The Routledge Dictionary of Modern British History doc

The Routledge Dictionary of
Modern British History

The Routledge Dictionary of Modern British History is an essential guide
to the last two centuries, which have witnessed democratization,
international decline, devolution, the rise of the welfare state, and New
Labour challenging the Conservatives as the natural party of government.
Includes:

• every Prime Minister from Pitt the Younger to Tony Blair
• protest movements from Chartism to CND
• military conflict from the French Revolutionary Wars to Iraq
• milestones from the Act of Union to the Northern Ireland peace process

John Plowright is Head of History at Repton School in Derbyshire. He is
the author of Regency England (Lancaster Pamphlets, Routledge, 1996) as
well as numerous articles.
Also available from Routledge
Ancient History: Key Themes and Approaches
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Fifty Key Thinkers on History
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G.R.Evans
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The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right
Peter Davies and Derek Lynch
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The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism (Second Edition)
Edited by Stuart Sim
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Who’s Who in Europe 1450–1750
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Who’s Who in Military History
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Who’s Who in Modern History
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Who’s Who in Nazi Germany
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Who’s Who in Jewish History
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Who’s Who in World War I
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Who’s Who in World War II
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Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History
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Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History
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Who’s Who in Russia since 1900
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Who’s Who in Twentieth-Century Warfare
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Who’s Who in Naval History
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The Routledge Dictionary of
Modern British History

John Plowright










LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York,
NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis
or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to

© 2006 John Plowright
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been
requested
ISBN 0-203-08846-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-19243-9 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-19244-7 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-08846-8 (Print Edition) (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-19243-9 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-19244-6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-08846-3 (Print Edition) (ebk)

To Sue

My wife and the love of my life

Contents


Acknowledgments

ix

List of entries

x


Dictionary of Modern British History

1
Acknowledgments
The authors of books with titles similar to this one seem to share Mr Gradgrind’s belief
that ‘the facts’ can speak for themselves. This author believes that it is appropriate and
helpful sometimes to express an opinion as well as act as chronicler.

The Rev. Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol, once wrote that ‘Writing requires
boundless leisure, and is an infinite labour, yet there is also very great pleasure in it’ This
book has been the product of limited leisure and hard labour. The author, who found
some pleasure in researching and writing it, hopes that its intended audience will derive
even more pleasure and value in reading it.
Special thanks are due to Sue, Alex and James for keeping me happy and (outwardly)
sane during the production of this book.
I would like to thank all those who have helped in a variety of ways to equip me for

that task, particularly my late parents but also Miss Kate Allan, Professor Derek Beales,
Professor Jeremy Black, Professor David Cannadine, the late Mr Maurice Cowling, Mr
Andrew Hewlett, Mr Nicholas Hillman, Mr Benjamin Holt, Mr Andrew Jones, Miss Nela
Kashfi, Mr and Mrs Ron Lee, Mrs Gilian Noero, Dr Jonathan Parry, the Reverend
William Plowright, Mr Ken Reed, Mr Timothy Toulmin, Miss Caroline Shaw and the
Governors, Head Master, colleagues and students of Repton School.
Those at Routledge concerned with the publication of this book have shown the
patience of Job. None of the above but myself alone bears the responsibility where what
follows fails to match the wisdom of Solomon.
JP Repton
List of entries


Abdication crisis

1

Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, fourth Earl of

2

Abortion Act

3

Adams, Gerry

3

Addington

4

Adullamites

4

Adulteration of Food, Drink and Drugs Act

5

Agricultural Holdings Act

5

All the Talents, Ministry of

5

Anglo-Irish Agreement

6

Anglo-Irish Treaty

6

Anglo-Irish War

7

Anti-Corn Law League

7

Artisans’ Dwellings Act

9

Ashbourne Irish Land Purchase Act

9

Asquith, Herbert Henry, first Earl of Oxford and Asquith

10

Attlee, Clement Richard, first Earl Attlee

13

Baker Education Act

16

Baldwin, Stanley, first Earl Baldwin of Bewdley

16

Balfour, Arthur James, first Earl of Balfour

19

Balfour Education Act

21

Ballot Act

22

Bank Charter Act

22

Bedchamber Incident

22

Bentham, Jeremy

23

Beveridge Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services
(Cmd 6404)

24

Bevin, Ernest

25

Black and Tans

28

‘Black Wednesday’

29

Blair, Anthony (Tony) Charles Lynton

29

Blanketeers

31

‘Bloody Sunday’ (13 November 1886)

32

‘Bloody Sunday’ (30 January 1972)

32

Boer War, First

32

Boer War, Second

34

Bonar Law, Andrew

35

Bradlaugh affair

35

Bright, John

36

British and Foreign Schools Society

37

British Nationality Act

37

British National Party (BNP)

37

British Union of Fascists (BUF)

38

Brown, Gordon

38

Bruce’s Licensing Act

39

Bulgarian atrocities agitation

40

Burgage boroughs

40

Butler Education Act

41

‘Butskellism’

41

Callaghan, Leonard James (Jim), Baron Callaghan of Cardiff

43

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

45

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry (‘C-B’)

45

Campbell Case

47

Canning, George

48

Captain Swing riots

49

Cardwell army reforms

50

Carlton Club revolt

50

Caroline affair

51

Carson, Edward Henry, Baron Carson of Duncairn

52

‘Cat and Mouse Act’

54

Catholic Association

54

Catholic Emancipation

54

Cato Street Conspiracy

55

Chadwick, Sir Edwin

56

Chamberlain, Arthur Neville

57

Chamberlain, Joseph

58

Chamberlain, Sir Joseph Austen

60

Chandos amendment

61

Charitable Bequests Act

61

Chartism

61

Chinese Slavery

63

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer

63

Civil Registration Act

66

Clapham Sect

66

Cobden, Richard

66

Combination Laws

67

Commonwealth Immigrants Act

68

Commonwealth Immigration Act

68

Common Wealth Party

68

Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)

69

Competitive examinations for the civil service

69

Conservative Party

70

Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act

70

Continuity IRA

71

Convertibility crisis

71

Cooperative Movement

71

Corn Laws

72

Corporation boroughs

72

Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act

72

Coupon election

73

Cowper-Temple clause

73

Crichel Down affair

74

Crimean War

74

Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1871

75

Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885

76

‘Curragh mutiny’

76

Davitt, Michael

77

Death duties

77

Defence of the Realm Act (DORA)

78

Derby (Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley), 14th Earl of

78

‘Derby Dilly’

79

Derbyshire rising

80

Devaluation of the pound, 1949

80

Devaluation of the pound, 1967

81

Devolution

81

Devonshire (Spencer Compton Cavendish), Marquis of
Hartington and eighth Duke of

82

Direct rule

85

Disraeli, Benjamin, first Earl of Beaconsfield

85

Dissenters’ Marriage Act

86

Divorce legislation

87

Downing Street Declaration

87

Easter Rising

88

Ecclesiastical Titles Act

88

Eden, Sir Robert Anthony, first Earl of Avon

89

Edinburgh Letter

91

Education Act

91

Education grant

93

Education League

93

Edward VII (Albert Edward)

93

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick
David)

94

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary)

95

Empire Free Trade

96

Employers and Workmen Act

96

Employers’ Liability Act

96

Endowed Schools Act

97

Established Church Act

97

Evangelical Tories

97

Fabian Society

99

Factory Act

99

Factory and Workshops Act

102

Factory Extension Act

102

Falklands War

102

Family Allowances Act

104

Fenianism

104

First World War

104

Fisher Education Act

105

‘Food taxes’

105

Foot, Michael Mackintosh

105

Forgery Act

107

Forster Education Act of 1870

107

Fourth Party

108

Fox, Charles James

109

Framebreaking Act

109

Freeman boroughs

110

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

110

Fuel crisis

111

Gaitskell, Hugh Todd Naylor

113

Gang of Four

114

Gaols Acts

114

Garden Suburb

115

‘Geddes axe’

115

General Strike, 1842

115

General Strike, 1926

116

George III (George William Frederick)

117

George IV (George Augustus Frederick)

117

George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert)

118

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George)

120

Gladstone, William Ewart

122

Gladstone-MacDonald Pact

125

Goderich, Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount (Earl of
Ripon)

125

Gold Standard, 1819 restoration of the

126

Gold Standard, 1925 restoration of the

126

Good Friday Agreement

127

Government of India Act

127

Government of Ireland Act

128

Grand National Consolidated Trade Union (GNCTU)

128

Great Depression

129

Great Exhibition

130

Great Irish Famine

130

Great Reform Act

131

Green Party

131

Grenville, William Wyndham, Baron Grenville

132

Grey, Charles, second Earl, Viscount Howick, and Baron Grey

133

Ground Game Act

134

Gulf War

134

Habeas Corpus, suspension of

136

Haldane army reforms

136

Hampden Clubs

136

Hardie, James Keir

137

Hartington, Marquis of

138

Hawarden Kite

138

Heath, Edward Richard George

138

Highland clearances

140

Hodgkinson’s Amendment

140

Home, Sir Alec Alexander Frederick Douglas-, 14th Earl of

Home

141

Home Rule All Round

142

Hooligans

143

Hornby v. Close

143

Hotel Cecil

143

Housing of the Working Classes Act

144

Hume, John

144

Hume-Adams process

145

Hunger Strikes

145

‘Hungry Forties’

146

Huskissonites

146

Hyde Park riots

147

In Place of Strife

148

Income tax repeal

148

Income tax, reintroduction of

149

Independent Labour Party (ILP)

149

Industrial Relations Act

150

International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis

150

Internment

151

Invergordon Mutiny

151

IRA

152

Irish Church Disestablishment

152

Irish Church Temporalities Act

153

Irish Home Rule Bill, the First

153

Irish Home Rule Bill, the Second

154

Irish Land Acts of 1870 and 1881

154

Irish Nationalist Party

155

Irish Question

156

Irish Volunteers

156

Jarrow March

157

Jenkins, Roy Harris, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead

157

Jewish Relief Act

159

Jingoism

159

Joint Stock Companies Act

159

Keynes, John Maynard, Baron Keynes

160

Khaki election

161

Kilmainham Treaty

161

Kinnock, Neil

162

Korean War

163

Labour Exchange Act

164

Labour Party

164

Labour Representation Committee (LRC)

165

Lancashire Cotton Famine

166

Land League

166

Land War

167

Lansbury, George

167

Law, Andrew Bonar

168

Left Book Club

170

Less eligibility principle

170

Liberal Anglican Whigs

171

Liberal Democrat Party

171

Liberal Imperialists

172

Liberal League

172

Liberal National Party

172

Liberal Party

173

Liberal Toryism

173

Liberal Unionists

174

Lib-Labs

174

Lib-Lab Pact

175

Lichfield House Compact

175

Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, second Earl of

176

Lloyd George, David, first Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor

177

Local Government Act, 1888

180

Local Government Act, 1894

180

London Dock Strike

180

London Government Act

181

London Working Men’s Association (LWMA)

181

Luddism and Luddites

182

Maastricht, Treaty of

183

MacDonald, James Ramsay

184

Macmillan, Maurice Harold, first Earl of Stockton, Viscount
Macmillan of Ovenden

186

Major, John

189

Manchester School

192

Marconi scandal

192

Married Women’s Act

193

Married Women’s Property Act, 1870

193

Married Women’s Property Act, 1884

193

Master and Servant Act

194

Matrimonial Causes Acts

194

Maynooth Grant

195

Maurice Debate

195

McKenna Duties

196

Means-Test

196

Melbourne, William Lamb, second Viscount

197

Merchant Shipping Act

198

Metropolitan Police Act

198

Midlothian campaigns

199

Militant/Militant Tendency

199

Mines and Collieries Act

199

Mines Regulation Act

200

Mosley, Sir Oswald Ernald, sixth baronet

200

Mundella Education Act

202

Municipal Corporations Act

202

Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act

203

N
ational Convention

204

N
ational Front (NF)

204

N
ational Health Service charges

205

N
ational Health Service creation

205

N
ational Insurance Act

206

N
ational Insurance Act

207

N
ational Liberal Federation (NLF)

207

N
ational Service

207

N
ational Society

208

N
ew Departure

208

N
ew Journalis
m


209

N
ew Labou
r


209

N
ew Liberalis
m


209

N
ew Model unionis

m


210

N
ew Poor Law

210

N
ew Unionis
m


210

N
ewcastle programme

211

N
ewport rising

211

N
ightingale, Florence

212

‘Non-conformist conscience’

213

‘Non-conformist revolt’

213

‘No Rent Manifesto’

213

N
orthcote-Trevelyan Report

214

Obscene Publications Act

215

O’Connell, Daniel

215

O’Connor, Feargus Edward

217

Official Secrets Act

218

Oil crisis

218

Old Age Pensions

218

OPEC I

219

OPEC II

219

Orsini affair

220

Osborne Judgement

220

Owen, David Anthony Llewellyn, Baron Owen

220

Oxford Movement

221

Pains and Penalties, Bill of

223

Paisley, Ian Richard Kyle

223

Palmerston, Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston in
the Irish peerage

224

Pankhursts, the: Emmeline, Dame Christabel Harriette; and
Estelle Sylvia

227

Parliament Act, 1911

229

Parliament Act, 1949

229

Parnell, Charles Stewart

230

Payment by results

232

Peace Preservation Act

233

Peace Process

233

Peel, Sir Robert

234

Peerage Act

237

People’s Budget

237

Perceval, Spencer

238