The Rise And Fall Of Radical Westminster 1780-1890

Using the most scrutinized political place in modern Britain, The Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster, 1780-1890 expands our understanding of political culture. To reveal how the most radical and contentious site in an age of oligarchy became the most conservative and tranquil in an age of democracy, the book utilizes the remarkable documentation generated by elections in 'the first constituency of the empire'.

Ambitious in scope, encompassing personality, language, crowd behaviour, political space, ritual, associational culture and the analysis of hundreds of political prints, the book engages with a number of the most significant trends in modern British historiography and related disciplines. By providing an alternative to previous understandings of democratization, while at the same time integrating sources from elite and popular political culture, Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster reveals the shift in London from popular radicalism to popular Conservatism, one of the most momentous developments in 19th-century British history.