As part of a series on British history, Mr. Thomson covers the 19th century history of England after the Napoleonic Wars to the eve of the 1st World War between 1814 to 1914. While Britain become a true power in economics & military power, her domestic issues leftover from the impact of the Industrial Revolution & her single minded focus of defeating Napoleon left her too exhausted at first to cope. Over the century covered, Parliament for nearly 20 years refused to bring reforms forward. Once the Reform Bill passed in 1832, Parliament at times under pressure would push through numerous reforms of various nature. Yet the continuing reforms only produced more pressing issues as if unending. Although he states from the beginning that he would focus on the social issues which he does throughout the book, he inadvertently ends up proving that political solutions for resolving societal wrongs not only fail but also create more problems thus proving that even socialism as Parliament increasingly drifted to, would fall short. His overt enthusiasm for supposedly the right solution in socialism blinds the author to its unintended consequences as British history into the 20th century would prove (Churchill's constant warning would be studiously rejected at great cost to Britain). ( )

I felt much more grounded in this book than in the previous Pelican History of England, Plumb's England in the Eighteenth Century. Partially, I am sure, this is because I study Victorian literature, and thus have more of a background, but I think it helps that Thomson doesn't divide his book into phases based on prime ministers whose importance I am supposed to take for granted, but three different "phases" (1815-50, 1851-74, 1875-1914) that emphasize, in turn, reform, progress, and statehood. With less of politics and more of the social situation, Thomson provides a very readable, light history with occasional moments of insight, such as:"Later generations have come to regard as man-made and intolerable many things which the Victorians accepted as without remedy. The Victorians regarded as intolerable many others things which their ancestors had deemed without remedy, and they had slowly to invent appropriate means to deal with these new-found but not novel social evils. [...] Evils felt to be humanly remediable were tackled as promptly, and, on the whole, as competently, as the means at their disposal allowed" (115). He's obviously working at point to reclaim the Victorians from later criticism (i.e., Lytton Strachey et al.), and I too am all for that.

Points of interest:
Effects of Poor Law: Poor had had hardly any contact with Government at all, and harshness of new administration had important psychological effects - eg growth of Chartism, decline of Benthamism.
Penny Post one reason for success of Anti-Corn-Law League.
In 1850 Britain had £300m invested abroad, in 1870 £800m.
Monarchy very unpopular in 1870-1. Then: Queen fell ill, Prince of Wales fell ill, recovered on anniversary of Prince Consort's death, Queen issued a personal letter of thanks for sympathy of people. Feb 1872: attempt to assassinate Queen. This all changed climate of opinion.
Civil Service had 21,300 in 1832, 50,000 by 1880, 280,000 in 1914.
Of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, two - freedom of expression and of worship - are nineteenth-century Liberal; two - freedom from want and fear - are modern.

The arrangement into three periods of unequal length - 1815-1850; 1851-1874; 1874-1914 - seemed curious at first sight; but the author fully justifies it, without making the mistake of overstressing it as Myers did in his volume.
An extremely able book, and quite as good as any other book in the same series.
(notes written 1953 or 1954)

The Pelican History of England: 8