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James O ’ Driscoll

BRITAIN

FOR LEARNERS OF E NG L I S H

James O ’Driscoll

BRITAIN

FOR LEARNERS OF E NGL I S H

O X FO R D

OXTORD

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A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S The authors and publisher are grateful to those who have given permission to reproduce the following extracts and adaptations o f copyright material: pp31 & 116Extract from Notesfrom a Small Island by Bill Bryson published by Black Swan in 1996. Reproduced by perm ission o f Random House Group Ltd. p44 Extract from ‘Mad about Plaid’ by A. A. Gill, The Sunday Times, 23 January 1994 © Times Newspapers Ltd 1994. Reproduced by perm ission o f N I Syndication Ltd. p44 E xtract from ‘W ho gives a C aber Toss’ by Harry Ritchie, The Sunday Times, 23 January 1994 © Times Newspapers Ltd 1994. Reproduced by perm ission o f NI Syndication Ltd. p55 Extract from ‘Events: Cross-Border w eekend event 2007’ from http://w ww.schoolsacrossborders.org. Schools Across Borders is a registered charity in Ireland. Reproduced by perm ission, p i 32 Extract from A sad lesson' by Paul Sims from The Daily Mail, 26 O ctober 2007 © Daily Mail. Reproduced by perm ission, p i 91 Extract from ‘A saboteur in the shrubs takes rival's hanging baskets’ by Paul Sims from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new/ article 28 July 2007 © Daily Mail 2007. Reproduced by perm ission. pp69, 87 & 154 Extracts from Yes, Prime Minister by A nthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn © A nthony Jay & Jonathan Lynn published by BBC Books. Reproduced by perm ission o f Random House Group Ltd and the Copyright agent: Alan Brodie Representation Ltd, 6 th floor, Fairgate House, 78 New Oxford Street, London WE1A 1HB, info@ alanbrodie.com. Sources: p45 w w v.tiniesonline.co.uk/tol/com m ent/colum nists/m inette_ m arrin/article2702726; p l41 How to be inimitable by George Mikes, Penguin Books 1966, first published by Andre Deutsch © George Mikes 1960. p Writing home by Alan B ennett, Faber and Faber 1994. p62 Extract from an article by John Peel, The Radio Times 2-8 Decem ber 2000. p l l 5 E xtract from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-481129/Victory-Britains-metric- martyrs-Eur. pOO E xtract from http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom /press/ eurom yths/m yths2 l_en.htm ; p l7 3 E xtract from The English by Jerem y Paxm an, Penguin 1999. p l8 3 Extract from How to be an alien by George Mikes, p i 34 Extract from ‘Liberal Sum m erhill tries discipline’ by Stan Griffiths and Maurice C hittenden, The Sunday Times, 4 June 2006.

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Contents

Introduction

01 Country and people Geographically speaking • P olitically speaking The fo u r nations • The dom inance o f England N ational loyalties

02 History (^) 15 Prehistory • The Roman period (4 3 -4 1 0 ) • The Germanic invasions (410-1066) • The medieval period (1 0 6 6 -1 4 5 8 ) • The sixteenth century • The seventeenth century • The eighteenth century - The nineteenth century • The tw entieth century

06 Political life 69

The public a ttitude to politics • The style o f democracy • The constitution • The style o f politics • The party system • The m odern situation

07 The monarchy so The appearance • The reality • The role o f the monarch • The value o f the m onarchy • The future o f the m onarchy

08 The governm ent The cabinet • The Prime M inister service • Local governm ent

The civil

03 Geography (^) 32

C lim ate • Land and settlem ent • The environm ent and pollu tio n • London • Southern England • The M idlands o f England • N orthern England • Scotland • Wales • N orthern Ireland

09 Parliament The atm osphere o f Parliam ent • An M P’s life Parliam entary business • The party system in Parliament • The House o f Lords

04 Identity 43 Ethnic identity: the fo u r nations • O ther ethnic identities • The fam ily • Geographical identity • Class • Men and women • Social and everyday contacts • Religion and politics • Identity in N orthern Ireland • Being British • Personal identity: a sense o f hum our

05 Attitudes 58

Stereotypes and change • English versus British • A m u lticu ltu ra l society • Conservatism • Being different • Love o f nature • Love o f animals • Public-spiritedness and am ateurism • Form ality and in fo rm a lity • Privacy and sex

10 Elections 99 The system • Formal arrangements • The campaign • Polling day and election night • Recent results and the future • M odern issues

11 The law 107 The police and the public • Crime and crim inal procedure • The system o f justice • The legal profession

12 International relations 113 British people and the rest o f the w o rld • The British state and the rest o f the w o rld • Transatlantic relations • European relations • Relations inside Great Britain • Great Britain and N orthern Ireland

CONTENTS 5

13 Religion 121

Politics ■ Anglicanism • C atholicism • O ther conventional C hristian churches • O th e r religions, churches, and religious movements

14 Education 130

Historical background • M odern times: the education debates • Style • School life • Public exams • Education beyond sixteen

15 The econom y and

everyday life

Earning money: w orking life • W o rk organizations Public and private in d u stry • The d is trib u tio n o f w ealth • Using money: finance and investment • Spending money: shopping • Shop opening hours

16 The media 151 The im portance o f the national press • The tw o types o f national newspaper • The characteristics o f the national press: politics • The characteristics o f the national press: sex and scandal • The BBC • Television: organization • Television: style

17 Transport 161 On the road • Public tra n s p o rt in tow ns and cities Public tra n s p o rt between towns and cities • The channel tunnel • A ir and w ater

19 H ousing 173 Houses, n o t flats • Private property and public property • The im portance o f ‘ hom e’ • Individuality and co n fo rm ity • Interiors: the im portance o f cosiness • O w ning and renting • Homelessness • The future

20 Food and drink Eating habits and attitudes • A lcohol • Pubs

Eating o u t

21 Sport and com petition 190 A national passion • The social im portance o fs p o r t • Cricket • Football • Rugby • Anim als in sp o rt • O th e r sports • G am bling

22 The arts The arts in society • The characteristics o f British arts and letters < Theatre and cinema • M usic • W ords • The fine arts

23 Holidays and

special occasions

T raditional seaside holidays • Modern holidays • Christmas • New Year • O th e r notable annual occasions

18 Welfare The benefits system • Social services and charities • The N ational Health Service • The medical profession

Country and people

W h y is B r ita in ‘ G r e a t?

The origin o f the adjective ‘great’ in the name G reat B ritain was n o t a piece o f advertising (a lth o u g h m odern politicia n s som etim es try to use it th a t w ay!). It was firs t used to distinguish it from the sm aller area in France w hich is called ‘ B ritta n y ’ in m odern English.

This is a book about Britain. But what exactly is Britain? And who are the British? The table below illustrates the problem. You m ight think that, in international sport, the situation would be simple - one country, one team. But you can see that this is definitely not the case with Britain. For each o f the four sports or sporting events listed in the table, there are a different num ber o f national team s which m ight be described as ‘British’. This chapter describes how this situation has come about and explains the many names th a t are used when people talk about Britain.

Geographically speaking

Lying off the north-west coast o f Europe, there are two large islands and hundreds o f much smaller ones. The largest island is called Great Britain. The other large one is called Ireland (G re a t B rita in and Ireland). There is no agreem ent about w hat to call all o f them together (L o o k in g f o r a n a m e ).

Politically speaking

In this geographical area there are two states. One o f these governs m ost o f the island o f Ireland. This state is usually called The Republic o f Ireland. It is also called ‘Eire5(its Irish language name). Informally, it is referred to as just ‘Ireland’ or ‘the Republic’.

The other state has authority over the rest o f the area (the whole o f Great Britain, the north-eastern area o f Ireland and m ost o f the smaller islands). This is the country th a t is the m ain subject o f this book. Its official name is The United Kingdom o f Great Britain and N orthern Ireland, b u t this is too long for practical purposes, so it is usually known by a shorter name. At the Eurovision Song Contest, at the United N ations and in the European parliam ent, for instance, it is referred to as ‘the United Kingdom’. In everyday speech, this is often

N a tio n a l te a m s in se le cte d s p o rts

England

O lym pics G reat B ritain

C ricket England and Wales

Rugby union England

Football England

Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Republic o f Ireland

Ireland

Scotland Ireland

Scotland Ireland

Scotland N o rth e rn Ireland | Republic o f Ireland

POLITICALLY SPEAKING 9

shortened to cthe UK’ and in internet and email addresses it is ‘.uk’.

In other contexts, it is referred to as ‘Great Britain’. This, for example,

is the name you hear when a m edal winner steps onto the rostrum at

the Olympic Games. The abbreviation ‘GBP’ (Great Britain Pounds) in

international bank drafts is another example o f the use o f this name.

In writing and speaking th a t is n o t especially form al or informal, the

nam e ‘Britain’ is used. The norm al everyday adjective, when talking

about som ething to do with the UK, is ‘British’ (W h y is B rita in ‘ G r e a t? ).

G re a t B rita in a n d Ire la n d

L o o k in g f o r a n a m e

It’s n o t easy to keep geography and politics apart. Geographically speaking, it is clear th a t Great B ritain, Ireland and all those smaller islands belong together. So you w ould th in k there w ould be a (single) name fo r them. D uring the nineteenth and tw entieth centuries, they were generally called T h e British Isles'. But most people in Ireland and some people in Britain regard this name as outdated because it calls to mind the tim e when Ireland was politica lly dom inated by Britain.

So w hat can we call these islands? Am ong the names which have been used are ‘The north-east A tlantic archipelago’, T h e north-west European archipelago’, cIONA’ (Islands o f the N orth A tlantic) and simply T h e Isles’. But none o f these has become widely accepted.

The m ost com m on term at present is ‘Great B ritain and Ireland’. But even this is not strictly correct. It is n o t correct geographically because it ignores all the sm aller islands. And it is n o t correct politica lly because there are tw o small parts o f the area on the maps w hich have special political arrangements. These are the Channel Islands and the Isle o f M an, w hich are ‘crown dependencies’ and n o t officially p a rt o f the UK. Each has com plete internal self-government, including its own parliam ent and its own tax system. Both are ‘ ruled’ by a Lieutenant G overnor appointed by the British government.

S C O T L A N D

NORTHERN

IRELAND •Belfast

• UNITED KINGDOM

OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

WALES

E N G L A N D

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND D u b lin

. 4EIRI-)

L o n d o n

Channel 200km Islands

10 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

S o m e h is to r ic a l a n d p o e tic n am es

Albion is a w ord used by poets and songwriters to refer, in different contexts, to England or to Scotland o r to Great Britain as a whole. It comes from a Celtic w ord and was an early Greek and Roman name fo r Great Britain. The Romans associated Great Britain w ith the Latin word ‘albus’, meaning white. The white chalk cliffs around Dover on the English south coast are the first land form ations one sights when crossing the sea from the European mainland.

Britannia is the name th a t the Romans gave to th e ir southern B ritish province (w hich covered, approxim ately, the area o f present-day England and Wales). It is also the name given to the fem ale em bo d im e n t o f B ritain, always shown w earing a helmet and h o ld in g a trid e n t (the symbol o f pow er over the sea), hence the p a trio tic song which begins ‘ Rule B ritannia, B ritannia rule the waves’. The figure o f B ritannia has been on the reverse side o f m any British coins fo r more than 300 years.

The four nations

People often refer to Britain by another name. They call it ‘E ngland5. But this is n o t correct, and its use can make some people angry. England is only one o f ‘the four n atio n s’ in this p a rt o f the world. The others are Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Their political unification was a gradual process th a t took several h u n d red years (see chapter 2). It was com pleted in 1800 when the Irish parliam ent was joined w ith the parliam ent for England, Scotland, and Wales in W estminster, so th a t the whole area became a single state - the U nited Kingdom o f G reat Britain and Ireland. However, in 1922, m ost o f Ireland became a separate state (see chapter 12).

At one time, culture and lifestyle varied enorm ously across the four nations. The d o m in an t culture o f people in Ireland, Wales and H ighland Scotland was Celtic; th a t o f people in England and Lowland Scotland was Germanic. This difference was reflected in the languages they spoke. People in the Celtic areas spoke Celtic languages; people in the G erm anic areas spoke G erm anic dialects (including the one which has developed into m odern English). The nations also tended to have different economic, social, and legal systems, and they were independent o f each other.

O t h e r sig n s o f n a tio n a l id e n tity

Briton is a w o rd used in o fficial contexts and in w ritin g to describe a citizen o f the U nited K ingdom. ‘A ncient B rito n s’ is the name given to the people w ho lived in southern B ritain before and d u rin g the Roman o ccu p a tio n (AD 4 3 -4 1 0 ). T h e ir heirs are th o u g h t to be the Welsh and th e ir language has developed in to the m odern Welsh language.

Caledonia, Cam bria and Hibernia were the Roman names fo r S cotland, W ales and Ireland respectively. The w ords are co m m o n ly used to d a y in scholarly classifications (fo r example, the type o f English used in Ireland is som etim es called ‘ H iberno- English’ and there is a division o f geological tim e know n as ‘the C am brian p e rio d ’ ) and fo r the names o f organizations (fo r example, ‘Glasgow C a le donian’ U niversity).

Erin is a poetic name fo r Ireland. The Emerald Isle is a n o th e r way o f referring to Ireland, evoking the lush greenery o f its countryside.

John Bull (see below) is a fictional character w ho is supposed to personify Englishness and certain English virtues. (He can be compared to Uncle Sam in the USA.) He appears in hundreds o f nineteenth century cartoons. Today, somebody dressed as him often appears at football o r rugby matches when England are playing. His appearance is typical o f an eighteenth century country gentleman, evoking an idyllic rural past (see chapter 5).

Today, these differences have become blurred, b u t they have n o t

com pletely disappeared. A lthough there is only one governm ent

for the whole o f Britain, and everybody gets the same passport

regardless o f where in B ritain they live, many aspects o f governm ent

are organized separately (and som etim es differently) in the four

parts o f the U nited Kingdom. Moreover, Welsh, Scottish and

Irish people feel their identity very strongly. T h a t is why they have

separate team s in m any kinds o f in tern atio n al sport.

Id e n tify in g s y m b o ls o f th e f o u r n a tio n s

England Wales Scotland Ireland

• H i M i Flag St. George’s Dragon o f St. A ndrew ’s St. Patrick’s Cross C adw allader Cross Cross

Lion Ram pant Republic o f Ireland

Plant rose le e k/d a ffo d il1 thistle shamrock

C o lo u r

Patron saint St. George St. David St. Andrew St. Patrick

S aint’s day 23 April^ 1 March^ 30 November^ 17 March

1 there is some disagreement among Welsh people as to which is the real national plant, b u t the leek is the m ost well-known 2 as typically w orn by sports teams o fth e different nations

□

THE FOUR NATIONS 11

O th e r to k e n s o f n a tio n a l id e n tity

The follo w in g are also associated by British people w ith one o r more o fth e fo u r nations.

Surnames The prefix ‘ M ac’ o r ‘M e’ (such as M cC all, MacCarthy, M acD onald) is Scottish o r Irish. The prefix ‘O ’ (as in O ’ Brien, O ’C onnor) is Irish. A large num ber o f surnames (fo r example, Evans, Jones, M organ, Price, W illiam s) suggest Welsh origin. The m ost com m on surname in both England and Scotland is ‘S m ith’.

First names for men The Scottish o f ‘John’ is ‘ Ian’ and its Irish form is ‘Sean’, although all three names are com m on throughout Britain. Outside their own countries, there are also nicknames fo r Irish, Scottish and Welsh men. For instance, Scottish men are sometimes known and addressed as ‘Jock’, Irishmen are called ‘ Paddy’ o r ‘ M ick’ and Welshmen as ‘ Dai’ o r ‘Taffy’. If the person using one o f these names is n o t a friend, and especially i f it is used in the plural (e.g. ‘ M icks’), it can sound insulting.

Clothes The kilt, a skirt w ith a ta rta n pattern w orn by men, is a very well-known symbol o f Scottishness (though it is hardly ever w orn in everyday life).

C h a ra c te ris tic s

There are certain stereotypes o f national character w hich are well known in Britain. For instance, the Irish are supposed to be great talkers, the Scots have a reputation fo r being careful w ith money and the Welsh are renowned fo r th e ir singing ability. These are, o f course, only caricatures and not reliable descriptions o f individual people from these countries. Nevertheless, they indicate some slight differences in the value attached to certain kinds o f behaviour in these countries.

12 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

P op u latio n s in 2 0 0 6

Scotland N orthern Ireland

m m m

©

Wales England

(figures in m illions)

UK Total

These figures are estimates provided by the Office fo r N ational Statistics (England and Wales), the General Register Office fo r Scotland and the N orthern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. In the tw enty-first century, the to ta l population o f Britain has risen by about a quarter o f a m illion each year.

M u s ic a l in s tru m e n ts

The harp is an em blem o f both Wales and Ireland. Bagpipes are regarded as d istinctively S cottish, although a sm aller type is also used in tra d itio n a l Irish music.

(Right) A harp.

(Far right) A Scottish bagpipe.

The dom inance o f England

There is, perhaps, an excuse for the people who use the word ‘E ngland’ when they m ean ‘B ritain’. It cannot be denied th a t the d o m in an t culture o f Britain today is specifically English. The system o f politics th a t is used in all four nations today is o f English origin, and English is the m ain language o f all four nations. Many aspects o f everyday life are organized according to English custom and practice. But the political unification o f B ritain was n o t achieved by m u tu al agreem ent. O n the contrary, it happened because England was able to assert her econom ic and m ilitary power over the other three nations (see chapter 2).

Today, English d o m ination can be detected in the way in which various aspects o f British public life are described. For example, the supply o f m oney in B ritain is controlled by the Bank o f England (there is no such th in g as a ‘Bank o f B ritain’). A nother example is the nam e o f the present m onarch. She is universally know n as ‘Elizabeth II’, even th o u g h Scotland and N o rth e rn Ireland have never had an ‘Elizabeth I’. (Elizabeth I o f England and Wales ruled from 1553 to 1603). The com m on use o f the term ‘A nglo’ is a fu rth er indication. (The Angles were a G erm anic tribe who settled in England in the fifth century. The word ‘E ngland’ is derived from their name.) W hen newspapers and the television news talk ab o u t ‘Anglo-American relations’, they are talking ab o u t relations between the governm ents o f B ritain and the USA (and no t ju st England and the USA).

In addition, there is a tendency in the names o f publications and organizations to portray England as the norm and other parts o f Britain as special cases. Thus there is a specialist newspaper called

NATIONAL LOYALTIES 13

the Times Educational Supplement, b u t also a version o f it called the

Times Educational Supplement (Scotland). Similarly, the um brella

organization for employees is called the ‘Trades U nion C ongress’,

b u t there is also a ‘Scottish Trades U nion C ongress’. W hen

som ething pertains to England, this fact is often n o t specified in

its name; when it pertains to Wales, Scotland or N o rth ern Ireland,

it always is. In this way, these parts o f B ritain are presented as

som ething ‘o th e r’.

N ational loyalties

The dom inance o f England can also be detected in the way th a t many

English people don’t bother to distinguish between ‘Britain’ and ‘England’. They write ‘English’ next to ‘nationality’ on forms when they are abroad and talk about places like Edinburgh as if it was p art o f England.

Nevertheless, when you are talking to people from Britain, it is safest to use ‘B ritain’ when talking ab o u t where they live and ‘B ritish’ as the adjective to describe their nationality. This way you will be less likely to offend anyone. It is, o f course, n o t w rong to talk ab o u t ‘people in England’ if th a t is w hat you m ean - people who live w ithin the geographical boundaries o f England. After all, m ost British people live there ( P o p u la tio n s in 2 0 0 6 ). But it should always be rem em bered th a t England does n o t make up the whole o f the UK (C a re fu l w ith t h a t a d d re s s !).

C a re fu l w it h t h a t a d d re s s!

W hen you are addressing a letter to somewhere in B ritain, do n o t w rite anything like ‘ Edinburgh, England’ o r ‘ C ardiff, England’. You should w rite ‘ Edinburgh, S cotland’ and ‘ C ardiff, W ales’

• o r ( i f you feel ‘S cotland’ and ‘ W ales’ are n o t recognizable enough) w rite ‘ Great B rita in ’ or ‘ U nited K in g d o m ’ instead.

T h e p e o p le o f B rita in

% o f UK population in 2001

w hite other

Asian Indian

Asian Pakistani

mixed ethnicity

w hite Irish

black Caribbean

black African black Bangladeshi Chinese Asian other

One o fth e questions in the 2001 census o fth e UK was ‘W hat is your ethnic group?’ and the categories above were offered as choices. Here are some o fth e results, listed in order o f size.

As you can see, ab o u t one in nine people identified themselves as som ething oth e r than ‘w hite B ritish’. The largest category was ‘w hite o th e r’, b u t these people were from a variety o f places and m any were only tem porarily resident in Britain. As a result, they do n o t form a single identifiable com m unity. (For these and oth e r reasons, the same is largely true o f those in the w hite Irish and black African categories.) By fa r the largest recognizable ethnic grouping was form ed by people whose ethnic roots are in the Indian subcontinent (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi in the ch a rt); together they made up more than tw o m illion people. The other established, recognizable ethnic group in Britain were black Caribbeans (a little over h a lf a m illion people).

W h a t this ch a rt does n o t show are all the people w ho came to Britain from eastern Europe (especially Poland) in the years 2004-2007. T h e ir numbers, estimated between three quarters o f a m illion and one m illio n , represent the largest single wave o f im m igration to Britain in more than 300 years. However, it is n o t clear at this tim e how many w ill set up home in Britain.

A nother p o in t about the people o f Britain is w o rth noting. Since the 1980s, more people im m igrate to Britain than emigrate from it every year. A quarter o f all babies born in Britain are born to at least one foreign-born parent. A t the same tim e, emigration is also very high. The people o f Britain are changing.

14 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

There has been a long history o f m igration from Scotland, Wales and Ireland to England. As a result, there are millions o f people who live in England b u t who would never describe themselves as English (or at least no t as only English). They may have lived in England all their lives, b u t as far as they are concerned they are Scottish or Welsh or Irish - even if, in the last case, they are citizens o f Britain and not o f Eire. These people support the country o f their parents or grandparents rather than England in sporting contests. They would also, given the chance, play for th a t country rather th an England.

The same often holds true for the further millions o f British citizens whose family origins lie outside Britain or Ireland. People o f Caribbean or south Asian descent, for instance, do n o t m ind being described as ‘British’ (many are proud o f it), b u t many o f them would n o t like to be called ‘English’ (or, again, not only English). And whenever the West Indian, Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi cricket team plays against England, it is usually no t England th a t they support!

There is, in fact, a complicated division o f loyalties am ong many people in Britain, and especially in England. A black person whose family are from the Caribbean will passionately support the West Indies when they play cricket against England. But the same person is quite happy to support England ju st as passionately in a sport such as football, which the West Indies do not play. A person whose family are from Ireland b u t who has always lived in England would w ant Ireland to beat England at football b u t would w ant England to beat (for example) Italy ju st as much.

This crossover o f loyalties can work the other way as well. English people do no t regard the Scottish, the Welsh or the Irish as ‘foreigners’ (or, at least, no t as the same kind o f foreigner as other foreigners!). An English com m entator o f a sporting event in which a Scottish, Irish or Welsh team is playing against a team from elsewhere in the world tends to identify with th a t team as if it were English.

Flag

The Union flag, often known as the ‘ U n io n ja c k ’, is the national flag o fth e UK. It is a com bination o fth e cross o f St. George, the cross o f St. Andrew and the cross o fS t. Patrick.

QUESTIONS

1 W hich o f the names suggested in this chapter for the group o f islands off the north-w est coast o f Europe do you think would be the best? Can you think o f any others?

2 Is there the same kind o f confusion o f and disagreem ent about names in your country as there is in Britain and Ireland? How does this happen?

3 Think o f the well-known symbols and tokens o f nationality in your country. Are they the same types o f real-life objects (e.g. plants and clothes) th a t are used in Britain?

4 In the British government, there are ministers with special responsibility for Scotland, Wales and N orthern Ireland, b u t there is no m inister for England. Why do you think this is?

02

Prehistory

Two th o u san d years ago there was an Iron Age Celtic culture/ o o> th ro u g h o u t the north-w est E uropean islands. It seems th a t the Celts had interm ingled w ith the peoples who were there already; we know th a t religious sites th a t h ad been b uilt long before their arrival continued to be used in Celtic times.

For people in B ritain today, the chief significance o f the prehistoric period is its sense o f mystery. This sense finds its focus m ost easily in the astonishing m onum ental architecture o f this period, the rem ains o f which exist th ro u g h o u t the country. W iltshire, in so u th w estern England, has two spectacular examples: Silbury Hill, the largest burial m o u n d in Europe, and Stonehenge (S to n e h e n g e ). Such places have a special im portance for some people with inclinations towards mysticism and esoteric religion. For example, we know th a t Celtic society had a priestly caste called the D ruids. Their nam e survives today in the O rder o f Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

History

S to n e h e n g e

Stonehenge was b u ilt on Salisbury Plain some tim e between 5, and 4,300 years ago. It is one o f the m ost fam ous and mysterious archaeological sites in the w orld. One o f its mysteries is how it was ever b u ilt at all w ith the technology o fth e tim e (some o f the stones come from over 200 miles away in Wales). A nother is its purpose. It appears to function as a kind o f astronomical clock and we know it was used by the Druids fo r ceremonies marking the passing o f the seasons. It has always exerted a fascination on the British im agination, and appears in a number o f novels,

such as Thom as H ardy’s Tess o f

the D ’Urbervilles.

These days, it is n o t only o f interest to tourists b u t is also held in special esteem by certain m inority groups. It is now fenced o ff to protect it from damage.

16 HISTORY

H a d r ia n ’ s W a ll

H adrian’s Wall was b u ilt by the Romans in the second century across the northern border o f their province o f Britannia (which is nearly the same as the present English-Scottish border) in order to protect it from attacks by the Scots and the Piets.

The Rom an period (43-410)

The Roman province o f Britannia covered m ost o f present-day England and Wales, where the Romans im posed their own way o f life and culture, m aking use o f the existing Celtic aristocracy to govern and encouraging them to adopt Rom an dress and the Latin language. They never went to Ireland and exerted an influence, w ithout actually governing there, over only the so uthern p art o f Scotland. It was during this tim e th a t a Celtic tribe called the Scots m igrated from Ireland to Scotland, where, along with another tribe, the Piets, they became opponents o f the Romans. This division o f the Celts into those who experienced Roman rule (the Britons in England and Wales) and those who did n o t (the Gaels in Ireland and Scotland) may help to explain the emergence o f two distinct branches o f the Celtic group o f languages.

The remarkable thing about the Romans is that, despite their long occupation o f Britain, they left very little behind. To many other parts o f Europe they bequeathed a system o f law and adm inistration which forms the basis o f the m odern system and a language which developed into the m odern Romance family o f languages. In Britain, they left neither. Moreover, m ost o f their villas, baths and temples, their impressive network o f roads, and the cities they founded, including Londinium (London), were soon destroyed or fell into disrepair. Almost the only lasting reminders o f their presence are place names like Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester, which include variants o f the Latin word castra (a military camp).

The Germanic invasions (410-1066)

The Roman occupation had been a m atter o f colonial control rather th an large-scale settlement. But during the fifth century, a num ber o f tribes from the European m ainland invaded and settled in large numbers. Two o f these tribes were the Angles and the Saxons. These Anglo-Saxons soon had the south-east o f the country in their grasp. In the west, their advance was temporarily halted by an army o f (Celtic) Britons under the com m and o f the legendary King A rthur (K in g A rth u r ). Nevertheless, by the end o f the sixth century, they and their

S om e im p o r t a n t d a te s in B ritis h h is to r y

55 BC

The Roman general Julius Caesar lands in B ritain w ith an expeditionary force, wins a battle and leaves. The firs t ‘date’ in p o p u la r British history.

AD 43

The Romans come to stay.

f Queen Boudicca (o r Boadicea)

v/ JL o fth e Iceni tribe leads a bloody revolt against the Roman occupation. It is suppressed. There is a statue o f Boadicea, made in the nineteenth century, outside the Houses o f Parliament, which has helped to keep her m em ory alive.

410

432

The Romans leave B ritain

St. Patrick converts Ireland to Christianity.

St. Augustine arrives in 597 B ritain and establishes his headquarters at Canterbury.

THE GERMANIC INVASIONS (410-1066) 17

way o f life predom inated in nearly all o f present-day England. Celtic

culture and language survived only in present-day Scotland, Wales

and Cornwall.

The Anglo-Saxons had little use for towns and cities. But they had a

great effect on the countryside, where they introduced new farming

m ethods and founded the thousands o f self-sufficient villages which

form ed the basis o f English society for the next thousand or so years.

W hen they came to Britain, the Anglo-Saxons were pagan. D uring

the sixth and seventh centuries, C hristianity spread th ro u g h o u t

B ritain from two different directions. By the time it was introduced

into the south o f England by the R om an m issionary St. Augustine,

it had already been introduced into Scotland and n o rth ern

England from Ireland, which had become C hristian m ore th an 150

years earlier. A lthough Rom an C hristianity eventually took over

everywhere, the Celtic m odel persisted in Scotland and Ireland for several hun d red years. It was less centrally organized and had less need for a strong m onarchy to su p p o rt it. This partly explains why

b o th secular and religious power in these two countries continued

to be both more locally based and less secure th ro u g h o u t the medieval period.

B ritain experienced another wave o f Germ anic invasions in the eighth century. These invaders, know n as Vikings, N orsem en or Danes, came from Scandinavia. In the n in th century they conquered and settled the islands around Scotland and some coastal regions o f Ireland. Their conquest o f England was halted when they were defeated by King Alfred o f the Saxon kingdom o f Wessex (K in g A lfre d )

As a result, their settlem ent was confined m ostly to the n o rth and

east o f the country.

However, the cultural differences between Anglo-Saxons and Danes

were comparatively small. They led roughly the same way o f life and

spoke different varieties o f the same Germ anic tongue. Moreover, the Danes soon converted to Christianity. These sim ilarities made political unification easier, an d by the end o f the ten th century, England was a united kingdom w ith a Germ anic culture throughout. M ost o f Scotland was also united by this time, at least in name, in a (Celtic) Gaelic kingdom.

K in g A r t h u r

King A rth u r is a wonderful example o fth e distortions o f popular history. In folklore and myth (and on film ), he is a great English hero, and he and his Knights o fth e Round Table are regarded as the perfect example o f medieval nobility and chivalry. In fact, he lived long before medieval times and was a Romanized Celt trying to hold back the advances o fth e Anglo-Saxons - the very people who became ‘the English’!

^ Q k ^ 2 The great m onastery o f

/ \ J Lindisfarne on the east

coast o f B ritain is destroyed by Vikings and its monks killed.

0 ^ 7 0 The Peace o f Edington O / O p a rtitio n s the G erm anic terrtories between King A lfred’s Saxons and the Danes.

Q Edgar, a grandson o f Alfred,

/ kJ becomes king o f nearly all o f

present-day England and fo r the first tim e the name ‘ England1is used.

• BC means ‘ before C h rist’. All the o th e r dates are A D (in Latin anno dotnini), w hich signifies ‘year o f O u r L ord ’. Some m odern h istorians use the n o ta tio n BCE (‘ Before C om m o n Era’) and CE ( ‘C om m o n Era’ ) instead.

18 HISTORY

K in g A lfre d

King Alfred was n o t only an able w a rrio r b u t also a dedicated scholar (the only English monarch fo r a long tim e afterw ards w ho was able to read and w rite) and a wise ruler. He is known as ‘Alfred the G reat’ - the only monarch in English history to be given this title. He is also popularly known fo r the story o fth e burning o fth e cakes.

W hile he was w andering around his co u n try organizing resistance to the Danish invaders, Alfred travelled in disguise. On one occasion, he stopped at a w o m a n ’s house. The wom an asked him to w atch some cakes th a t were cooking to see th a t they did n o t burn, w hile she w ent o ff to get food. Alfred became lost in th o u g h t and the cakes burned. When the w om an returned, she shouted angrily at Alfred and sent him away. Alfred never to ld her th a t he was her king.

This is the most famous date in English history. On 14 O ctober o f th a t year, an invading army from N orm andy defeated the English at the Battle o f Hastings. The battle was close and extremely bloody. A t the end o f it, m ost o fth e best w arriors in England were dead, including their leader, King Harold. On Christmas day th a t year, the N orm an leader, Duke W illiam o f N orm andy, was crowned king o f England. He is known in popular history as ‘W illiam the C onqueror’ and the date is remembered as the last time th a t England was successfully invaded.

The m edieval period (1066-1458)

The successful N orm an invasion o f England (1066) b ro u g h t B ritain in to the m ainstream o f w estern European culture. Previously, m ost links had been w ith Scandinavia. Only in Scotland did this link survive, the w estern isles (until the 13th century) and the n o rth e rn islands (until the fifteenth century) rem aining u n d er the control o f Scandinavian kings. T h ro u g h o u t this period, the English kings also owned land on the co n tin en t and were often at war w ith the French kings.

Unlike the Germanic invasions, the N orm an invasion was small-scale. There was no such thing as a N orm an area o f settlement. Instead, the N orm an soldiers who had invaded were given the ownership o f land - and o f the people living on it. A strict feudal system was imposed. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king; lesser lords, each owning a village, were directly responsible to a baron. Under them were the peasants, tied by a strict system o f m utual duties and obligations to the local lord, and forbidden to travel w ithout his permission. The peasants were the English-speaking Saxons. The lords and the barons were the French-speaking Norm ans. This was the start o f the English class system (L a n g u a g e a n d social class).

The system o f strong governm ent which the N orm ans introduced made the Anglo-N orm an kingdom the m ost powerful political force in Britain and Ireland. N ot surprisingly therefore, the authority o f the English m onarch gradually extended to other parts o f these islands in the next 250 years. By the end o f the th irteen th century, a large p art o f eastern Ireland was controlled by Anglo-Norm an lords in the nam e o f their king and the whole o f Wales was under his direct rule (at which time, the custom o f nam ing the m onarch's eldest son the 'Prince o f Wales’ began). Scotland m anaged to rem ain politically independent in the medieval period, b u t was obliged to fight occasional wars to do so.

The cultural story o f this period is different. In the 250 years after the N orm an Conquest, it was a Germanic language, Middle English, and no t the N orm an (French) language, which had become the dom inant one in all classes o f society in England. Furtherm ore, it was the Anglo-Saxon concept o f com m on law, and not Roman law, which form ed the basis o f the legal system.

1066

The Battle o f Hastings.

O King W illia m ’s l U O O o fficia ls com plete the Dom esday Book, a very detailed, village-by-village record o fth e people and th e ir possessions th ro u g h o u t his kingdom.

1170

The m urder o f Thom as Becket, the Archbishop o f Canterbury, by soldiers o f King Henry II. Becket becomes a p o pular m artyr and his grave is visited by pilgrim s fo r hundreds

o f years. The Canterbury Tales, w ritte n by

Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century, recounts the stories to ld by a fictional group o f pilgrim s on their way to Canterbury.

1171

The N orm an baron known as Strongbow and his follow ers settle in Ireland.

THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (1066-1458) 19

Despite English rule, n o rthern and central Wales was never settled in

great num bers by Saxons or Normans. As a result, the (Celtic) Welsh

language and culture rem ained strong. Eisteddfods, national festivals

o f Welsh song and poetry, continued th ro u g h o u t the medieval period and still continue today. The Anglo-Norman lords o f Ireland remained loyal to the English king but, despite laws to the contrary, mostly adopted the Gaelic language and customs.

The political independence o f Scotland did not prevent a gradual switch to English language and custom s in the lowland (southern) p art o f the country. Many Anglo-Saxon aristocrats had fled there after the N orm an conquest. In addition, the Celtic kings saw th a t the adoption o f an A nglo-N orm an style o f governm ent would strengthen royal power. By the end o f this period, a cultural split had developed between the lowlands, where the way o f life and language was sim ilar to th a t in England, and the highlands, where Gaelic culture and language prevailed - and where, due to the m ountainous terrain, the au th o rity o f the Scottish king was hard to enforce.

It was in this period th a t Parliam ent began its gradual evolution into the democratic body which it is today. The word ‘parliam ent’, which comes from the French word parler (to speak), was first used in England in the thirteenth century to describe an assembly o f nobles called together by the king.

R o b in H o o d

Robin H ood is a legendary fo lk hero. King Richard I (1 1 8 9 -9 9 ) spent m ost o f his reign fig h tin g in the ‘crusades’ (the wars between C hristians and M uslim s in the M id d le East). M eanw hile, England was governed by his b ro th e rjo h n , w ho was u n p o p u la r because o f all the taxes he im posed. A ccording to legend, Robin H ood lived w ith his band o f ‘ m erry m en’ in Sherw ood Forest outside N o ttin g h a m , stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He was co nstantly hunted by the local sh e riff (the royal representative) b u t was never captured.

L a n g u a g e a n d s o c ia l class

As an example o f the class d istin ctio ns introduced in to society a fte r the N orm an invasion, people often p o in t to the fa ct th a t m odern English has tw o w ords fo r the larger farm anim als: one fo r the living anim al (cow, pig, sheep) and a n o th e r fo r the anim al you eat (beef, pork, m u tto n ). The fo rm e r set come fro m Anglo-Saxon, the la tte r from the French th a t the N orm ans b ro u g h t to England. O nly the N orm ans n o rm a lly ate m eat; the p o o r Anglo-Saxon peasants did n o t!

■i -i £ An alliance o f aristocracy, church

JL Z / A. and merchants force K ingjohn to

agree to the Magna Carta (Latin meaning ‘Great C harter’ ), a docum ent in which the king agrees to fo llo w certain rules o f government. In fact, neitherjohn no r his successors entirely followed them , b u t the Magna C arta is remembered as the first time a m onarch agreed in w riting to abide by form al procedures.

' | ^ 7 ^ Llewellyn, a Welsh

• L jL l / prince, refuses to subm it to the authority o fth e English monarch.
  • i ^ Q A The Statute o f
• L I Wales puts the whole o f th a t country under the control o fth e English monarch.

1295

The Model Parliament sets the pattern fo r the future by including elected representatives from urban and rural areas.

■ 1 ■ I ^ Q A fter several years o f w ar

• L L j O between the Scottish and English kingdoms, Scotland is recognized as an independent kingdom.

20 HISTORY

T h e W a rs o f t h e Roses

D uring the fifteenth century, the power o fth e greatest nobles, who had their own private armies, meant th a t constant challenges to the position o fth e monarch were possible. These power struggles came to a head in the Wars o f the Roses, in which the nobles were divided into tw o groups, one supporting the House o f Lancaster, whose symbol was a red rose, the other the House o f York, whose symbol was a white rose. Three decades o f alm ost continual w a r ended in 1485, when Henry T udor (Lancastrian) defeated and killed Richard III (Yorkist) at the Battle o f Bosworth Field.

O f f w ith his h e a d!

Being an im p o rta n t person in the sixteenth century was n o t a safe position. The T u d o r monarchs were disloyal to th e ir officials and merciless to any nobles w ho opposed them. M ore than h a lf o fth e m ost fam ous names o fth e period finished th e ir lives by being executed. Few people w ho were taken through T ra ito r’s Gate (see below) in the Tower o f London came o u t again alive.

In its first outbreak in the m iddle o f the fourteenth century, bubonic plague (known in England as the Black Death) killed about a third o f the population o f G reat Britain. It periodically reappeared for another 300 years. The shortage o f labour which it caused, and the increasing im portance o f trade and towns, weakened the traditional ties between lord and peasant. At a higher level o f feudal structure, the power o f the great barons was greatly weakened by in-fighting (T h e W a rs o f t h e Roses).

Both these developments allowed English monarchs to increase their power. The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) established a system of governm ent departm ents staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. The feudal aristocracy was no longer needed for im plem enting governm ent policy. It was needed less for making it too. O f the traditional two 'H ouses’ o f Parliament, the Lords and the Commons, it was now more im portant for monarchs to get the agreem ent o f the Com m ons for their policies because th a t was where the newly powerful m erchants and landowners were represented.

Unlike in m uch o f the rest o f Europe, the im m ediate cause o f the rise o f Protestantism in England was political and personal rather than doctrinal. The King (H e n ry V III) wanted a divorce, which the Pope would no t give him. Also, by m aking him self head o f the 'Church o f England’, independent o f Rome, all church lands came under his control and gave him a large new source o f income.

This rejection o f the Roman Church also accorded with a new spirit o f patriotic confidence in England. The country had finally lost any realistic claim to lands in France, thus becoming more consciously a distinct 'island natio n ’. At the same time, increasing European exploration o f the Americas m eant th a t England was closer to the geographical centre o f western civilization instead o f being, as previously, on the edge o f it. It was in the last quarter o f this adventurous and optim istic century th a t Shakespeare began writing his famous plays, giving voice to the m odern form o f English.

It was therefore patriotism as m uch as religious conviction th a t had caused Protestantism to become the majority religion in England by the end o f the century. It took a form known as Anglicanism, n o t so very different from Catholicism in its organization and ritual. But in

T h e sixteenth cen tu ry

• i JT A The A ct o f Supremacy ■" declares H enry VIII to be the supreme head o fth e church in England.

1536

The adm inistration o f governm ent and law in Wales is reformed so th a t it is exactly the same as it is in England.

1 C ^ Q An English JL O language version o f the Bible replaces Latin bibles in every church in the land.

*t £ The Scottish parlia m e n t

JL \ J abolishes the a u th o rity o f the Pope and fo rb id s the Latin mass.

Sir Francis Drake 1580 completes the first voyage round the w orld by an Englishman.

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 21

the lowlands o f Scotland, it took a more idealistic form. Calvinism,

with its strict insistence on simplicity and its dislike o f ritual and

celebration became the dom inant religion. It is from this date th a t the stereotype image o f the dour, thrifty Scottish developed. However, the highlands rem ained Catholic and so further widened the gu lf between the two parts o f the nation. Ireland also remained Catholic. There, Protestantism was identified with the English, who at th a t tim e were making further attem pts to control the whole o f the country.

H e n ry V III

Henry VIII is one o f the m ost well- known m onarchs in English history, chiefly because he to o k six wives durin g his life. He has the p o p u la r image

o f a bon viveur. There is much tru th

in this re p u ta tio n. He was a natural leader b u t n o t really interested in the day-to-day running o f governm ent and this encouraged the beginnings o f a professional bureaucracy. It was d u rin g his reign th a t the reform ation to o k place. In the 1 530s, H enry used P arliam ent to pass laws w hich swept away the pow er o f the Roman Church

in England. However, his quarrel w ith Rome was no th in g to do w ith doctrine. It was because he w anted to be free to m a rry again and to a p p o in t w ho he wished as leaders o fth e church in England. Earlier in the same decade, he had had a law passed w hich dem anded com plete adherence to C atholic b e lie f and practice. He had also previously w ritte n a polem ic against Protestantism , fo r w hich the pope gave

him the title Fidei Defensor (defender o f

the fa ith ). The initia ls F.D. still appear on British coins today.

E liz a b e th I

Elizabeth I, daughter o f Henry VIII, was the firs t o f three long-reigning queens in British history (the other tw o are Queen V icto ria and Queen Elizabeth II). D uring her long reign she established, by skilful diplom acy, a reasonable degree o f internal stability in a firm ly Protestant England, allow ing the grow th o f a s p irit o f p a triotism and general confidence. She never m arried, b u t used its possibility as a d ip lo m a tic to o l. She became known as ‘ the virgin queen’. The area w hich later became the state o f V irginia in the USA was named a fte r her by one o fth e many English explorers o f the tim e (Sir W a lte r Raleigh).

-1 r Q Q The Spanish Arm ada.

JLO O O A fleet o f ships sent by the C atholic King Philip o f Spain to help invade England, is defeated by the English navy (w ith the help o f a violent sto rm !).

1603 James VI o f Scotland becomesjames I o f England as well.

' | g " The G unpow der Plot.

A group o f Catholics fail in their a tte m p t to blow up the king in Parliam ent (see chapter 23).

22 HISTORY

T h e C iv il W a r

T his is rem embered as a contest between a risto cra tic, royalist ‘ C avaliers’ and p u rita n ica l p a rlia m e n ta ria n ‘ R oundheads’ (because o fth e style o f th e ir hair-cuts). The R oundheads were v icto rio u s by 1 645, although the w a r perio d ica lly continued u n til 1 649.

1642 The Civil W ar begins.

W hen James I became the first English king o f the S tuart dynasty, he was already James VI o f Scotland, so th a t the crowns o f these two countries were united. A lthough their governments continued to be separate, their linguistic differences were lessened in this century. The kind o f Middle English spoken in lowland Scotland had developed into a w ritten language known as ‘Scots’. However, the Scottish P rotestant church adopted English rather than Scots bibles. This and the glam our o f the English court where the king now sat caused m odern English to become the w ritten standard in Scotland as well. (Scots gradually became ju st ca dialect’.)

In the seventeenth century, the link between religion and politics became intense. At the start o f the century, some people tried to kill the king because he wasn’t C atholic enough. By the end o f the century, an o th er king had been killed, partly because he seemed too Catholic, and yet another had been forced into exile for the same reason.

This was the context in which, during the century, Parliam ent established its supremacy over the monarchy. Anger grew in the country at the way the S tuart monarchs raised money w ithout, as tradition prescribed, getting the agreem ent o f the House o f Com m ons first. In addition, ideological Protestantism , especially Puritanism , had grown in England. Puritans regarded the luxurious lifestyle o f the king and his followers as immoral. They were also anti-Catholic and suspicious o f the apparent sympathy towards Catholicism o f the Stuart monarchs.

This conflict led to the Civil War (The Civil War), which ended w ith com plete victory for the parliam entary forces. Jam es’s son, Charles I, became the first m onarch in Europe to be executed after a form al trial for crimes against his people. The leader o f the parliam entary army, Oliver Cromwell, became ‘Lord P rotector’ o f a republic w ith a m ilitary governm ent which, after he had brutally crushed resistance in Ireland, effectively encom passed all o f Britain and Ireland.

But by the tim e Cromwell died, he, his system o f governm ent, and the p u ritan ethics th a t went w ith it (theatres and other form s o f am usem ent had been banned) had become so unpo p u lar th a t the executed king’s son was asked to return and become King Charles II.

T h e seventeenth cen tu ry

1 / a / 1 Q Charles I is executed. The Restoration o f i U T y For the firs t and only l U O U the monarchy and the tim e, Britain briefly becomes a republic Anglican religion, and is called ‘the C om m onw ealth’.

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 23

However, the conflict between monarch and Parliament soon re-emerged

in the reign o f Charles IPs brother, James II. Again, religion was its

focus. James tried to give full rights to Catholics, and to prom ote them

in his government. The ‘Glorious Revolution’ (‘glorious’ because it was

bloodless) followed, in which Prince William o f Orange, ruler o f the

Netherlands, and his Stuart wife Mary accepted Parliament’s invitation to

become king and queen. Parliament immediately drew up a Bill o f Rights,

which limited some o f the m onarch’s powers. It also allowed Dissenters

(those Protestants who did not agree with the practices o f Anglicanism) to practise their religion freely. This m eant th a t the Presbyterian Church, to which the majority o f the lowland Scottish belonged, was guaranteed its legality. However, Dissenters were not allowed to hold governm ent posts or become Members o f Parliam ent (MPs).

S t. P a u l’ s C a th e d ra l

R in g -a -rin g -a -ro s e s

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,

a pocket fillI o f posies.

Atishoo! Atishoo!

We all fall down.

This is a well-known children’s nursery rhyme today. It is believed to come from the tim e o fth e Great Plague o f 1665, w hich was the last outbreak o f bubonic plague in Britain. The ring o f roses refers to the pattern o f red spots on a sufferer’s body. The posies, a bag o f herbs, were th o u g h t to give protection from the disease. ‘A tishoo’ represents the sound o f sneezing, one o f the signs o f the disease, after which a person could sometimes ‘fall dow n’ dead in a few hours.

T h e B a ttle o f t h e B oyne

A fte r he was deposed from the English and Scottish thrones, James II fled to Ireland. But the Catholic Irish army he gathered there was defeated at the Battle o f the Boyne in 1690 and laws were then passed forbidding Catholics to vote o r even own land. In Ulster, in the north o f the country, large numbers o f fiercely anti-C atholic Scottish Presbyterians settled (in possession o f all the land). The descendants o f these people are still known today as Orangemen (after their patron W illiam o f Orange). They form one h a lf o f the tragic sp lit in society in modern N orthern Ireland, the oth e r h a lf being the ‘ native’ Irish C atholic (see page 29 The creation o f N orthern Ireland).

1666

The Great Fire o f London destroys m ost o fth e city’s old wooden buildings. It also destroys bubonic plague, which never reappears. M ost o fth e city’s finest churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, date from the period o f rebuilding which followed.

1688

The Glorious Revolution. (^1690)

The Presbyterian Church becomes the official ‘Church o fS co tla n d ’.

2 4 HISTORY

T h e o rig in s o f m o d e rn g o v e rn m e n t

The monarchs o fth e eighteenth century were Hanoverian Germans w ith interests on the European continent. The first o f them , George I, could n o t even speak English. Perhaps this situation encouraged the habit whereby the m onarch appointed one principal, o r ‘ prim e’, m inister from the ranks o f Parliament to head his governm ent. It was also d uring this century th a t the system o f an annual budget draw n up by the m onarch’s Treasury officials fo r the approval o f Parliament was established.

In 1707, the Act o f Union was passed. Under this agreement, the Scottish parliam ent was dissolved and some o f its members joined the English and Welsh parliam ent in London and the form er two kingdom s became one ‘United Kingdom o f Great B ritain’. However, Scotland retained its own system o f law, more similar to continental European systems th an th a t o f England’s. It does so to this day.

Politically, the eighteenth century was stable. M onarch and Parliam ent got on quite well together. One reason for this was th a t the m onarch’s favourite politicians, through the royal power o f patronage (the ability to give people jobs), were able to control the election and voting habits o f a large num ber o f MPs in the House o f Commons.

W ithin Parliament, the bitter divisions o f the previous century were echoed in the form ation o f w o vaguely opposed, loose collections o f allies. One group, the Whigs, were the political ‘descendants’ o f the parliam entarians. They supported the Protestant values o f hard work and thrift, were sympathetic to dissenters and believed in government by monarch and aristocracy together. The other group, the Tories, had a greater respect for the idea o f the monarchy and the importance o f the Anglican Church (and sometimes even a little sympathy for Catholics and the Stuarts). This was the beginning o f the party system in Britain.

The only p art o f Britain to change radically as a result o f political forces in this century was the highlands o f Scotland. This area twice supported failed attem pts to p u t a (Catholic) S tuart m onarch back on the throne. After the second attem pt, many inhabitants o f the highlands were killed or sent away from Britain and the wearing o f highland dress (the tartan kilt) was banned. The Celtic way o f life was effectively destroyed.

It was cultural change th at was m ost marked in this century. Britain gradually acquired an empire in the Americas, along the west African coast and in India. The greatly increased trade that this allowed was one factor which led to the Industrial Revolution. O ther factors were the many technical innovations in manufacture and transport.

T he e ig h te e n th cen tu ry

1707

The A ct o f Union is passed.

The last occasion on which 1708 a British monarch refuses to accept a bill passed by Parliament.

1746

A t the battle o f Culloden, a governm ent army o f English and low land Scots defeat the highland arm y o f Charles Edward, w ho, as grandson o fth e last S tu a rt king, claimed the British throne. Although he made no a tte m p t to protect his supporters from revenge attacks afterw ards, he is still a popular rom antic legend in the highlands, and is known as ‘ Bonnie Prince Charlie’.

1-7 S ' The English w riter

• L / Samuel Johnson coins the famous phrase, ‘When a man is tired o f London, he is tired o f life’.

1771

For the firs t tim e, P arliam ent allow s w ritte n records o f its debates to be published freely.

1782 James W a tt invents the first steam engine.

In England, the grow th o f the industrial m ode o f production,

together with advances in agriculture, caused the greatest upheaval

in the p a tte rn o f everyday life since the Germ anic invasions. Areas o f

com m on land, which had been used by everybody in a village for the

grazing o f animals, disappeared as landow ners incorporated them

into their increasingly large and m ore efficient farms. (There rem ain

some pieces o f com m on land in B ritain today, used m ainly as parks.

They are often called ‘the com m on’.) M illions moved from rural

areas into new towns and cities. M ost o f these were in the n o rth o f England, where the raw m aterials for industry were available.

In this way, the n o rth , which had previously been economically

backward, became the industrial h eartlan d o f the country. The right

conditions also existed in low land Scotland and so u th Wales, which fu rth er accentuated the differences between these parts o f those countries and their other regions. In the so u th o f England, London came to dom inate, n o t as an industrial centre, b u t as a business and trading centre.

C h a ts w o r th H o u s e : a c o u n tr y se a t

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 25

N e ls o n ’ s C o lu m n

Despite all the urban developm ent o fth e eighteenth century, social pow er and prestige rested on the possession o f land in the countryside. The outw ard sign o f this prestige was the ow nership o f a ‘c o u n try seat’ - a gracious c o u n try mansion w ith land attached. M ore than a thousand such m ansions were b u ilt in this century.

' t A fte r a war, Britain

_L / O loses the southern h a lf o f its N o rth American colonies (giving b irth to the USA).

1788 arrive in Australia.

The first British settlers (convicts and soldiers)

■A Q r v r v The separate Irish

• L C J \ J \ J parliam ent is closed and the United Kingdom o f Great Britain and Ireland is form ed.

1805

A British fleet under the com m and o f A d m ira l H o ra tio Nelson defeats N a p o le o n ’s French fleet at the Battle o fT ra fa lg a r. N elson’s C olum n in T rafalgar Square in London com m em orates this n ational hero, w ho died d u rin g the battle.

1829

R obert Peel, a governm ent minister, organizes the firs t modern police force. The police are still sometimes known today as ‘ bobbies’ ( ‘ Bobby’ is a sh o rt form o fth e name ‘ R obert’).

Catholics and non-Anglican Protestants are given the rig h t to hold governm ent posts and become MPs.

2 6 HISTORY

Q u e e n V ic t o r ia

Queen V icto ria reigned from 1837-1901. D uring her reign, although the m odern powerlessness o fth e monarch was confirm ed (she was sometimes forced to accept as Prime M inister people w hom she personally disliked), she herself became an increasingly popular symbol o f B rita in ’s success in the w o rld. As a hard-working, religious m other o fte n children, devoted to her husband, Prince A lbert, she was regarded as the personification o f contem porary morals. The idea th a t the m onarch should set an example to the people in such m atters was unknown before this tim e and has created problems fo r the monarchy since then (see chapter 7).

conditions lim its the num ber o f hours th a t children are allowed to work.

Slavery is made illegal throughout the British Empire.

N ot long before this century began, Britain lost its m ost im portant colonies (north American ones) in a war o f independence. At the start o f the century, it was locked in a war with France, during which an invasion o f the country was a real possibility. Soon after the end o f the century, it controlled the biggest empire the world had ever seen.

One section o f this empire was Ireland. D uring this century, it was in fact p art o f the UK itself, and it was during this century th at British culture and way o f life came to predom inate in Ireland. In the 1840s, the potato crop failed two years in a row and there was a terrible famine. M illions o f peasants, those w ith Gaelic language and custom s, either died or emigrated. By the end o f the century, alm ost the whole o f the rem aining population had switched to English as their first language.

A nother p art o f the empire was made up o f Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where British settlers had become the majority population. Another was India, an enorm ous country w ith a culture more ancient than Britain’s. Tens o f thousands o f British civil servants and troops were used to govern it. At the head o f this adm inistration was a viceroy (governor) whose position w ithin the country was similar to the m onarch’s in Britain itself. Because India was so far away, and the journey from Britain took so long, these British officials spent m ost o f their working lives there and so developed a distinct way o f life. The majority, however, rem ained self-consciously ‘British’ as they imposed British institutions and m ethods o f governm ent on the country. Large parts o f Africa also belonged to the empire. Except for South Africa, where there was some British settlem ent, m ost o f Britain’s African colonies started as trading bases on the coast, and were only incorporated into the empire at the end o f the century. As well as these areas, the empire included num erous smaller areas and islands. Some, such as those in the Caribbean, were the result o f earlier British settlement, b u t m ost were included because o f their strategic position along trading routes.

The growth o f the empire was encouraged by a change in attitude during the century. Previously, colonization had been a m atter o f settlem ent, commerce, or military strategy. The aim was simply to

T h e n in e te e n th cen tu ry

1868

TheTU C (Trades Union Congress) is formed.

1 Q Q / * A fte r much debate, an JL O O U atheist is allowed to sit in the House o f Commons.

Q The first socialist, Keir JL O J Hardie, is elected to Parliament. He enters the House o f Commons fo r the first tim e wearing a cloth cap (which remained a symbol o f the British w orking man until the 1960s).

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 2 7

possess territory, b u t n o t necessarily to govern it. By the end o f the

century, colonization was seen as a m atter o f destiny. D uring the

century, Britain became the world’s forem ost economic power. This,

together with long years o f political stability unequalled anywhere

else in Europe, gave the British a sense o f supreme confidence, even

arrogance, about their culture and civilization. The British came to

see themselves as having a duty to spread this culture and civilization

around the world. Being the rulers o f an empire was therefore a

m atter o f moral obligation (The W h ite Man’s B u rd e n ).

There were great changes in social structure. M ost people now lived

in towns and cities. They no longer depended on country landowners

for their living b u t rather on the owners o f industries. These ownersO

and the growing m iddle class o f tradespeople and professionals held

the real power in the co u n try Along with their power went a set o f

values which emphasized hard work, thrift, religious observance, the

family, an awareness o f one’s duty, absolute honesty in public life, and

extreme respectability in sexual matters. This is the set o f values which

are now called Victorian.

Middle-class religious conviction, together w ith a belief th at

reform was better than revolution, allowed reforms in public life.

These included n o t only political reforms, b u t also reforms which

recognized some hum an rights (as we now call them). Slavery and the

laws against people on the basis o f religion were abolished, and laws

were made to protect workers from some o f the worst excesses o f the

industrial mode o f production. Public services such as the post and the police were begun.

Despite reform , the nature o f the new in dustrial society forced many people to live and work in very unpleasant surroundings.

W riters and intellectuals o f this period either protested against

the horrors o f this new style o f life (for example, Dickens) or simply ignored it. Many, especially the Rom antic poets, praised the beauties o f the countryside and the virtues o f country life. This was a new development. In previous centuries, th e countryside wasn’t som ething to be discussed or admired. But from this tim e on, m ost British people developed a sentim ental attachm ent to the idea o f the countryside (see chapter 5).

1902 introduced.

1908

Nationwide selective secondary education is

The first old-age pensions are introduced.

1911

The pow er o f the House o f Lords is severely reduced and sick pay fo r m ost w orkers is introduced.

T h e W h ite M a n ’ s B u rd e n

Here are some lines from the poem o f this title by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1 936), w ho is sometimes referred to (perhaps unfairly) as ‘the poet o f im perialism ’.

Take up the White Man’s burden —

Send forth the bestye breed -

Go, bindyour sons to exile

To serve tour captives’ need;

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild -

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half-devil and half-child.

O ther races, the poem says, are ‘w ild ’ and have a ‘need’ to be civilized. The w hite m an’s noble duty is to ‘serve’ in this role. This is not a quest fo r mere power. The duty is bestowed by God, w hom Kipling invokes in another poem

(Recessional ) in a reference to the

British empire in tropical lands:

Cod o f our fathers, known o f old,

Lord o f our far-flung battle-line,

Beneath whose awful hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine.

1 Q "1 / I G reat B ritain l y l ^ declares w a r on Germany, U ntil the 1940s, the First W o rld W a r was known in B ritain as ‘The G reat W a r’.

■i T h e ‘ Easter Rising’ in

j L J - L 1 3 Ireland.