Georgian era
The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to 1837, named after the Hanoverian kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is also often extended to include the relatively short reign of William IV, which ended with his death in 1837. The subperiod that is the Regency era is defined by the regency of George IV as Prince of Wales during the illness of his father George III. The term Georgian is typically used in the contexts of social and political history and architecture. The term Augustan literature is often used for Augustan drama, Augustan poetry and Augustan prose in the period 1700–1740s. The term Augustan refers to the acknowledgement of the influence of Latin literature from the ancient Roman Republic. The term Georgian era is not applied to the time of the two 20th-century British kings of this name, George V and George VI. Those periods are simply referred to as Georgian.
When Victoria became Queen in 1837 the Georgian era was followed by the Victorian era. The Victorians emphasized moral earnestness and propriety, as well as industrial and scientific progress and scientific advancement. There was a growing tension between faith and doubt and more Realism in literature and art.
Politics
Historians have largely focused on politics, the first British Empire, and warfare during the Georgian era.The King
On the positive side, George I's accession secured the Protestant succession and prevented a Catholic restoration under the "Old Pretender" James Stuart. The result was constitutional continuity after the turbulent Stuart period. The king's limited English and disinterest in day-to-day British affairs left a vacuum that was filled by the rise of modern parliamentary democracy. This enabled Robert Walpole to seize the initiative and emerge as Britain's first de facto Prime Minister; his new style of cabinet governance filled the royal vacuum. The British economy tripled in size in the 18th century but growth was only 12% during 1720 to 1740. There was some expansion of trade and commerce, building on the financial innovations of the previous decades. The South Sea Bubble of 1720 was a brief setback but it also led to improved financial regulation. The consolidation of Whig party dominance brought political stability and supported policies favoring commercial interests and religious toleration for Protestant dissenters.On the negative side, the king was widely disliked as a foreigner who was far more interested in Hanover than in Britain. This fueled dissent and strengthened the Jacobite plans to overthrow the Hanoverians. Corruption was widespread, as exemplified by the South Sea Bubble scandal that financially ruined many investors, the king himself lost heavily in it. The king's bitter relationship with his son created political factions and instability at court, weakening the monarchy's prestige. George was ridiculed by many of his British subjects as unintelligent and wooden. His mistreatment of his wife, Sophia Dorothea, became something of a scandal. His Lutheran faith, his overseeing both the Lutheran churches in Hanover and the Church of England, and the presence of Lutheran preachers in his court caused some consternation among his Anglican subjects.
Politics to 1815
The political history of the 18th century has been covered in numerous scholarly studies, mostly focused on the struggle between the Crown and Parliament.Politics 1815 to 1830: Whigs and Tories
When the wars with France ended in 1815, political parties were not yet sharply defined nor well organized. In Parliament, and to a lesser extent around the country, there were loose political coalitions that people at the time, and historians today, call "Whigs" and "Tories."Political reform 1830s
Social change
The era marked immense social change in Britain, with the Industrial Revolution intensifying class divisions, increasing urbanization and prompting the emergence of rival political parties like the Whigs and Tories.In rural areas, the Agricultural Revolution saw huge changes in the movement of people and the decline of small communities, as well as the growth of the cities and the beginnings of an integrated transportation system. Nevertheless, as rural towns and villages declined and work became scarce there was a large increase in emigration to Canada, the North American colonies, and other parts of the British Empire.
Evangelical religion and social reform
In England, the evangelical movement inside and outside the Church of England gained strength in the late 18th and early 19th century. The movement challenged the traditional religious sensibility that emphasised a code of honour for the upper class, and suitable behaviour for everyone else, together with faithful observances of rituals. John Wesley and his followers preached revivalist religion, trying to convert individuals to a personal relationship with Christ through Bible reading, regular prayer, and especially the revival experience. Wesley himself preached 52,000 times, calling on men and women to "redeem the time" and save their souls. Wesley always operated inside the Church of England, but at his death, his followers set up outside institutions that became the Methodist Church. It stood alongside the traditional Nonconformist churches, Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists, Unitarians, and Quakers. The Nonconformist churches, however, were less influenced by revivalism.The Church of England remained dominant in England but it had a growing evangelical, revivalist faction, the "Low Church". Its leaders included William Wilberforce and Hannah More. It reached the upper class through the Clapham Sect. It did not seek political reform, but rather the opportunity to save souls through political action by freeing slaves, abolishing the duel, prohibiting cruelty to children and animals, stopping gambling, and avoiding frivolity on the Sabbath; they read the Bible every day. All souls were equal in God's view, but not all bodies, so evangelicals did not challenge the hierarchical structure of English society. As R. J. Morris noted in his 1983 article "Voluntary Societies and British Urban Elites, 1780-1850," "id-eighteenth-century Britain was a stable society in the sense that those with material and ideological power were able to defend this power in an effective and dynamic manner," but "in the twenty years after 1780, this consensus structure was broken." Anglican Evangelicalism thus, as historian Lisa Wood has argued in her book Modes of Discipline: Women, Conservatism, and the Novel After the French Revolution, functioned as a tool of ruling-class social control, buffering the discontent that in France had inaugurated a revolution; yet it contained within itself the seeds for challenge to gender and class hierarchies.
Catholic emancipation in 1829
Catholic emancipation was a series of Parliamentary actions that reduced and finally removed almost all of the restrictions on Roman Catholics in Britain and Ireland, culminating in the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. Many restrictions had been imposed by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws. Requirements to abjure the temporal and spiritual authority of the pope and transubstantiation placed major burdens on Roman Catholics. Emancipation would allow them to vote and hold office.According to Norman Lowe, The crisis stemmed from the grievances of Catholics in Ireland. They comprised about 90% of the population, were barred from sitting in Parliament and holding important government offices. Protestant not only held the power, they owned most of the land in Ireland, which they leased out to Catholic farmers. The Irish Catholics felt betrayed, as the Act of Union 1800 had been agreed upon with the promise of granting Catholics full political rights—Catholic Emancipation. King George III refused to assent, citing his Coronation Oath to uphold the Protestant religion. The new campaign for emancipation was led by Daniel O'Connell, an Irish Catholic landowner and barrister. He founded the Catholic Association in 1823, which quickly became powerful, funded by a "Catholic rent" of a penny a month from members, including poor peasants, and supported by Catholic priests. The Association focused on electing pro-emancipation Protestant candidates in by-elections. In the County Clare Election of 1828, the crisis came as O’Connell stood against the pro-emancipation Protestant MP, Vesey Fitzgerald, in a by-election. Although as a Catholic he could not legally take his seat, O'Connell won a triumphant victory, demonstrating the immense Catholic support and the potential for scores of Catholics to win seats at the next general election. This electoral victory created a severe political crisis. There was a fear of widespread violence or even civil war if O'Connell and the potential Catholic MPs were prevented from taking their seats. It also raised the possibility that Catholic MPs might establish a separate parliament in Dublin, leading to the break-up of the Union between Britain and Ireland.
Horrified by the prospect of civil war, the Duke of Wellington –Britain’s leading general and now prime minister, and Robert Peel his Home Secretary reversed their longstanding opposition to emancipation. They decided to concede because they were convinced that only this could avert major conflict. Peel skillfully had the bill for Catholic emancipation passed in the Commons, and Wellington forced its way through the House of Lords. King George IV reluctantly agreed, so in April 1829 emancipation became official. Catholics were now permitted to sit in both Houses of Parliament and hold all important nationwide offices of state, with a handful of exceptions. However, as a measure to limit O'Connell's influence, the government simultaneously raised the property qualification for voting. This disenfranchised over 100,000 Catholic voters in Ireland. Even so O'Connell still won re-election. Wellington and Peel gave the Catholics their main goal and prevented a civil war, but their treatment of O’Connell and the disenfranchisement of many Catholic tenant farmers angered the Irish Catholics. Likewise the Protestants were angry. Peel and Wellington's "betrayal" of their traditional anti-Catholic principles led to a deep split within the Tory coalition. alienating the right-wing 'Ultras' and much of the Tory press. In the next decade Catholic Emancipation was a model for reformers that showed the unwritten British constitution could be changed peacefully by a powerful pressure group from outside Parliament. This weakened the Tories and paved the way for the Whigs to come to power in 1830 with their own plans for major parliamentary reform.