The House of Lords in the Age of George III (1760-1811)

ISBN-13: 9781405192255 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 488 str.

Michael W. McCahill

Opis

A full and comprehensive assessment of the place of the 18th-century peerage and House of Lords.

• Uses statistical and anecdotal evidence to create a variegated portrait of the nobility, its political outlook, and the ways in which the nobility's multifarious roles combined to shape its members' conduct as peers of parliament
• Challenges the assumption that the Lords remained a creature of the crown and demonstrates that peers and bishops were useful, informed, and broadly connected legislators
• Incorporates the results of recent research on the role of ideology in 18th-century British politics and the legislative business of parliaments
• Draws on contemporary newspapers and journals and over 120 manuscript collections, some not previously consulted by students of the House
• Offers new insights into the Lords' changing relations with the crown and the Commons, traces the metamorphosis of the 'party of the crown' into an ultra-tory connection, and demonstrates that even as it resisted some political and social reform, the Lords was a useful legislative chamber that adapted effectively to the rising volume of business

Recenzje

"McCahill′s painstaking research and careful scholarship combine to make this book an indispensable study of the aristocracy during the reign of George III, particularly in its parliamentary role." (The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 9 February 2011)

"But, for those wishing to gather information about the constituency and workings of the Lords and its political outlook, this is a seminal work." (EHR, 1 April 2011)

Spis treści

Acknowledgments.

Note on Titles.

Abbreviations.

Introduction.  

The Membership.

1. The Peerage, 1760 1811: A Group Portrait.

2. The Representative Peers of Scotland and Ireland.

3. The Bishops.

4. Attendance and Participation.

Politics.

5. Political Connections: An Overview.

6. The House of Lords and Politics at Westminster, 1761 80.

7. The Lords, the Coalition and the India Bill, 1780 4.

8. Factions and Parties, 1784 1811.

9. The King and the Party of the Crown , 1784 1811.

10. Political Leadership, 1784 1811.

11. Public Opinion and Public Pressure, 1784 1811.  

Legislation.

12. Lords and Commons (1): Partners in Legislation.

13. Lords and Commons (2): MPs and their Patrons.

14. Lords and Commons (3): Procedure, Leadership and Inquiry.

15. Interest Groups.

16. Virtual Representation and the House of Lords.

Epilogue.

Appendices.

Bibliography.

Index.

O autorze

Michael W. McCahill did his undergraduate and graduate work at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. in 1970. After six years at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, he taught history and held a variety of administrative posts at Brooks School. He has published an earlier book on the House of Lords and a number of articles.

Blurb

The first full assessment of the place of the 18th–century peerage and house of lords in 50 years uses statistical and anecdotal evidence to create a variegated portrait of the nobility, its political outlook and the ways in which the nobility s multifarious roles combined to shape its members conduct as lords of parliament. The book challenges the assumption that the Lords remained a creature of the crown and demonstrates that peers and bishops were useful, informed and broadly connected legislators. Although the House became the object of increasing criticism because of the majority s opposition to such popular issues as the abolition of the slave trade or the dismantling of Old Corruption , effective leadership, the peers growing parliamentary interests and their appreciation of the limits of their authority prevented the Lords from becoming an intransigent barrier to innovation.