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The most basic class distinction is between the powerful and the
powerless. People in social classes with greater power attempt to cement
their own positions in society and maintain their ranking above the lower
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social classes in the social hierarchy. Social classes with a great deal of
power are usually viewed as elites, at least within their own societies.
Those who can attain a position of power in a society will often adopt
distinctive lifestyles to emphasize their prestige within the powerful class.
Often the adoption of these stylistic traits (which are often referred to as
“cultural capital”) is as important as one’s wealth in determining class
status, at least at the higher levels:
Gentlemen;
Citizens or Burgesses (citizens of boroughs);
Yeomen;
Artisans or Labourers.
As far as gentlemen are concerned, the most important, after the king,
were the Prince, dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. These
were called gentlemen of the greater sort, or, in common usage, lords and
noblemen. Below them were knights, esquires, and, last of all, those that
were simply called gentlemen. Therefore, in effect, the gentlemen were
divided according to their stations in life.
The title of Prince was reserved exclusively for the king’s eldest son, who
was called the Prince of Wales, and was the heir apparent to the crown. It
was similar to the situation in France where the king’s eldest son had the
title of Dauphin, and was named exclusively Monsieur. In England the
prince was referred to with the Latin word Princeps, since he was the
chief, or principal, person next to the king. The king’s younger sons were
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practiced law,
taught in the university,
practiced medicine and the liberal sciences,
served as a captain in the wars,
served in the government for the good of the country,
did not depend on manual labour for his living,
was able to afford the behaviour, costs and appearances of a
gentleman and
was willing to bear these
was entitled to have a coat of arms made for him, at a price, by the
College of Heralds. The charters drawn up for this purpose usually
claimed a great (and false) antiquity, contained many decorative and
empty flourishes and were comparatively cheap. Nonetheless, the
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purchaser was entitled to be called Master, (the title normally reserved for
esquires and gentlemen) and be referred to as a gentleman for the
remainder of his life.
In the next class the merchants were included, although they often
changed estate with gentlemen, as gentlemen did with them. Their
number had increased so much in those times that the only thing that
maintained them were the excessive prices charged for foreign goods.
The class of yeomen were those which by law were called Legales
homines, free men born English. They were entitled to an annual income
from their own free land up to a maximum sum of forty shillings sterling,
or six pounds as money went in those times. These yeomen had a certain
pre-eminence at the time, and were more highly thought of than labourers
and the common sort of artisans. They were normally well off, kept good
houses, and travelled to make money. And although they were not called
“Master,” as gentlemen were, or “Sir,” as knights were, but only “John”
and “Thomas,” they had always been the backbone of the nation. The
kings of England, when fighting battles, were always inclined to stay with
their yeomen, who were their footmen.
The fourth and last class of people in England were day-labourers, poor
husbandmen or farmers, and some retailers (those who owned no land)
copyholders, that is leaseholders, and all artisans such as tailors,
shoemakers, carpenters, brickmakers, masons, etc. This class of people,
therefore, had neither voice nor authority in the commonwealth. As for
slaves and bondmen, there were none. Indeed, such was the privilege of
England that if anyone went there from other realms, as soon as they set
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foot in the country they were as free as their masters. Thus all notions of
servile bondage were utterly removed from them.
Harrison finds that the country was governed and maintained by three
sorts of persons:
1. The prince, monarch, and head governor, which is called the king, or,
(if the crown fell to a woman), the queen: in whose name and by whose
authority all things were administered.
2. The gentlemen, which class was divided into two sorts: first the
barony or estate of lords (which contained barons and all those above that
degree), and, second, those that were not lords, such as the knights,
esquires, and simple gentlemen. Out of this class the deputies and high
presidents were chosen, such as the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland and the
governors in Wales and Berwick.
3. The third and last sort was called the yeomanry, as well as those
below them, the labourers and artisans. They were not called masters and
gentlemen, but goodmen, as Goodman Smith, Goodman Coot, etc. In
matters of law these and the like were referred to as James Cocke,
yeoman; Harry Butcher, yeoman, etc. This addition to their names set
them apart from more vulgar and common sorts.
The middle class held to two basic ideologies that served in the
exploitation of the lower order of the British society. Richard Atlick
identified them as Utilitarianism (or Benthamism) and Evangelicalism.
Utilitarianism created the need to fulfill a principle of pleasure while
minimalising pain. In the context of the “industrial revolution” this meant
that the pleasure extracted from life would be at the working classes’
expense.
Adam Smith justified the oppressive environment that the working class
was subjected to in his work Wealth of Nations. He introduced the
concept of laisser-faire to government and its role in the economy. By
adopting the “hands off” policy, the British government created an
environment which was conducive to a pure state of capitalism. In this
mode, the industries were given a blank check for the exploitation of the
working class. The result was large-scale urbanisation and
industrialisation that produced hideous living and working conditions.
into a revolution. This is to the credit of a society that had the ability to
express itself in coping with social inconsistencies and change.
It was also in nineteenth-century Britain that the term Fourth Estate was
used to describe the press. Thomas Carlyle equated the Queen to France’s
First Estate of clergy, the House of Lords to France’s Second Estate of
hereditary aristocracy, and the House of Commons to France’s Third
Estate of rich bourgeoisie. But he then pointed out that the editors of
newspapers in Britain’s booming Industrial Revolution (similar to the
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The person responsible for devising the social class scheme was T.H.C.
Stevenson, a medical statistician in the General Register Office. His 1913
classification mixed occupational and industrial groups. While Stevenson
conceived society as divided into three basic social classes (the upper,
middle and working classes), in fact he produced an eight-fold
classification by introducing intermediate classes between the upper and
middle classes and between the middle and working classes; and adding
three industrial groups for those working in mining, textiles and
agriculture.
In 1921 there was a major revision of the class scheme. This was made
possible by the introduction of the first proper classification of
occupations. The three industrial social classes were re-allocated between
the other classes and the new five class scheme was used for the analysis
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of infant and occupational mortality and fertility. Not only did this
revision give stronger emphasis to “skill,” but there is persuasive
evidence that the revision was constructed in the light of knowledge of
mortality rates.
In 1928, Stevenson gave the first indication of the conceptual basis of his
scheme. In a paper on “The Vital Statistics of Wealth and Poverty” read
to the Royal Statistical Society, Stevenson noted that “culture” was more
important than material factors in explaining the lower mortality of the
“wealthier classes.” And “culture” (which for Stevenson included
knowledge of health and hygiene issues) was more easily equated to
occupation than to income and wealth. Hence Stevenson inferred social
position from occupation as an indicator of “culture.” He admitted that
the assignment of occupations to classes was largely an empirical matter
and thus dependent on individual judgement. The validation of the
scheme could be seen in the results it produced, for example the mortality
gradients associated with the scheme which showed a uniform increase as
one moved down the social scale.
However, these are by no means the only changes made to the official
social class scheme since 1921. At every subsequent Census changes
have been implemented not only in the method of classifying occupations
but also in the allocation of particular occupations to social classes. These
make time-series comparisons extremely difficult. In 1931, for example,
male clerks were demoted from class II to class III; in 1960 airline pilots
were promoted from class III to class II; and in 1961 postmen and
telephone operators were demoted from class II to class IV. These
gradual changes have important cumulative effects, and yet they have to
be made because of social and employment change.
I. Professional occupations;
II. Managerial and technical occupations;
III. Skilled occupations:
(N) non-manual;
(M) manual;
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experts whom they consult, and not in accordance with any coherent body
of social theory. This is why the classification has rightly been described
as an intuitive or a priori scale. This does not mean, however, that no
theory lay at the basis of Stevenson’s scheme. His notion of “culture” as
embodied by occupation did depend upon a definite view of social
processes. We can see this when we examine why the scheme was
deemed necessary.
Some scholars in the 1970s note that the social class scheme was
designed to analyse infant mortality, although others in the 1980s report
Stevenson’s primary interest as being in the study of fertility, and
especially the then vexed question as to whether the upper and middle
classes were reproducing themselves. Clearly, the two issues are related,
but they must also be seen as central to one of the earliest debates in UK
social science—that between the eugenicists and the environmentalists
(“eugenics” is the study of the hereditary improvement of the human race
by controlled selective breeding).
Although the first published application of the class schema in 1913 was
to the interpretation of infant mortality statistics, the real inspiration for
its construction came from the nineteenth-century debate about
differential fertility, between hereditarian eugenicists on the one hand and
environmentalists on the other. Stevenson, an environmentalist and
advocate of interventionist public health measures, developed the social
class scheme in order to test and disprove eugenicist theories. Thus, while
there is no explicit sociological theory to support the scheme, it is
nevertheless an assertion of the importance of social factors in accounting
for observed trends in fertility and mortality.
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The social class scheme has been widely used by OPCS (Office of
Population Censuses and Surveys) in census reports, decennial
supplements, various survey reports, as well as in many academic studies.
Not surprisingly, given its origins, it has been particularly used in
research on health and in demography. However, for a variety of reasons
some government departments and agencies, and academics in disciplines
other than health studies and demography have used alternatives to the
RGCS (Registrar-General’s class scheme), and notably the second of the
official social classifications—the Socio-Economic Groups (SEG).
For many sociologists, SEG is seen as a better measure than social class
for social scientific purposes. Its seventeen groups can be collapsed to
produce a scheme not dissimilar from the ones proposed for the studies of
social mobility and class structure. Thus we have two official ways of
classifying people in terms of their employment, based on different
principles and conceptions and without any straightforward mapping
between them.
Given this fact, and given also that the two schemes have remained
largely unaltered for decades while society itself has changed rapidly,
OPCS (the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys) recently
requested the Economic and Social Research Council to undertake a
review of RGSC and SEG. Not only was it thought that two
occupationally-based social classifications might be one too many, but
increasingly government departments and academic researchers have
complained about the fact that the classifications can ignore the 40% of
the population who are not in paid employment.
these, of course, are the problem of what unit of analysis to use, the
relationship between gender and class, the appropriate reference
occupation for the retired, the unemployed and other significant
economically inactive groups, and the even thornier problem of the very
relevance of class analysis to contemporary society and social scientific
explanation. However, whatever the problems, it is intended that Britain
should have a new social classification more fitted to the needs of the
twenty-first century.
Titles, while often considered central to the upper class, are not always
strictly so. Both Captain Mark Phillips and Vice Admiral Timothy
Laurence, the respective first and second husbands of HRH The Princess
Anne lacked any rank of peerage, yet could scarcely be considered to be
anything other than upper class. That being said, those in possession of a
hereditary (as opposed, importantly, to a conferred, or life) peerage—for
example a Dukedom, an Earldom, or a Barony (though any of these may
be conferred)—will, almost invariably be members of the upper class.
Insofar as continuing education goes, this can vary from family to family;
it may, in part, be based on the educational history of the family. In the
past, both the British Army and Clergy have been the institutions of
choice, but the same can equally apply to the Royal Navy, or work in the
Diplomatic Corps. HRH Prince Harry of Wales, for instance, has recently
completed his training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in
preparation for entry into the Army. Otherwise, Oxbridge and other
“traditional” universities (such as Durham University, the University of
Edinburgh, and St Andrews University) are the most popular sources of
higher education for the upper class, although a high academic standard is
required and social class does not as readily secure entry as it once did.
Sportswoman of the Year. Men who ride will more often participate in
Polo, as is the case with both HRH Prince Charles and his sons, Their
Royal Highnesses Prince William and Prince Harry.
Hunting and shooting, too, are favoured pastimes. Some upper class
families with large estates will run their own shoots (typically they would
need about 1,000 acres, or 4 km², though some shoots do operate on
about half that), but many will know someone who keeps pheasants, or
other game, and may instead shoot with them. Much as with horses, there
is a particular affinity for dogs (especially Labradors and Spaniels)
amongst the upper class and, equally, sporting pursuits that involve them.
It should, however, be noted that none of the aforementioned sports are,
of course, exclusively upper-class.
upper class are also distinguishable, though from the absence of vowels in
their speech—thus, “handkerchief” becomes “hnkrchf,” “venison”
becomes “vnsn” and “Shropshire” becomes “Shrpshr.”
So too is the organisation (or lack) of the garden an important upper class
trait. Bedding plants, rockeries (a garden in which rocks are arranged and
plants cultivated in a carefully designed, decorative scheme), hanging
baskets and goldfish ponds will all have been banished in favour of box
hedges, shrub roses, herbaceous borders and stone pathways. Upper class
gardens will look more natural and unconstructed than artificially
trimmed (although as with houses, this is not always true where staff are
employed).
The Anglo-Saxons
In the Dark Ages during the fifth and sixth centuries, communities of
peoples in Britain inhabited homelands with ill-defined borders. Such
communities were organised and led by chieftains or kings. Following the
final withdrawal of the Roman legions from the provinces of Britannia in
around AD 408 these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own
order and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the
Picts from beyond Hadrian’s Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic
tribes from the continent.
According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings
was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha,
the Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first
English king to be converted to Christianity (St. Augustine’s mission
from the Pope to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht’s reign prompted
thousands of such conversions). Ethelberht’s law code was the first to be
written in any Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence
extended both north and south of the river Humber: his nephew became
king of the East Saxons and his daughter married king Edwin of
Northumbria (who died in 633).
The Normans
The Normans came to govern England following one of the most famous
battles in English history: the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Four Norman
kings presided over a period of great change and development for the
country. The Domesday Book, a great record of English land-holding, was
published; the forests were extended; the Exchequer was founded; and a
start was made on the Tower of London. In religious affairs, the
Gregorian reform movement gathered pace and forced concessions: Pope
Gregory I, known as “Gregory the Great” (590-604) increased papal
authority, enforced rules of life for the clergy, and sponsored many
important missionary expeditions, notably that of Saint Augustine to
Britain (596).The machinery of government developed to support the
country while the monarch was fighting abroad.
The Angevins
Henry II, the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Henry I’s daughter
Matilda, was the first in a long line of 14 Plantagenet kings, stretching
from Henry II’s accession through to Richard III’s death in 1485. Within
that line, however, four distinct Royal Houses can be identified: Angevin,
Plantagenet, Lancaster and York. The first Angevin King, Henry II,
began the period as arguably the most powerful monarch in Europe, with
lands stretching from the Scottish borders to the Pyrenees. In addition,
Ireland was added to his inheritance, a mission entrusted to him by Pope
Adrian IV (the only English Pope).
A new administrative zeal was evident at the beginning of the period and
an efficient system of government was formulated. The justice system
developed. However there were quarrels with the Church, which became
more powerful following the murder of Thomas à Becket (archbishop of
Canterbury from 1162 to 1170, murdered following his opposition to
Henry II’s attempts to control the clergy). As with many of his
predecessors, Henry II spent much of his time away from England
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fighting abroad. This was taken to an extreme by his son Richard, who
spent only 10 months of a ten-year reign in the country due to his
involvement in the crusades.
The last of the Angevin kings was John, whom history has judged
harshly. By 1205, six years into his reign, only a fragment of the vast
Angevin empire acquired by Henry II remained. John quarrelled with the
Pope over the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury, eventually
surrendering. He was also forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, which
restated the rights of the church, the barons and all in the land. John died
in disgrace, having broken the contract, leading the nobles to summon aid
from France and creating a precarious position for his Plantagenet heir,
Henry III.
The Plantagenets
The period also saw the development of new social institutions and a
distinctive English culture. Parliament emerged and grew, while the
judicial reforms begun in the reign of Henry II were continued and
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The Lancastrians
The accession of Henry IV sowed the seeds for a period of unrest which
ultimately broke out in civil war. Burdened by rebellion and instability
after his usurpation of Richard II, Henry IV found it difficult to enforce
his rule. His son, Henry V, performed better, defeating France in the
famous Battle of Agincourt (1415) and staking a powerful claim to the
French throne. Success was short-lived with his early death. By the reign
of the relatively weak Henry VI, civil war broke out between rival
claimants to the throne, dating back to the sons of Edward III. The
Lancastrian dynasty descended from John of Gaunt, third son of Edward
III, whose son Henry deposed the unpopular Richard II.
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The Yorkists
The Yorkist conquest of the Lancastrians in 1461 did not put an end to
the Wars of the Roses, which rumbled on until the start of the sixteenth
century. Family disloyalty in the form of Richard III’s betrayal of his
nephews, the young King Edward V and his brother, was part of his
downfall. Henry Tudor, a claimant to the throne of Lancastrian descent,
defeated Richard III in battle and Richard was killed. With the marriage
of Henry to Elizabeth, the sister of the young Princes in the Tower,
reconciliation was finally achieved between the warring houses of
Lancaster and York in the form of the new Tudor dynasty, which
combined their respective red and white emblems to produce the Tudor
rose.
The Tudors
The five sovereigns of the Tudor dynasty are among the most well-known
figures in Royal history. Of Welsh origin, Henry VII succeeded in ending
the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York to found
the highly successful Tudor house. Henry VII, his son Henry VIII and his
three children Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I ruled for 118 eventful
years. During this period, England developed into one of the leading
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European colonial powers, with men such as Sir Walter Raleigh taking
part in the conquest of the New World. Nearer to home, campaigns in
Ireland brought the country under strict English control.
Culturally and socially, the Tudor period saw many changes. The Tudor
court played a prominent part in the cultural Renaissance taking place in
Europe, nurturing all-round individuals such as William Shakespeare,
Edmund Spenser and Cardinal Wolsey. The Tudor period also saw the
turbulence of two changes of official religion, resulting in the martyrdom
of many innocent believers of both Protestantism and Roman
Catholicism. The fear of Roman Catholicism induced by the Reformation
was to last for several centuries and to play an influential role in the
history of the Succession.
Until 1603 the English and Scottish Crowns were separate, although links
between the two were always close—members of the two Royal families
intermarried on many occasions. Following the Accession of King James
VI of Scotland (James I of England) to the English Throne, a single
monarch reigned in the United Kingdom. The last four hundred years
have seen many changes in the nature of the Monarchy in the United
Kingdom. From the end of the seventeenth century, monarchs lost
executive power and they increasingly became subject to Parliament,
resulting in today’s constitutional Monarchy.
The Stuarts
The Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom. King James I of
England who began the period was also King James VI of Scotland, thus
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combining the two thrones for the first time. The Stuart dynasty reigned
in England and Scotland from 1603 to 1714, a period which saw a
flourishing Court culture but also much upheaval and instability, plague,
fire and war. It was an age of intense religious debate and radical politics.
Both contributed to a bloody civil war in the mid-seventeenth century
between Crown and Parliament (the Cavaliers and the Roundheads),
resulting in a parliamentary victory for Oliver Cromwell and the dramatic
execution of King Charles I. There was a short-lived republic, the first
time that the country had experienced such an event.
The end of the Stuart line with the death of Queen Anne led to the
drawing up of the Act of Settlement in 1701, which provided that only
Protestants could hold the throne. The next in line according to the
provisions of this act was George of Hanover, yet Stuart princes remained
in the wings. The Stuart legacy was to linger on in the form of claimants
to the Crown for another century.
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The Hanoverians
The period was also one of political stability, and the development of
constitutional monarchy. For vast tracts of the eighteenth century, great
Whig families dominated politics, while the early nineteenth century saw
Tory domination. Britain’s first “Prime” Minister, Robert Walpole, dates
from this period, and income tax was introduced. Towards the end of the
Hanoverian period, the Great Reform Act was passed, which amongst
other things widened the electorate.
It was also in this period that Britain came to acquire much of her
overseas empire, despite the loss of the American colonies, largely
through foreign conquest in the various wars of the century. By the end of
the Hanoverian period, the British Empire covered a third of the globe.
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Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
The House of Windsor came into being in 1917, when the name was
adopted as the British Royal Family’s official name by a proclamation of
King George V, replacing the historic name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. It
remains the family name of the current Royal Family. The present Queen
has familial ties with most of the monarchs in Europe. During the
twentieth century, kings and queens of the United Kingdom have fulfilled
the varied duties of constitutional monarchy. One of their most important
roles has been acting as national figureheads lifting public morale during
the devastating wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45.
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The period saw the modernisation of the monarchy in tandem with many
social changes which have taken place over the past 90 years. One such
modernisation has been the use of mass communication technologies to
make the Royal Family accessible to a broader public all over the world.
George V adopted the relatively new medium of radio to broadcast across
the Empire at Christmas; the Coronation ceremony was broadcast on
television for the first time in 1953, at The Queen’s insistence; and the
World Wide Web has been used for the past seven years to provide a
global audience with information about the Royal Family. During this
period, British monarchs have also played a vital part in promoting
international relations. The Queen retains close links with former colonies
in her role as Head of the Commonwealth.
The Bill of Rights Act of 1689 sets out the foundations of constitutional
monarchy. Rights obtained by Parliament included:
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With the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, for example, the leading
noblemen of England succeeded in forcing King John to accept that they
and other freemen had rights against the Crown. In the seventeenth
century, the Stuart kings propagated the theory of the divine right of
kings, claiming that the Sovereign was subject only to God and not to the
law. Widespread unrest against their rule led to civil war in the second
half of the seventeenth century. In 1688-9 Parliamentarians drew up a Bill
of Rights, which established basic tenets such as the supremacy of
Parliament. The constitutional monarchy we know today really developed
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as day-to-day power came to
be exercised by Ministers in Cabinet, and by Parliaments elected by a
steadily-widening electorate.
The British Sovereign can be seen as having two roles: Head of State, and
“Head of the Nation.” As Head of State, the Queen undertakes
constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one
thousand years of history. There are inward duties, with the Queen
playing a part in State functions in Britain. Parliament must be opened,
Orders in Council have to be approved, Acts of Parliament must be
signed, and meetings with the Prime Minister must be held. There are
also outward duties of State, when the Queen represents Britain to the rest
of the world. For example, the Queen receives foreign ambassadors and
high commissioners, entertains visiting Heads of State, and makes state
visits overseas to other countries, in support of diplomatic and economic
relations.
Members of the Royal Family support the Queen in her many State and
national duties, as well as carrying out important work in the areas of
public and charitable service, and helping to strengthen national unity and
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stability. Those who undertake official duties are members of the Queen’s
close family: her children and their spouses, and the Queen’s cousins (the
children of King George VI’s brothers) and their spouses.
Members of the Royal Family also often represent the Queen and the
nation in Commonwealth or countries, at events such as State funerals or
national festivities, or through longer visits to strengthen Britain’s
diplomatic and economic relations. The Royal Family also plays an
important role in supporting and encouraging the public and charity
sectors. About 3,000 organisations list a member of the Royal Family as
patron or president.
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The Queen is Head of State in the United Kingdom. Her official title in
the UK is “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms
and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the
Faith.” As a constitutional monarch, the Queen does not “rule” the
country, but fulfils important ceremonial and formal roles with respect to
the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the devolved assemblies of
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Queen is also Fount of Justice, from whom justice in the United
Kingdom derives, and has important relationships with the Armed Forces
and the established Churches of England and Scotland. In addition to her
role in the United Kingdom, the Queen has a special role to play in the
Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are dependent territories of
the English Crown.
As Head of State the Queen has to remain strictly neutral with respect to
political matters, unable to vote or stand for election. But the Queen does
have important ceremonial and formal roles in relation to the Government
of the UK. The formal phrase “Queen in Parliament” is used to describe
the British legislature, which consists of the Sovereign, the House of
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The Queen also has a close relationship with the Prime Minister, retaining
the right to appoint and meet with him or her on a regular basis. In
addition to playing a specific role in the UK Parliament based in London,
the Queen has formal roles with relation to the devolved assemblies of
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In the earliest times the Sovereign was a key figure in the enforcement of
law and the establishment of legal systems in different areas of the UK.
As such the Sovereign became known as the “Fount of Justice.” While no
longer administering justice in a practical way, the Sovereign today still
retains an important symbolic role as the figure in whose name justice is
carried out, and law and order is maintained. Although civil and criminal
proceedings cannot be taken against the Sovereign as a person under UK
law, the Queen is careful to ensure that all her activities in her personal
capacity are carried out in strict accordance with the law.
In the United Kingdom, the Queen’s title includes the words “Defender of
the Faith.” This means Her Majesty has a specific role in both the Church
of England and the Church of Scotland. As established Churches, they are
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The Sovereign is Head of the Armed Forces and only he or she can
declare war and peace. This dates from the times when the monarch was
responsible for raising, maintaining and equipping the Army and Navy,
and often leading them into battle. But nowadays these powers cannot be
exercised on the monarch’s own initiative, but only on the advice of
responsible Ministers. The Bill of Rights (1689) declared that “the raising
or keeping of a standing army within the Kingdom in time of peace,
unless it be with the consent of Parliament, is against the law.”
and Royal Marines (who operate ashore under the Army Act) to take an
oath of allegiance to the monarch as Head of the Armed Forces.
The Queen takes a keen interest in all the Armed Services both in the
United Kingdom and in the Commonwealth. She keeps in touch with the
work and interests of the Services through the Chiefs of Staff and her
Defence Services Secretary, a serving officer who is also a member of the
Royal Household, who acts as the official link between the Queen,
through her Private Secretary, and the Secretary of State for Defence. The
Queen is regularly briefed by her Ministers.
The Queen and various other members of the Royal Family hold various
appointments and honorary ranks in the Armed Services, both in the
United Kingdom and in some realms. Such appointments include “special
relationships” with certain ships, honorary colonelcies (known as Royal
colonels) in Army regiments and corps, and honorary ranks connected
with Royal Air Force stations.
Royal Visits
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Honours
While most honours are awarded on the advice of the Government, there
are still certain honours in the United Kingdom that the Sovereign confers
at his or her own discretion. The only honours for which the Sovereign
personally selects recipients are: the Order of the Garter, the Order of the
Thistle, the Order of Merit, the Royal Victorian Order and the Royal
Victorian Chain, Royal Medals of Honour and Medals for Long Service.
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Anniversary Messages
For many people, receiving a congratulatory card from the Queen to mark
a significant birthday or wedding anniversary is a very special part of
their celebrations. Since 1917, the Sovereign has sent congratulatory
messages to people celebrating notable birthdays and anniversaries. Cards
are sent to those celebrating their 100th and 105th birthday and every year
thereafter, and to those celebrating their diamond wedding (60th), 65th, 70th
wedding anniversaries and every year thereafter. The Queen's
congratulatory messages consist of a card containing a personalised
message with a facsimile signature. The card comes in a special envelope,
which is delivered through the normal postal channels.
An important part of the work of the Queen and the Royal Family is to
support and encourage public and voluntary service. One of the ways in
which they do this is through involvement with charities and other
organisations. About 3,000 organisations list a member of the Royal
Family as patron or president. The Queen has over 600 patronages and
the Duke of Edinburgh over 700. These cover every area of the charity
and voluntary sector, from opportunities for young people, to
preservation of wildlife and the environment.
also full of symbolism, tradition and meaning, and an integral part of the
Queen’s role as Head of State.
Ceremonies
Ceremonial Bodies
Symbols
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Transport
Royal Finances
Sources of Funding
There are four sources of funding for the Queen, or officials of the Royal
Household acting on Her Majesty’s behalf, in both a public and private
capacity. These are: the Civil List, the Grants-in-Aid for upkeep of Royal
Palaces and for Royal travel, the Privy Purse and the Queen’s personal
wealth and income. The Civil List (Royal Salary) allocation for the
financial year 2008-2009 was £12.7 million.
The Prince of Wales’s life and work are funded predominantly by the
Duchy of Cornwall. His Royal Highness receives the annual net surplus
of the Duchy of Cornwall and chooses to use a large proportion of the
income to meet the cost of his public and charitable work. The Prince also
uses part of the income to meet the costs of his private life and those of
his wife, The Duchess of Cornwall, and his sons, Prince William and
Prince Harry. As a Crown body, the Duchy is tax exempt, but the Prince
of Wales voluntarily pays income tax (currently at 40 %) on his taxable
income from it. The Prince of Wales does not receive money from the
Civil List, but the Grants-in-Aid paid to the Queen’s Household are used,
in part, to support his official activities.
Other than the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh is the only member of the
Royal Family to receive an annual parliamentary allowance to enable him
to carry out official public duties supporting the Queen. Since 1993, the
Queen has repaid to the Treasury the annual parliamentary allowances
received by other members of the Royal Family. Most of the allowances
received by members of the Royal Family are spent on staff who support
their public engagements and correspondence. In 2000 the annual
amounts payable to members of the Royal Family (which are set every
ten years) were reset at their 1990 levels for the next ten years, until
December 2010.
Taxation
The Queen pays most of the taxes to which any UK citizen is liable. Her
Majesty has always been subject to Value Added Tax and other indirect
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taxes and she pays local rates (Council Tax) on a voluntary basis. In
1992, the Queen offered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on a
voluntary basis. As from 1993, her personal income has been taxable as
for any taxpayer. Income from the Privy Purse is fully taxable, subject to
a deduction for official expenditure. The Civil List and the Grants-in-Aid
are not “pay” for the Queen but funding for her official work, so they are
disregarded for tax purposes. However, the unique nature of her position
of Sovereign makes the Queen exempt from tax in certain situations.
Succession
son, but to his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, as
joint rulers.
Parliament, under the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement, also laid
down various conditions which the Sovereign must meet. A Roman
Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne; nor may
the Sovereign marry a Roman Catholic. The Sovereign must, in addition,
be in communion with the Church of England and must swear to preserve
the established Church of England and the established Church of
Scotland. The Sovereign must also promise to uphold the Protestant
succession.
Historical Development
Modern parliaments trace their history to the thirteenth century, when the
sheriffs of English counties sent knights to the king to provide advice on
financial matters. Kings, however, generally desired the knights’ assent to
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new taxation, not their advice. Later in the thirteenth century, King
Edward I (1272-1307) called joint meetings of two governmental
institutions: the Magnum Concilium, or Great Council, comprising lay
and ecclesiastical magnates, and the Curia Regis, or King’s Court, a
much smaller body of semiprofessional advisers. At those meetings of the
Curia Regis that came to be called concilium regis in parliamento (“the
king’s council in parliament”), judicial problems might be settled that had
proved beyond the scope of the ordinary law courts dating from the
twelfth century. The members of the Curia Regis were preeminent and
often remained to complete business after the magnates had been sent
home; the proceedings of Parliament were not formally ended until they
had accomplished their tasks. To about one in seven of these meetings
Edward, following precedents from his father’s time, summoned knights
from the shires and burgesses from the towns to appear with the
magnates.
By the late seventeenth century, the power of the monarch had declined,
and the relationship between the Lords and Commons had shifted in
favour of the Commons. When the Whig majority in the House of Lords
threatened to reject the Treaty of Utrecht with France in 1712, the
government created enough Tory peerages in that house to guarantee
support for its policy, a precedent that firmly established the superiority
of the House of Commons. King George I (reigned 1714-27) largely
withdrew from an active role in governance, and in 1721 Robert Walpole,
leader of the Whigs in the House of Commons and the cabinet, was
appointed the first unofficial Prime Minister and became the real head of
government. Unlike previous leading ministers, he did not accept
elevation to the House of Lords, instead remaining a member of the
House of Commons. The principle that the government was subject to the
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The Building
Where Parliament now stands has been a centre of authority for over a
thousand years. Once the home of the royal family, and still officially a
royal palace, the buildings that now make up the modern Houses of
Parliament have developed through design, accident and attack. The first
known royal palace to occupy Parliament’s site was Edward the
Confessor’s (c1065). Parliament officially remains a royal palace and is
still referred to as “the Palace of Westminster.” The site was used as a
royal residence until Henry VIII moved the royal family out in 1512
following a fire. Westminster Hall is the oldest part of Parliament. The
walls were built in 1097 and the hall is one Europe’s largest medieval
halls with an unsupported roof. It was extensively rebuilt during the
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fourteenth century. Once used as a law court, the hall has held several
notable trials, including that of Sir William Wallace (1305), the
Gunpowder Plot conspirators (1606) and King Charles I (1649). Today
the hall is often used for important State occasions such as the Queen’s
Golden Jubilee and the lying-in-State of the late Queen Elizabeth the
Queen Mother, both in 2002.
The Clock Tower owes its existence to the fire in 1834 that destroyed
most of Parliament. A commission was set up to choose a new building
design from 97 submissions and a clock tower dominated Charles Barry’s
winning plan. The clock swung into action in 1859. In 1848, the
Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airey, and barrister Edmund Denison
(who was an amateur watchmaker) took charge of designing the Great
Clock. Clockmaker Edward Dent had the job of building it. Two attempts
were made to cast the Great Bell, or Big Ben as it is more popularly
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known. Cast in 1856, the first bell was transported to the tower on a
trolley drawn by sixteen horses, with crowds cheering its progress.
Unfortunately, it cracked while being tested (blamed on Denison insisting
on an overly heavy hammer) and a replacement had to be made.
original roof was supported by rows of pillars within the hall but in 1399
Richard II commissioned a hammer-beam roof to arch across the entire
span. During extensive repairs undertaken between 1914 and 1923, the
entire hammer-beam roof was reinforced by concealed steelwork and the
decayed portions replaced with new oak. The hammer-beam roof is the
largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe with a span of 69 feet.
During certain ceremonial occasions, and like the Lords Chamber during
State Opening, Westminster Hall becomes a point of convergence for all
three parts of Parliament: the Queen, the House of Lords and the House
of Commons. The Queen attends parliamentary occasions in her capacity
as the ceremonial head of state. Westminster Hall is traditionally the
place where monarchs, and sometimes former Prime Ministers, lie-in-
state before their funerals. Tablets on the floor of the hall commemorate
these occasions. Exhibitions and other special events are also held in
Westminster Hall and are often open free of charge to the public.
both Houses of Parliament, their sons and those police officers who died
in the First World War from 1914 to 1918. Designed by Sir Bertram
Mackennal in 1922, the statue was damaged during the Second World
War; to this day one of the upper statuettes remains detached from the
memorial.
Above the memorial to the First World War in St. Stephen’s Porch, is the
large stained glass window which contains the service badges and
armorial bearings or initials of Members and staff of both Houses and
police officers, who died in the War of 1939 to 1945. The window was
designed by Sir Ninian Comper and replaced the original Pugin window,
which was destroyed in December 1940 during a bombing raid. In
addition to memorials, there are a number of books of remembrance and
other commemorative artefacts, including:
a box of sand from five beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and
Sword) used at the Normandy Landings in 1944, presented by the
Normandy Veterans Association.
Beyond the House of Lords are the ceremonial rooms used during the
State Opening of Parliament—the Queen’s Robing Room and the Royal
Gallery—reached by a separate entrance under Victoria Tower. The
Royal Gallery is often used when members of the two Houses meet
together to hear addresses by visiting heads of State or Government. To
the north of the House of Commons are the Speakers’ and Serjeant-at-
Arms’s rooms, and offices for ministers and officials. Beyond these is
one of the most famous features of the Palace—the Clock Tower (Big
Ben).
Parliament’s Role
The Commons is publicly elected. The party with the largest number of
members in the Commons forms the government. Members of the
Commons (MPs) debate the big political issues of the day and proposals
for new laws. It is one of the key places where government ministers, like
the Prime Minister and the principal figures of the main political parties,
work. The Commons alone is responsible for making decisions on
financial Bills, such as proposed new taxes. The Lords can consider these
Bills but cannot block or amend them.
MPs who are also ministers in the Government are paid an extra
ministerial salary. There is a contributory pension scheme for Members
of the House of Commons to which MPs contribute 10% of their
parliamentary salary. Some money is paid to those political parties
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The Lords currently has around 800 Members, and there are three
different types: life Peers, bishops and elected hereditary Peers. Unlike
MPs, the public do not elect the Lords. The majority are appointed by the
Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister or of the House of
Lords Appointments Commission. Appointed for their lifetime only, the
life Peers’ titles are not passed on to their children. The Queen formally
appoints life Peers on the advice and recommendation of the Prime
Minister.
Members of the House of Lords are not paid salaries. But, they are
entitled to claim allowances—or expenses—for costs they incur in
attending either a sitting of the House or a meeting of a committee of the
House. Members of the House of Lords, who are not paid a salary, may
claim the following allowances per sitting day—but only if they attend a
sitting of the House or committee proceedings. The allowances are based
on recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body:
Some Members of the Lords receive a salary because of the offices they
hold:
Members who receive a salary are not entitled to claim the additional
allowances based on attendance. The two Opposition parties and the
Convenor of the Crossbench Peers in the House of Lords receive
financial assistance for their parliamentary business. Known as
“Cranborne money,” the amounts payable are uprated annually in line
with the retail prices index and are subject to independent audit.
The UK has many political parties, the main three being Conservative
(currently in government), Labour and Liberal Democrat. These three
work in both the House of Commons and House of Lords. In addition to
the main three parties, the Commons has a range of other political groups
also elected by the public. This includes nationalist organisations like
Plaid Cymru (Wales) and the Scottish National Party, Northern Ireland’s
various political parties, and minority parties like Respect.
Outside of the main parties, there are a small number of Members in the
Lords as well that are not affiliated with a main political party and those
belonging to minority groups. In addition there are a limited number of
Church of England archbishops and bishops and the Crossbench Peers
group. The Crossbench Peers group is formed by independent Members
who do not take a party whip—which means that they are not told how to
vote by a political party.
Nearly all MPs represent political parties. The party with the most MPs
after a general election usually forms the Government. The next largest
party becomes the official Opposition. If MPs do not have a political
party, they are known as “Independents.” Members of the House of Lords
are organised on a party basis in much the same way as the House of
Commons but with important differences: members of the Lords do not
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The system of political parties, which has existed in one form or another
since at least the eighteenth century, is an essential element in the
working of the constitution. Since the Second World War, all the
Governments in the UK have been formed by either the Labour Party or
the Conservative Party. The effectiveness of the party system in
Parliament depends on the relationship between the Government and the
Opposition parties. In general, Opposition parties aim to:
Regarding seating arrangements, MPs from the same party tend to sit
together in the House of Commons Chamber. Because the Chamber is a
rectangular shape, the Government and the Opposition can face each
other. The Government sits on the benches to the right of the Speaker.
The official Opposition and MPs from other parties sit on the benches to
the left of the Speaker. As in the Commons, in the Lords the Government
and the Opposition face each other. The Government and the Bishops sit
on the right of the Lord Speaker. The Opposition parties sit on the
benches to the left of the Lord Speaker while the Crossbench Peers sit
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mostly on benches that cross the Chamber of the House of Lords behind
the clerks’ table.
Elections
Daily Business
In the House of Lords Question Time (Oral Questions) takes place at the
beginning of the day’s business for up to 30 minutes on Mondays to
Thursdays. Lords questions are to the Government as a whole, not to
particular government departments (as they are in the Commons). The
Prime Minister answers questions from MPs in the Commons for half an
hour every Wednesday from 12 p.m.
After Question Time (and any urgent questions that may have been
allowed) a government minister may make an oral statement to the
House of Commons and repeated, at a convenient time, in the House of
Lords. Notice of statements is not usually given until the day they are to
be made.
The main business in both chambers often takes the form of a debate.
This includes debates on legislation, general topics of interest or issues
selected by the major parties. A debate is a formal discussion on a Bill or
topic of interest or importance. A typical debate takes the following form:
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The Lord Speaker chairs debates in the House of Lords but does not call
it to order (as the Commons Speaker does) because the Lords manage
debates themselves. Lords address their speeches to the other Members,
not the Lord Speaker. Members normally speak only once, except to give
clarification or by special leave.
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At the end of a debate the Question (i.e. the motion which is the subject
of the debate) is put to see if Members agree or not. The question may be
decided without voting, or by a simple majority vote. Public debates and
results of divisions in the chamber and committees of both Houses are
published in Hansard. Members of both Houses register their vote for or
against issues by physically going into two different areas on either side
of their debating chambers. This is known as “dividing the House,” while
the areas concerned are “division lobbies.” Therefore, a vote is called a
“division.”
During a division, Members literally divide into two separate areas. These
are called the Aye and No lobbies in the Commons and the Contents and
Not Contents lobbies in the Lords. As they pass through the lobbies, the
Members have their names recorded by clerks and are counted by tellers.
Once the lobbies are empty the Speaker (Commons) or the Lord Speaker
(Lords) announces the result of the division. The whole process takes
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Making Laws
the government;
individual MPs or Lords;
private individuals or organisations.
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There are three different types of Bill: Public, Private and Hybrid Bills.
There is also another kind of Public Bill called Private Members’ Bills.
An Act of Parliament creates a new law or changes an existing law. An
Act is a Bill approved by both the House of Commons and the House of
Lords and formally agreed to by the reigning monarch (known as Royal
Assent). Once implemented, an Act is law and applies to the UK as a
whole or to specific areas of the country.
The procedure for passing the different types of Bills is broadly similar in
both Houses. At a very simple level, a Bill must pass through several
stages—in both Houses—to become a law. For Public Bills the following
stages take place in both Houses:
When a Bill has passed through both Houses it is returned to the first
House (where it started) for the second House’s amendments to be
considered. Both Houses must agree on the final text. There may be
several rounds of exchanges between the two Houses until agreement is
reached on every word of the Bill. Once this happens, the Bill proceeds to
the next stage: the Royal Assent.
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Private Bills go through broadly the same stages as Public Bills, but some
different rules apply. For example, a debate on the second reading of a
Private Bill will only take place if an MP or Lord objects to the Bill. The
committee stage for a Private Bill is also different. Bills which have been
petitioned against are considered by an Opposed Bill Committee, whereas
Bills not petitioned against go to an Unopposed Bill Committee. Private
Bills in the House of Lords do not have a report stage after they have left
committee.
The Budget
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Every year the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes a major speech to the
House of Commons on the state of the national finances and the
Government’s proposals for changes to taxation. This statement is known
as the Budget. The Budget usually takes place in March. There has to be a
Budget every year because some taxes, such as income tax and
corporation tax, are annual taxes (not permanent), so they must be
renewed each year. The Budget speech usually includes:
The Finance Bill is the Bill presented to Parliament each year which
enacts the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget proposals for taxation.
Once the House of Commons has agreed the Budget Resolutions, the Bill
starts its passage through Parliament in the same way as any other Bill.
The House of Lords has a very limited role in respect to Finance Bills.
Many Finance Bills are classed as Money Bills, which the Lords may not
reject and can only delay for a month.
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Since 1997, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has presented an annual pre-
Budget report. This usually takes place in November/December. The pre-
Budget report speech to the House of Commons usually includes:
Today, judges still keep to the traditional ceremony but instead of the
two-mile walk from the Royal Courts of Justice to Westminster Abbey,
the judges now travel by car for the service conducted by the Dean of
Westminster. After the service, the Lord Chancellor entertains those
present at a breakfast—a light buffet—to which the fully-robed guests
proceed, on foot, from Westminster Abbey to the Houses of Parliament.
The breakfast is held in Westminster Hall, or the Royal Gallery. The
religious service includes prayers, hymns, anthems and psalms, with both
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the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice reading a lesson.
Approximately 600 guests attend both events, with a further 300
attending the breakfast. Judges and Queen’s Counsels (QCs) wear full
court dress, while others wear morning dress.
Following the State Opening, a motion that the House sends a “Humble
Address” to the Queen thanking her for the Speech is introduced in both
Houses. The Government’s programme, as presented in the Queen’s
Speech, is then debated by both Houses for four or five days. The debate
on the first day is a general one, with the following day’s debates on
particular subjects (such as health or foreign affairs). The Queen’s Speech
is voted on by the Commons, but no vote is taken in the Lords.
The Speaker
the Lords and other authorities and chairs the House of Commons
Commission. The current Speaker is John Bercow, MP for Buckingham.
The Speaker is perhaps best known as the person who keeps order and
calls MPs to speak during Commons debates. The Speaker calls MPs in
turn to give their opinion on an issue. MPs signal that they want to speak
by standing up from their seat (a custom known as “catching the
Speaker’s eye”) or they can notify the Speaker in advance by writing. The
Speaker has full authority to make sure MPs follow the rules of the House
during debates. This can include:
The House of Lords elected Baroness D'Souza as its second Lord Speaker
on 18 July 2011. Lord Speakers can sit for two terms only, which last a
maximum of five years each. The Lord Speaker assumed some of the
responsibilities previously held by the Lord Chancellor, but, unlike the
Lord Chancellor, is independent of government in their appointment and
role.
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Although the Lord Speaker chairs the Lords debating chamber, they have
less authority than their counterpart Speaker in the Commons. This is
because the Lords regulate themselves and the order of business in the
House. Therefore, unlike the Speaker in the House of Commons, the Lord
Speaker does not:
The Cabinet
The Whips
Black Rod
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The most public aspect of Black Rod’s role is their ceremonial duties
during the State Opening of Parliament. Black Rod is sent from the
Chamber in the Lords to the Chamber in the House of Commons to
summon MPs to hear the Queen’s Speech. Traditionally the door of the
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History
The 1832 Reform Act emphasised the need for government to have the
confidence of Parliament as well as the Monarch for it to act coherently.
This document clarified two basic principles of cabinet government: that
a cabinet should be composed of members drawn from the party or
political faction that holds a majority in the House of Commons and that
a cabinet’s members are collectively responsible to the Commons for the
conduct of the government. Henceforth no cabinet could maintain itself in
power unless it had the support of a majority in the Commons. Unity in a
political party proved the best way to organize support for a cabinet
within the House of Commons, and the party system thus developed
along with cabinet government in England.
Up to 1916, a letter written by the Prime Minister to the Monarch was the
only recorded decision of Cabinet. In 1916 the “War” Cabinet Secretariat
and the post of Cabinet Secretary was created. The basic system has
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survived since then. The name and institution have been adopted by most
English-speaking countries, and the Council of Ministers or similar
bodies of other countries are often informally referred to as cabinets. The
term “minister” came into being since the English sovereign’s ministers
“ministered” the will of the king. In this period, the English monarch was
an absolute monarch, and as such directly exercised all of the executive
powers of the realm.
Downing Street began its association with the office of the Prime
Minister in 1730. That the house is still being used today by David
Cameron is down to the refusal of first-ever PM Robert Walpole to accept
the house as a personal gift. Instead he insisted it be used by future “First
Lords of the Treasury.” During its history the house has undergone major
development to be turned into a grand residence fit for the most powerful
politician in the country.
The site where Downing Street now stands rose to importance early in
British history. Settlement by the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans
made the area around today’s Westminster a prestigious centre of
government over 1000 years ago. Thorney Island—“the island of
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The first domestic house known to have been built on the site of Number
10 was a large building leased to Sir Thomas Knyvet. A Member of
Parliament for Thetford and Justice of the Peace for Westminster, his
claim to fame was arresting Guy Fawkes for his part in the Gunpowder
Plot of 1605. The house was first leased to him in 1581 by Queen
Elizabeth I. One of the Queen’s favourites, he held high rank in her court.
He was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and in 1581 became the
Queen’s Keeper of the Palace. Royal patronage continued under James I,
who knighted Knyvet in 1604. His lifetime lease on the house was
extended in 1604 so that Sir Thomas’ heirs would hold the property for
sixty years after his death. Now named “Knyvet House,” the building was
made of timber and brick and had a large L-shaped garden. After the
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deaths of Knyvet and his wife in 1622, the house passed to their niece,
Elizabeth Hampden, who lived there for the next 40 years.
Downing Street was built as a result of one man’s scheming. Sir George
Downing was an enterprising rogue—a spy, traitor and shady property
developer—who saw building houses on prime London land as a means
to get rich quickly. Brought up in New England, Downing was one of the
earliest graduates of Harvard University. He came back to England
during the Civil War, and by 1650 he was Cromwell’s Scoutmaster
General or intelligence chief. At the heart of Cromwell’s inner circle, he
enjoyed a position of great power.
In 1654 Downing acquired the Crown interest in the land, but he could
not take possession as it was under lease to Knyvet’s descendents. It was
not until 1682, nearly 30 years later, that Downing finally secured the
leases to the property. He quickly set about the project, pulling down
existing properties. In their place sprang up a cul-de-sac of 15 or 20
terraced houses along the northern side of Downing Street. Designed for a
quick turnover, Downing’s houses were cheaply built, with poor
foundations for the boggy ground. Instead of neat brick façades, they had
mortar lines drawn on to look like even-spaced bricks. The original
numbering of the houses was completely different to today’s. The number
sequence was haphazard, and the houses tended to be known by the name
or title of their occupants. The current Number 10 started out life as
Number 5, and was not renumbered until 1779.
It was a period of great change. Rule by a powerful monarch had given
way only a few decades earlier to a different style of government led by
Parliament and party politics. It became important to house the chief
ministers in buildings grand enough for their status. King George II
10
presented both the house on Downing Street, and the house overlooking
Horse Guards, to Sir Robert Walpole, who held the title First Lord of the
Treasury and effectively served as the first prime minister. Walpole
refused the property in Downing Street as a personal gift. Instead he
asked the King to make it available to him, and future First Lords of the
Treasury, in their official capacity.
To this day prime ministers occupy Number 10 in the role of First Lord of
the Treasury. The brass letter box on the black front door is still engraved
with this title. Walpole took up residence in 1735, but only after having
the two houses—the one on Downing Street and the one overlooking
Horse Guards—joined together and completely refurbished to match his
status. Walpole employed famous architect William Kent to take on the
project. Kent was a Palladian architect who created grand, classical
designs inspired by Roman buildings, a style of architecture popular in
the eighteenth century.
Walpole used the ground floor for business, taking the largest room, on
the north-west side of the house, as his study. It is now the Cabinet
Room. Upstairs on the first floor, the Walpoles lived in the rooms facing
onto Horse Guards Parade. The Walpoles were soon entertaining
important guests in their smart house, from Queen Caroline, the wife of
George II, to politicians, writers and soldiers.
Walpole’s successors saw the house as a bonus of the job, which they
could hand over to fellow politicians, family and friends. And prime
ministers Henry Pelham (1743-54) and the Duke of Newcastle (1754-56
and 1757-62) preferred to live in their own residences. It was not until
1763 that the next prime minister took up residence. George Grenville
10
was there for only two years, as he was sacked by George III in 1765 for
imposing stamp duty on the American colonies.
The next prime minister to move in was Lord North, who became First
Lord in 1770. A home-loving figure, he became very fond of the house
and often entertained there. Visitors included writer Samuel Johnson and
Thomas Hansard, founder of the Parliamentary reporting system that still
exists today. Lord North resigned as prime minister in 1782, following
the loss of the American colonies. The Duke of Portland, prime minister
for only nine months, lived in the house briefly, before 24-year-old
William Pitt the Younger moved in.
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw 10 Downing Street
transformed from a humble terraced house into a grand residence with
modern facilities—a home and office fit for the most powerful politician
in the country. When Gladstone moved into the house for the first time in
1880, he insisted on redecorating after Disraeli’s occupancy, spending
about £1,555, an enormous sum for the time, on furniture. In 1894, during
his last occupancy as prime minister, electric lighting was fitted and the
first telephones were installed around the same time.
The Marquess of Salisbury, who followed Gladstone, was the last prime
minister not to live at Number 10. Salisbury never liked the Cabinet
Room, describing it as a “cramped close room.” He preferred to work in
the larger Cabinet Room in the Foreign Office and live in Arlington
Street, offering Number 10 to his nephew, Arthur Balfour (1902-05), who
also later became prime minister. Balfour was the first inhabitant of
Number 10 to bring a motor car to Downing Street.
10
From Balfour onwards, Number 10 became the residence and office for
all British prime ministers. Six years later, with the outbreak of the First
World War, the Cabinet Room at Number 10 was the nerve-centre of
Britain’s war effort. Under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the
number of staff at Number 10 expanded and offices spilled out into the
garden to cope with the war.
Other important changes took place to the house. Labour Prime Minister
Ramsay MacDonald wanted Number 10 to regain some of the grandeur it
had during the times of Walpole and Pitt. Missing a proper library
containing more than Hansard reports, MacDonald started the Prime
Minister’s Library, which was housed originally in the Cabinet Room.
The custom began of the prime minister and other ministers donating
books to the library; it continues today. Central heating was installed in
1937 and work began on converting the labyrinth of rooms in the attic,
which had formerly been used by servants, into a flat for the prime
minister.
Keeping Downing Street, the Prime Minister and the War Cabinet safe
became a top priority. Steel reinforcement was added to the Garden
Rooms and heavy metal shutters were fixed over windows as protection
from bombing raids. The Garden Rooms provided a small dining room,
bedroom and a meeting area which were used by Churchill throughout
the war. In reality, though, the steel reinforcement would not have
protected him against a direct hit.
In October 1939 the Cabinet had moved out of Number 10 and into secret
underground war rooms built in the basement of the Office of Works
opposite the Foreign Office. Following near-misses by bombs, in 1940
Churchill and his wife moved out of Downing Street and into the Number
10 Annex above the war rooms. Furniture and valuables were removed
from Number 10; only the Garden Rooms, Cabinet Room and Private
Secretaries’ office remained in use. But Churchill disliked living in the
Annex. Despite its being almost empty, Churchill continued to use
Number 10 Downing Street for working and eating.
A reinforced shelter was constructed under the house for up to six people,
for use by those working in the house. Even George VI sought shelter
there when he dined with Churchill in the Garden Rooms. Although
bombs caused further damage to Number 10, there were no direct hits to
the house, allowing Churchill to continue to work and dine there right up
until the end of the war. As soon as war was over, Churchill and his wife
10
moved back to Number 10. And it was the triumphant setting for his VE
Day broadcast, delivered from the Cabinet Room at 3 p.m. on 8 May
1945.
After the damage of the Second World War, drastic action was required
to make Number 10 fit for prime ministers again, and to bring it up to
date with modern technology. From 1945 to 1950, war damage in the
house was repaired. The attic was converted into a flat, and Prime
Minister Clement Attlee and his wife moved into it instead of the first-
floor rooms where earlier prime ministers had lived. The flat included a
sitting room, dining room, a study, and a number of bedrooms.
By the 1950s the state of the fabric of 10 Downing Street had reached
crisis point. Bomb damage had made existing structural problems worse
—the building was suffering from subsidence, sloping walls, twisting
door frames and an enormous annual repair bill. It was decided that
Number 12 should be rebuilt; Number 10 and 11 should be strengthened
and their historic features preserved. Number 10 was completely gutted.
Walls, floors and even the columns in the Cabinet Room and Pillared
Room proved to be rotten and had to be replaced. Work was completed
in 1963.
All the building work of the past few decades could have been ruined
when a terrorist bomb exploded in 1991. An IRA mortar bomb was fired
from a white transit van in Whitehall and exploded in the garden of
Number 10, only a few metres away from where John Major was chairing
a Cabinet meeting to discuss the imminent Gulf War. Although no one
was killed, it left a crater in the Number 10 gardens and blew in the
windows of neighbouring houses. John Major and some of his staff
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moved into Admiralty Arch while damage caused by the bomb was
repaired.
Number 10 is a busy office and workplace for the Prime Minister and the
staff employed to support him. The Prime Minister has his own room
where he works and reads. There, or in other rooms in the house, he may
meet colleagues, receive important guests, make phone calls or give
interviews. Number 10 is also the venue for the regular Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet meets every Tuesday while Parliament is in session in the
Cabinet Room, which has been used by successive Cabinets since 1856.
Lunches and dinners are more formal events. The Small Dining Room
will sit a maximum of 12, and the State Dining Room up to 65 around a
large, U-shaped table. The dining table is laid with items from the state
silver collection—a range of modern silverware pieces commissioned by
the Silver Trust to promote modern British craftsmanship.
Cabinet ministers are responsible for their departments, but the cabinet as
a whole is accountable to Parliament for its actions, and its individual
members must be willing and able to publicly defend the cabinet’s
policies. Cabinet members can freely disagree with each other within the
secrecy of cabinet meetings, but once a decision has been reached, all are
obligated to support the cabinet’s policies, both in the Commons and
before the general public. The loss of a vote of confidence or the defeat of
a major legislative bill in the Commons can mean a cabinet’s fall from
power and the collective resignation of its members. Only rarely are
individual ministers disavowed by their colleagues and forced to accept
sole responsibility for their policy initiatives; such was the case with Sir
Samuel Hoare’s resignation in 1935 over his proposed conciliation of
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Fascist Italy. Despite the need for consensus and collective action within
a cabinet, ultimate decision-making power rests with the prime minister
as the leader of his party.
Composition
Recent custom has been that the composition of the Cabinet has been
made up almost entirely of members of the House of Commons. The
office of Leader of the House of Lords is offered to a member of the
House of Lords, but apart from this one post it is now rare for a peer to sit
in the Cabinet. The role of Lord Chancellor was, until recently, always
10
Until Mandelson, the last Secretary of State for a major department drawn
from the Lords was Lord Young of Graffham, serving between 1985 and
1989 as Secretary of State for Employment until 1987 and Secretary of
State for Trade and Industry until 1989. Interestingly, the number of
junior ministers who are peers has increased since 1997, though being a
peer can be a block to Cabinet-advancement. Occasionally cabinet
members have been selected from outside the Houses of Parliament.
Frank Cousins and Patrick Gordon Walker were appointed to the 1964
Harold Wilson cabinet despite not being MPs at the time. On 3 October
2008 Peter Mandelson, at the time of appointment not a member of either
House, became Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform.
Local Government
Civil parishes had their origins in the ecclesiastical parish and parish
affairs were managed by a group known as the vestry. (A vestry is a
storage room in a church and also an administrative committee of a
church). The principal responsibility of the parish was relief of the poor, a
duty previously established under the Poor Law of 1601. The parish was
required to help those incapable of supporting themselves. The local
officer was known as an Overseer of the Poor. Rates were charged to
households to pay for poor relief. Workhouses were set up by parishes
after 1723. Law and order, by way of a constable, and road repairs were
carried out by the parish.
The Metropolis
Ad-Hoc Bodies
Elected Councils
Elected county councils were set up in 1889 with the functions that were
historically organised at county level transferred to the new councils,
including the Justices of the Peace, the rates, the licensing, the asylums,
the highways, the weights and measures and the police. The area of
London that had been the responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of
Works became the County of London, with responsibility for local
government passing to the London County Council. Initially the parishes
and ad-hoc boards remained the principal service providers in the
counties but the situation was not to last. Also created in 1889 were
county boroughs. They covered major towns and provided all services in
their areas. Many of the larger councils, such as Birmingham City
Council, had radical and extensive programmes of social and municipal
service provision.
The 1894 Local Government Act largely replaced the functions of the ad-
hoc boards with urban districts and rural districts, based on the sanitary
districts set up in 1872. Outside London, local government now had a
consistent pattern of county boroughs, non-county boroughs (the
reformed boroughs), urban districts and rural districts. In rural areas the
role of the parish was revived under the Act. The districts gained limited
functions from the county councils and responsibility for public health
and highways from the ad-hoc boards.
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The structure set up in the latter half of the previous century had
legitimacy in the eyes of the public due to its democratically elected
officials. Its significance increased in the first fifty years of the new
century with an expanding role. Local authorities also enjoyed a period of
consensus with central government because their purpose was growing in
importance. The demise of the ad-hoc bodies came in the early part of the
century. The Education Act of 1902 abolished the school boards and
transferred responsibility to the elected local authorities. Spending on
education has represented the biggest financial responsibility of local
government since the Act. The poor law was abolished in 1930 with the
responsibilities of the unions transferred to the county and county
borough councils.
Councils during this period were not limited to the functions sanctioned
by central government only. In addition councils could promote private
bills to provide other services. Hull City Council was the last to retain
provision of a telephone service. Electricity and gas services from local
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New functions during this period included from 1905 the ability to set up
local labour bureaus and from 1910 an early careers service could be set
up to advise young people looking for work or even fund their
emigration. As they expanded with new functions, local authorities also
became significant employers. Significantly, the old age pension of the
1908 Old Age Pensions Act was not provided by local government;
instead it was administered by the Post Office to remove any possibility
of guilt arising from involvement in poor relief. Similarly, the
unemployment benefit created in 1934 was administered by a new ad-hoc
Unemployment Assistance Board.
From 1890, and particularly after World War I, local authorities had an
increasing role in low-cost housing provision, to such an extent that by
1976 a third of all housing would be council-owned. In London, the
London County Council constructed vast housing estates often outside its
formal boundaries. Attempts to expand its scope in the 1920s to
administer services in the Greater London area were to fail.
Although the local government structure had been put in place to meet the
demands of increasing urbanisation, there was further growth in the
towns and cities. In 1922 there were 82 county boroughs, 21 more than
the original 61. They had a total population of 3 million people. This was
12
The Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 gave local government
power to control development and required councils to produce
development plans. The legislation was amended for Scotland in 1973
and for England in 1971 to require upper and lower tier authorities to
produce structural and local plans respectively.
Reorganisation
By 1940 there had been a significant further drift from the country to the
cities and commentators felt that the structures set up in the 1890s were
12
In England the existing county structure was adapted and in Wales new
counties created. The county boroughs, which by 1970 accounted for
25% of the population, were abolished and usually merged with their
less-urbanised surrounding areas. In the major conurbations of England,
metropolitan counties were created with county councils, which provided
only the most strategic services such as transport and planning, while
most social welfare services were provided by the districts. In the shire
counties the situation was reversed with more services provided by the
upper rank authorities. In London an enlarged Greater London Council
shared power with the London boroughs. By 1985, one third of the UK
population were living in Greater London and the metropolitan counties.
Thatcherism
A review of local government was undertaken during the 1990s which led
to the creation of unitary authorities throughout Wales and in some non-
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Privatisation
First under Thatcher and Major, but increasingly under the Blair
government, local government services have been provided by the private
sector. The most controversial such arrangement was the Private Finance
Initiative for maintenance of the London Underground. Control was only
handed back to local government after the contract had been agreed and
despite a high profile campaign against it.
Scotland
abolished for the purpose of local government. The districts in rural areas
provided only a limited number of services.
The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act of 1947 gave local
government power to control development and required councils to
produce development plans. The legislation was amended in 1973 to
require upper and lower tier authorities to produce structural and local
plans respectively. In the 1970’s, a new system of regions and districts,
based on travel-to-work patterns, was put in place. The reforms sought to
end the urban-rural dichotomy in areas outside of the major conurbations.
A review of local government was undertaken during the 1990s which led
to the creation of unitary authorities providing all local government
functions in their areas.
To stand for election as a local councillor one must satisfy the following
criteria on the day one is nominated and on polling day:
be at least 18 years of age;
be a British citizen, a qualifying citizen of a Commonwealth
country, a citizen of the Irish Republic, or a citizen of another
member state of the European Union.
One must also meet at least one of the four following qualifications on
the day one is nominated and on polling day:
be registered as a local government elector for the local authority
area in which one is standing;
have occupied as an owner or a tenant any land or premises in the
local authority area in which one is standing during the whole of
the 12 months before the day one is nominated;
have had one’s main or only place of work during the last 12
months in the local authority area in which one is standing;
have lived in the local authority area in which one is standing
during the whole of the last 12 months.
has within five years before the day of election been sentenced to a
term of imprisonment of three months or more (including a
suspended sentence) without the option of a fine;
has been disqualified under Part III of the Representation of the
People Act 1983 (which relates to donations and other offences).
The above list of disqualifications is not exhaustive. The full range of
disqualifications of candidates at local elections is complex, and some
exceptions to the disqualification provisions may also apply. Candidates
are, therefore, strongly advised to seek their own legal advice and consult
the relevant legislation to ensure that none of the disqualifications apply
when considering whether to stand for election as a councillor.
One important aim is for local authorities to provide the highest standard
of service for the best possible value for money. Their performance is
monitored through:
The Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA);
Best Value Performance Indicators;
Inspections.
For the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) the Audit
Commission collects a range of performance information, including Best
Value Performance Indicators, and gives each council an overall rating.
Councils get from 0 to 4 stars based on the quality of their services and
their management. Highly-rated councils and their partners have extra
freedom over what they can do. All the results are published by the Audit
Commission so the public can see what progress a certain council is
making. Best Value is how local authorities are encouraged to make their
services better and better by asking questions and listening to what local
people say. Local Government works with the local services
13
Over the years, the range of services provided by local government has
changed. For example, once councils supplied gas and ran local health
services. In the list of the main activities below national policy for them is
dealt with by the respective central government department:
education—Department for Education and Skills;
elections—Ministry of Justice;
environment and environmental health—Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
fire and rescue service—Communities and Local Government;
housing—Communities and Local Government;
licensing—Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Home
Office;
parks and recreation—Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
Communities and Local Government;
planning—Communities and Local Government;
social services—Department of Health;
trading standards—Department for Business, Enterprise &
Regulatory Reform;
transport, roads and highways—Department for Transport;
waste disposal and collection—Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs.
The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are responsible for local
government in Scotland and Wales.
leisure facilities. They also agree on the local authority budget and set
the policy framework as well as appointing chief officers and making
constitutional decisions. Councillors are elected for a four-year term by
local people. There are nearly 39.7 million people registered to vote in
local elections. Voter turnout during the June 2005 local elections was an
estimated 64%, higher than the general election turnout of 61.3%. 55%
of people favour future elections by post with no polling stations and 69%
consider all-postal voting to be convenient. However, people are more
likely to know about their local MP than their local councillor but
similarly people know less about Westminster Parliament than about their
local council.
Councils work closely with the police to reduce levels of crime and
disorder in their communities and enhance the local environment. They
consider the crime and disorder implications of every policy and
operational decision made by the authority. Many councils employ
different types of community wardens who work alongside the police in
their local areas. In addition, they work closely with the police and fire
services to develop community initiatives, particularly with schools and
young people. Crime is tackled in every local area by Crime and
Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). There are 376 CDRPs across
England and Wales which combine local authorities, police and other
organisations to tackle local crime and disorder.
All county councils and unitary authorities have a major role to support
school improvement and a responsibility for schools and education
services in their areas. This can range from the provision of adult
education services, to play schemes, pupil referral centres and educational
psychologists.
The Kingdom of England was formed in the mid ninth century and what
is now recognized as England came about in A.D. 927 when the last of
the Heptarchy kingdoms (the informal confederation of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms from the fifth to the ninth century, consisting of Kent, Sussex,
Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia) fell under the rule
of the English King. On October 14, 1066, King Harold II of England
was shot on horseback through his eye with an arrow and killed while
leading his men in the Battle of Hastings against Duke William of
Normandy. The event was so significant that it completely changed the
course of English history. Until 1066, England was ruled by monarchs
that were elected by the witan (which means wise). There were various
elements of democracy at a local level too.
13
The Normans
The Plantagenets
John was King of England from 1199 to 1216. He was the youngest
brother of Richard I and his reign was fraught with conflicts. There was
conflict between England and France, between England and the Pope and
between the King and the barons. Eventually the barons forced John to
sign the Magna Carta (which confirmed feudal rights against monarchical
claims), often looked upon as the first truly significant document in a
long succession of documents over the centuries up to the present day
which collectively constitute the legal sovereignty of the land now known
as the United Kingdom. The constitution of this sovereignty is thus
distributed across many historical precedents rather than written in one
piece. Henry III (1216-1272) succeeded his father John. Henry was only
nine years of age when he became king and so the country was ruled by
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regents until Henry reached the age of 20. Under pressure from the
barons, led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, Henry had to
accept the existence of the first English Parliament.
In the next century, in the reign of Richard II there was an uprising, the
Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The revolt came surprisingly close to getting
their demands (such as fair rents and the abolition of serfdom) granted by
the king but at the end the protesters were tricked out of it all. The revolt
remains as an important moment in history, but failed to contribute to the
written body of the constitution.
The Tudors
The first Act of Supremacy (1534) had made King Henry VIII the
supreme head of the Church of England and the second Act of Supremacy
(1559) restored these powers for Elizabeth I. This event reversed Catholic
legislation passed during the reign of Mary, though the title Elizabeth
gained was “Supreme Governor of the Church of England” rather than
“supreme head” so as not to imply that she had control over the church’s
doctrine. The act also required all officials and clergy to swear an oath of
allegiance acknowledging her as the governor of the Church of England.
The monarchy had to get the consent of Parliament in all issues, but with
the threat of war looming from Spain, Parliament showed great loyalty
toward Queen Elizabeth I since she was a strong leader. When the
Spanish Armada was defeated (1588), the Parliament felt safe and thus it
decreased its loyalty to the monarchy.
James VI and I
When Queen Elizabeth I died (1603) without issue, she was succeeded by
her cousin James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and he
became King James I of England. This was a major step towards creating
a united kingdom. James VI faced an antagonistic religious England since
it contained Anglicans, Puritans, Separatists (who wanted to break from
the Anglican Church), and Catholics. He was a believer in the Theory of
the Divine Right of Kings, which stated that Kings were chosen by God
and should therefore be absolute and answerable only to God. This was
corroborated by his Presbyterian belief in predestination but although he
was a Presbyterian, he was against the Presbyterian idea of allowing the
congregation (people) to elect their presbyters (church officials) since it
undermined his absolutism (according to the Divine Right). Thus he was
often at odds with the Puritans, who were English Presbyterians. He did
concede to the Puritans by allowing them to create the “King James
Bible” that was an English translation and interpretation of the Bible.
Then James VI began fighting with the Catholics, but eventually gave
them rights (after his secretly Catholic wife probably persuaded him to),
exempting the Catholics from having to pay the tithe (a tenth part of
one’s annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, especially for
14
the support of the clergy or church) to the Anglican Church, but this
caused a great decrease in Anglican Church revenue, so he quickly took
those rights away. The actions of King James VI were unpopular during
his reign.
James was succeeded by his son who became Charles I in 1625. Charles I
believed in the Divine Right of Kings Theory, like his father, and thus
continued to fight with parliament. Parliament’s main power at this time
was its control of the taxes, so it demanded more power over the taxes.
Traditionally, Parliament had voted at the beginning of a King’s reign on
the amount allowed for a King’s Tonnage and Poundage, the customs
duties (taxes on imported goods like wool and wine) that made up a large
portion of a king’s annual income. Now Parliament wanted to re-evaluate
these taxes annually, which would give them more control over the king.
James I had resisted this abrogation of his “Divine Right” and had dealt
with the situation by dissolving Parliament. Charles I did the same at first
and later just ignored its annual evaluations.
Charles acquired much of his money with forced loans from the nobles.
He also received a lot of money through taxes. One important tax that
Charles collected was the Ship Money tax that required the counties
bordering the sea to fund a navy to protect the English coastline. The
coastal counties were unhappy with it since Charles was collecting the
Ship Money tax during a time of peace and since he was not using it
really to fund the navy. To get even more money, Charles placed the Ship
Money tax on the interior counties as well, which angered the English
people, because now Charles was creating new taxes without the consent
14
But, Charles I was at war with France and Spain, and this drained a lot of
money from him, so he was forced to call upon Parliament (1629) to
approve new taxes for him. Parliament would not grant Charles new taxes
until he had signed the Petition of Rights that established conditions in
which Charles had to submit to the law of the Parliament. It stipulated
that
(1) the king could not establish martial law in England during times of
Peace;
(2) the king could not levy taxes without the consent of the Parliament;
(3) the king could not arbitrarily imprison people;
(4) the king could not quarter soldiers in private homes.
On top of the wars England had with France and with Spain (both caused
by the Duke of Buckingham), Charles I and William Laud (the
Archbishop of Canterbury) began a war with Scotland in an attempt to
convert Scotland to the Church of England (the Anglican Church). This
was called the Bishops’ War (1639–1640) and it had two major parts. The
14
first Bishops’ War (1639) ended in a truce. The second Bishops’ War, the
following year, began with the Scottish invasion of England in which the
Scots defeated the English and remained stationed in England until their
issues were solved. To get the Scots out, Charles I signed the Treaty of
Ripon (1640), which required England to pay an indemnity of £850 for
each day that the Scottish were stationed in England.
During the second part of the Bishops’ War, Charles I had run very low
on money (since he was also fighting France and Spain), so he was forced
to call a Parliament to make new taxes. He and the Parliament could not
agree on anything, so after three weeks, Charles I dissolved the
Parliament. Then he desperately needed new taxes, so he called a
Parliament again and it would only help him if he agreed to some terms,
which ultimately made Charles I a constitutional monarch. It was called
the Long Parliament (1640–1660), because it was not officially dissolved
by its own vote until 1660.
was also the judge (which pretty much guaranteed a guilty verdict
for the defendant) and it was intended to be used to implement the
will of the king legally with a “judicial” façade; it was considered
an “extralegal” court and dealt with odd cases and punishments;
Charles I had to abolish the High Court, which was the same as the
Court of the Star Chamber, though it dealt with religious heresy;
Charles I had to accept the Grand Remonstrance and allow the
circulation of its copies; it was a document that outlined
(hyperbolically) the crimes that officials had accused Charles of
committing since the beginning of his reign; Charles I was also
never to do any of those crimes again;
Charles I, most importantly, had to agree never to dissolve a
Parliament without the consent of the Parliament.
Most of England believed that Parliament had done enough to curb the
power of King Charles I, but the radicals in Parliament (the extremist
Puritans) and the radicals around the country (again, extremist Puritans)
wanted to reform the Church of England by getting rid of the bishops
(and all other things with the semblance of Catholicism) and by
establishing the Puritans’ method of worship as the standard. This caused
a political division in Parliament, so Charles I took advantage of it. He
then sent 500 soldiers into the House of Commons to arrest five of the
Puritans’ ringleaders (John Hampden included). The five ringleaders had
been tipped off, so they had left Parliament and Charles I was only left
with the shame of storming Parliament.
King Charles I left London and went to Oxford, and the English Civil
War began (1642). The North and West of England were on Charles’s
side (along with most of the nobles and country gentry). They were
14
Though Parliament won, it was clear to the Scots that it was not going to
uphold the Solemn League and Covenant by imposing Presbyterianism
on England (Puritanism was not quite Presbyterian), so the New Model
Army, Parliament and the Scots began falling apart. The Scots were paid
for their help and sent back to Scotland. The Presbyterian Roundheads
were interested in freedom to practice their religion and not in making the
Presbyterian religion the state religion.
Charles I then made the same deal that the Roundheads had made with
the Scottish and Parliamentary Presbyterians. He solicited the help of
Scotland (and the Presbyterians) and in return he promised to impose
Presbyterianism on England. The New Model Army would not allow this
deal to be made (because it would give Charles I military power once
more). Thus a new civil war broke out in 1648.
then dissolved the Rump Parliament and declared himself to be the Lord
Protector (dictator).
Cromwell died (1658) and was succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell,
who tried to keep power militarily and absolutely, but he was also
incapable of unifying all of the diverse groups (religious and ethnic).
General George Monk came down from Scotland and overthrew Richard.
He then invited the remnants of the Long Parliament (the Rump
Parliament) to reconvene. The Long Parliament met and officially ended
(in 1660, after being open since 1640) when it voted to dissolve itself and
create a new Parliament. The new Parliament began the Restoration of the
monarchy by choosing Charles I’s son Charles II to be the King of
England.
Along with the Act of Settlement (1701), the Bill of Rights remains today
one of the main constitutional laws governing the succession to the throne
of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms. Since the
implementation of the Statute of Westminster in each of the
Commonwealth realms (on successive dates from 1931 onwards), the Bill
of Rights cannot be altered in any realm except by that realm’s own
parliament, and then, by convention, and, as it touches on the succession
to the shared throne, only with the consent of all the other realms. In the
United Kingdom, the Bill of Rights is further accompanied by the Magna
Carta and Parliament Acts as some of the basic documents of the British
constitution. A separate but similar document, the Claim of Right Act,
applies in Scotland. Further, the bill is listed in the Republic of Ireland’s
Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union) Bill, 2006, as an English act of
parliament to be retained as part of the country’s law.
Original Context
In 1687 the English Bill of Rights was created. The bill was a failure at
first, but after some changes, it became a document that was able to
govern England successfully for several years until England’s monarchy
was overthrown, then rebuilt in 1688. It was delivered to William of
Orange and Mary at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, on February 13,
1689. Having accepted this declaration, William and Mary were offered
the throne, and were crowned as joint monarchs in April of the same year.
The Declaration of Right itself was later embodied in an act of
parliament, now known as the Bill of Rights, on December 16, 1689. In
14
The Bill of Rights laid out certain basic tenets for all Englishmen of that
time. These rights continue to apply today, not only in England, but in
each of the jurisdictions of the Commonwealth realms as well. The
people, embodied in Parliament, are granted immutable civil and political
rights through the act, including:
Certain acts of James VII (of Scotland) and II (of England) were also
specifically named and declared illegal by the Bill of Rights, while
James’ flight from England in the wake of the Glorious Revolution was
also declared to be an abdication of the throne. Also, in a prelude to the
Act of Settlement to come twelve years later, the Bill of Rights barred
Roman Catholics from the throne of England, as “it hath been found by
experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this
Protestant kingdom to be governed by a papist prince.” Thus William III
and Mary II were named as the successors of James VII and II, and that
the throne would pass from them first to Mary’s heirs, then to her sister,
Princess Anne of Denmark and her heirs, and further to any heirs of
William by a later marriage. The monarch was further required to swear a
coronation oath to maintain the Protestant religion. The act also required
the monarch to summon parliament frequently, a clause that was later
reinforced by the Triennial Act (1694).
Two special designs of the British commemorative two pound coins were
issued in the United Kingdom in 1989, to celebrate the tercentenary of the
Glorious Revolution: one referred to the Bill of Rights and the other to
the Claim of Right. Both depict the Royal Cypher (monogram) of
William and Mary and the mace (rod) of the House of Commons; one
also shows a representation of the St. Edward’s Crown, and another, the
Crown of Scotland.
On 1 May 1707, the United Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the
political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and
the Kingdom of Scotland. This event was the result of the Treaty of
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Union that was agreed on 22 July 1706 and then ratified by both the
Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland each passing an Act of
Union in 1707. Almost a century later, the Kingdom of Ireland, which
had been brought under English control between 1541 and 1691, joined
the Kingdom of Great Britain with the passing of the Act of Union 1800.
The United Kingdom has three legal systems. English law, which applies
in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in
Northern Ireland, are based on common-law principles. Scots law, which
applies in Scotland, is a pluralistic system based on civil-law principles,
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with common law elements dating back to the High Middle Ages. The
Treaty of Union, put into effect by the Acts of Union in 1707, guaranteed
the continued existence of a separate law system for Scotland. The Acts
of Union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800 contained no
equivalent provision but preserved the principle of separate courts to be
held in Ireland, now Northern Ireland.
The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to,
as “The House of Lords”) was the highest court in the land for all
criminal and civil cases in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and
for all civil cases in Scots law. Recent constitutional changes (2003) have
seen the powers of the House of Lords transfered to a new Supreme Court
of the United Kingdom. In England and Wales, the court system is
headed by the Supreme Court of England and Wales, consisting of the
Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown
Court (for criminal cases). The Courts of Northern Ireland follow the
same pattern. In Scotland the chief courts are the Court of Session, for
civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases, while the
sheriff court is the Scottish equivalent of the county court.
Case Law
them. Because the judges have to abstract general principles from specific
cases, they are effectively creating new law.
Interpretation of Statutes
Statute law would appear to be more certain than case law. However, the
statutes must be interpreted by the judge, which might be difficult for
several reasons: the Act may be unclear or ambiguous, or circumstances
may have changed since the Act was passed by Parliament. In
interpreting an Act, a Judge may refer to certain other documents (e.g. the
relevant European Treaty when interpreting an Act which is intended to
implement the treaty) but cannot refer to the discussion in Parliament.
Judges will try to interpret the law in a way which furthers the purpose of
the Act. This sometimes is in conflict with the literal interpretation.
Summary of Interpretation
In applying case law, the judge will look at the relevant case report and
extract what he or she believes is the principle behind the decision of the
judge who decided the original case. Although a judge will be guided by
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Hierarchy of Courts
The magistrates’ courts are the lowest level of court for trying minor
offences and the first hearing of serious cases which are passed up to a
higher court. Mostly unpaid members of the public (local businessmen,
Headmasters) act as Justices of the Peace (JPs). The magistrates are
assisted by a legally qualified clerk. In London and some of the other
major cities, the main magistrates’ courts are held by professional
magistrates called Stipendiary Magistrates as they receive a “stipend” or
salary (about £70,000 a year). There are about one hundred of these
magistrates, who are qualified solicitors. There are Magistrates Courts in
all towns. Offenders under 17 years old are sent to juvenile courts.
The crown courts mostly try criminal offences. In the larger towns,
these courts function with a Judge and a Jury (of 12 ordinary men and
women). The Judge decides the punishment according to the law and
taking into account previous offences. The county courts are destined to
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Precedents
Binding Precedence
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Criminal Law
The situations that come under criminal law are actions which affect
society as a whole: theft, vandalism, murder either investigated by police
or prosecuted by Crown Prosecution Service. The case will be heard by a
magistrate or judge and jury:
the judge rules on law;
the jury decides on facts—determines “what happened”;
the judge sentences if guilt is established.
According to the present standard of proof the prosecution must prove its
case “beyond reasonable doubt.” The penalties are intended as a
punishment although there may be some compensation. The types of
penalties can include:
binding over—ordering the criminal to obey the law, under the
threat of suffering penalties for the current crime if convicted of
additional crimes;
fines;
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prison.
Civil Law
The situations that come under civil law are disputes between parties:
commercial disagreements, breaking of promises, libel (defamation,
slander). These cases will be heard by a tribunal or judge (rarely with
jury). According to the present standard of proof a side must prove its
case “on the balance of possibilities.” The remedies are usually
compensation rather than a penalty:
injunction, interim or permanent—an order to prevent or force a
specific action;
Anton Piller Order—permission to seize goods and documents
(after a company’s name involved in such a case);
account of profits;
damages.
English Law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of
common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and
the United States (as opposed to civil law or pluralist systems in other
countries, such as Scots law). It was exported to Commonwealth
countries while the British Empire was established and maintained, and it
forms the basis of the jurisprudence of most of those countries. English
law prior to the American revolution is still part of the law of the United
States, except in Louisiana, and provides the basis for many American
legal traditions and policies, though it has no superseding jurisdiction.
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English law in its strictest sense applies within the jurisdiction of England
and Wales. Whilst Wales now has a devolved Assembly, any legislation
which that Assembly enacts is enacted in particular circumscribed policy
areas defined by the Government of Wales Act 2006, other legislation of
the UK Parliament, or by orders in council given under the authority of
the 2006 Act. Furthermore that legislation is, as with any by-law made by
any other body within England and Wales, interpreted by the undivided
judiciary of England and Wales.
Wales
Common Law
Since 1189, English law has been described as a common law rather than
a civil law system (i.e. there has been no major codification of the law,
and judicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive). This may
have been due to the Norman conquest of England, which introduced a
number of legal concepts and institutions from Norman law into the
English system. In the early centuries of English common law, the
justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet
everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to
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build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g. the Merchant Law began
in the Pie-Powder Courts (a corruption of the French pieds-poudrés or
“dusty feet,” meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). Obviously the Biblical
influences all through precedent can be seen throughout the centuries. As
Parliament developed in strength, and subject to the doctrine of
separation of powers, legislation gradually overtook judicial law making
so that, today, judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly
defined areas.
Precedent
One of the major problems in the early centuries was to produce a system
that was certain in its operation and predictable in its outcomes. Too
many judges were either partial or incompetent, acquiring their positions
only by virtue of their rank in society. Thus, a standardised procedure
slowly emerged, based on a system termed stare decisis (“to abide by
decided cases”). Thus, the ratio decidendi (“the reason for the decision”)
of each case will bind future cases on the same generic set of facts both
horizontally and vertically. The highest appellate court in the UK is the
Supreme Court and its decisions are binding on every other court in the
hierarchy which are obliged to apply its rulings as the law of the land.
The Court of Appeal binds the lower courts, and so on.
Overseas Influences
The influences are two-way. On the one hand, the United Kingdom
exported its legal system to the Commonwealth countries during the
British Empire, and many aspects of that system have persisted after the
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Criminal Law
English criminal law derives its main principles from the common law.
The main elements of a crime are the actus reus (doing something which
is criminally prohibited) and a mens rea (having the requisite criminal
state of mind, usually intention). A prosecutor must show that a person
has caused the offensive conduct, or that the culprit had some pre-existing
duty to take steps to avoid a criminal consequence. The types of different
crimes range from the well known ones like manslaughter, murder, theft
and robbery to a plethora of regulatory and statutory offences. It is
estimated that in the UK, there are 3,500 classes of criminal offence.
Certain defences may exist to crimes, which include self defence,
necessity, duress (coercion), and in the case of a murder charge, under the
Homicide Act 1957, diminished responsibility, provocation and in very
rare cases, the survivor of a suicide pact. It has often been suggested that
England should codify its criminal law, in an English Criminal Code,
however there has been no overwhelming support for this in the past.
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Scots Law
Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law.
Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis,
it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus
Scotland has a pluralistic, or “mixed,” legal system, comparable to that of
South Africa, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic
systems of Louisiana and Quebec. Since the Acts of Union, in 1707, it
has shared a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Scotland, on
the one hand, and England and Wales, on the other, each retained
fundamentally different legal systems, but the Union brought English
influence on Scots law and vice versa. In recent years Scots law has also
been affected by both European law under the Treaty of Rome and the
establishment of the Scottish Parliament which may pass legislation
within its areas of legislative competence as detailed by the Scotland Act
1998. The Scottish Executive Justice Department is responsible for civil
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In the English legal system, solicitors traditionally dealt with any legal
matter apart from conducting proceedings in courts (advocacy) with some
exceptions. Minor criminal cases tried in Magistrates’ Courts, for
example, and small value civil cases tried in county courts are almost
always handled by solicitors. The other branch of the English legal
profession, a barrister, has traditionally carried out the advocacy
functions. Barristers would not deal with the public directly. This is no
longer the case, as solicitor advocates may act at certain higher levels of
court which were previously barred to them. Similarly, the public may
now engage a barrister directly and without the need for a solicitor in
certain circumstances.
year course formerly called the Common Professional Exam and recently
renamed the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). Other routes, include
spending time as a clerk to magistrates or passing exams set by the
Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX). Up to this point a barrister and
solicitor have the same education. Thereafter, they split. Solicitors study a
one-year course called the Legal Practice Course and then must undertake
two years’ apprenticeship with a solicitor, called the training contract (but
still widely referred to as “articles,” as in “articled clerk” by older
members of the profession). Once that is complete, the student becomes a
solicitor and is “admitted to the roll.” The “roll” is a list of people
qualified to be a solicitor and is kept on behalf of the “Master of the
Rolls” whose more important job is as head of the Court of Appeal of
England and Wales. Solicitors who are being disciplined by the Law
Society can be suspended from the roll under Section 12 of the Solicitors
Act 1974 or even struck off, which prevents them acting as a solicitor.
Student barristers must take a Bar Vocational Course (BVC) (usually one
year full-time) at one of the institutions authorised by the Bar Council to
offer the BVC. On successful completion of the BVC student barristers
are “called” to the bar by their respective inns and are elevated to the
degree of “Barrister.” However, before they can practise independently
they must first undertake twelve months of pupillage. The first six months
of this period is spent shadowing more senior practitioners, after which
pupil barristers may begin to undertake some court work of their own.
Following successful completion of this stage, most barristers then join a
set of Chambers, a group of counsel who share the costs of premises and
support staff whilst remaining individually self-employed.
Senior barristers “take silk” and become QCs (Queen’s Counsels). They
wear wigs and gowns in court as do judges who are selected from the
ranks of barristers. Solicitors and barristers earn fees (a senior barrister
can earn over £1million a year and senior solicitors several hundred
thousand pounds). Judges are salaried (£100,000-£150,000), but they get
a pension for which the other two have to make provision for themselves.
A few solicitors (and barristers) now work for contingency fees in civil
cases where the plaintiff would not be able to afford to bring an action.
The legal team would get a share of the damages awarded. While this is
common in the US, it is still rare in the UK.
Although English legal dress has a long history, it has for the most part
evolved without written regulation. Before the seventeenth century
lawyers did not wear wigs, but professional discipline required that their
hair and beards should be moderately short. Nevertheless, the
introduction of wigs into polite society during the reign of Charles II
(1660-1685) was an innovation, and lawyers began wearing wigs in the
1680s. In the 1860s, lawyers were permitted to remove their wigs during
a heat wave. This attracted some comment in the press and it was
suggested that wigs be abandoned altogether by the legal profession.
Although the proposal met with little support, it has been a common
occurrence ever since for judges to allow wigs to be left off in very hot
weather.
In England and Wales, the strict separation between the duties of solicitor
and barrister has been partially broken down and solicitors frequently
appear not only in the lower courts but (subject to passing a test)
increasingly in the higher courts, too, (such as the High Court of Justice
of England and Wales and the Court of Appeal). While the independent
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bar still exists in a largely unchanged state, a few firms of solicitors now
employ their own barristers and solicitor-advocates to do some court
work. Barristers, in turn, can now be directly instructed by certain
organisations such as trade unions, accountants, and similar groups.
Additionally, barristers who have completed the Bar Council’s “Public
Access” course can take instructions directly from members of the public,
although there are some limitations on the type of work that can be done
this way: for example, such barristers cannot take control of the conduct
of litigation nor can they act in matrimonial matters.
Early History
Middle Ages
England conducted extensive trade with the Low Countries and Italy,
exporting vast quantities of wool to those countries’ textile industries. For
many years England did not have the skilled workforce or the population
density to itself participate in manufacturing, but turmoil on the continent
as a result of the end of the Italian Renaissance and the religious wars
preceding the Protestant Reformation led to an influx of skilled dyers and
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The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing,
and transportation had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and
cultural conditions in Britain. The changes subsequently spread
throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset
of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in human
society; almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in
some way.
Causes
The debate about the start of the Industrial Revolution also concerns the
massive lead that Great Britain had over other countries. Some have
stressed the importance of natural or financial resources that Britain
received from its many overseas colonies or that profits from the British
slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean helped fuel industrial
investment. It has been pointed out, however, that slave trade and West
Indian plantations provided only 5% of the British national income during
the years of the Industrial Revolution.
The stable political situation in Britain from around 1688, and British
society’s greater receptiveness to change (compared with other European
countries) can also be said to be factors favouring the Industrial
Revolution. In large part due to the Enclosure movement, the peasantry
was destroyed as significant source of resistance to industrialisation, and
the landed upper classes developed commercial interests that made them
pioneers in removing obstacles to the growth of capitalism.
Another theory is that the British advance was due to the presence of an
entrepreneurial class which believed in progress, technology and hard
work. The existence of this class is often linked to the Protestant work
ethic and the particular status of the Baptists and the dissenting Protestant
sects, such as the Quakers and Presbyterians that had flourished with the
English Civil War. Reinforcement of confidence in the rule of law, which
followed establishment of the prototype of constitutional monarchy in
Britain in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the emergence of a stable
financial market there based on the management of the national debt by
the Bank of England, contributed to the capacity for, and interest in,
private financial investment in industrial ventures.
Innovations
These represent three “leading sectors,” which allowed the economic take
off by which the Industrial Revolution is usually defined. This is not to
belittle many other inventions, particularly in the textile industry. Without
some earlier ones, such as Spinning Jenny and Flying Shuttle in the
textile industry and the smelting of pig iron with coke, these
achievements might have been impossible. Later inventions such as the
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In the textile sector, such mills became the model for the organisation of
human labour in factories, epitomised by Cottonopolis, the name given to
the vast collection of cotton mills, factories and administration offices
based in Manchester. The assembly line system greatly improved
efficiency, both in this and other industries. With a series of men trained
to do a single task on a product, then having it moved along to the next
worker, the number of finished goods also rose significantly. Also
important was the 1756 rediscovery of concrete (based on hydraulic lime
mortar) by the British engineer John Smeaton, which had been lost for 13
centuries.
Textile Manufacture
Flax and cotton were also used for fine materials, but the processing was
difficult because of the pre-processing needed, and thus goods in these
materials made only a small proportion of the output. The use of the
spinning wheel and hand loom restricted the production capacity of the
industry, but these advances increased productivity to the extent that
manufactured cotton goods became the dominant British export by the
early decades of the nineteenth century. India was displaced as the
premier supplier of cotton goods.
Lewis Paul patented the Roller Spinning machine and the flyer-and-
bobbin system for drawing wool to a more even thickness, developed
with the help of John Wyatt in Birmingham. Paul and Wyatt opened a
mill in Birmingham which used their new rolling machine powered by a
donkey. In 1743, a factory was opened in Northampton with fifty spindles
on each of five of Paul and Wyatt’s machines. This operated until about
1764. A similar mill was built by Daniel Bourn in Leominster, but this
burnt down. Both Lewis Paul and Daniel Bourn patented carding
machines in 1748. Using two sets of rollers that travelled at different
speeds, it was later used in the first cotton spinning mill. Paul’s invention
was later developed and improved by Richard Arkwright in his water
frame and Samuel Crompton in his spinning mule.
Metallurgy
Mining
Steam Power
James Watt
by a factor of about five, saving 75% on coal costs. By 1783 the more
economical Watt steam engine had been fully developed into a double-
acting rotative type, which meant that it could be used to directly drive
the rotary machinery of a factory or mill. In the early nineteenth century
after the expiration of Watt’s patent, the steam engine underwent many
improvements by a host of inventors and engineers.
Chemicals
when constructing the Thames Tunnel. Cement was used on a large scale
in the construction of the London sewerage system a generation later.
Machine Tools
The insatiable demand of the railways for more durable rail led to the
development of the means to cheaply mass-produce steel. Steel is often
cited as the first of several new areas for industrial mass-production,
which are said to characterise a “Second Industrial Revolution,”
beginning around 1850, although a method for mass manufacture of steel
was not invented until the 1860s, when Sir Henry Bessemer invented a
new furnace which could make wrought iron and steel in large quantities.
However, it only became widely available in the 1870s. This second
Industrial Revolution gradually grew to include the chemical industries,
petroleum refining and distribution, electrical industries, and, in the
twentieth century, the automotive industries, and was marked by a
transition of technological leadership from Britain to the United States
and Germany.
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Gas Lighting
Glass Making
Transport in Britain
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Coastal Sail
Sailing vessels had long been used for moving goods round the British
coast. The trade transporting coal to London from Newcastle had begun
in mediaeval times. The major international seaports such as London,
Bristol, and Liverpool, were the means by which raw materials such as
cotton might be imported and finished goods exported. Transporting
goods onwards within Britain by sea was common during the whole of
the Industrial Revolution and only fell away with the growth of the
railways at the end of the period.
Navigable Rivers
All the major rivers of the United Kingdom were navigable during the
Industrial Revolution. Some were anciently navigable, notably the
Severn, Thames, and Trent. Some were improved, or had navigation
extended upstream, but usually in the period before the Industrial
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Revolution, rather than during it. The Severn, in particular, was used for
the movement of goods to the Midlands which had been imported into
Bristol from abroad, and for the export of goods from centres of
production in Shropshire (such as iron goods from Coalbrookdale) and
the Black Country. Transport was by way of trows—small sailing vessels
which could pass the various shallows and bridges in the river. The trows
could navigate the Bristol Channel to the South Wales ports and Somerset
ports, such as Bridgwater and even as far as France.
Canals
Canals began to be built in the late eighteenth century to link the major
manufacturing centres in the Midlands and north with seaports and with
London. Canals were the first technology to allow bulk materials to be
easily transported across country. A single canal horse could pull a load
dozens of times larger than a cart at a faster pace. By the 1820s, a
national network was in existence. Canal construction served as a model
for the organisation and methods later used to construct the railways.
They were eventually largely superseded as profitable commercial
enterprises by the spread of the railways from the 1840s on. Britain’s
canal network, together with its surviving mill buildings, is one of the
most enduring features of the early Industrial Revolution to be seen in
Britain.
Roads
extent that almost every main road in England and Wales was the
responsibility of some turnpike trust. New engineered roads were built by
John Metcalf, Thomas Telford and John Macadam. The major turnpikes
radiated from London and were the means by which the Royal Mail was
able to reach the rest of the country. Heavy goods transport on these roads
was by means of slow, broad wheeled carts hauled by teams of horses.
Lighter goods were conveyed by smaller carts or by teams of pack horses.
Stage coaches carried the rich, and the less wealthy could pay to ride on
carrier carts.
Railways
Social Effects
were often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour
dominated by a pace set by machines. However, harsh working
conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution took
place. Pre-industrial society was very static and often cruel—child labour,
dirty living conditions and long working hours were just as prevalent
before the Industrial Revolution.
Luddites
The usual English practice was to take control of an area and rule it with
a governor supported by military forces. In most colonies, less than 1% of
the people were English (that is, the administrators, soldiers, traders and
missionaries); they were on temporary duty and concentrated in a few
leading cities. Beginning about 1600 an entirely different approach began
in selected areas, whereby large numbers of English settlers moved
permanently to a new area, raising families and creating a new society
that was a replica of village life in the motherland. Thus Sir Walter
Raleigh set up the first colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in
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After the 1706 Treaty of Union was put into effect with the creation of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain on May 1, 1707, the UK extended
19
These sugar plantation islands, where slavery became the basis of the
economy, were part of Britain’s most important and successful colonies.
The American colonies also utilized slave labour in the farming of
tobacco, cotton, and rice in the south. In the north, naval material and furs
were less financially successful, but the large areas of good agricultural
land attracted far larger numbers of British immigrants who would also
utilise slave labour for farming.
As these other newly industrial powers, the United States, and Japan
began industrializing at a rapid rate, Britain’s comparative advantage in
trade began diminishing. Just as the power of German and North
American capitalisms increased, the relative decline of the British
capitalist economy began in the last third of the nineteenth century,
contributing to a breakdown of Britain’s natural superiority in industry
and commerce. Britain’s share of world trade fell from one-fourth in
1880, one-sixth in 1913, and one-eighth in 1948. Britain was no longer
supplying half the needs in manufactured goods of such nations as
Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States. Britain was even
growing incapable of dominating the markets of India—a crown colony
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by 1858 that Disraeli would later call “the brightest jewel of the
crown”—Manchu China, the coasts of Africa, and Latin America.
In World War II, there was again a great deal of destruction to British
infrastructure, and the years after the war also saw Britain lose almost all
of her remaining colonies as the empire dissolved. In the 1945 general
election, the Labour Party was elected, introducing sweeping reforms of
20
By the end of the 1960s, this growth began to slow, and by the 1970s
Britain entered a long running period of relative economic depression.
This led to the election of Margaret Thatcher, who cut back on the
government’s role in the economy and weakened the power of the trade
unions. The latter decades of the twentieth century have seen an increase
in service-providers and a drop in industry, combined with privatisation
of some sections of the economy. This change has led some to describe
this as a “Third Industrial Revolution,” though this term is not widely
used.
In 1997, the Labour Party swept to power with a huge majority in the
House of Commons. On entering power Tony Blair’s Labour Party was
stuck with the former Conservative government’s spending plans. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, gained a reputation as the
“prudent Chancellor” and helped to inspire renewed confidence in
Labour’s ability to manage the economy. One of the first acts that the
new Labour government embarked on was to give the power to set
interest rates to the Bank of England, effectively ending the use of
interest rates as a political tool. Labour also introduced the minimum
wage to the United Kingdom, which has been raised from time to time
since its introduction. The Blair government also introduced a number of
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In the Labour Party’s second term in office, beginning in 2001, the party
increased taxes and borrowing. The government wanted the money to
increase spending on public services, notably the National Health
Service, which they claimed was suffering from chronic under-funding.
Growth rates have consistently been between 2% and 3% since the year
2000 and inflation has levelled off at around 2%. The Bank of England’s
control of interest rates has been a major factor in the stability of the
British economy in recent years. The pound has continued to fluctuate
however, reaching a low against the dollar in 2001 (to a rate of $1.37 per
£1), but rising again to a rate of approximately $2 per £1 in 2007. Against
the Euro, the pound has become steady at a rate of approximately €1.45
per £1.
The United Kingdom has a mixed economy, which has been ranked fifth
largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth
largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It is considered the second
largest economy in Europe after Germany’s. Its GDP per capita in 2007
was the 22nd highest in the world. The United Kingdom is one of the
world’s most globalised countries. The capital, London, is the major
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financial centre of the world, in front of New York City, Hong Kong and
Singapore according to a report compiled by the City of London.
Following the end of World War II, despite a largely prosperous period in
the 1950s and 1960s, the British economy recorded weaker growth than
other European nations and by the 1970s was referred to as the “sick man
of Europe.” However, the 1980s saw a new economic boom and in recent
years Britain has seen the longest period of sustained economic growth
for more than 150 years, having grown in every quarter since 1992. It is
one of the strongest EU economies in terms of inflation, interest rates and
unemployment, all of which remain relatively low. The United Kingdom,
according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2007 had the ninth
highest level of GDP per capita in the European Union in terms of
purchasing power parity, after Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands,
Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Finland.
During August 2008 the IMF has warned that the UK economic outlook
has worsened due to a twin shock: financial turmoil as well as rising
commodity prices. Both developments harm the UK more than most
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Economic Branches
Edinburgh also has a long established financial industry, the fifth largest
financial centre in Europe, with many large firms based there, including
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the Royal Bank of Scotland (the second largest bank in Europe), HBOS
(owners of the Bank of Scotland) and Standard Life Insurance. Several of
the major English cities have large financial sectors and related services,
notably the Leeds city region which is home to several large banks and
building societies. Manchester also has a large financial sector, including
the Co-Operative Financial Services, who run the most successful ethical
fund in the UK and are the only major unit managers outside of London
and Edinburgh. Manchester also has the largest professional services
sector outside the South East, particularly legal activities.
The UK property market has been booming for the past seven years and
in some areas property has trebled in value over that period. The increase
in property prices has a number of causes—sustained economic growth,
an expansion in household numbers (including high immigration into
certain regions), low interest rates, the growth in property investment, and
restriction in the supply of new housing (through planning restrictions).
Until relatively recently there was debate over whether or not the UK
should abolish its currency Pound Sterling and join the Euro. The former
British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, pledged at the time to hold a
public referendum based on certain tests he set as Chancellor of the
Exchequer. When assessing the tests, Gordon Brown concluded that
while the decision was close, the United Kingdom should not yet join the
Euro. In particular, he cited fluctuations in house prices as a barrier to
immediate entry. Public opinion polls have shown that a majority of
Britons have been opposed to joining the single currency for some
considerable time and this position has now hardened further. The
Conservatives, as the main ruling party, are opposed to membership.
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British Media
The British watch a lot of TV, they are the world’s most dedicated home-
video users, but they have not given up reading either: they are the
world’s third biggest newspaper buyers (after the Japanese and the
Swedes).
Print Media
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people support the right, but because their owners usually support the
Conservative party. Most people only buy the papers for sport and human
interest stories and are not interested in the political coverage. The
newspaper publishers are mainly interested in making money. They put
selling copies ahead of political integrity.
History of Newspapers
Origins
During the Civil War there were regular news-sheets and then newsbooks
carrying general information along with propaganda. Following the
Restoration there arose a number of publications including the London
Gazette (first published on November 16, 1665 as the Oxford Gazette),
the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown.
Publication was controlled under the Licensing Act of 1662, but the Act’s
lapse from 1679-1685 and then its abolition in 1694 encouraged a number
of new titles. There were twelve London newspapers (the Daily Courant
was the first London newspaper) and 24 provincial papers by the 1720s
and by the early nineteenth century there were 52 London papers and
over 100 other titles.
Nineteenth Century
As stamp, paper and other duties were progressively reduced from the
1830s onwards (and all duties on newspapers were gone by 1855) there
was a massive growth in overall circulation as major events and improved
communications developed the public’s need for information. The Daily
Universal Register began life in 1785 and was later to become known as
The Times from 1788. This was the most significant newspaper of the
first half of the nineteenth century, but from around 1860 there were a
number of more strongly competitive titles, each differentiated by its
political biases and interests. The Manchester Guardian was founded in
Manchester in 1821 by a group of non-conformist businessmen. Its most
famous editor, Charles Prestwich Scott, made the Manchester Guardian
21
The Chartist Northern Star, first published on May 26, 1838, was a
pioneer of popular journalism but was very closely linked to the fortunes
of the movement and was out of business by 1852. At the same time there
was the establishment of more specialized periodicals and the first cheap
newspaper was the Daily Telegraph and Courier (1855), later to be
known simply as the Daily Telegraph. The period from 1860 until around
1910 is considered a “golden age” of newspaper publication, with
technical advances in printing and communication combined with a
professionalisation of journalism and the prominence of new owners.
Newspapers became more partisan and there was the rise of new or
yellow journalism (sensationalist journalism, from the yellow ink used to
print cartoons in the New York World). Socialist and labour newspapers
also proliferated and in 1912 the Daily Herald was launched as the first
daily newspaper of the trade union and labour movement.
Twentieth Century
World War I saw the rise of the “press barons” initially the Harmsworth
Brothers (later Viscounts Northcliffe and Rothermere) and the Berry
Brothers. A trend continued between the wars when they were joined by
Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook) and the newspaper industry took on
an appearance similar to today’s. The post-war period was marked by the
emergence of tabloid newspapers (or red tops), notably with Cecil
21
The Times
21
The Observer
Sunday. The Observer has been named national newspaper of the year at
the British Press Awards 2007.
The Guardian
Financial Times
The News of the World was a British tabloid newspaper published every
Sunday. It ended its publication on 10 July 2011 after a phone-hacking
scandal when its editor was arrested. It was published by News Group
Newspapers of News International, itself a subsidiary of Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corporation, and could be considered the Sunday
equivalent of The Sun. The newspaper tended to concentrate on lighter-
weight news stories, such as celebrity gossip. Its fondness for sex
scandals gained it the nicknames “Sex’n’ Scandal weekly,” “News of the
Screws” and “Screws of the World.” It was Britain’s biggest selling
newspaper, selling an average of 3,445,459 copies per week in October
2006. The newspaper was first published on October 1, 1843, in London
by John Browne Bell. It was the cheapest newspaper of its time and was
aimed directly at the newly literate working classes. It quickly established
itself as a purveyor of titillation, shock and criminal news. Despite being
dismissed as a “scandal sheet” it soon established itself as the most
widely read Sunday paper. Countless libel actions were brought against
the News of the World.
Daily Mail
Founded: 1900;
Political allegiance: Conservative/Right-Wing;
Circulation: 761,637 (2007);
Headquarters: 10 Lower Thames Street, London.
Daily Mail, and each frequently attacks the other’s journalistic integrity.
It also has a reputation for consistently printing conspiracy theories based
on the death of Princess Diana as front page news, earning it the
nickname, the “Daily Ex-Princess”; this is often satirised in Private Eye,
the newspaper being labelled the” Diana Express” or the “Di’ly Express,”
possibly due to Desmond’s close friendship with regular Eye target
Mohamed Fayed.
unsuccessful. Also in 2002 the Mirror changed its logo from red to black
(attempting to dissociate the paper from the term “red top,” meaning a
sensationalist mass-market tabloid) and it has made efforts to concentrate
on solid journalism rather than celebrity scandals—not always
successfully. It takes a left-of-centre editorial line. It was the only tabloid
newspaper in the UK to be hostile to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In May
2004, it published what it claimed were photos of British soldiers abusing
Iraqi prisoners. The decision to publish the photos, later proved to be
fake, led to the sacking of the editor.
The Sun
The Sun was a very strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher and her
policies, and maintained its support for the Conservatives when Thatcher
was succeeded by John Major in 1990. But it switched support to Labour
in March 1997 when the General Election saw Labour leader Tony Blair
become Prime Minister. Since then it has supported Labour in each of the
subsequent three elections, despite criticising some of their policies. The
Sun relies on stories about the entertainment industry, gossip concerning
the British monarchy, and sports, as well as news and politics for its
content, with many items revolving around celebrities. Its serious news
stories frequently focus on themes of immigration, security scandals,
domestic abuse and paedophiles.
Broadcasting Media
Television
22
The BBC is funded by public money coming from a television licence fee
gathered from all UK households with a television set. This fee is legally
compulsory and failure to pay it is punishable by prosecution, resulting in
a fine or imprisonment. There are exceptions to paying, for homes with a
pensioner (person over 65 years old). It is currently set at £135.50 and
may vary. The fee chargeable is limited by the government and regulatory
authorities. The BBC provides two analogue networks, BBC One
(consisting of a network of local BBC stations) and BBC Two. Channel 4
is similarly chartered to the BBC, with the goal to provide public service
broadcasting and school programmes. However it runs commercial
advertisements to provide a revenue stream. It produces a single analogue
network, currently branded as 4.
The commercial operators rely on advertising for their revenue, and are
run as commercial ventures, in contrast to the public service operators.
The ITV franchise transmits one analogue network known as ITV1
(consisting of a network of local ITV stations) and Five transmits one
analogue network also. All the major analogue broadcasters provide
additional networks on the free-to-air Freeview digital television service,
and all of these channels can be accessed via a cable or satellite provider,
23
Radio
There are many hundreds of radio stations in the United Kingdom, the
most prominent of which are the national networks operated by the BBC.
Recent advances in digital radio technology have enabled the launch of
several new stations by the Corporation.
city areas, Global Radio, owner of the major Heart and Galaxy radio
brands and Bauer Radio, holding radio in the North of England. There are
also regional networks, Real Radio and the Century Network,
broadcasting in some main parts of England, Wales and Scotland. Many
of these stations, including all the BBC radio, are also available via
digital television services.
In 1920 Marconi invited opera star Dame Nellie Melba to perform at his
works in Chelmsford, demonstrating the potential of the wireless for the
purpose of entertainment. The authorities were reluctant to allow the
chaotic radio free-for-all witnessed in America. There, hundreds of radio
stations had been allowed to spring up, often operating on conflicting
frequencies. By 1921 pressure from the public was mounting. The UK
23
hobbyists wanted their own service. It was also apparent that Government
caution was holding back the British radio manufacturing industry. Thus,
in early 1922, the Post Office agreed first to the creation of experimental
stations such as 2MT (Writtle Chelmsford) and 2LO (London), and then
to the formation of the British Broadcasting company.
The Beginnings
The biggest influence on the early BBC was its general manager, John
Reith, a 33-year-old Scottish engineer. The company had been formed
with a commercial mission—to sell radio sets—but Reith had a higher
purpose. He envisaged an independent British broadcaster able to
educate, inform and entertain the whole nation, free from political
interference and commercial pressure. Within a year the BBC had
broadcast plays, concerts of popular and classical music, talks and variety
programmes from its first home in Savoy Hill. But the powerful
newspaper industry successfully kept the BBC out of the news business.
Bulletins were prepared by the news agencies, and could only be
broadcast after 7 p.m.—so as not to upset newspaper sales.
23
The General Strike of 1926 brought the BBC its first serious
confrontation with the Government over editorial independence. With no
regular newspapers being published, the country turned to the BBC for its
news. Winston Churchill, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, urged the
Government to take over the BBC, but Reith persuaded Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin that this would be against the national interest. In 1927,
the British Broadcasting Company became the British Broadcasting
Corporation when it was granted its first Royal Charter and John Reith
was knighted.
Developments
The BBC soon outgrew Savoy Hill, and in 1932 it moved into the world’s
first purpose-built radio production centre, Broadcasting House, in
Portland Place. It quickly became a city landmark and was described as
“a new Tower of London.” Throughout the 1930s, eminent figures,
including writers, performers, actors and artists, were heard in talks,
plays, sport and children’s programmes. In the field of classical music,
the BBC Symphony Orchestra was formed, and the first BBC
commission (to composer Gustav Holst) was awarded. Variety, as light
entertainment was called, had millions of listeners, but taste and decency
became an issue early on for the BBC. Comedians overstepped the mark
at their peril, and jokes about religion, drunkenness, and many other
sensitive subjects were banned. In 1932 the BBC broadened its horizons
with the opening of the Empire Service, the forerunner of BBC World
Service. On Christmas Day 1932, King George V gave the first royal
broadcast to the Empire. It was scripted by the author Rudyard Kipling.
23
Television
Against the instincts of Lord John Reith, who never saw the value of
television, the BBC was asked to test two rival television systems. Thus,
on 2 November 1936 the BBC opened the world’s first regular service of
high-definition television from Alexandra Palace in North London. The
home favourite was the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird, who had
achieved a world first by transmitting a foggy image 11 years earlier. But
his mechanical system proved a non-starter, and after just two months the
US-backed electronic system developed by EMI-Marconi was formally
adopted.
With the television service closed for the duration, it was radio’s war and
the BBC nearly lost it in the opening skirmishes. In the early “phoney
war” millions found Lord Haw-Haw, the German propaganda weapon,
significantly more entertaining than the austere fare of the BBC. Listeners
23
complained about the new Home Service, which had replaced the
National and Regional programme services, and there were too many
organ recitals and public announcements. As a result the BBC lightened
its tone, with a new emphasis on morale-boosting entertainment.
In 1943, the BBC set up its War Reporting Unit. Its members underwent
rigorous training in military survival techniques and were equipped with a
new, light recording device developed by BBC engineers for use in the
field of action. The BBC war correspondents were able to bring back
near-live war coverage to a nation desperate for news. The BBC emerged
from the war with an enhanced reputation for honesty and accuracy in its
news broadcasts. Half the population regularly listened to the 9 o’clock
news. By the end of the war, the BBC was broadcasting in 40 languages.
Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s master of propaganda, is said to have admitted
that BBC Radio had won the “intellectual invasion” of Europe.
The 1950s
The 1960s
This decade brought more up-to-date content that reflected the times and
the expectations of audiences whose appetite had been whetted by the
choice offered by ITV. Radio comedy flourished with new programmes.
BBC Television Centre in West London opened in June 1960. In the
same year, an inquiry into the future of television and radio praised public
service broadcasting and authorised the setting up of a second channel,
23
From the late 1960s, radio listeners were able to enjoy more programmes
broadcast in the superior sound of FM stereo. In November 1967 the first
BBC local radio station opened in Leicester and within a few years there
were 20 local stations. Colour television broadcasts began on BBC Two
in 1967, followed by BBC One in 1969. Within ten years there would be
12 million colour licences in the UK. The Sixties was also the decade
when the monarchy first went public on television in The Royal Family
(1969) and when England won the World Cup (1966).
The 1970s
This was the golden age of television. Income grew as more and more
homes bought television licences and, more significantly, more switched
to colour. As a result the schedules were able to offer greater depth and
variety. As well as entertaining and informing, the BBC addressed its
educational role. This decade saw the launch of “the university of the
airwaves,” the BBC’s collaboration with the Open University. In 1972 the
CEEFAX text service was introduced after engineers developed the
technique of transmitting digital data within analogue signals. Subtitling
of programmes on CEEFAX began in 1979.
Radio had its work cut out with competition from commercial stations
such as LBC and Capital. The BBC responded with the first phone-in
programmes that had a mixed reception, but many listeners welcomed the
opportunity to put questions directly to politicians and celebrities in live
programmes. The BBC faced many challenges from the Government
23
The 1980s
Home video recorders arrived in the 1980s, and gradually changed the
way the nation regarded and used broadcasting. Other advances included
satellite broadcasting. The BBC contemplated satellite, but judged the
risks, and costs, to be too great. It was a decade of competitive and
political pressure on the BBC. Channel 4 went on air in 1982, more
24
The 1990s
The arrival of digital technology and the Internet during this decade
marked a new era in broadcasting. For the viewer, digital television
offered more channels and wider interactivity. For the listener, digital
radio provided CD-quality sound and flexibility of service. BBC Online,
an Internet service which did not exist at the beginning of the 1990s, was
one of the leading websites in Europe by the end of 1999. Radio 5, the
first new network for 23 years, opened in August 1990, offering sport and
learning opportunities. The other networks strengthened their identity and
audience focus with stations like Radio 1 undergoing modernisation.
Radio 4 also underwent significant change, appealing to younger
audiences in areas such as comedy and arts.
The BBC opened the new millennium with the most ambitious
programme in its history. Hundreds of outside broadcasts across the globe
fed into BBC Television Centre, and a continuous programme lasting 28
24
hours was beamed back to viewers around the world. The show involved
60 nations, and was seen in over 80 countries worldwide. Following
ITV’s decision to drop “News at Ten,” the BBC’s evening bulletin moved
to 10 p.m. After the turn of the millennium, a new enthusiasm for history
programmes was evident. Digital expansion followed with the launch of
BBC Four, Cbeebies, CBBC and BBC Three. Interactive television
kicked off with coverage of Wimbledon 2001 and its success encouraged
increased interactive activity in television programming.
In line with its public service role, the BBC has led the way in
encouraging digital take-up. When the terrestrial Ondigital service ran
into difficulties, the BBC launched Freeview, enabling licence payers to
move to digital without having to pay a subscription. Radio too
celebrated huge successes in The Century Speaks, which presented a vast
oral history of the twentieth century
BBC Today
The BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. Its mission
is to enrich people’s lives with programmes that inform, educate and
entertain. It is a public service broadcaster, established by a Royal
Charter and funded by the licence fee that is paid by UK households. The
BBC uses the income from the licence fee to provide services including 8
national TV channels plus regional programming, 10 national radio
stations, 40 local radio stations and an extensive website. BBC World
Service broadcasts to the world on radio, on TV and online, providing
news and information in 32 languages. It is funded by a government
grant, not from the licence fee.
24
History of ITV
After much debate both in the British Parliament and the British Press,
the Television Act became law in 1954. This Act paved the way for the
establishment of a commercial television service in the UK, creating the
Independent Television Authority (ITA). The ITA’s responsibility was to
regulate the new service, ensuring that the new service did not follow the
same path taken by American television networks (which were perceived
as “vulgar” by some commentators). For example, it was made obligatory
that commercials be clearly distinguishable from programmes.
Midlands and the North of England) were subdivided into weekday and
weekend services, with a different company running each. Space for
commercials, shown during and between programmes was always sold on
a region-by-region basis by each ITV company, and not on a nation-wide
basis throughout the United Kingdom. The reason for this seemingly
over-complicated arrangement was to fulfill the 1954 Act’s requirement
for competition within the ITV system (as well as against the BBC) and
also to help prevent any individual company obtaining a monopoly on
commercial broadcasting. The ITV companies were required, by the
terms of their licences from the ITA, to provide a local television service
for their particular region, including a daily local news bulletin and
regular local documentaries.
The ITV regions initially broadcast on 405-line VHF. During the 1960s,
some commercial companies proposed the introduction of colour on the
405-line system, but the General Post Office insisted that colour should
wait until the higher-definition 625-line UHF system became standard.
ITV eventually introduced PAL colour on this system from 15 November
1969, simultaneous with BBC1 and two years after BBC2. This did not,
however, spread immediately across the UK; some regions had to wait a
few more years before colour was available. Colour was available to
nearly 100% of the UK from 1976, with the Channel Islands being the
last region to be converted. This enabled the 405-line system to be phased
out between 1982 and 1985.
on the ITV network for its funding. The ITV companies sold Channel 4’s
airtime until 31 December 1992, after which a “funding formula”
continued, whereby the ITV companies would subsidise Channel 4 if it
fell into losses. However, it never did, and the funding formula was
withdrawn in 1998. During the period 1982-98, Channel 4 and ITV
would regularly cross-promote each other’s programming, free of charge.
Whilst this was clearly in everyone’s interest prior to 1993, after this date
the two channels were effectively competing, and as part of the funding
formula they were required to cross-promote a certain number of prime-
time programmes each day.
After the Broadcasting Act of 1990, ITN, the news provider for ITV, was
no longer to be exclusively owned by ITV companies. The legal name of
the ITV network was changed to Channel 3, although the network is still
generally referred to as “ITV” by the general public and the media.
Additionally, Channel 4, which had previously been an independent
subsidiary of the IBA, was now to become a Government-owned
corporation, patterned after the BBC. It would also begin to sell its own
advertisement space—a function previously provided by each ITV
company as a return for subsidising the channel.
series; the CITV Channel in 2006; and ITV Play also in 2006. In
recognition of the fact that there was an ITV2, the ITV network was
branded ITV1 in 2001.
ITV Today
Such actions on the part of ITV together with a move to more populist
programming have led to many commentators to accuse ITV of “dumbing
down.” In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in
the fields of sports coverage and drama productions. For over 50 years of
Independent Television, the homegrown programmes have become the
best loved and remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before
the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the
fifteen franchise licensees, the regional companies. Since then, ITV has
struggled to regain viewers’ trust, as inexpensive programming has not
paid dividends. ITV plc have been working to restore this, as the major
provider of programming.
24
duplicated this. In England, the law was replaced in 1598, but the 1574
Act remained in force in Scotland till 1845. The 1598-1601 Elizabethan
Poor Law was a national Act for England and Wales. It provided for
The parish was the basic unit of administration. There was, however, no
general mechanism through which the Poor Law could be enforced, and
its operation was inconsistent between areas. The principle of
“settlement” in a particular parish relates to feudal ideas. People were tied
to particular locations. According to the 1662 Poor Relief Act, if people
tried to draw relief outside the parish of their birth, they could be
removed. This meant that they could be rejected, or physically
transported to another parish.
The development of workhouses under the Old Poor Law was not
representative of the system which followed after the 1834 reforms, and
this is not how the system is now remembered. The 1601 Act made
provision for “setting the poor on work.” This did not generally include
accommodation, but in 1631 a workhouse was established in Abingdon.
In 1697 the Bristol Workhouse was established by private Act of
Parliament. Scotland had “houses of correction” set up in burghs, by an
Act of 1672. In 1740 a workhouse was established in Edinburgh. Most
Scottish workhouses were closed after a little while.
The idea that people could receive out-relief—that is, benefits or cash
outside the poorhouse—was new to the Poor Law in the eighteenth
24
The Welfare State of the United Kingdom was prefigured in the William
Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five “Giant Evils” in society:
squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. A series of changes were
put in place by government to deal with these Evils after the Second
World War. The changes meant that the government undertook measures
25
in policy to provide for the people of the United Kingdom “from the
cradle to the grave.”
These Acts were timed to come into force on the same day, 7 June 1948.
The key elements of the Welfare State were understood as being:
Social Security;
Health;
Housing;
Education;
Welfare and children (the “personal social services”).
25
The Welfare State was not intended to respond to poverty, that was what
the Poor Law had done. The main purpose was to encourage the
provision of the social services on the same basis as the public services—
roads, libraries and so forth—an “institutional” model of welfare.
Criticisms of the Welfare State in later years, however, were to
concentrate increasingly on the problem of poverty.
Social Security
comprehensiveness;
classes of insurance;
flat rate benefits;
flat rate contributions;
adequacy;
25
unified administration.
These objectives were never achieved. The inadequacy and poor coverage
of the benefits meant that other benefits had to be filled in, and these
systems were administered under different rules by different agencies.
Despite the deficiencies, National Insurance still accounts for over half of
the expenditure on social security in the UK. But the failure of the
scheme to cover the population led to increasing dependency on means-
tested benefits, and in particular the basic benefit—National Assistance,
later renamed Supplementary Benefit and then Income Support.
Income Support
Pensions
The Pensions Credit has now replaced the previous means-tested support.
The “Guarantee Credit,” replacing Income Support and the Minimum
Income Guarantee, offers a basic means-tested amount. The Savings
Credit allows extra income to be retained for people within a narrow band
25
Child Benefit
Tax allowances for children were first introduced in 1909, and Family
Allowances in 1945. In 1955 Richard Titmuss (1907-1973), a British
social researcher, made the important argument that tax allowances and
benefits were really two aspects of the same thing, a principle which has
gradually gained acceptance since then. Child Benefit, combining the
two, was passed into law in 1975 (though, because it was controversial,
was not implemented for two years after that). Child Benefit is flat-rate,
not age-related. The case for age relation is that children become more
expensive as they grow older. The case against is that poorer families
tend to be those with younger children, mainly because the woman in the
family is unable to work and it is simpler not to relate the benefit to age.
The basic arguments for Child Benefit are:
One of the most important objections to Child Benefit has recently been
removed. Until recently, Child Benefit was deducted directly from
means-tested benefits, leaving it without value to the poorest families.
The system has now been revised so that support for children is now
distinct from the rest of the benefit system and it now comes largely from
a combination of Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit.
History
NI has been criticised as a “stealth tax” and “an income tax in everything
but name”: in recent years governments have trumpeted the fact that
income tax rates have not changed, while they have increased revenue by
increasing the rates and scope of NI. At the same time the unfairness of a
tax that is levied on the wage income of all workers but not on dividend
or interest income has been criticised: at the extreme this leads to the
contrast between a low-paid worker who has to pay the tax on his income
26
and a wealthy owner of income-bearing assets who does not. There have
been proposals put forward by think-tanks to abolish employees’ National
Insurance altogether by rolling it up into income tax. These have yet to be
adopted as a policy by a major political party.
Contribution Classes
Class 1
Unlike income tax the limits for class 1 NICs for ordinary employees are
calculated on a periodic basis, usually weekly or monthly depending on
how the employee is paid. However those for company directors are
always calculated on an annual basis, to ensure that the correct level of
NICs are collected regardless of how often the director chooses to be
paid. In the 2007 budget, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon
Brown announced that in future the LEL and UEL would be aligned with
the income tax basic rate band.
Class 1A
Class 1B
Class 2
26
Class 3
Class 3 contributions are voluntary NICs paid by people that wish to fill a
gap in their contributions record which has arisen either by not working
or by their earnings being too low. The main reason for paying Class 3
NICs is to ensure that a person’s contribution record is preserved to
provide entitlement to the state pension. Generally a woman currently
needs 10 years of contributions and a man 11 years for a minimum state
pension. In certain cases (e.g. parents and careers) fewer years may be
required.
Class 4
limit class 4 NICs are paid at a rate of 8% of trading profits. Above the
upper earnings limit class 4 NICs are paid at a rate of 1% of trading
profits. They do not form part of a qualifying contribution record for any
benefits, including the state retirement pension.
As the UK does not, as yet, have a system of personal ID cards, and not
everyone has a passport, the NI number is, along with the NHS number,
one of only two systems which provide every adult in the country with a
code number. Consequently, NI numbers are sometimes used for
identification purposes in other contexts which have nothing to do with
their original National Insurance purpose. This is despite a clear claim on
26
the back of the NI card, and a smaller claim on the front, that it is not
proof of identity.
The National Health Service (NHS) is the name commonly used to refer
to the four publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom,
collectively or individually, although only the health service in England
uses the name “National Health Service” without further qualification:
Before the National Health Service was created in 1948, patients were
generally required to pay for their health care. Free treatment was
sometimes available from teaching hospitals and charity hospitals, such
as the Royal Free Hospital. Some local authorities operated local
hospitals for local ratepayers (under a system originating with the Poor
Law). Systems of health insurance usually consisted of private schemes
such as Friendly Societies. Under the National Insurance Act of 1911,
introduced by David Lloyd George, a small amount was deducted from
weekly wages, to which contributions were added from the employer and
the government.
26
service. The structure of the NHS in England and Wales was established
by the National Health Service Act of 1946 and in Scotland by the
National Health Service (Scotland) Act of 1947, with the new
arrangements throughout the UK being launched on 5 July 1948. The
founding principles of the NHS called for its funding out of general
taxation and not through national insurance. Services would henceforth
be provided by the same doctors and the same hospitals, but:
The original structure of the NHS in England and Wales had three
aspects, known as the tripartite system:
By the 1950s, spending on the NHS was exceeding what had been
expected, leading to the introduction of a one-shilling charge for
prescriptions and a £1 charge for dental treatment, in 1952, an exception
to the NHS being free at the point of use. The 1950s also saw the
planning of hospital services, dealing in part with some of the gaps and
duplications that existed across England and Wales. The period also saw
growth in the number of medical staff and a more even distribution of
them with the development of hospital outpatient services. By 1956, the
NHS was stretched financially and doctors were disaffected resulting in a
Royal Commission on doctors’ pay being set up in February 1957. The
investigation and trial of alleged serial killer Dr. John Bodkin Adams
exposed some of the tensions in the system. Indeed, if he had been found
guilty (for—in the eyes of doctors—accidentally killing a patient while
providing treatment) and hanged, the whole NHS might have collapsed.
The Mental Health Act of 1959 also significantly altered legislation in
respect of mental illness and reduced the grounds on which someone
could be detained in a mental hospital.
The Blair Government, whilst leaving services free at point of use, has
encouraged outsourcing of medical services and support to the private
sector. Under the Private Finance Initiative, an increasing number of
hospitals have been built (or rebuilt) by private sector consortia. Hospitals
may have both medical services (such as “surgicentres”), and non-
medical services (such as catering) provided under long-term contracts by
the private sector. As a corollary to these initiatives, the NHS has been
required to take on pro-active socially “directive” policies, for example,
27
with respect to smoking and obesity. The NHS has also encountered
significant problems with the IT innovations accompanying the Blair
reforms. The programme to computerise all NHS patient records is also
experiencing great difficulties. Furthermore there are unresolved financial
and managerial issues on training NHS staff to introduce and maintain
these systems once they are operative.
Doctors
Doctors generally have the same very high status in Great Britain that
they have throughout the world. In matters of prestige, the medical
profession is dominated by the hospital consultants followed by the
specialist doctors who all command a greater standing than the general
practitioners. These specialists are allowed to work part-time for the
NHS and spend the rest of their time earning big fees from private
patients. Some have a surgery in Harley Street in London, conventionally
the sign that a doctor is one of the best. However, the difference in status
between specialists and ordinary GPs is not as marked as it is in most
other countries. At medical school, it is not automatically assumed that a
brilliant student will become a specialist. GPs are not in any way
regarded as second-class. The idea of the family doctor with personal
knowledge of the circumstances of his or her patients was established in
the days when only rich people could afford to pay for the services of a
doctor.
27
At the end of the one year registrar post, the medical practitioner must
pass an examination in order to be allowed to practice independently as a
GP. This summative assessment consists of a video of two hours of
consultations with patients, an audit cycle completed during their registrar
year, a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ), and a standardised
assessment of competencies by their trainer. These changes have led to
accusations of “dumbing down” from the British Medical Association.
There are many arrangements under which general practitioners can work
in the UK. While the main career aim is becoming a principal or partner
in a GP surgery, many become salaried or non-principal GPs, work in
hospitals in GP-led acute care units, or perform locum work. Whichever
of these roles they fill the vast majority of GPs receive most of their
income from the National Health Service (NHS). Principals and partners
in GP surgeries are self-employed, but they have contractual
arrangements with the NHS which give them considerable predictability
of income.
Visits to GP surgeries are free in all countries of the United Kingdom, but
charges for prescription-only medicine vary. Wales has already abolished
all charges, and Scotland has embarked on a phased reduction in charges
to be completed by 2011. In England, however, most adults of working
age who are not on benefits have to pay a standard charge for
prescription-only medicine of £7.10 per item from April 2008.
Harley Street has always been an attractive address, and is one of the
most famous streets in London. It enjoys a long-standing reputation as a
centre of private medical excellence and the district around Harley Street
27
In 1711 the grid of streets around Harley Street, known as The Estate,
was passed to Henrietta Cavendish Holles (the Duke of Newcastle’s
daughter) who married Edward Harley (the 2nd Earl of Oxford).
Between 1715 and 1720, Edward, with the assistance of architect John
27
By 1860 many doctors had moved into Harley Street, choosing the area
because of the quality housing, the central location as well as the
accessibility to major train stations such as Kings Cross, St. Pancras and
Marylebone. As more and more doctors moved to the area they invited
colleagues to work with them from their prestigious homes and Harley
Street began to thrive as a medical centre. Since the nineteenth century
the number of doctors, hospitals and medical organisations in and around
Harley Street has greatly increased. Records show that there were around
20 doctors in 1860, 80 by 1900 and almost 200 by 1914. When the
National Health Service was established in 1948 there were around 1,500.
Among the many famous and talented doctors to have practiced in Harley
Street over the years was the great British surgeon Sir Henry Thompson
in the 1870s who was appointed surgeon-extraordinaire to the King of
Brussels, and Doctor Edward Bach who practiced from Harley Street in
the 1920s as a specialist in vaccines and bacteriology before moving to
the London Homeopathic Hospital and then developing the Bach Flower
Remedies.
Nurses
Since the 1990s, UK nurses are educated to diploma, bachelor’s and even
undergraduate master’s degree levels. There are also post-graduate
courses for graduates with a degree in a health related subject. They
undertake their training at universities and in placements in healthcare
services. The student will train in adult, child, mental health, or learning
disabilities branch. To become a nurse within the United Kingdom, one
must at the very minimum hold a Diploma in Nursing and have trained
for three years, or two years on an “accelerated” course. After training,
the opportunities are vast, with many different areas of nursing, from
28
There are various other higher managerial and specialist nurse roles;
however these are less well defined on a national scale and vary from
country-to-country.
28
Education in Britain
Preliminaries
Because education is concerned not only with teaching basic skills but
also with passing on the culture and values of society, it often becomes a
burning political issue, particularly in times of rapid political or social
change and uncertainty. What is taught in the classroom, how it is taught
and how success and failure are measured are all influenced by political
considerations. The government of the day controls education in Britain
either directly through Acts of Parliament or indirectly through the
orchestration of public opinion. As Britain is a liberal democracy the
government also responds to—or at least takes note of—the will of the
people expressed mainly in the mass media.
ensure that children receive the kind of education that will fit them for
“life.”
History
Introduction
the middle of the thirteenth century both were doing so well that they
considered themselves second only to Paris. At this point the first
colleges—University College, Oxford in 1249 and Peterhouse,
Cambridge in 1284—were formally established. These and other Oxford
and Cambridge colleges were initially founded as seminaries for the
Church where the sons of poor men could receive an education that
would fit them for a life of service to the Church and the state. At this
time the kings of England relied on the church to provide “clerks” who,
because they could read and write—unlike most of the kings and nobility
—could deal with the day-to-day administration of the state. By the
sixteenth century, however, they had become more like finishing schools
for the sons of the gentry reflecting a wider change in society as the
administration of the state moves out of the hands of the church into that
of the landed gentry. It is interesting to note that the link between Oxford
and Cambridge and the government of the country that was established so
early on remains to this day.
Most of the early schools were parish schools and were not so ambitious.
They offered elementary education to the children of ordinary parents
who wanted to get on in life. The humblest taught their pupils to read,
learn prayers and psalms, the Ten Commandments, the seven deadly sins
and seven sacraments. Some schools were less religious—a school in
Rotherham, Yorkshire founded in 1483 by the Archbishop of York,
taught its pupils accountancy as well as grammar because the youths in
that part of the country were more suited to worldly employment than to
joining the priesthood.
28
By the end of the seventeenth century several of the patterns that have
influenced education in this century have already become established.
The close link between education and religion is preserved with the
parishes being responsible for providing teaching in reading and religion.
The grammar schools were firmly established in the market towns, most
of them continuing to exist into the twentieth century. This is
supplemented from 1698 onwards by the Charity Schools set up by the
Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge in which prayers and
Bible reading were an integral part of the curriculum. The Puritans,
expelled from the Church of England, set up their own schools, the
Dissenting Academies, where the religious teaching reflected their own
beliefs.
A structure of education emerged with one tier educating the rich and
powerful and the other the respectable lower classes, reflecting the
traditional social structure. During the seventeenth century some of the
most famous private boarding-schools, known today as public schools,
were founded for the sons of the aristocracy who then went on to one of
the Oxford colleges. Lower down the social scale there are the Dame
schools, paid for by the parish, run usually by women, where children up
28
to the age of about 7 were taught simple reading and such crafts as
spinning and knitting.
few private boarding schools for the daughters of the rich devoted mainly
to teaching the art of being a gentle wife.
The seventeenth century sees patterns established not only for which
people were taught and where they were taught but also what they were
taught. Reading begins with the Bible and, for boys, progressed to the
study of Greek and Latin texts. The study of mathematics was reserved
for the most able. Only in the Dissenting Academies were science,
English and modern languages given any attention. One of the public
schools, Merchant Taylor’s, which—as its name implies—had a
somewhat different clientele, taught music. Even at Oxford and
Cambridge the curriculum consisted only of Latin, Greek, rhetoric, logic,
grammar, arithmetic and music. Towards the end of the seventeenth
century this was expanded to include Hebrew, Arabic, ancient history and
geometry. A reluctance to embrace new ideas about the curriculum is a
recurring feature on the English educational scene.
The first part of the eighteenth century saw few changes in schooling.
Dame schools continued, charity schools were established, which by the
end of the century provided an education for a quarter of a million pupils
that stressed religion, moral teaching and vocational training. The
grammar schools, still teaching mostly Latin and Greek, with few
exceptions, declined. The public schools became the scenes of bullying
and savage corporal punishment and although, in the words of the
novelist Henry Fielding, they are the “nurseries of all vice and
immorality,” 72% of all ministers of state during the eighteenth century
attended such schools. According to a contemporary journal “Before an
28
Eton boy is ready for University, he may have acquired a confirmed taste
for gluttony and drunkenness, an appetite for brutal sports and a passion
for female society of the most degrading kind” (Education in Britain 12).
After school the sons of the ruling classes went on to the universities
whose reputations had also declined. The learning they offered centred on
“the intrigues of the heathen gods; with whom Pan slept, whom Apollo
ravished” stated The Edinburgh Review in 1810. Most undergraduates led
a very idle and undisciplined life. The most strictly enforced rule at
Oxford was that there should be no mixing with the townspeople.
Examinations, again principally at Oxford, were often oral in form and
regarded as a mere formality. John Scott, later a Lord Chancellor (head of
the English judiciary), described his examination in Hebrew and History
for his Bachelor’s degree in 1770 as follows:
Many sons of wealthy fathers were sent on the Grand Tour of Europe to
complete their education. While abroad they were supposed to improve
their command of foreign languages, absorb some culture and improve
their manners and taste. Many only improved their knowledge of wine,
women and gaming but gradually, as the Grand Tour becomes more
29
During the nineteenth century the provision of state education follows the
granting of the right to vote. As more groups in society are enfranchised,
schools and teaching are provided for the children of those groups. It was
an accepted idea that teaching these children not only the basics of
education but also passing on knowledge of the culture and pride in the
state preserved Britain from the outbreaks of social unrest and even
revolution that affected many of the countries of Europe in this century.
However, the battle for schools was no easier than the battle for the vote
but once the opposition to change had been overcome in the 1832
Parliamentary Reform Act the door was opened for further social
advances.
monitorial system in which the teacher teaches the monitors who then
pass on their knowledge to the pupils. In this way a school of 500
required only one teacher and would cost very little. The schools were
very much in line with the ideals of their day. They encouraged the spirit
of competition among the pupils with a rewards system for success and
they were essentially mechanical at a time when mechanisation was seen
as a revolutionary force for good.
The so-called Ragged Schools were not part of either of the two societies
but were supported by charity and provided education for the very
poorest children of the cities. They were, in fact, an extension of Raikes’s
Sunday schools. Many philanthropically minded industrialists set up their
own schools where their child labourers could receive some sort of
education. Others, like Mr. Gradgrind in Charles Dickens’s Hard Times,
established their schools to ensure that their own individual views and
philosophies were passed on to the next generation. Mr. Gradgrind’s own
children of course do not attend his school. They are educated at home by
tutors—as befits his social position.
These schools made a genuine effort to provide education for the poorer
classes but their insistence on the place of religion in education and the
unwillingness of their supporters to allow education to become purely
secular held up state education for many years. The breakthrough came in
1833, almost unnoticed at the time, with the Education Act of 1833 which
gave the first Government grant to schools. The move was seen as a
temporary measure to help the two societies to expand their efforts. The
money could only be paid through the two societies (the British and
Foreign School Society and the National Society for Promoting the
Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church) and
29
would only go to establish schools where half the necessary financing had
been raised by voluntary contributions. This is the beginning of the
church or voluntary group of schools which still exist today. It was also
the beginning of a principle which held true until 1988—there would be
no direct government interference with the curriculum taught in the
schools or with the day-to-day running of them.
The schools established after 1833 were run by school boards and
managers similar to the way in which the 1988 Act proposed schools
should be run in the 1990s. The clamour for more education continued
and intensified after the extension of the right to vote in 1867 to
“respectable” working men, culminating in the Elementary Education Act
of 1870. This Act did not make elementary education free or compulsory
but it provided for the building of state schools under the direction of
locally elected school boards. It is interesting that women, who could not
vote in parliamentary elections or have a seat in the House of Commons
could both vote for and hold seats on these school boards.
many British people shared and why it comes into so many novels and so
much public rhetoric. The School Boards were allowed to levy a local
rate to pay for the building of schools and once the buildings were
available they could make school attendance compulsory (this happened
in 1880). The Churches were given six months to provide schools in areas
that lacked proper provision and improve educational standards in already
existing schools. At the end of this period the needs would be met by the
School Boards. Fees were charged in all schools but those who could not
afford to pay were allowed to go free. There were further Acts of
Parliament which finally made attendance up to the age of 14 compulsory
at the start of the twentieth century. Thus by the end of the nineteenth
century state-controlled elementary education is firmly established and
some of the basic principles that will govern state education in the next
century are in place.
Private Education
The state sector was not the only scene of educational reform. The
nineteenth century is the great age of the British public schools. The new
type of public school was initiated by Dr. Thomas Arnold when he
became headmaster of Rugby School in 1828. The new class, who had
made money from industrial development, wanted their sons to receive an
education that would fit them for their social position and mark them out
as a separate and privileged group of “gentlemen.” The new public
schools were thus socially exclusive and by what they taught they
emphasised the importance of discipline, the stiff upper lip, self-reliance
and correct behaviour. They used sport because it provided the necessary
physical toughening and encouraged the development of team spirit and
loyalty to the group.
29
The Curriculum
century come after wars. The first in 1902 after the country’s near defeat
in the Boer War, the second in 1918 after World War I, the third in 1944
as World War II draws to a close and the fourth in 1988 after the Falkland
War and the Thatcherite “war” on accepted post-war values.
The 1902 Act established a national state education system with Local
Education Authorities, as part of the local government organization, in
charge of state schools, replacing the School Boards and effecting a
considerable economy in administration. These LEAs were allowed to
support other forms of education, not only elementary. So they were able
to finance secondary schools as well as give assistance to other bodies
such as the Worker’s Educational Association. The LEAs became the
basis of the “national system, locally administered” that prevailed in
Britain until 1988. Education was controlled centrally by the Secretary of
the Board of Education, a system of inspection, by His Majesty’s
Inspectors, was put in place and a school medical service was introduced
under the Liberal Government in power from 1906 onwards. The Free
Place System also came in 1907 whereby private secondary schools could
get financial help from the government if 25% of their yearly intake came
from the state elementary schools. These pupils had to pass a test in order
to ascertain whether they could benefit from the education the schools
offered. This was the beginning of the scholarship ladder to university,
which gradually changed the nature of the universities and the education
offered there.
There is another period of educational reform starting with the Fisher Act
of 1918, which increased the power of the LEAs, made schooling
compulsory up to the age of 14, abolished all fees in elementary schools
and reorganised the government grants to schools. Now finally Britain
29
The Education Act of 1944 was passed before the Second World War had
actually ended and was to some extent a statement of the country’s belief
in its future. It established many of those aspects of English schools
which are familiar to foreigners—separate primary and secondary
schools, local autonomy under the guidance of the central government,
social and games facilities such as playing fields, camps and the
provision of school meals at a very low cost. More importantly it
established a pattern of different types of schools providing different
types of education for different types of pupils. It was principally an act
dealing with secondary education based on two main ideas—that all
children should have an equal opportunity to participate in secondary
education and that the education they received should be suited to their
age, aptitude and ability.
29
From the beginning the secondary moderns were seen as second rate and
very few secondary technical schools were ever built. The selection of
pupils for the various schools was made on the basis of an examination
under local control. The transition from primary to secondary at eleven
was determined by the fact that the original school leaving age had been
14 and it was felt that a secondary education course should last at least
three years. In Scotland secondary education began at 12 while in the
private sector secondary education has always started at 13. The “eleven
plus,” as this examination came to be known, was never universally
accepted as providing an equal opportunity for all children to gain access
to the education they would most benefit from. It created a lot of stress
among pupils and their families, those who did not get a grammar school
place were regarded as failures and the proportion of grammar school
places varied greatly from place to place. It was up to the Local
Education Authorities, numbering 146 for England and Wales, to decide
how many of each kind of school they would provide so it was much
easier to get a grammar school place in some areas than in others.
29
The LEA could also decide what weight it would put on the various parts
of the “eleven plus” test and often those who were selected for grammar
schools were middle-class children of average or above average ability
and working-class children of high ability. Once in grammar school,
however, these working-class children found that the road to higher
education was opened up to them and that through higher education they
could gain access to positions of power and leadership in the country
which had never before been open to them. Many people who have
influential positions in British society today and are in their fifties and
sixties climbed this educational ladder. The grammar school boy rivalled
the wearer of the “old school tie” (public school graduate) in many, but
not all, British institutions.
From the very beginning there were questions about the validity of
dividing pupils into separate schools and in the 1960s the Comprehensive
School became increasingly popular. This was usually a large school
which provided for all abilities from the age of 11 up to 16 or 18. The
Labour Party always approved of these schools as they fitted their ideas
of social equality better than the tripartite system. No new education act
was needed as they were seen as simply another way of meeting the
requirements of the 1944 Act regarding equality of opportunity and a
suitable education for all. The type of system that a Local Education
Authority adopted was a choice made locally and there were so many
variations that the word “system” can hardly be used accurately to
describe the provision of state secondary education.
There were many struggles over various aspects of education in the 1960s
and 1970s. Not just the type of school but the methods of teaching
became political issues. The “Great Debate” of the 70s centred around
“progressive” ideas of education arising from the works of educational
philosophers such as the American John Dewey, with the emphasis on
child-centred learning through discovery rather than simply being fed
facts versus the more traditional approach which stressed formal learning,
the importance of basic skills and passing on cultural values and
discipline.
—not least the state education system. The new Government saw
themselves as radical thinkers who would change people’s ideas about
many of the institutions of British life. Margaret Thatcher herself had
been the Minister of Education in the Edward Heath Government (1970-
74) and is principally remembered for having discontinued the provision
of free milk to school children in 1971—earning herself the title of
“Thatcher—the Milk Snatcher.” If one is to succeed in changing ideas,
education must play a central role, so schools move to the centre of the
political arena.
The changes in state education since 1979 must be seen in the wider
context of Conservative policy. The power of the trades unions and local
government was to be reduced, market forces and the free play of
competition were to be introduced wherever possible, mostly through the
privatisation of services, and public spending was to be reduced as much
as possible to bring inflation down. One of the key ideas of the new
government was that the individual was more important than the social
group—an idea reflected in Thatcher’s (in)famous words “There is no
such thing as society—only individual men and women, and families.”
The control exercised by the state was to be “rolled back” rather like
rolling back a heavy blanket which had stifled individual attempts to
break loose and rise to new heights. In terms of education this meant
giving more power and choice to parents, individual schools and market
forces at the expense of LEAs, the teachers and particularly the teachers
unions. The importance of the market meant that greater emphasis was to
be placed on competition and success, on reward for effort and not so
much on “feather-bedding” (attenuating) failure.
30
Under the new system parents became much more directly involved in
the education of their children. They were given the chance to choose
which school their child would attend. They could become governors and,
together with the head teacher and the rest of the governing body, control
the financing and staffing of the school. Together with other parents, if
they formed a majority, they could remove the school from the LEA
completely and make it directly accountable to central government—this
is called “opting out.” To help parents to exercise these choices much
more information was to be made available to them. Schools are now
required to produce brochures about their work, test and examination
results have to be published and the school is to have an open and
30
welcoming policy towards parents. The days when parents were only
expected to go to the school on Open Day or when summoned to the head
teacher’s office to hear serious complaints about their offspring are gone.
These changes were maintained even after the change of government in
1997.
For the first time, from 1988 onwards, there is a National Curriculum,
which lays down exactly what is to be taught in school and at what level
from the age of 5 to 16. Pupils are to be tested at the end of each of four
“key stages” and the results (for each school—not for each individual
pupil) are to be published. In this way there will be a measure of the
“success” of each state school available to parents and other interested
groups in the form of “league tables”—an expression borrowed from
football. At the same time as all these changes were being introduced in
schools, Britain was moving from a period of temporary boom to
prolonged recession. This meant cuts in public spending in education as
in all other public services. Education has never been over-funded and
even in the 1980s money was in short supply. Given the choice of paying
staff for what the LEAs considered necessary services in education or
repairing the school building, they normally chose the former. According
to a survey carried out by the Building Employers Confederation in the
mid-1980s 20% of all schools in England and Wales were overcrowded,
one third had leaking roofs and 90% of all secondary schools had
inadequate workshops for arts, crafts, metalwork and engineering.
This last shortage was very serious as the 1988 Education Act made the
teaching of art and technology compulsory from aged 5 to 16. By 1992
the situation had deteriorated to the point where half of England’s school
children were taught in buildings in urgent need of repair and two thirds
30
In line with its general political beliefs, the Governments of the 80s
wanted to encourage privatisation wherever possible. They also saw the
LEAs as branches of what they perceived as Labour-dominated and
unrepresentative local government. They were convinced that the local
councils were working against their radical ideas and wanted to remove
as much of their power as possible. Hence, under subsequent Education
Acts, the LEAs lost power to the individual schools and their boards of
governors on the one hand and the central government on the other.
However not many schools have taken the opportunity offered to “opt
out” (only around 2000 had done so by 1996) and become “grant
maintained.” It appears that most schools, and parents, did not share the
Conservative Government’s mistrust of local authorities.
Labour, since 1997, has continued the idea of limiting local authority
control over schools. The vocabulary they use—the rhetoric—has
changed but not the ideas. The Government encourages the involvement
of local commercial interests in education. Privatisation has moved into
the school world with the provision of school meals and other services
being put out to tender. Under the 1988 Act, however, private enterprise
entered schooling in another way. The Act allowed for the setting up of a
new type of state school—City Technology Colleges, or City Colleges.
These were to be set up in urban areas to cater for local pupils of all
abilities form the age of 11 to 16. What makes them different is that they
30
The recession of the early 90s, however, meant that industry did not have
much cash to spare for such a long-term and uncertain investment, and
many industrialists felt that they had already paid enough to the state in
the form of taxes and that the provision of education certainly did not fall
within their field of responsibility. They welcomed closer links between
school and work but not if they cost too much in terms of time and money
and detracted from their “real” function—providing goods and services
for a profit. Some schools have been established and appear to be very
popular and successful but it will take a long time for their impact to
become more than marginal.
particularly caused a great deal of strain among teachers and even now
are the subject of serious debate.
Many teachers felt that the government had undermined their professional
status and had seriously damaged the state system of education to further
its political philosophy. Teaching almost lost the status of a profession
and became merely one of many skilled occupations and certainly not one
of the highest paid or most prestigious. In 1979 teachers’ salaries were
37% higher than the average white-collar wage but by 1990 they had
fallen below it. Those teachers who belonged to a union—there are five
teachers’ unions—also found themselves confronting the government’s
policy of curbing the power of the trades unions. There was a very long
period of industrial action between 1984 and 1987 which resulted in new
laws governing teachers’ pay and conditions, under which teachers lost
the right to negotiate with the government about salary levels. In addition
teachers were to work a stated number of hours, 1255 each year
according to a contract, all teachers were to be appraised and increased
incentive allowances were to be awarded to “good” teachers.
There was a feeling that too much stress was placed on those
achievements which are easily measurable at the expense of subjects
which are important for the development of the pupils’ personalities or
ability to function in a social setting—which are not so easy to test and
measure. Standard Assessment Tests at the ages of 7, 11 and 14 took a lot
of preparation and administration time. Many parents were unhappy with
the idea of testing 7-year-olds. The designing, organization and marking
of tests seemed to become a major industry with a life of its own. There
was also a feeling that the overall aim was to make the state system as
much like the private system as possible in its methods, aims and
30
objectives. At the same time education has been opened up for discussion
and debate. Never before has so much information been available, in the
visual media and in print, about exactly what goes on in schools.
Wales
Scotland
their own part of the UK. Since Scotland became more independent with
the devolution of certain government powers from London to the Scottish
Parliament they have continued with their own educational ideas.
Northern Ireland
parents who buy a place in a private school are buying a ticket to success.
There are problems connected with this. Firstly the private schools are
exclusive—they exclude those who cannot afford to pay fees and those
who do not conform to their requirements, academically, socially or
otherwise. These ex-pupils then go on to high-level jobs (most of them)
involving making decisions affecting the whole of society while at the
same time remaining an exclusive group, part of, but at the same time,
separate from the rest of that society. This allows them, for example, as
senior executives in the midst of a severe recession, when pay rises for
those lower down the ladder are severely restricted, to award themselves
rises of 23%. Such people can have little sense of belonging to the same
society or of having obligations to their employees. Secondly it is
arguable whether it is best for society that parental income should decide
who is to be educated for leadership. Thirdly the private sector schools
are “academic.” They define their schooling in terms of examination
successes—purely in these terms 177 of the “top” 200 schools are private.
Those pupils who want to continue their education beyond the age of 16
can either go to a further education college or stay on in the sixth form of
the secondary school. In either place they will take Advanced-level (A-
level) examinations after two-year courses in three or four subjects. This
examination is used to select students for university places. It is graded
on a seven-point scale from A to E with N as a narrow failure and U as
unclassified. It was felt in the 1980s that 16-18-year-olds had too narrow
an education so a new examination was introduced, the Advanced
Supplementary level (AS-level), corresponding to about half an A-level
course and graded A to E.
Scotland
31
Schools
Juniors Preparatory
Primary Schools
4-11 years
Secondary Tri-partite system Voluntary Schools Public Schools
Secondary Modern (about 550)
Schools 11-16 Grant-maintained schools 13-18 years
11-16/18
Comprehensive System
The Voluntary Schools are funded partly by the religious groups and
partly by the LEAs. Muslims want their schools to be included in this
group but so far only Christian schools can be voluntary schools.
The City Technology Colleges are a new idea paid for by central
government and private sector sponsors. The LEAs are not involved. The
31
Scotland
Northern Ireland
As part of the peace process there has been a concerted effort to introduce
more mixed faith schools.
Teachers
Teachers in state schools must have Qualified Teacher Status. They can
get this either by doing a four-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) honours
degree or by doing a three-year degree course followed by a one-year
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course. Most teacher-
training has been moved out of universities and colleges to the schools.
31
Further Education
31
There are about 480 further education institutions in England and Wales
with 743,000 full-time and sandwich-course students and about 850,000
part-time day students on further education courses. Apart from ordinary
vocational courses there are special FE colleges which offer training in
such things as the performing arts. One of these, the Northern School of
Contemporary Dance has taken over a Jewish synagogue and adapted it
to its requirements.
Scotland
are modular and work-based and range from immediately post-16 courses
up to postgraduate or post-experience levels. A Record of Education and
Training for each student has been introduced to provide a single
certificate to show what courses or modules have been completed. There
are 45 further education institutions in Scotland with 31,000 full-time and
sandwich-course students and about 195,000 students on non-advanced
vocational courses.
Northern Ireland
Higher Education
30 colleges scattered all over London and the Home Counties. Like
schools, universities in the UK are ranked according to a set of criteria
involving publishing, research, graduate and undergraduate courses. The
funding they receive depends on their ranking. Newspapers have also
published ranking lists “to help you pick your way through the higher
education maze.”
In the nineteenth century many of the newly rich industrial cities wanted
to mark their civic pride by building universities. The universities came to
be known as Redbrick—a derogatory term referring to the fact that these
new institutions were built of red brick rather than stone—like the
Oxbridge colleges. There followed another period of expansion in the
1960s when seven more universities were established. Several of them
were built in historic market towns and named after counties e.g. the
University of Essex at Colchester. They sounded like characters out of a
Shakespeare play and so came to be known as the Shakespearean Seven.
The 1960s also saw the establishment of Colleges of Advanced
Technology, which later became Polytechnics and, from 1992 onwards,
universities on the same footing as the other universities. As a result of
this change many cities in Britain now have two or even three
universities.
funding, in fact some universities saw their budgets cut by more than a
third. At the same time the government increased its control over the
universities by changing the methods of funding so that money could be
directed to those subjects, such as technology, which the government
thought were important and away from less “productive” subjects such as
classics. The 1988 Education Act created the Universities Funding
Council, a government appointed quango, with the power to attach terms
and conditions to the provision of funds.
Students
Hence the candidate will be offered a place provided that he or she gets
two grade A’s and a grade B in the A-level examinations. Not everyone
gets the grades they need in order to take up their places and, just after the
A-level results come out, there is a special service to help would-be
students find places and university departments find students. Most first
degree students used to receive some sort of grant from the LEAs. The
exact amount depended on the parents’ or spouse’s income—in other
words, it was means tested. In 1998 all student grants were abolished by
32
Religion in Britain
Celtic Polytheism
Gaul, areas along the Danube River, and Galatia (in Asia Minor, in the
Ankara region); however there were also beliefs shared by all.
Roman Polytheism
Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end
of the occupation. The Temple of Mithras (the ancient Persian god of
light and guardian against evil, often identified with the sun) is one
example of the popularity of mystery religions amongst the rich urban
classes. In the Dark Ages, immigrants from the European continent
arrived, bringing Anglo-Saxon paganism, a subset of Germanic paganism
with them. Later, after most of the Anglo-Saxon peoples had converted to
Christianity, Vikings from Scandinavia arrived, bringing with them Norse
paganism.
Christianity
Christianise the people. However, both Lucius Britannius rex and his
letter to the pope are now generally considered as unhistorical.
Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in
the third and fourth centuries. The Romano-British population after the
withdrawal of the Roman legions was mostly Christian.
Norman nobles and bishops had influence before the Norman Conquest
of 1066, and Norman influences affected late Anglo-Saxon architecture.
Edward the Confessor was brought up in Normandy and in 1042 brought
masons to work on Westminster Abbey, the first Romanesque building in
England. Pope Innocent III placed the kingdom of England under an
interdict for seven years between 1208 and 1215 after King John refused
to accept the pope’s appointee as Archbishop of Canterbury. Saint Alban
is venerated by some as the first Christian martyr in England. Saint
George is generally recognised as the patron saint of England and the flag
of England consists of the cross of St. George.
Anglicanism
32
In 1536, the Church in England split from Rome over the issue of the
divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. The split led to
the emergence of a separate ecclesiastical authority. Later the influence of
the Reformation resulted in the Church of England adopting its
distinctive reformed Catholic position known as Anglicanism. The first
Act of Supremacy granted King Henry VIII of England Royal
Supremacy, which is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the
United Kingdom. The term “Royal Supremacy” is specifically used to
describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the
Church in England.
Henry had felt uneasy about the appearance of the Lutheran doctors and
their theology within his kingdom. On 28 April 1539 Parliament met for
the first time in three years. On 5 May, the House of Lords created a
committee with the customary religious balance to examine and
32
determine doctrine. 11 days later, the Duke of Norfolk noted that the
committee had not agreed on anything and proposed that the Lords
examine six doctrinal questions which eventually became the basis of the
Six Articles. The articles reaffirmed Catholic doctrine on key issues:
1. Transubstantiation (the doctrine holding that the bread and wine of
the Eucharist are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, although
their appearances remain the same);
2. The reasonableness of withholding of the cup from the laity during
communion;
3. Clerical celibacy;
4. Observance of vows of chastity;
5. Permission for private masses;
6. The importance of auricular confession (spoken into the ear).
Penalties under the act ranged from imprisonment and fine to death.
However, its severity was reduced by an act of 1540, which retained the
death penalty only for denial of transubstantiation, and a further act
limited its arbitrariness. The Catholic emphasis of the doctrine celebrated
in the articles is not matched by the ecclesiastical reforms that Henry
undertook in the following years, such as the enforcement of the necessity
of the English Bible and the insistence upon the abolition of all shrines,
both in 1541. As the Act of the Six Articles neared passage in Parliament,
Archbishop Cranmer moved his wife and children out of England to
safety. Up to now, the family was kept quietly hidden, most likely in Ford
Palace in Kent. The Act passed Parliament at the end of June and it
forced such clergymen as Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton to resign
their dioceses given their outspoken opposition to the measure. After
Henry’s death, the articles were repealed by his son, Edward VI.
32
During the reigns of the Stuart kings, James I and Charles I, the battle
lines were to become more defined, leading ultimately to the English
33
Civil War, the first on English soil to engulf parts of the civilian
population. The war was only partly about religion, but the abolition of
prayer book and episcopacy by a Puritan Parliament was an element in
the causes of the conflict. The legacy of these tumultuous events can be
recognised throughout the Commonwealth (1649-1660) and the
Restoration which followed it and beyond. Anglicans were to become the
core of the restored Church of England, but at the price of further
division. At the Restoration in 1660 Anglicans were to be but part of the
religious scene.
been the work of a few Catholics and not of the English Catholics as a
whole. And he reminded the assembly to rejoice at his survival, since
kings were divinely appointed and he owed his escape to a miracle.
The Westminster Assembly
Background
The Treaty of Union that led to the formation of the United Kingdom
(1707) ensured that there would be a protestant succession as well as a
link between church and state that still remains. Christianity is the major
religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and then Judaism in
terms of number of adherents. Though each country that makes up the
UK has a long tradition of Christianity that pre-dates the UK itself, in
practice all have relatively low levels of religious observance and today
are secular societies.
opinion poll in 2005 reported that 38% “believed there is a God,” and a
further 40% believe there is “some sort of spirit or life force.”
Many other religions have also established a presence in the UK, mainly
through immigration, though also by attracting converts. According to the
2001 UK census, which was the first to ask about the religion of
respondents, after Christianity and those who stated no religion, the
religions with the most adherents are Islam and Hinduism. Other faiths
include Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, the Bahá’í Faith, Rastafarianism
and Neopaganism. There are also organizations which promote
rationalism, humanism, and secularism.
Christianity
The Parish is the most local level, often consisting of one church
building and a community, although nowadays many parishes are
joining forces in a variety of ways for financial reasons. Larger
33
All rectors and vicars are appointed by patrons, who may be private
individuals, corporate bodies such as cathedrals, colleges or trusts, or by
the bishop or even appointed directly by the Crown. No clergy can be
instituted and inducted (installed) into a parish without swearing the Oath
of Allegiance to Her Majesty, and taking the Oath of Canonical
Obedience “in all things lawful and honest” to the bishop. Usually they
34
are instituted to the benefice (church office endowed with fixed capital
assets that provide a living) by the bishop and then inducted by the
archdeacon into the actual possession of the benefice property—church
and parsonage. Curates are appointed by rectors and vicars, but if priests-
in-charge they are appointed by the bishop after consultations with the
patron. Cathedral clergy (normally a dean and a varying number of
residentiary canons who constitute the cathedral chapter, i.e. the assembly
of canons) are appointed either by the Crown, the bishop, or by the dean
and chapter themselves. Clergy officiate in a diocese either because they
hold office as beneficed clergy, or are licensed by the bishop when
appointed (e.g. curates), or simply with permission.
Representative Bodies
The Church of England has a legislative body, the General Synod. The
Synod can create two types of legislation, Measures and Canons.
Measures have to be approved but cannot be amended by the UK
Parliament before receiving the Royal Assent and becoming part of the
law of England. Canons require Royal Licence and Royal Assent, but
form the law of the Church, rather than the law of the land. Another
assembly is the Convocation of the English Clergy (older than the
General Synod and its predecessor the Church Assembly). There are also
Diocesan Synods and Deanery Synods.
Financial Situation
34
Historically, individual parishes both raised and spent the vast majority of
the Church’s funding, meaning that clergy pay depended on the wealth of
the parish, and parish advowsons (the right to appoint clergy to particular
parishes) could become extremely valuable gifts. Individual dioceses also
held considerable assets: the Diocese of Durham possessed such vast
wealth and temporal power that its Bishop became known as the “Prince-
Bishop.” Since the mid-nineteenth century, however, the Church has
made various moves to “equalise” the situation, and clergy within each
diocese now receive standard stipends paid from diocesan funds.
Meanwhile, the Church moved the majority of its income-generating
assets (which in the past included a great deal of land, but today mostly
take the form of financial stocks and bonds) out of the hands of individual
clergy and bishops to the care of a body called the Church
Commissioners, which uses these funds to pay a range of non-parish
expenses, including clergy pensions, and the expenses of cathedrals and
bishops’ houses. These funds amount to around £3.9 billion, and generate
income of around £164 million each year (as of 2003), around a fifth of
the Church’s overall income.
to the church (not including legacies) come to around £460 million per
year, while parish and diocese reserve funds generate another £100
million. Funds raised in individual parishes account for almost all of this
money, and the majority of it remains in the parish which raises it,
meaning that the resources available to parishes still vary enormously,
according to the level of donations they can raise.
Although asset-rich, the Church of England has to look after and maintain
its thousands of churches nationwide—the lion’s share of England’s built
heritage. As current congregation numbers stand at relatively low levels
and as maintenance bills increase as the buildings grow older, many of
these churches cannot maintain economic self-sufficiency. But their
historical and architectural importance makes it difficult to sell them. In
recent years, cathedrals and other famous churches have met some of
their maintenance costs with grants from organisations such as English
Heritage. But the church congregation and local fundraisers must foot the
bill entirely in the case of most small parish churches. The government,
however, does provide some assistance in the form of tax breaks, for
example a 100% VAT refund for renovations to religious buildings.
34
Roman Catholicism
The Roman Catholic Church organises separately for England and Wales,
Scotland and Ireland. Its formal history in England and Wales traces from
the 597 Augustinian mission and Augustine became the first Archbishop
34
Roman Catholic worship and liturgy has also influenced some parts of the
Anglican Church since the nineteenth century, such as in Anglo-
34
Hierarchy
with bishops from the rest of Ireland as part of the Irish Bishops
Conference.
Scotland
Province Dioceses Cathedral
Province of Glasgow Archdiocese of Glasgow St. Andrew’s Cathedral
34
Pentecostals
Methodism
Orthodox Churches
Other traditions of Christianity have a long history in the UK. There has
been a strain of Nonconformism or Dissent traceable back to Lollardry,
a sect following John Wycliffe, in the mid-fourteenth century. The
English Dissenters were Christians who opposed State’s interference in
religious matters that broke away from the Church of England in the
sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today these include
Baptists, Presbyterians, The Congregational Church, Mennonites,
Quakers, Unitarians, and The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion.
Other Denominations
Saints
Islam
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with a total of
about 1.6 million Muslims (or 2.8% of the total population). The first
large group of Muslims in England arrived about 300 years ago. They
were sailors recruited in India to work for the East India Company, and so
it is not surprising that the first Muslim communities were found in port
towns. Ships’ cooks came too, many of them from Sylhet in what is now
Bangladesh. There are records of Sylhetis working in London restaurants
as early as 1873. The first Muslim community which permanently settled
in Britain consisted of Yemeni sailors who arrived in ports such as
Swansea, Liverpool and South Shields shortly after 1900. Later some of
them migrated to inland cities like Birmingham and Sheffield. Mosques
also appeared in British seaports at this time. The first mosque in Britain
is recorded as having been at 2 Glyn Rhondda Street, Cardiff, in 1860.
From the 1950s, with large immigration to Britain from the former
colonies, large Muslim populations developed in many British towns and
cities. The vast majority of British Muslim population, 98%, follow Sunni
Islam. A large number of British Muslims are of South Asian descent,
following many different movements within Islam. The Muslim Council
35
Judaism
In 1841 Isaac Lyon Goldsmid was made baronet, the first Jew to receive a
hereditary title. The first Jewish Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir
David Salomons, was elected in 1855, followed by the 1858
emancipation of the Jews. On 26 July 1858, Lionel de Rothschild was
finally allowed to sit in the British House of Commons when the law
restricting the oath of office to Christians was changed. Benjamin
Disraeli, a baptised Christian of Jewish parentage, was already an MP. In
1874, Disraeli became Prime Minister having earlier been Chancellor of
the Exchequer. In 1884 Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1 st Baron Rothschild
became the first Jewish member of the British House of Lords. Again
Disraeli was already a member.
35
Other Faiths
The first recorded Sikh settler in the UK was Maharaja Duleep Singh,
dethroned and exiled in 1849 at the age of 14, after the Anglo-Sikh wars.
The first Sikh Gurdwara (temple) was established in 1911, in Putney,
London. The first Sikh migration came in the 1950s, mostly of men from
the Punjab seeking work in industries such as foundries and textiles.
These new arrivals mostly settled in London, Birmingham and West
Yorkshire. Thousands of Sikhs from East Africa followed.
35
Until 1944 there was no requirement for state schools in England and
Wales to provide religious education or worship, although most did so.
The Education Act of 1944 introduced a requirement for a daily act of
collective worship and for religious education but did not define what
was allowable under these terms. The act contained provisions to allow
parents to withdraw their children from these activities and for teachers to
refuse to participate. The Education Reform Act of 1988 introduced a
36
Lionel de Rothschild was the first Jew to take a seat in the House of
Commons (1858) and in 1884 Baron Rothschild became the first Jewish
member of the House of Lords. A Parsi was an MP between 1892-1895, a
Sikh was elected to the House of Commons in 1992, the first Muslim MP
was elected in 1997. Henry Stanley, 3 rd Baron Stanley of Alderley, a
convert to Islam, was the first Muslim member of the House of Lords
(from 1869). The first Muslim appointed to the House of Lords was Nazir
Ahmed, Baron Ahmed in 1998. The first female Muslim so appointed,
also in 1998, was Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin.
36
The BBC programme Songs of Praise is aired on Sunday evening and has
an average weekly audience of 2.5 million. Midnight mass and other such
events are usually broadcast. As a public broadcaster, the BBC produces
such programming partly because of remit (assigned) obligations.
Accordingly, BBC Three and BBC Four air occasional programming
from atheist or Muslim perspectives. Other channels offer documentaries
on, or from the perspective of non-belief. The British media often
portrays a cultural scepticism towards religion. British comedy in
particular has a history of satire and parody on the subject. Religious
mockery, or open disbelief in any religion, is not regarded as a taboo in
the British media, as it could be considered to be in the other nations, for
example the USA.
36
Despite Christian tradition, the number of churchgoers fell over the last
half of the twentieth century and continues to do so in this century.
Society in the United Kingdom is markedly more secular than in the past.
According to the British Humanist Association 36% of the population is
humanist, and may, by the same token, be considered outright atheist and
the combined number of atheists and agnostics in the UK make up 44%
of the population according to some surveys. The National Secular
Society is among bodies aiming to reduce the influence of religion.
According to the 2001 census, however, 71.6% of population declared
themselves to be Christian, a further 2.7% as Muslim and 1% as Hindu.
Only 15.5% said they had “no religion” and 7.3% did not reply to the
question. The problem with interpreting these results is that they do not
reveal the intensity of religious belief or non-belief.
Statistics
Religions in United Kingdom, 2001
Percent
Religion/Denomination Current religion
%
Christian 42,079,000 71.6
No religion 9,104,000 15.5
Muslim 1,591,000 2.7
Hindu 559,000 1.0
Sikh 336,000 0.6
Jewish 267,000 0.5
Buddhist 152,000 0.3
Other Religion 179,000 0.3
All religions 45,163,000 76.8
Not Answered 4,289,000 7.3
No religion +
13,626,000 23.2
Not Answered
Base 58,789,000 100
Selected Bibliography