While the Victorian period marked a significant phase in the development of the ancient cathedral city of Chester, references to Victorian Chester have been notable for their absence from recent scholarship. Based on extensive local research, this volume of essays breaks new ground by examining some important aspects of the social history of Chester between 1830 and 1900. By combining detailed case studies of specific themes with wider discussion, these essays explore the ways in which Cestrian society reacted to the changing circumstances of the Victorian period and analyse local perceptions of, and responses to, a range of contemporary social problems. As such, this original study not only illuminates the social and cultural history of the period, but also illustrates both the complexity and diversity of Victorian cities. It includes the most comprehensive bibliography of Victorian Chester to date.

These volumes provide an essential comprehensive work of reference for the annual municipal elections that took place each November in the 83 County Boroughs of England and Wales between 1919 and 1938. They also provide an extensive and detailed analysis of municipal politics in the same period, both in terms of the individual boroughs and of aggregate patterns of political behaviour. Being annual, these local election results give the clearest and most authoritative record of how political opinion changed between general elections, especially useful for research into the longer gaps such as 1924-29 and 1935-45, or crisis periods such as 1929-31. They also illuminate the impact of fringe parties such as the Communist Party and the British Union of Fascists, and also such questions as the role of women in politics, the significance of religious and ethnic differentiation and the connection between occupational and class divisions and party allegiance. Analysis at the ward level is particularly useful for socio-spatial studies. A major work of reference, County Borough Elections in England and Wales, 1919-1938 is indispensable for university libraries and local and national record offices. Each volume has approximately 700 pages.

These volumes provide an essential comprehensive work of reference for the annual municipal elections that took place each November in the 83 County Boroughs of England and Wales between 1919 and 1938. They also provide an extensive and detailed analysis of municipal politics in the same period, both in terms of the individual boroughs and of aggregate patterns of political behaviour. Being annual, these local election results give the clearest and most authoritative record of how political opinion changed between general elections, especially useful for research into the longer gaps such as 1924 - 29 and 1935 - 45, or crisis periods such as 1929 - 31. They also illuminate the impact of fringe parties such as the Communist Party and the British Union of Fascists, and also such questions as the role of women in politics, the significance of religious and ethnic differentiation and the connection between occupational and class divisions and party allegiance. Analysis at the ward level is particularly useful for socio-spatial studies. 1919 - 1938 is indispensable for university libraries and local and national record offices. Each volume has approximately 700 pages.

The Familiar Past surveys material culture from 1500 to the present day. Fourteen case studies, grouped under related topics, include discussion of issues such as: * the origins of modernity in urban contexts * the historical anthropology of food * the social and spatial construction of country houses * the social history of a workhouse site * changes in memorial forms and inscriptions * the archaeological treatment of gardens. The Familiar Past has been structured as a teaching text and will be useful to students of history and archaeology.

This volume is a compilation of papers presented in British Archaeological Association's annual conference in 1992. It focuses on the long tradition of archaeological and historical enquiry which has provided a framework for understanding Chester's development from the Roman period.

Chester is one of Britain's great cities with a rich heritage drawn from 2000 years of history.

Consumption is well established as a key theme in the study of the eighteenth century. Spaces of Consumption brings a new dimension to this subject by looking at it spatially. Taking English towns as its scene, this inspiring study focuses on moments of consumption – selecting and purchasing goods, attending plays, promenading – and explores the ways in which these were related together through the spaces of the town: the shop, the theatre and the street. Using this fresh form of analysis, it has much to say about sociability, politeness and respectability in the eighteenth century.

Fenianism was the Irish separatist movement committed to winning Irish freedom through revolution. Defeated often, its tremendous resilience enabled it to rise time and again, phoenix-like, until it eventually inspired the 1916 Easter Rising, soon followed by an Irish War of Independence that finally established an Irish Free State. The Fenian Rising vividly describes the evolution of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and its American counterpart, the Fenian Brotherhood, two revolutionary organisations dedicated to overthrowing British rule in Ireland and establishing an Irish Republic. Led by James Stephens, nineteenth-century Ireland's most important revolutionary, the IRB rapidly became an increasingly serious threat which Dublin Castle struggled unsuccessfully for years to suppress. Despite Stephens's downfall in January 1867 the long-anticipated rising followed two months later. In spite of its failure, republicans snatched political victory from the jaws of defeat when in September 1867 the execution of the Manchester Martyrs galvanised every shade of Irish nationalism. Rising from the ashes, the IRB survived to eventually become what one historian has called the most enduring and successful revolutionary secret society in Europe.

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Although there has been a University of Chester only since 2005, its predecessor, Chester College, dates back further than most UK universities, to 1839. This book celebrates the 175th anniversary of the foundation in 2014. The story is a remarkable one of survival and success. The early College was a pioneering venture with a unique approach to learning and the University still houses the first buildings in England specifically designed for the training of teachers. Three times, in the 1860s, the 1930s and the 1970s, Chester College came near to closure, only repeatedly to emerge intact and to become stronger than before. In the early twenty-first century, the University has a growing reputation within the higher education sector and can claim some of the highest rates of student satisfaction in the country. The book's title is taken from the College motto of the late-Victorian and Edwardian period: as appropriate today as when it was coined.