"Lords of Misrule" : hostility to aristocracy in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain

Annotation Flamboyant, cultured and refined, aristocracy is often seen as a national treasure. Lords of Misrule takes a different view and considers the role of an aristocracy behaving badly. This is a book about the political, social and moral failings of aristocracy and the ways in which they have featured in political rhetoric. Drawing on the views of critics of aristocracy, it explores the dark side of power without responsibility. Less 'patrician paragons' than dissolute and debauched debtors, the aristocrats featured here undermined, rather than augmented, the fabric of national life. For the first time, Lords of Misrule recaptures the views of those radicals and reformers who were prepared to contemplate a Britain without aristocrats Lords of Misrule reclaims the rhetoric of hostility to aristocracy in Britain. Frequently dismissed as an aspect of the underdeveloped nature of British socialism, anti-aristocratic sentiment is sometimes seen as an immature expression of politics. This book takes a different view. Anti-aristocratic ideas demonstrate the continuities within popular radicalism. Opposition to privilege and the landed elite reframed the Land Question, and touched long-standing concerns about the dispossession of the English peasantry. Through a close scrutiny of aristocratic immorality, the gentry's monopoly of land, opposition to hunting, and historical controversies about the House of Lords, hostility to aristocracy emerges as central, rather than peripheral, to the popular politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Consideration of anti-aristocratic ideas provides an alternative avenue for the understanding of pre-labourist radicalism, and, informed by imperial perspectives and recent work on literacy, broadens the parameters of the historiography of popular reformism in Britain Offering Insight To The Thinking Of Radical British Politicians During The Late 19th & Early 20th Centuries, Taylor Examines The Aristocrats Who Were Anything But Pillars Of The Nation. He Exposes The Debauched Debtors & Other 'lords Of Misrule', Who Exercised Social & Political Power Without Responsibility. Aristocratic Debauchery And Working-class Virtue: The Case Of Colonel Valentine Baker -- The Apostle Of Plunder: The Influence Of Henry George In England Reconsidered -- Hunting, Moral Outrage, And Radical Opposition To Animal Abuse In Nineteenth- And Early Twentieth-century Britain -- Lords Of Misrule: Liberalism, The House Of Lords, And The Campaign Against Privilege, 1870-1911 -- Plutocracy. Antony Taylor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Introduction 14 Lords of Misrule 4 Contents 8 List of Plates 9 Acknowledgements 11 Abbreviations 13 Introduction 14 1 Aristocratic Debauchery and Working-Class Virtue: The Case of Colonel Valentine Baker 30 2 ‘The Apostle of Plunder’: The Influence of Henry George in England Reconsidered 58 3 Hunting, Moral Outrage, and Radical Opposition to Animal Abuse in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain 86 4 ‘Lords of Misrule’: Liberalism, the House of Lords, and the Campaign Against Privilege, 1870—1911 110 5 Plutocracy 142 Conclusions 169 Appendix 1 175 Appendix 2 181 Appendix 3 183 Notes 186 Bibliography 222 Index 240 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-16 Aristocratic Debauchery and Working-Class Virtue: The Case of Colonel Valentine Baker....Pages 17-44 ‘The Apostle of Plunder’: The Influence of Henry George in England Reconsidered....Pages 45-72 Hunting, Moral Outrage, and Radical Opposition to Animal Abuse in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain....Pages 73-96 ‘Lords of Misrule’: Liberalism, the House of Lords, and the Campaign Against Privilege, 1870—1911....Pages 97-128 Plutocracy....Pages 129-155 Conclusions....Pages 156-161 Back Matter....Pages 162-233