This series, fully illustrated with maps and half-tones, is written for general readers as well as the student. In illuminating the anonymous lives of our predecessors it will, when complete, substantially enrich our understanding of the many histories which together make up the history of England. This authoritative volume surveys the modern history of the counties of Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. In 1540 this was a backward area, poor, underpopulated and conservative. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth century the spread of the first cottage industries to the mills and the mines transformed the region into one of the engines of Britain's nineteenth-century greatness. The causes, the costs and the consequences of that transformation are vividly portrayed in this very readable text. Offers a succinct account and analysis of the first region to experience the developed factory system. Discusses the rise, dominance and decline of the region which has parallels across the country and the world. Provides essential background text for the students of local history. Assumes no previous knowledge of the region.

Over the long eighteenth century English governance was transformed by large adjustments to the legal instruments and processes of power. This book documents and analyzes these shifts and focuses upon the changing relations between legal authority and the English people.

This title was first published in 2003. The cotton industry was one of the major motors that powered Britain's industrial development from the mid-eighteenth century, contributing in no small way to the revolution that was to transform Europe over the next hundred years. The combination of technological developments, colonial exploits and social transformation that all came together in the Lancashire cotton industry provided a perfect example of how the new world would function, its priorities and its ambitions. Into this fast moving and fluid situation, were thrust the men, women and children who formed the vast pool of labour necessary to keep the spindles and looms running. It is their experiences above all, that illuminates the history of the cotton industry, and how it came to change the face of Britain through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this study, Alan Fowler takes an in-depth look at the Lancashire cotton industry through the prism of its workers, their families and organisations. He argues that by 1850 the triumph of the factory system was complete, and the factory operative a mainstay of a transformed society based on a new economic order. With this increasingly important role in the new economy came opportunities, which cotton workers were not slow to grasp. Crucial to the history of the Lancashire cotton operatives were the collective organisations they established which forced employers and government to treat with them. By the beginning of the twentieth century these organisations had managed to raise wages, improve working conditions, reduce working hours, establish the right to holidays, and force the introduction of factory legislation. This book explores how these victories were won and the impact they had on the industry and wider society.

Loyalism and Radicalism in Lancashire, 1798-1815 is a lively and detailed account of popular politics in Lancashire during the later years of the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic wars. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, such as letters, diaries, and broadside ballads, it offers fresh insights into the complicated dynamics between radicalism, loyalism, and patriotism, and emphasises Lancashire's distinctive political culture and its place at the heart of the industrial revolution. This region witnessed some of the most intense, disruptive, and violent popular politics in this period and beyond. Highly active and vocal groups emerged - extreme republicans, more moderate radicals, Luddites, early trade unionists, and also strong networks of 'Church-and-King' loyalists and Orange lodges. Katrina Navickas explains how this heady mix created a politically charged region where both local and national affairs played their part. She follows the inner workings of popular political activity in response to both internal and external threats, including loyalist processions and civic events, volunteer corps formed as defence against invasion, food riots, strikes by trade unions, and both secret and public meetings on the key issues of peace and parliamentary reform. Navickas argues for a distinct sense of regional identity that shaped not only local politics but also patriotism. Lancastrians felt British in the face of the French, but it was a particularly Lancastrian type of Britishness.

Presents a new perspective on the Industrial Revolution providing far more than just an account of industrial change. Looks at the development of the economic structures and includes chapters on financing the revolution, technological change, markets and demand, transport and food. The final section looks at economic change and its impact and includes chapters on demography, the household, families, authority and regulation, and the built environment. Providing a complete summary of the various debates in the literature on this period, making a strong case for re-introducing a regional approach to the history of the age.

Includes the Society's proceedings and list of members.

"Sue Wilkes’s accessible and informative handbook outlines Lancashire’s history and describes the origins of its major industries - cotton, coal, transport, engineering, shipbuilding and others. She looks at the stories of important Lancashire families such as the Stanleys, Molyneuxs and Egertons, and famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Arkwright, in order to illustrate aspects of Lancashire life and to show how the many sources available for family and local history research can be used. Relevant documents, specialist archives and libraries, background reading and other sources are recommended throughout this practical book. Also included is a directory of Lancashire archives, libraries and academic repositories, as well as databases of family history societies, useful genealogy websites, and places to visit which bring Lancashire’s past to life"--Book jacket.

This text provides an assessment of the most important research published in the past three decades on the English family.

Industrial Clusters shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic of industrial clusters, with a particular focus on clustering in the UK, bringing together a chronological coverage of the phenomenon. This set of original essays by a group of leading business and industrial historians offers fresh perspectives about clusters and clustering. A primary emphasis of the collection is how knowledge is generated and disseminated across a cluster, and whether these processes stimulated innovation and consequently longer-term sustainability. This analysis also prompts questions about which unit of analysis to examine, from the entrepreneurs and firms they created through to the industry as a whole and district in which they are located, or whether one should look outside the region for explanatory factors. Covering regions as diverse as North Wales, the Scottish Highlands, the City of London, the Potteries, Sheffield and Lancashire, the essays have been channelled to provide a detailed understanding of these issues. The editors have also provided a challenging Conclusion that suggests a new research agenda that could well unravel some of the mysteries associated with clustering. This edited collection will be of interest to international researchers, academics and students in the fields of business and management history, innovation, industrialisation and clusters.

In this wide-ranging history of modern Britain, Eric Evans surveys every aspect of the period in which Britain was transformed into the world's first industrial power. By the end of the nineteenth century, Britain was still ruled by wealthy landowners, but the world over which they presided had been utterly transformed. It was an era of revolutionary change unparalleled in Britain - yet that change was achieved without political revolution. Ranging across the developing empire, and dealing with such central institutions as the church, education, health, finance and rural and urban life, The Shaping of Modern Britain provides an unparallelled account of Britain's rise to superpower status. Particular attention is given to the Great Reform Act of 1832, and the implications of the 1867 Reform Act are assessed. The book discusses: - the growing role of the central state in domestic policy making - the emergence of the Labour party - the Great Depression - the acquisition of a vast territorial empire Comprehensive, informed and engagingly written, The Shaping of Modern Britain will be an invaluable introduction for students of this key period of British history.