities. Later clinicians used his legacy in their attempts to make sense of the disturbed child, and late twentieth century examples of child murder reveal the fragility of these understandings. The contention is that children who commit these crimes become the repository of projected adult anxieties about childhood. Furthermore, such crimes, by virtue of their exceptional nature, lead to political and moral judgements whose origins can be seen in the fundamental moral ideas of the past.

The evolution of friendly societies in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in a variety of formats and structures providing similar objectives of financial support in times of sickness and death. In this thesis. friendly society Orders in particular are considered by addressing specific questions. These relate to (a) their distinctive characteristics, (b) the processes at work which produced these characteristics, (c) the fundamental significance of the individual contributing to formation and management, within a hitherto neglected model of working classes democracy, and (d) the wider appeal other than simply that of financial benefit. Within the timespan 1793-1911. issues are identified and examined, primarily with reference to the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society. These take into account both chronological and geographical diversity. They include structural evolution, the fundamental feature of the Orders' culture; the establishment and maintenance of representative and participatory democratic features; self-government by locally constituted units constrained by universally adopted Order-wide rules; diversity of experience according to the wishes of members and reliance on individuals in the formation and administration of the Orders. The superceding of an explicit moral base by a business driven approach is looked at as is the. establishment of widow and orphan Funds to support two very visible elements of 19th century society. Aspects of membership beyond that of adult males is presented against a broader background of changes in society. Formation of female branches and recruitment and retention of young members, male and female, are examined. Finally the seemingly paradoxical presence of non-benefit. honorary members, is analysed. In placing the Orders at the centre of study. this thesis provides a context for examination of friendly society activity at local community and national levels. By identifying structures, characteristics and processes it reveals the capacity and desire of working people in Britain to secure for themselves, as far as was possible at the time, secure and stable lives.

This thesis provides a historical account of the Communist Part of Great Britain during the years 1964-1979, a period which has received very little in-depth research. It will argue that the most important context for understanding the Party's dynamics during this period is that of the major social, cultural and political changes associated with the 1960's and 1970's, and notably the important political developments, such as the student and feminist movements, the intense period of industrial militancy and the rise of Gramscism. In making this argument it therefore challenges the assumptions of much existing research into national communist parties that it is the developments within and around the Soviet Union, or the tenets of orthodox communism, that are most influential. While the 'Soviet mantra' remained an important source of identification for many British communists, predominantly it was the British factors that provide the key to understanding the Party's political direction. These were to be found firstly in the challenge to its political identity from the activities of the young communists in the 1960's which, together with the ideas and strategies adopted by feminist and student movements in the 1970's, provided the basis for the development of an alternative political strategy within the Party. Further ideological and strategic renewal came from two sources. Militant labourism enabled a closer relationship with the labour movement through the influential union networks established by Bert Ramelson, the leader of the Party's Industrial Department, while it also shaped militant opposition to legislation aimed at curtailing trade union power. On the other hand, socialist humanism helped revive a stronger role for the intellectuals in the Party, finding points of convergence with an emerging Gramscian generation (many of whom had graduated from the YCL, student and feminist movements), through initiatives like the Communist University of London, leading subsequently to a major attempt to change the Party's political strategy in the 1977 edition of the 'British road to Socialism'. The final section argues that the Party's demise had its roots in the decline of the traditional working class and the Party's failure to move beyond its labourist constraints in appealing sufficiently to new sections (as argued by Eric Hobsbawm in the 'forward march of labour halted?'). The conflict between the Gramscians and the leadership meanwhile intensified into irreconcilable positions, provoked by a debate over the Party's democratic structure in 1979. In the wake of its own decline, a further example of the Party's ability to influence the wider left was evident in the way in which the ideological and strategic dimensions of British Gramscism helped to shape the revival of the New Left in its third phase.

This thesis analyses the ways in which histories of same-sex love are presented to the public. It provides an original overview of the themes, strengths and limitations encountered in representations of same-sex love across multiple institutions and examples of public history. This thesis argues that positively, there have been many developments in archives, museums, historic houses, monuments and digital public history that make histories of same-sex love more accessible to the public, and that these forms of public history have evolved to be participatory and inclusive of margnialised communities and histories. It highlights ways that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer (LGBTQ) communities have contributed to public histories of same-sex love and thus argues that public history can play a significant role in the formation of personal and group identities. It also argues that despite this progression, there are many ways in which histories of same-sex love remain excluded from, or are represented with significant limitations, in public history. This thesis shows that the themes of balancing trauma and celebration, limited intersectionality, complex terminology, shared authority and the ghettoisation of same-sex love have emerged across a variety of public history types and institutions. It discusses examples of successful and limited representations of same-sex love in order to suggest ways that public history can move forward and better represent such histories.

<p> This work explores the development, maintenance, and fracture or transformation of the collective identity that defined the British upper class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the historical/cultural narratives that developed around the fracture of that collective identity, and on the affect that both identity fracture and narratives exercised on British society, culture, and politics during and after the First World War. We examine the process by which that collective identity was transmitted from generation to generation, examine the damage done to upper class collective identity during and in the wake of WW I, and explore the expression of that damaged identity in the development and influence of historical/cultural narratives generally identified as Lost Generation narratives. </p><p> The theoretical framework used in this dissertation is based on the work of a group of sociologists that includes Alberto Melucci, Manuel Castells, Harold Kerbo, John Ogbu, Jeffrey Alexander, Ron Eyerman, and Kai Erikson. Their analyses are grounded in Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory&mdash;a body of theory that seeks to describe the formation, maintenance, and transformation of both individual and collective identities. The historical analysis used in this effort involves the work of a range of historians and theoreticians. These include historians who focus on British social/cultural history and/or on the history of Britain during the First World War (e.g. J.M. Winter, David Cannadine, Samuel Hynes, Lawrence James, Paul Fussell, and Angela Lambert) as well as historians and theoreticians who focus on literary interpretation and on the use of narrative in history (e.g. Keith Jenkins, Hayden White, Roland Barthes, and Michel Foucault). The historical analysis includes research in primary sources from historical actors discussed in the dissertation. These include diaires, letters, and memoirs by Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, Seigfried Sassoon, and JRR Tolkien; letters and expedition journals of George Mallory; and JRR Tolkien's working notebooks regarding the development of his fictional works.</p><p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Warwick, 1990.

This thesis primarily comprises a review and analysis of evidence relating to the formation and early development of Henry Gardner's Trust for the Blind. This analysis is set within the context of Victorian philanthropy in general and charities for the blind in particular. Among the topics investigated are the differences between 'endowed' and 'voluntary' charities, developing attitudes to the 'problem of the blind', the relative position of the blind compared with other classes of the 'disabled' and the gradually declining numbers of the blind. The personal motivations of those most closely involved with the formation and management of Gardner's Trust are examined, together with the objectives that could reasonably have been set for the charity and whether they were achieved. An estimate is made of the importance of the support afforded by the trust to the existing colleges for the blind at Norwood and Worcester and where the trust was less prepared to be supportive. The relationships between the trust and other organisations, such as the Charity Organisation Society, are also reviewed. The impact on the charity of external factors such as changes in legislation affecting the blind and the economic environment is evaluated, along with the related topic of the investment strategy adopted by the trustees. Within the disparate universe of charities for the blind, a brief history of the Phoenix Home for Blind Women, later the Cecilia Charity for the Blind, is provided as a comparative case study. The main findings are that, after a period of great success and influence, the importance of the charity declined as a result of social, political and economic events, especially increasing State intervention and the ravages of inflation. Successive trustees failed to recognise the need to supplement the original endowment and reappraise the trust's objectives.

This thesis explores the business of the boatmen on the Upper Tidal Thames (Teddington to Chiswick) from 1750 to 1901, and addresses the question of how it was that most of their families survived a series of threats to their trade - the buildingof new bridges and roads, the menace of the press gangs, and the development of steam ships and trains - and unexpectedly ended the 19th century in a stronger position than they had enjoyed in 1750. The research reaches the conclusion that those boatmen families that continued to work on the river did so because of the natural advantages of their locations, allied to an ability to adapt to new conditions.' In the picturesque upper reaches of the UTT most of the watermen took advantage of the increase in leisure activities by setting up as boat-hirers and boat-builders. Meanwhile most of the lightermen journeymen in Isleworth and Brentford benefited from the increased trade generated by . the building of the Grand Junction Canal and the Great Western terminal. However, there were two groups that did not succeed in adapting to the new circumstances: the lightermen owners found their own small fleets of lighters swamped by incomers who used steam tugs, and the' watermen in the down-stream villages of Mortlake, Barnes and Chiswiek were unable to create a leisure trade to replace their traditional business of carrying passengers and freight to London. The subsidiary factors that contributed to the survival or departure of the families in the 18th and early 19th century are explored in some detail. These included the considerable influence of widows, the threat of the press gangs and the use of protection, the value of sporting success and the prestige of Royal Watermen, and the problems posed by the size of the boatmen's families - often there were too few sons, occasionally too many. The thesis uses a database constructed from the index to the Company of Watermen and Lightermen's list of apprentices, and it collates a wealth of other data from the Company's massive and well-indexed archive, a resource very little used by academics. As the boatmen were key members of their communities, this analysis of their trade also adds a building block to our under-explored suburban history, supplying context for those researching similar business networks. It is hoped that this thesis may in time inspire a wider study of the archive and the suburban Thames.