The Nineteenth Century: The British Isles, 1815-1901 (review)

This volume forms part of a new series entitled the "Short Oxford History of the British Isles." Its format comprises an extended editorial introduction followed by a series of chapters written by subject experts. In a book designed largely as an introduction to a period, this methodology has its risks in terms of unevenness and the lack of an overall interpretative voice. Here, under the expert guidance of Colin Matthew in what sadly turned out to be his last important project, these risks are largely avoided. We have a group of well-turned chapters written with confidence and fluency by people clearly re-visiting familiar terrain, though without any sense of ennui.

The best of these is probably Matthew's own introduction, which offers a wide-ranging and masterly tour d'horizon. It covers all the key themes and offers limpid commentary on all the areas discussed in more detail in the chapters that follow. Matthew is absolutely right to argue that, despite its relative chronological proximity, "the nineteenth century, in terms of its mind-set is in fact one of the centuries most alien to the modern mind" (36). He instances the differences in perception for nineteenth-century Britons living as part of the world's leading economic and naval power and contemporaries both uncomfortably aware of Britain as a middle-ranking offshore archipelago and deeply ambivalent about their relationship with the United States as the successor dominant power. His other main indicator, a "rich public life, carefully nurtured and sustained by a strong sense of service at the local and national" levels (37), offers the more telling contrast. Early-twenty-first-century Britain recognises celebrity much more easily than it understands achievement. It also lacks any cogent understanding—at least at the political level—of the very concept of a "public life."

The book does present some problems, however. The actual chronology covered is orthodox in its starting date of 1815, although many scholars nowadays see the Battle of Waterloo as a decidedly rum place from which to begin a study of nineteenth-century Britain. It makes a serious study of the impact of industrial change very difficult to manage and it is a date which makes no sense either dynastically or politically.

The terminal date, 1901, is less orthodox and, arguably, no less rum. Most studies of the nineteenth century go on to 1914. 1901 is, of course, the date of Queen Victoria's death, and thus of some salience to readers of Victorian Studies but it is otherwise unmemorable. Also, as Matthew's chapter on "Public Life and Politics" amply demonstrates, the Queen's overt political influence—as opposed to her parading of fidgety, ill-informed, and often risible prejudices behind the scenes—was negligible. Certainly, the decision to end this volume so abruptly deprives some of its admirable collection of seven experts of some scope.

Martin Daunton's discussion of poverty and social conditions would have been much enriched by a consideration of the extent to which public policy in these areas was altered by the pre-war Liberal governments. Kate Flint's chapter on "Literature, Music and the Theatre" would also have benefited considerably from the ability to consider the increasingly important role of "public music" in the Edwardian era. It would also have been interesting to have a judgement on whether the symphonic flowering of Edward Elgar did indeed cap a musical renaissance in a country which spent much on concerts but which failed for so much of the nineteenth century to produce its own composer of first rank. Since the section on music is much the weakest in Flint's otherwise informed, fluent, and effective chapter, the constraint is the more irritating.

Carping at the chosen chronology, however, should not reduce overall admiration for a lively and wide-ranging volume. In general, contributors have risen...