Category: New Publications

New Publications

  • History is not always written by the winners

    History is not always written by the winners

    Dr Katy Gibbons is Senior Lecturer in History, and specialises in the religious and cultural history of 16th century England and Europe. She teaches amongst other units, a Special Subject ‘Conflict, Conspiracy, Consensus? Religious Identities in the Reign of Elizabeth I’, which covers some of the themes addressed in the article below. The article for this blog accompanies a publication in the international journal Etudes Episteme.

    2017 has seen a range of events to mark the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation (http://www.reformation500.uk/). Celebrations have been conducted in ways that deliberately avoid confessionalised interpretations of the past, including efforts at mutual dialogue between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37827736), and a wealth of historical scholarship, from new biographies of Luther to studies of the ways in which he has been remembered and celebrated.

    But how did contemporaries and near contemporaries make sense of the dramatic times they witnessed? It is a commonly accepted aphorism that History is told by the winners, but what of those who were not part of the triumphant side in the Reformation? In the English context, the Reformation meant a series of dramatic shifts imposed from the top, the direction of which changed with each successive monarch in the 16th century. Having gained a papal title ‘Defender of the Faith’ for his attacks on Luther, Henry VIII then repudiated papal authority and claimed the royal supremacy for the Church of England. There was more decisive Protestant change under Edward VI, then a return to Pope and Catholic practice under Mary. With the accession of Elizabeth, Mary’s reign proved to be a brief exception in what has often been presented as a story of Protestant triumph, which became enshrined in ‘official’ Protestant history writing.

    But what of those subjects of the English Crown who remained Catholic? By constructing their own version of the recent past and its consequences for their own time, they offered a counter to the Protestant story. In doing so, they wrote history, and contemporary history, that was highly controversial. They aimed to tell the story of the Reformation whilst trying to explain the situation they found themselves in: how had a Catholic country come to break a centuries-long connection to the international Church? In seeking to explain this, they laid the blame firmly at the feet of their own monarchs.

    Intellectuals including Reginald Pole (later Cardinal Pole and architect of much of the Catholic Reformation under Mary I) and the exiled Elizabethan priest Nicholas Sander wrote from the relative safety of Catholic Europe, with the opportunities it offered to engage with an international community of readers. They employed the language of condemnation and moral judgement in explaining why Catholicism lost and Protestantism seemingly won in England – apparently, because they hoped the situation was reversible. Perhaps most notorious was the work of Nicholas Sander, who set out to write a history of the English Schism from the reign of Henry VIII until the present day (later sections were completed by a number of contributors after his death). His published work De Origine ac progressu schismatis Anglicani (The Origins and Growth of the English Schism), first published in 1585, stated in print what had long been a rumour: that Anne Boleyn, whose marriage to Henry was viewed as invalid by Catholics, was not only his mistress but also his daughter, the product of Henry’s earlier relationship with Anne’s mother. This formed a key part of the explanation for how Protestantism had gained the upper hand in English politics – the growth of Protestantism was explained as the product and consequence of an inherently corrupt and illegitimate ruling dynasty.

    Recent scholars have observed how important history-writing was in the 16th century for a number of different groups struggling to assert their presence and identity. The Catholic writers were no exception here. For writers like Sander, this was not just ivory-tower material, to be debated and discussed within the confines of a learned circle. These were urgent issues concerning life and death, and the fate of souls, which had to be fought for. The history writing of this losing side in the English Reformation was polemically embarrassing for the Tudor regime, but was also a call to arms, a way to rally the Catholic community to bring about the intended re-Catholicisation of England.

    To read more, you can find the full article here.

  • ‘Pleasure in reading is the true function of all books’: Cultural critics, public librarians, and working-class reading in early-twentieth century Britain

    ‘Pleasure in reading is the true function of all books’: Cultural critics, public librarians, and working-class reading in early-twentieth century Britain

    In this blog Dr Rob James, Senior Lecturer in History, looks at the growth of reading as a leisure activity among the working classes in Britain during the early twentieth century and considers how broader society viewed this expansion. Rob specialises in researching people’s leisure practices, and teaches a number of units that focus on one of the most popular leisure pursuits of the first half of the twentieth century, going to the cinema.

    An early British lending library

    Do you ever think about how other people view the books you choose to read? Over the course of the last hundred or so years, people’s reading habits have been subject to intense scrutiny, particularly the habits of working-class readers. A wide variety of individuals, including cultural critics and public librarians, wanted to shape working-class people’s reading habits to ensure that they only read the ‘right’ type of fiction. Of course, relaxing with a book, particularly a work of fiction, was well-established as a popular leisure activity within British society from the nineteenth century onwards. It was, however, an activity that was mainly enjoyed by the country’s more leisured classes up until the early-twentieth century. After the First World War, though, changes to the publishing industry’s working practices, coupled with the growth of the ‘open access’ system in public libraries in the 1920s – when people could choose books freely from the shelves as they do today – and the spread of cheap lending libraries in the 1930s, created a new type of reader, drawn principally from the country’s working-class communities. This spread of the working-class book reading habit raised much concern among people higher up the social ladder, and there was lots of discussion about it within the publishing trade.

    The wide-scale commercialization of the book trade was believed to be one of the reasons for the growing interest in reading by the working classes. After the First World War publishers began to use modern, aggressive marketing techniques to advertise their wares. As one contemporary noted, the publisher ‘now elaborately prepares the ground for any new book, plans a campaign for it, advertises much more largely, and vies with his competitors in the use of every legitimate means of publicity.’ [1] Many of the publishing trade’s heavyweights were very critical of this trend towards commercialization, however, and in 1933 a leading article in the trade paper The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record pointedly noted that: ‘Books are not in the same category as soap, chocolates and cigarettes.’ [2] Cultural critics were equally dismissive of the mass marketing of books, and in 1932 the literary critic Q.D. Leavis argued that: ‘The effect of the increasing control of Big Business […] is to destroy among the masses a desire to read anything which by the widest stretch could be included in the classification ‘literature’. [3] It was this aspect, the effects of commercialization on the reading habits of ‘the masses’ that was really at the heart of the matter. Time and again, it was the working classes’ desire to consume, as Leavis disapprovingly put it, ‘fiction that required the least effort to read,’ that attracted most criticism. [4]

    An example of ‘good’ fiction

    Many public librarians were equally disapproving of their library users’ reading practices. For example, Edward Green, who was chief librarian of Halifax public libraries observed: ‘In recent years a vast army of new readers – the product of the elementary school – has been recruited from a lower mental strata, and the intelligent use of the printed page needs more encouragement and direction.’ [5] Manchester’s chief public librarian, Charles Nowell likewise noted that the library’s principal aim should be ‘to maintain a healthy public interest in the novels and romances which are worth reading.’ [6] Other public librarians were less concerned, however, and one of the most vocal supporters of including fiction in public libraries was chief librarian of Swinton and Pendlebury library service, Frederick J. Cowles. Despite making it known that he preferred readers to borrow ‘good’ fiction, Cowles championed the public librarians’ right to include all types of fiction, for all classes of reader, in their libraries. This led to a long-running debate being played out in The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, and Cowles attracted much criticism. However, some librarians did jump to his defense. Arthur E. Gower, for example, who was librarian and secretary in Grays, Essex, defended the public library’s practice of stocking all forms of fiction by stating that librarians were merely the ‘servants of the public.’ [7] Indeed, Gower claimed that he wanted ‘no higher office,’ concluding that ‘Pleasure in reading is the true function of all books.’ [8]

    Despite these concessions to the working classes’ reading tastes, the mutual improvement ethos – which had been so central to the setting up of public libraries in the first place – continued to hold sway well in to the twentieth century, particularly due to the large numbers of readers from that social class choosing to turn to the written word for entertainment and relaxation. So when you next sit down to read a book, perhaps you’d like to think about what these public librarians and cultural critics would have had to say about your reading tastes. Would they be nodding approvingly as you read through the works of Charles Dickens or Thomas Hardy, or would they be shaking their heads with despair as you browsed the pages of the latest ‘trashy’ novel? [9]

     

    Notes

    [1] Frank Swinnerton, ‘Authorship’, in John Hampden, ed. The Book World: A New Survey (London, 1935), pp. 12-35: p. 14.

    [2] Anon., ‘Books as commodities’, The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, 22 April 1933, p. 395.

    [3] Q.D. Leavis, Fiction and the Reading Public (London, 1932), p. 17.

    [4] Leavis, Fiction and the Reading Public, p. 27.

    [5] Edward Green, The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, 3 June 1933, p. 605.

    [6] Charles Nowell, ‘The Public Library’, in John Hampden, ed. The Book World: A New Survey (London, 1935), pp. 181-194: p. 188.

    [7] Arthur E. Gower, The Publishers’ Circular and Booksellers’ Record, 26 March 1932, p. 327.

    [8] Ibid.

    [9] The novels of Dickens and Hardy were repeatedly mentioned as the types of ‘good’ fiction that the working classes should be encouraged to read.

     

    To read the article that examines these issues in more depth, published in the Journal of Social History, click here.

  • “Don’t blame the shopkeeper!!”: Food, drink and confectionery advertising and British Government market controls during the Second World War

    “Don’t blame the shopkeeper!!”: Food, drink and confectionery advertising and British Government market controls during the Second World War

    An article on the ways in which food, drink and confectionary companies used advertising to respond to the government’s control of the market during the Second World War by Mick Hayes, doctoral student in History at the University of Portsmouth, has recently been published in the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. See below for the abstract, and if you want to read the article, click here.

    Abstract The aim of this paper is to illustrate the impact of zoning and pooling on food, drink and confectionary brands during the Second World War, something that has not been covered in depth in historical literature, despite the significant amount of research that has been conducted into rationing and its effects on British society. In addition, the paper evaluates how brands in these industries used advertising in response to the government’s control of the market during the conflict. Based on a close reading and interpretation of food, drink and confectionery brands’ advertisements from the Daily Express and Daily Mirror newspapers across the Second World War, the paper argues that brands used advertising to provide information to their customers about rationing, shortages, zoning and pooling for a range of reasons: to keep them informed of developments, to offer their apologies regarding problems in obtaining goods, urge patience, and help them look forward to a time when the conflict was over.

  • If you go down to the Archives today …

    If you go down to the Archives today …

    In this post, Mike Esbester brings us up to date on the book he wrote earlier in the year, marking the 60th anniversary of the British Safety Council – now picked up by The National Archives and health and safety professionals.

    2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the British Safety Council, one of the leading organisations aimed at improving health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace, in the UK and beyond. Fortunately the BSC is an organisation attuned to the value of the past, and – as discussed in an earlier post  – has been prepared to put its money where its mouth is, including creating an excellent digital archive , freely available to all.

    In the lead up to this anniversary, the BSC called upon me to advise and work with them. They drew upon my research in the field of modern health and safety, including work funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. One of the things I was involved in was writing a book marking the anniversary; it was launched at the Regent St Cinema in London in March 2017 – I’d never been to a launch quite like that!

    The book was aimed at professionals and practitioners, drawing on the BSC’s archive and particularly the poster collections, but also grounding the imagery with a detailed contextual discussion. It was an interesting exercise in pitching the tone correctly, selecting engaging images and providing a sturdy analytical approach – but it’s been well received.

    And now, if you’re visiting The National Archives at Kew (perhaps as part of ‘Explore your Archive’  week, running this week), you might see a copy of the book in the ‘new books’ display in the Map Room! It was selected for the library and for display, which (as the author) is always pleasing. The Friends of The National Archives also put together a feature for the current issue of Magna, their journal – available here.

    In addition, the book was picked up by Safety & Health Practitioner magazine, a monthly publication aimed at health and safety professionals in the UK and received by all 35,000 members of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health, the UK’s largest professional organisation in the field. The SHP piece was based around an interview about the book, drawing out its origins, the role I played in uncovering the BSC’s archive and then the process of writing the book itself. It’s available here.

    The book’s reach hasn’t been confined to the UK – it’s been sent worldwide, reflecting the BSC’s connections and interests beyond our shores. I was recently told – though must follow it up! – about favourable feedback on the book from Portugal, and I hope there’s more out there.

    All told, it’s great to see academic research reaching out well beyond higher education institutions – and that there is huge scope for and interest in this. There’s no doubt it takes time and effort – I’ve been working with the BSC for 7 or 8 years now – but it bears fruit, and that can only be to the good for the historical community. And a taster: watch this space, as it looks likes there is a lot more to come…

     

    All images courtesy of the British Safety Council

     

  • Nationalism, Regionalism and British identity in early 20th century England

    Nationalism, Regionalism and British identity in early 20th century England

    Dr Melanie Bassett is a Research Associate for the Port Towns and Urban Cultures project. She also teaches undergraduate units in History. Here she talks about her chapter which is published in the Four Nations Approaches to Modern ‘British’ History. A (Dis)United Kingdom? edited collection, which is out now.

    In 2015 I gave a paper at the United Kingdom? Four Nations Approaches to Modern ‘British’ History conference which prompted me to look at my research from a different perspective. My PhD thesis (completed at the University of Portsmouth) was entitled The Royal Dockyard Worker in Edwardian England: Culture, Leisure and Empire, and although I briefly considered the role of ‘Englishness’ and four nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) perspectives on the British Empire, it was not a central consideration in my argument.

    However, there were certainly parallels in my research with the Four Nations methodology. This approach was sparked by J.G.A. Pocock’s call in the 1970s for a more integrated approach to the history of Britain by incorporating the influences, perspectives and histories from the other nations that made up the British world (this also could include White settler colonies such as Pocock’s native New Zealand). In subsequent years historiographical movements towards a ‘New British History’ have illuminated new discourses for understanding what it meant to be ‘British.’ [1] This was really interesting to me as my subjects of study were state-employed Dockyard workers. These were the men who built the British Empire’s warships during the time of the great naval arms race which heightened tensions prior to the First World War. They came from across the United Kingdom for work and as a consequence Portsmouth, as Britain’s premier Royal Dockyard town, saw great expansion both geographically and in terms of its population.

    My research focused on how Royal Dockyard workers processed the messages of the British Empire, and how this was communicated through their culture and leisure patterns. What struck me when writing my abstract in application to speak at the conference [2] was that there was a burgeoning leisure culture of regional and national societies (such as the Portsmouth and District Caledonian Society, the Portsmouth Cambrian Society, the Portsmouth Society of Yorkshiremen, and the Portsmouth Pembrokeshire Society, to name but a few) which were being established around the Edwardian period. Their proliferation showed that, not only were the public aware of their roots, but they were very keen to highlight and exploit these! Certainly, these societies were not just about ‘having fun’, but were important mechanisms for migrant workers to establish networks and kinship-like relationships away from ‘home.’ They were also important conduits through which to explore ideas of citizenship (and citizen rights) both in their adopted city, and within a wider context.

    Following the conference I was invited to write a chapter for the book which was inspired by the conference. [3] The book combines prominent scholars in the field of ‘New British History’, and also Early Career Researchers such as myself, and will stand as an anthology which re-examines and challenges the four nations methodology as much as it celebrates and highlights its usefulness. My chapter, entitled “Regional Societies and the Migrant Edwardian Royal Dockyard Worker: Locality, Nation and Empire”, combines a four nations perspective with an understanding of social and workplace relations. Royal Dockyardmen, especially those who had relocated to work in the Dockyard, had many concepts about belonging to contend with – not least ideas about where they fitted in locally, nationally and in the British Empire as a whole. They also were subject to influential codes of conduct based on their place in society – as a skilled or unskilled worker and as part of the working class more generally – and they had limitations on what they could feasibly take part in in order to express their interests and wants.

    What I wanted to explore was the process of identity-making in-situ through a case study of the naval dockyard town of Portsmouth, in the South of England, c.1900-1914. I did this by comparing local newspaper reports, the surviving archives of regional societies, and cross-referencing Royal Dockyard employment and Census records. Using these primary sources I was able to quantify the migrant experience and build up a picture of the activities and attitudes surrounding ideas of regionalism, nationalism and imperialism in the Edwardian era. By doing this I was able to highlight the intersection between national and local identities, personal and professional identities, and articulate the nuanced and complex subjectivities of working people.

    The chapter extends and challenges the historiography of ‘New British History’ by adding nuance to the idea that there is a monolithic, one-size-fits-all interpretation of Britishness. Instead, the chapter highlights the importance of regionalism and the diffuseness of the British experience. It asserts that by investigating the national and regional societies formed in this period, alongside national and local expectations of the British ‘imperial citizen’, we can begin to explore the hybridity of British identity in a way that moves away from a ‘top down’, Anglo-centric history of the United Kingdom. A four nations approach is a useful conceptual model with which to seek out British patriotism and imperial identity. However, this should not negate other considerations which enable a more holistic understanding of the state of ‘Britishness’.

     

    Notes

    [1] J.G.A. Pocock, The Discovery of Islands: Essays in British History (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2005). See also, D. Cannadine ‘British History as a “New Subject.” Politics, Perspectives and Prospects’ in A. Grant and K. Stringer (eds.) Uniting the Kingdom? The Making of British History (London: Routledge, 2005), p.22.

    [2] In order to speak at a conference you are either invited as an established academic in the field, or more likely as someone who applies through sending an abstract. The abstract is generally 200-500 words about what you intend to speak about alongside an accompanying CV or profile. Speakers are then selected by a panel of the conference convenors.

    [3] I also wrote a short blog on the Four Nations History Network website. Melanie Bassett, “Working-class leisure and Four Nations History: A study of regional societies in Edwardian Portsmouth.” Four Nations History Network https://fournationshistory.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/working-class-leisure-and-four-nations-history-a-study-of-regional-societies-in-edwardian-portsmouth/ last accessed 09/11/2017.

     

    Out now: M. Scull and N. Lloyd-Jones (eds), Four Nations Approaches to Modern ‘British’ History. A (Dis)United Kingdom? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

  • Students in Twentieth-Century Britain and Ireland

    Students in Twentieth-Century Britain and Ireland

    Dr Jodi Burkett is Principal Lecturer in History at Portsmouth, where she teaches on a range of undergraduate units, including Society and Culture in Twentieth Century Europe, Being British After the War: Continuity and Change in British National Identity, 1945-2005, and Students and Youth in Postwar Britain. Jodi researches British national identity and the legacies of empire in the postwar period, and her current work evaluates student anti-racist activism in the 1970s and 1980s. She has recently published an edited collection of chapters on Students in Twentieth-Century Britain and Ireland. See below for further details. To purchase the book click here.

    Students in Twentieth-Century Britain and Ireland explores the experiences and activities of students across the twentieth century and throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. The daily experiences of students, their involvement in local communities, national political organisations and widespread cultural changes, are the main focus of this ground-breaking book. It takes students themselves as the subject of inquiry, exploring the fundamental importance of student activities within wider social and political changes and also how some of the key fundamental changes across the twentieth century have shaped and changed the make-up, experiences, and lives of students. This book explores the experiences of students throughout a period of unprecedented change as being a student in Britain and Ireland has gone from the endeavour of a small number of elite, mainly wealthy white men, to an important phase of life undertaken by the majority of young people.