This thesis investigates radicalism and reform in Scotland, from the collapse of the post- 1815 popular movement for parliamentary reform in 1820, to the achievement of parliamentary reform in 1832, and burgh reform in 1833. It focuses on the ideologies and languages that were used in contesting issues of political reform, both by elites and by popular movements. One of its aims is to explore the debate over the position of Scotland within Britain that was facilitated by the reform of political institutions and the system of representation. Chapter one examines the broad critique of Scottish institutions and society that had developed from the 1790s, and particularly following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. This was apparent in parliament, in three attempts to amend various aspects of Scotland's system of representation, and outside parliament, in numerous reform campaigns with both political and religious objectives. Chapter two investigates the political context of the 182Os, focusing on the reaction in Scotland to the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828. Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and the revolution in France in 1830. Chapter three provides a narrative of the drafting and passing of the Reform Act (Scotland), and of the popular movement outside parliament. It identifies the key stages in the development of the legislation, and the various problems its architects had to surmount. Chapter four looks at the debate on reform among Scotland's political elites and, in particular how this debate was prosecuted in parliament. Chapter five investigates the popular movement for reform in Scotland, briefly considering the functional factors that contributed to its creation and the maintenance of unity. It argues that while reformers and radicals made claims using a number of different languages, the reform movement after 1830 was characterised by the appeal to 'popular constitutionalism'. This language provided a coherent and flexible critique of the unreformed political system and allowed the reform movement to monopolise the language of patriotism and loyalty. The final chapter considers the consequences of parliamentary reform. It had a major influence on the languages and strategies used to contest issues in Scottish politics, and the patriotic consensus that had been achieved between 1830 and 1832 began to deteriorate. Finally, the consequences of parliamentary reform were sectarian as well as political. Changes made in the constitution and the state bolstered calls for changes to be made in the church. Movements calling for the end of religious establishments, or for their improvement, emerged during and after the agitation for parliamentary reform, and the 'Ten Years' Conflict' and the Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843 should be seen in the context of the reforms of 1829 to 1833.

This thesis investigates religious life in Glasgow, Scotland in the sixteenth century. As the first full length study of the town’s Christian community in this period, this thesis makes use of the extant Church documents to examine how Glaswegians experienced Christianity during the century in which religious change was experienced by many communities in Western Europe. This project includes research from both before and after 1560, the year of the Reformation Parliament in Scotland, and therefore eschews traditional divisions used in studies of this kind that tend to view 1560 as a major rupture for Scotland’s religious community. Instead, this study reveals the complex relationships between continuity and change in Glasgow, showing a vibrant Christian community in the early part of the century and a changed but similarly vibrant community at the century’s end. This project attempts to understand Glasgow’s religious community holistically. It investigates the institutional structures of the Church through its priests and bishops as well as the popular devotions of its parishioners. It includes examinations of the sacraments, Church discipline, excommunication and religious ritual, among other Christian phenomena. The dissertation follows many of these elements from their medieval Catholic roots through to their Reformed Protestant derivations in the latter part of the century, showing considerable links between the traditions. This thesis argues that although considerable change occurred through the establishment of a Presbyterian Church polity and the enforcement of new conceptions of Church discipline, many elements of popular devotion remained stable throughout the period. The research in this project challenges many of the traditional narratives of Scottish Reformation historiography. It disputes notions of the decay of the Church in the years previous to the Reformation parliament, and it questions the speed with which the goals of the Reformation were achieved in the town. It also challenges traditional interpretations of the martyrdom of John Ogilvie, a Jesuit executed in the town in 1615. In this way, the dissertation offers an alternative approach to the period that could be applied to research done on other Scottish or European towns.

This thesis is a study of the role of Scots and Scottish society in the politics of the Westminster Parliament and the British Union-state during the later Georgian period. Specifically, it analyses the lobbying activity of certain Scottish interests at Parliament and the central agencies of the British state in London during the period c.1760-c.1830. In doing so, this thesis is concerned with the developing efficacy of Scottish lobbies, as well as the extent to which they represented identifiably Scottish interests at Westminster and within the British Union-state over the course of this period. It aims to expand our understanding of how important elements within Scottish society gradually came to play an active role in the British political centre and argues that Scottish lobbying changed over this period from a position of nurturing and defending a separately constructed Scottish 'national' interest to becoming part of an integrated set of interests operating within a broader and more comprehensive British framework. This change was brought about by the need to represent Scottish interests more effectively within the British Union-state, particularly as the politics of Westminster became more important to certain parts of Scottish society from the 1780s onwards during the early industrial revolution. This process was, at times, uneven, and there was often tension between ongoing convergence and persistent distinction. Nevertheless, Scottish interests became more closely integrated within the British political system over the course of this period through their lobbying activities at the Westminster Parliament and of ministers in Whitehall. They increasingly operated more effectively as part of the British political and legislative process, and did so in ways which no longer presented them as separate or different in what was becoming a more authentically 'British' political culture.