New Book: 'Victorian Political Culture'



Victorian Britain is often described as an age of dawning democracy and as an exemplar of the modern Liberal state; yet a hereditary monarchy, a hereditary House of Lords, and an established Anglican Church survived as influential aspects of national public life with traditional elites assuming redefined roles.

A new book, Victorian Political Culture: Habits of Heart and Mind, by Professor Angus Hawkins, explores the distinctive values and cultures behind the political and constitutional transformations of the Victorian age - and examines changing ideas of the British constitution, political parties, elections and voting behaviour, as well as shifting notions of male and female involvement in the public sphere.

Professor Hawkins is Director of the Department's Public and International Programmes, and an expert on modern British politics. He has consulted on the History of Parliament Project on the function and nature of Parliament in the 19th Century, a participant in the British Academy Forum, 'The Coalition and the Constitution' and is much in demand as a speaker on coalition governments. His previous book The Forgotten Prime Minister, is a two-volume biography of the longest-serving Conservative party leader and three times prime minister, the 14th Earl of Derby.

Dr Philip Salmon, Editor of The History of Parliament 1832-1968, calls Victorian Political Culture: Habits of Heart and Mind 'an exceptionally erudite work that sets out to challenge many long-standing historical assumptions' and praises its 'sheer intellectual energy.'

In addition to his role at the Department, Professor Hawkins is Director of the Research Centre in Victorian Political Culture at Keble College, Oxford, which explores the intellectual, religious, linguistic, literary, social, technological and economic developments shaping the public culture of Britain from the 1790s to the beginning of the 20th century.

Victorian Political Culture: Habits of Heart and Mind is published by Oxford University Press.

Priase for Victorian Political Culture: Habits of Heart and Mind:

 
‘Fortunately, a historian with the detailed archival knowledge of the breadth of nineteenth-century political activity has chosen to address the thorny question of how Victorian political culture changed (or did not change) across the seven decades when Victoria was on the British throne. Angus Hawkins…has written a magisterial study in which he ..,paints a broad picture of the development of the Victorian cosmology, yet is able to substantiate its claims with an immaculate grasp of the philosophical and historical materials of the age….This book succeeds, not only in restoring political history to a “central position” in the study of the Victorian world, but also in reaffirming the importance of primary research, if the historian wishes to offer valid explanations of the change, rather than mere descriptions of the past. This book should be celebrated by all students of the Victorian period.’
 
Ian Cawood The Times Literary Supplement
 
‘Angus Hawkins’s’ splendidly eclectic new book offers a veritable “grand tour” of Victorian political culture….It offers the best overview of recent constitutional. Parliamentary and electoral historiography (not to mention intellectual history), but it would be wrong to see this solely as a synthetic venture – Hawkins wants to craft a new interpretation for thinking about the politics of the century as a whole…Hawkins is the Bagehot of his day.’
 
David Craig The English Historical Review
 
‘Hawkins’s book is a splendid demonstration of why political history  matters in understanding Victorian Britain….The whole is written with style, elegance and lucidity….Hawkins builds carefully on existing studies…but produces here an original and powerful interpretation which will command the field for some time.’
 
Anthony Howe History
 
Hawkins grounds his interpretation ‘in a thorough command of both the contemporary political and modern historical literature, one that reflects both a deep reading of the period resources and a familiarity with the recent academic work related to his topic. Together, this makes for a masterful study of British political culture, one that will serve as a standard work for students of politics and political history for decades to come.’
 
Mark Kolbas  Political Studies Review
 

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Published 22 October 2015