Edwardian era

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Edwardian era
1901–1910
King Edward VII by Fildes (c. 1901)
Monarch(s)
Leader(s)
Chronology
Victorian era First World War
Periods in English history
 
Prehistoric Britainuntil c. 43 AD
Roman Britainc. 43–410
Sub-Roman Britain410-c. 449
Anglo-Saxonc. 449–1066
Norman/Angevin1066–1216
Plantagenet1216–1485
Tudor1485–1603
Elizabethan1558–1603
Stuart1603–1714
Jacobean1603–1625
Caroline1625–1649
(Interregnum)1649–1660
Restoration1660–1714
Georgian era1714–1837
Regency era1811–1820
Victorian era1837–1901
Edwardian era1901–1914
First World War1914–1918
Interwar Britain1919–1939
Second World War1939–1945
Post-war Britain (political)1945–1979
Post-war Britain (social)1945–1979
See also
Timeline

In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century, that spanned the reign of

First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King George V
.

The era is dated from the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, which marked the end of the Victorian era. Her son and successor, Edward VII, was already the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe. Samuel Hynes described the Edwardian era as a "leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun never set on the British flag."[1]

The Liberals returned to power in

industrial working class. Women started (again) to play more of a role in politics.[2]

Perceptions

The Edwardian period is sometimes portrayed as a romantic golden age of long summer afternoons and garden parties, basking in a sun that never set on the

Great War.[3] The Edwardian age was also seen as a mediocre period of pleasure between the great achievements of the preceding Victorian age and the catastrophe of the following war.[4]

Recent assessments emphasise the great differences between the wealthy and the poor during this period and describe the age as heralding great changes in political and social life.[2][5] Historian Lawrence James argued that the leaders felt increasingly threatened by rival powers such as Germany, Russia, and the United States.[6] Nevertheless, the sudden arrival of World War I in the summer of 1914 was largely unexpected, except by the Royal Navy, because it had been prepared and ready for war.

Politics

There was a growing political awareness among the working class, leading to a rise in trade unions, the Labour movement and demands for better working conditions. The aristocracy remained in control of top government offices.[7]

Conservative Party

Further information: History of the Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservatives – at the time called "Unionists" – were the dominant political party from the 1890s until 1906. The party had many strengths, appealing to voters supportive of imperialism, tariffs, the Church of England, a powerful Royal Navy, and traditional hierarchical society. There was a powerful leadership base in the landed aristocracy and landed gentry in rural England, plus strong support from the Church of England and military interests. Historians have used election returns to demonstrate that Conservatives did surprisingly well in working-class districts.[8][9] They had an appeal as well to the better-off element of traditional working-class Britons in the larger cities.[10]

In rural areas, the national headquarters made highly effective use of paid travelling lecturers, with pamphlets, posters, and especially lantern slides, who were able to communicate effectively with rural voters – particularly the newly enfranchised agricultural workers.[11] In the first years of the twentieth century, the Conservative government, with Arthur Balfour as Prime Minister, had numerous successes in foreign policy, defence, and education, as well as solutions for the issues of alcohol licensing and land ownership for the tenant farmers of Ireland.[12]

Nevertheless, the weaknesses were accumulating, and proved so overwhelming in 1906 that the party did not return to complete power until 1922.[13] The Conservative Party was losing its drive and enthusiasm, especially after the retirement of the charismatic Joseph Chamberlain. There was a bitter split on "tariff reform" (that is, imposing tariffs or taxes on all imports), that drove many of the free traders over to the Liberal camp. Tariff reform was a losing issue that the Conservative leadership inexplicably clung to.[14]

Conservative support weakened among the top tier of the working-class and lower middle-class, and there was dissatisfaction among intellectuals. The 1906 general election was a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, which saw its total vote share increase by 25%, while the Conservative total vote held steady.[15]

Labour Party

Further information: History of the Labour Party (UK)
Leaders of the Labour Party in 1906

The Labour Party was emerging from the rapidly growing trade union movement after 1890. In 1903 it entered the Gladstone–MacDonald pact with the Liberals, allowing for cross-party support in elections, and the emergence of a small Labour contingent in Parliament. It was a temporary arrangement until the 1920s, when the Labour Party was strong enough to act on its own, and the Liberals were in an irreversible decline. Subtle social changes in the working-class were producing a younger generation that wanted to act independently.[16]

Michael Childs argues that the younger generation had reason to prefer Labour over Liberal political styles. Social factors included secularised elementary education (with a disappearing role for Dissenting schools that inculcated Liberal viewpoints); the "New Unionism" after 1890 brought unskilled workers into a movement previously dominated by the skilled workers;[17] and new leisure activities, especially the music hall and sports, involved youth while repelling the older generation of Liberal voters.[16]

Liberal Party

The Liberal Party lacked a unified ideological base in 1906.[18] It contained numerous contradictory and hostile factions, such as imperialists and supporters of the Boers;[19] near-socialists and laissez-faire classical liberals; suffragettes and opponents of women's suffrage;[20] antiwar elements and supporters of the military alliance with France.[21] Nonconformist Dissenters – Protestants outside the Anglican fold – were a powerful element, dedicated to opposing the established church in the fields of education and taxation. However, the Dissenters were losing support and played a lesser and lesser role in party affairs after 1900.[22]

The party also included Roman Catholics, including the notable Catholic intellectual Hilaire Belloc, who sat as a Liberal MP between 1906 and 1910. They included secularists from the labour movement. The middle-class business, professional and intellectual communities were generally strongholds, although some old aristocratic families played important roles as well. The working-class element was moving rapidly toward the newly emerging Labour Party. One unifying element was widespread agreement on the use of politics and Parliament as a means to upgrade and improve society and to reform politics.[23][24] In the House of Lords, the Liberals lost most of their members, who in the 1890s "became Conservative in all but name." The government could force the unwilling king to create new Liberal peers, and that threat did prove decisive in the battle for dominance of Commons over Lords in 1911.[25]

Boer War

See also: Opposition to the Second Boer War
The medical staff of No. 1 Stationary Hospital at Ladysmith

The government entered the Second Boer War with great confidence, little expecting that the two small rural Boer republics in southern Africa with a combined White population smaller than that of London would hold off the concentrated power of the British Empire for 2+1⁄2 years and take 400,000 Imperial troops to secure victory.[26] The war split the Liberal Party into anti- and pro-war factions. Great orators, such as Liberal David Lloyd George, who spoke against the war, became increasingly influential. Nevertheless, Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain, who was largely in charge of the war, maintained his hold on power.[27]

When

British possessions as prisoners of war. However, he relocated non-combatant Boers—mostly women and children—into heavily guarded internment camps. The internment camps were overcrowded with bad sanitation and meagre food rations. Contagious diseases such as measles, typhoid and dysentery were endemic.[28]

Many of the internees died. Emily Hobhouse visited the camps and was appalled at the living conditions, which she brought to the attention of the British public. Public outcry resulted in the Fawcett Commission which corroborated Hobhouse's report and eventually led to improved conditions.[29] The Boers surrendered, and the Boer Republics were annexed by the British Empire. Jan Smuts—a leading Boer general—became a senior official of the new government and even became a top British official in the World War.[30]

In 1901, the six British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia united to form the Commonwealth of Australia, with almost complete control of its internal affairs, but with foreign policy and defence handled by London. Edmund Barton was the first prime minister.[31]

The Liberal reforms

Main article: Liberal welfare reforms
A Liberal poster c. 1905–1910

The

Richard Burdon Haldane at the War Office and David Lloyd George at the Board of Trade. Campbell-Bannerman retired in 1908 and was succeeded by Asquith. He stepped up the government's radicalism, especially in the "People's Budget" of 1909 that proposed to fund expanded social welfare programmes with new taxes on land and high incomes. It was blocked by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords
, but eventually became law in April 1910.

H. H. Asquith

Almost half of the Liberal MPs elected in 1906 were supportive of the "new liberalism", which advocated government action to improve people's lives.[33]

Liberals in 1906–1911 passed major legislation designed to reform politics and society, such as the regulation of working hours, National Insurance and the beginnings of the welfare state, as well as curtailing the power of the House of Lords. Women's suffrage was not on the Liberal agenda.[34] There were numerous major reforms helping labour, typified by the Trade Boards Act 1909 that set minimum wages in certain trades with the history of "sweated" or "sweatshop" rates of especially low wages, because of surplus of available workers, the presence of women workers, or the lack of skills.[35]

At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and the machine-made lace and finishing trade.[35] It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the Trade Boards Act 1918. Under the leadership of David Lloyd George Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers.[36]

Conservative peers in the House of Lords tried to stop the People's Budget. The Liberals passed the Parliament Act 1911 to sharply reduce the power of the House of Lords to block legislation. The cost was high, however, as the government was required by the King to call two general elections in 1910 to validate its position and ended up frittering away most of its large majority, with the balance of power held by Labour and Irish Parliamentary Party members.

Foreign relations

Further information:
International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919), Causes of World War I, and Timeline of British diplomatic history

Ties with France and Russia against Germany

Further information:
John Bernard Partridge depicts Lloyd George as a giant with a cudgel labelled "Budget" in reference to his People's Budget; Asquith cowers beneath the table. Punch 28 April 1909

Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dominated European diplomacy from 1872 to 1890, with a policy of using the European balance of power to keep the peace. There were no wars. Bismarck was removed by an aggressive young Kaiser Wilhelm in 1890, effectively decentralizing the Bismarckian Order that had been shrewdly managed, and empowering French efforts to isolate Germany. With the formation of the Triple Entente, Germany began to feel encircled: to the West lay France, with whom rivalry was awakening after a generation of dormancy following the Franco-Prussian War, to the East sat Russia, whose rapid industrialization worried Berlin and Vienna.[37]

Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became the Triple Entente. France thus had a formal alliance with Russia, and an informal alignment with Britain, against Germany and Austria.[39] By 1903 good relations had been established with the United States and Japan.[40]

Britain abandoned the policy of holding aloof from the continental powers, so called "

Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907. Britain's alignment was a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and the build-up of its navy from 1898 which led to the Anglo-German naval arms race.[41] British diplomat Arthur Nicolson argued it was "far more disadvantageous to us to have an unfriendly France and Russia than an unfriendly Germany".[42]

The impact of the Triple Entente was to improve British relations with France and its ally Russia and to demote the importance to Britain of good relations with Germany. After 1905, foreign policy was tightly controlled by the Liberal Foreign Secretary Edward Grey (1862–1933), who seldom consulted with his party leadership. Grey shared the strong Liberal policy against all wars and against military alliances that would force Britain to take a side in war. However, in the case of the Boer War, Grey held that the Boers had committed an aggression that it was necessary to repulse. The Liberal party split on the issue, with a large faction strongly opposed to the war in Africa[43]

The Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia is often compared to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria–Hungary and Italy, but historians caution against the comparison. The Entente, in contrast to the Triple Alliance or the Franco-Russian Alliance, was not an alliance of mutual defence and Britain therefore felt free to make her own foreign policy decisions in 1914. The Liberals were highly moralistic, and by 1914 they have been increasingly convinced that German aggression violated international norms, and specifically that its invasion of neutral Belgium was completely unacceptable in terms of morality, Britain and Germany's obligations under the Treaty of London, and in terms of British policy against any one power controlling the continent of Europe.[44]

Until the last few weeks before it started in August 1914, almost no one saw a world war coming. The expectation among the generals was that because of industrial advances any future war would produce a quick victory for the side that was better-prepared, better armed, and faster to move. No one saw that the innovations of recent decades—high explosives, long-range artillery and machine guns—were defensive weapons that practically guaranteed defeat of massed infantry attacks with very high casualties.[45]

Naval race with Germany

Main article: Anglo-German naval arms race
The British Dreadnought (1906) made all other battleships obsolete as soon as it was introduced. This was because it had ten long-range 12-inch big guns, mechanical computer-like range finders, high speed turbine engines that could make 21 knots, and armour plates 11 inches thick.

After 1805 the dominance of Britain's Royal Navy was unchallenged; in the 1890s Germany decided to match it. Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930) dominated German naval policy from 1897 until 1916.[46] Before the German Empire formed in 1871, Prussia never had a real navy, nor did the other German states. Tirpitz turned a modest fleet into a world-class one that could threaten the British Royal Navy. The British responded with new technology typified by the Dreadnought. It made every other class of battleship obsolete and, supported by a global network of coaling stations and telegraph cables, enabled Britain to stay well ahead in naval affairs.[47][48]

Apart from a determination to retain a strong naval advantage, the British lacked a military strategy or plans for a major war.[49]

Economy

The Edwardian era stands out as a time of peace and prosperity. Britain's growth rate, manufacturing output and GDP (but not GDP per capita) fell behind its rivals, the United States and Germany, though the nation still led the world in trade, finance and shipping, and had strong bases in manufacturing and mining.[50] The industrial sector was slow to adjust to global changes, and there was a striking preference for leisure over entrepreneurship among the elite.[51]

However, London was the financial centre of the world—-far more efficient and wide-ranging than New York, Paris or Berlin. Britain had built up a vast reserve of overseas credits in its formal Empire, as well as in an informal empire in Latin America and other nations. It had huge financial holdings in the United States, especially in railways. These assets proved vital in paying for supplies in the first years of the World War. Amenities, especially in urban life, were accumulating—prosperity was highly visible. The working classes were beginning to protest politically for a greater voice in government, but the level of industrial unrest on economic issues was not high until about 1908.[51]

Social change and improved health

By the late-1880s, the

Gender roles
shifted as women made use of the new technology to upgrade their lifestyle and their career opportunities.

Mortality declined steadily in urban England and Wales 1870–1917. Robert Millward and Frances N. Bell looked statistically at those factors in the physical environment (especially population density and overcrowding) that raised death rates directly, as well as indirect factors such as price and income movements that affected expenditures on sewers, water supplies, food, and medical staff. The statistical data show that increases in the incomes of households and increases in town tax revenues helped cause the decline of mortality.[52]

The new money permitted higher spending on food, and also on a wide range of health-enhancing goods and services such as medical care. The major improvement in the physical environment was the quality of the housing stock, which rose faster than the population; its quality was increasingly regulated by central and local government.[52] Infant mortality fell faster in England and Wales than in Scotland. Clive Lee argues that one factor was the continued overcrowding in Scotland's housing.[53] During the First World War, infant mortality fell sharply across the country. J. M. Winter attributes this to the full employment and higher wages paid to war workers.[54]

Rising status of women

Oilette postcard with art by Phil May, published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, c. 1910s

For housewives, sewing machines enabled the production of ready-made clothing and made it easier for women to sew their own clothes; more generally, argues Barbara Burman, "home dressmaking was sustained as an important aid for women negotiating wider social shifts and tensions in their lives."[55] Increased literacy in the middle class gave women wider access to information and ideas. Numerous new magazines appealed to her tastes and helped define femininity.[56]

The inventions of the typewriter, telephone, and new filing systems offered middle-class women increased employment opportunities.[57][58] So too did the rapid expansion of the school system,[59] and the emergence of the new profession of nursing. Education and status led to demands for female roles in the rapidly expanding world of sports.[60]

Women were very active in church affairs, including attendance at services, Sunday school teaching, fund raising, pastoral care, social work and support for international missionary activities. They were almost completely excluded from practically all leadership roles.[61]

Women's suffrage

Further information: Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom

As middle-class women rose in status, they increasingly supported demands for a political voice.[62][63] There was significant support for woman suffrage in all the parties, but the Liberal Party was in control after 1906 and a handful of its leaders, especially H. H. Asquith, blocked it.[64]

There were numerous organisations which did their work quietly. After 1897, they were increasingly linked together by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) led by Millicent Fawcett. However, front page publicity was seized by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Founded in 1903, it was tightly controlled by the three Pankhursts, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), and her daughters Christabel Pankhurst (1880–1958) and Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960).[65]

It specialised in highly visible publicity campaigns such as large parades. This had the effect of energising all dimensions of the suffrage movement. While there was a majority of support for suffrage in Parliament, the ruling Liberal Party refused to allow a vote on the issue; the result of which was an escalation in the suffragette campaign. The WSPU, in dramatic contrast to its allies, embarked on a campaign of violence to publicise the issue, even to the detriment of its own aims.[66][67]

Birth control

Although abortion was illegal, it was nevertheless a widespread form of birth control.

contraceptives could be legally punished. Contraceptives became more expensive over time and had a high failure rate. Unlike contraceptives, abortion did not need any prior planning and was less expensive. Newspaper advertisements were used to promote and sell abortifacients indirectly.[69]

Not all of society was accepting of contraceptives or abortion, and the opposition viewed both as part of one and the same sin. Abortion was much more common among the middle-classes than among those living in rural areas, where the procedure was not readily available. Women were often tricked into purchasing ineffective pills. In addition to fearing legal reprimands, many physicians did not condone abortion because they viewed it as an immoral procedure potentially endangering a woman's life.[69] Because abortion was illegal and physicians refused to perform the procedure, local women provided abortions, often using crochet hooks or similar instruments.[68]

Feminists of the era focused on educating and finding jobs for women, leaving aside the controversial issues of contraceptives and abortion, which in popular opinion were often related to promiscuity and prostitution. The Church condemned abortion as immoral and a form of rebellion against the child-bearing role women were expected to assume. Many considered abortion to be a selfish act that allowed a woman to avoid personal responsibility, contributing to a decline in moral values.[68] Abortion was often a solution for women who already had children and did not want more. Consequently, the size of families decreased drastically.[69]

Poverty among working-class women

Mary Macarthur addressing the crowds during the chain makers' strike, Cradley Heath, 1910

The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 defined who could receive monetary relief. The act reflected and perpetuated prevailing gender conditions. In Edwardian society, men were the source of wealth. The law restricted relief for unemployed, able-bodied male workers, due to the prevailing view that they would find work in the absence of financial assistance. However, women were treated differently. After the Poor Law was passed, women and children received most of the aid.[70]

The law did not recognise single independent women, and put women and children into the same category. If a man was physically disabled, his wife was also treated as disabled under the coverture laws, even though coverture was fast becoming outmoded in the Edwardian era. Unmarried mothers were sent to the workhouse, receiving unfair social treatment such as being restricted from attending church on Sundays.[70]

During marriage disputes, women often lost the rights to their children, even if their husbands were abusive.[70] However, women were increasingly granted custody of their children under seven years of age; this tendency was colloquially known as the "tender years doctrine," where it was believed that a child was best left under maternal care until the age of seven.[71]

At the time, single mothers were the poorest sector in society, disadvantaged for at least four reasons. First, women lived longer, often leaving them widowed with children. Second, women had fewer opportunities to work, and when they did find it, their wages were lower than male workers' wages. Thirdly, women were often less likely to marry or remarry after being widowed, leaving them as the main providers for the remaining family members. Finally, poor women had deficient diets, because their husbands and children received disproportionately large shares of food. Many women were malnourished and had limited access to health care.[70]

Female servants

Edwardian Britain had large numbers of male and female

domestic servants, in both urban and rural areas.[72] Middle- and upper-class women relied on servants to run their homes smoothly. Servants were provided with food, clothing, housing, and a small wage, and lived in a self-enclosed social system within their employer's house.[73] However, the number of domestic servants fell in the Edwardian era due to fewer young people willing to be employed in this capacity.[74]

Fashion

Further information:
1900s in fashion
A cartoon in Punch (1911) compares changes in fashion between 1901 and 1911. "The dowdy voluminous clothes of the earlier date, making the grandmother an old lady and the mother seem plain, had been replaced by much simpler looser wear producing a sense of release for all three females."[75]

The upper classes embraced leisure sports, which resulted in rapid developments in fashion, as more mobile and flexible clothing styles were needed.[76][77] During the Edwardian era, women wore a very tight corset, or bodice, and dressed in long skirts. The Edwardian era was the last time women wore corsets in everyday life.[citation needed] According to Arthur Marwick, the most striking change of all the developments that occurred during the Great War was the modification in women's dress, "for, however far politicians were to put the clocks back in other steeples in the years after the war, no one ever put the lost inches back on the hems of women's skirts".[78]

Fabrics were usually sweet pea shades in chiffon, mousse line de sore, tulle with feather boas and lace. 'High and boned collars for the day; plunging off shoulder décolleté for the evening'.[79] The tea gown's cut was relatively loose compared to the more formal evening gown, and was worn without a corset. The silhouette was flowing, and was usually decorated with lace or with the cheaper Irish crochet.[80]

Parasols
are different from umbrellas; they are used for protection from the sun, rather from the rain, though they were often used as ornamentation rather than for function. By the end of the Edwardian era, the hat grew bigger in size, a trend that would continue in the 1910s.

The Edwardians developed new styles in clothing design.[81] The Edwardian Era saw a decrease in the trend for voluminous, heavy skirts:[82]

  • The two-piece dress came into vogue. At the start of the decade, skirts were trumpet-shaped.
  • Skirts in 1901 often had decorated hems with ruffles of fabric and lace.
  • Some dresses and skirts featured trains.
  • Tailored jackets, first introduced in 1880, increased in popularity and by 1900, tailored suits known as tailormades became popular.[83]
  • In 1905, skirts fell in soft folds that curved in, then flared out near the hemlines.
  • From 1905 – 1907, waistlines rose.
  • In 1911, the hobble skirt was introduced; a tight fitting skirt that restricted a woman's stride.
  • Lingerie dresses, or tea gowns made of soft fabrics, festooned with ruffles and lace were worn indoors.[84]
  • Around 1913 women's dresses acquired a lower and sometimes V-shaped neckline in contrast to the high collars a generation before. This was considered scandalous by some, and caused outrage among clergy throughout Europe.[85]

Newspapers

The turn of the century saw the rise of popular journalism aimed at the lower middle class and tending to deemphasise highly detailed political and international news, which remain the focus of a handful of low-circulation prestige newspapers. These were family-owned and operated, and were primarily interested not in profits but in influence on the nation's elite by their control of the news and editorials on serious topics.[86]

The new press, on the other hand, reached vastly larger audiences by emphasis on sports, crime,

P. P. Catterall and Colin Seymour-Ure
conclude that:

More than anyone [he] ... shaped the modern press. Developments he introduced or harnessed remain central: broad contents, exploitation of advertising revenue to subsidize prices, aggressive marketing, subordinate regional markets, independence from party control.[89]

The arts

Peter Pan statue, Kensington Gardens

The Edwardian era corresponds to the French Belle Époque. Despite its brief pre-eminence, the period was characterised by its own unique architectural style, fashion, and lifestyle. Art Nouveau had a particularly strong influence. Artists were influenced by the development of the automobile and electricity, and a greater awareness of human rights.

In November 1910,

Van Gogh
in England and brought their art to the public. He followed it up with the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in 1912.

statue of Peter Pan, "erected in Hyde Park in 1912 ... immediately became a source of contention, sparking debate about the role of public statuary and its role in spaces of recreation."[90]

Literature

In fiction, some of the best-known names are

popular fiction emerged. Among the most famous works of literary criticism was A. C. Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy (1904).[91]

Music

Live performances, both amateur and professional, were popular.

wax cylinders and gramophone records played on phonographs
and talking machines, made live performances permanently available for repetition at any time.

Performing arts

Cinema was primitive and audiences preferred live performances to picture shows. Music hall was very popular and widespread; influential performers included male impersonator Vesta Tilley and comic Little Tich.[93]

The most successful playwright of the era was

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree
, was in decline.

Architecture

See also: Edwardian architecture

Notable architects included

Edwardian Baroque style of architecture was widely favoured for public structures and was a revival of Christopher Wren–inspired designs of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The change or reversal in taste from the Victorian eclectic styles corresponded with the historical revivals of the period, most prominently earlier Georgian and Neoclassical styles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[94]

White City Stadium, used for the 1908 Summer Olympics, was the first Olympic Stadium in the UK. Built on the site of the Franco-British Exhibition, it had a seating capacity of 68,000 and was opened by King Edward VII on 27 April 1908. It was the largest structure of its type in the world at the time, and was designed to be awe-inspiring and thereby enhance the love of large-scale spectacle that characterised Edwardian London.[95]

Film

Filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon documented many scenes from Britain and Ireland from 1900 to 1907, sports, parades, factory exits, parks, city streets, boating and the like. Their films have survived in very good quality restored from the original negatives.[96][97]

Science and technology

The period featured many innovations.

radioactivity. The first transatlantic wireless signals were sent by Guglielmo Marconi, and the Wright brothers flew for the first time.[98]

By the end of the era,

RMS Titanic was under construction; automobiles were common; and the South Pole was reached for the first time by Roald Amundsen's and then Robert Falcon Scott
's teams.

Sport

The 1908 Summer Olympics in London: The water jump in the steeplechase

The 1908 Summer Olympic Games were held in London. Popularity of sports tended to conform to class divisions, with tennis and yachting popular among the very wealthy and football favoured by the working class.[99]

Football

Newcastle United (1904–05, 1906–07, 1908–09) and Manchester United (1907–08) winning their first league titles.[100]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Manor House. Edwardian Life | PBS". pbs.org.
  2. ^ a b Hattersley, Roy (2004). The Edwardians.
  3. ^ Priestley, J. B. (1970). The Edwardians. pp. 55–56, 288–290.
  4. ISBN 978-0-0945-6560-9
    .
  5. ^ Searle, G. R. (2004). A New England?: Peace and War, 1886–1918. Oxford University Press.
  6. ISBN 978-0-3491-0667-0
    .
  7. ^ Brooks, David (1995). The Age of Upheaval: Edwardian Politics, 1899–1914. Manchester University Press.
  8. ^ Jon Lawrence, "Class and gender in the making of urban Toryism, 1880–1914." English Historical Review 108.428 (1993): 629–652.
  9. ^ Matthew Roberts, "Popular Conservatism in Britain, 1832–1914." Parliamentary History 26.3 (2007): 387–410.
  10. ^ Marc Brodie, "Voting in the Victorian and Edwardian East End of London." Parliamentary History 23.2 (2004): 225–248.
  11. ^ Kathryn Rix, "'Go Out into the Highways and the Hedges': The Diary of Michael Sykes, Conservative Political Lecturer, 1895 and 1907–8." Parliamentary History 20#2 (2001): 209–231.
  12. ^ Robert Blake, The Conservative Party: from Peel to Major(2nd ed. 1985) pp 174–75
  13. ^ David Dutton, "Unionist Politics and the aftermath of the General Election of 1906: A Reassessment." Historical Journal 22#4 (1979): 861–876.
  14. ^ Andrew S. Thompson, "Tariff reform: an imperial strategy, 1903–1913." Historical Journal 40#4 (1997): 1033–1054.
  15. ^ Blake, The Conservative Party: from Peel to Major(1985) pp 175–89
  16. ^ a b Michael Childs, "Labour Grows Up: The Electoral System, Political Generations, and British Politics 1890–1929." Twentieth Century British History 6#2 (1995): 123–144.
  17. ^ G.R. Searle, A new England?: peace and war, 1886–1918 (2004), pp 185–87.
  18. ^ Ian Packer, "The great Liberal landslide: the 1906 General Election in perspective." Historian 89#1 (2006): 8–16.
  19. ^ John W. Auld, "The Liberal Pro-Boers." Journal of British Studies 14#2 (1975): 78–101.
  20. Martin Pugh
    , Votes for women in Britain 1867–1928 (1994)
  21. ^ Nabil M. Kaylani, "Liberal Politics and British-Foreign-Office 1906-1912-Overview." International Review of History and Political Science 12.3 (1975): 17–48.
  22. JSTOR 1849549
    .
  23. ^ R. C. K. Ensor, England 1870–1914 (1936) pp 384–420.
  24. ^ George Dangerfield, The Strange Death of Liberal England (1935) online
  25. ^ Kenneth Rose, King George V (1984) pp 113, 121; Ensor. p. 430.
  26. ^ G.R. Searle, A new England?: peace and war, 1886–1918 (Oxford UP, 20040 pp 275–307.
  27. JSTOR 40238883
    .
  28. JSTOR 40238883
    .
  29. JSTOR 40238883
    .
  30. ISBN 9780874369908
    .
  31. ^ Helen Irving, To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution (1999).
  32. ^ Goldman, Lawrence. "Oxford DNB theme: The general election of 1906" online
  33. ISBN 9780435327576
    .
  34. ^ Ian Packer, Liberal government and politics, 1905–15 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
  35. ^ a b Sheila Blackburn, "Ideology and social policy: the origins of the Trade Boards Act." The Historical Journal 34#1 (1991): 43–64.
  36. ^ Alun Howkins and Nicola Verdon. "The state and the farm worker: the evolution of the minimum wage in agriculture in England and Wales, 1909–24." Agricultural history review 57.2 (2009): 257–274. online
  37. ^ Samuel R. Williamson Jr., "German Perceptions of the Triple Entente after 1911: Their Mounting Apprehensions Reconsidered" Foreign Policy Analysis 7#2 (2011): 205–214 online.
  38. ^ H.W. Koch, "The Anglo‐German Alliance Negotiations: Missed Opportunity or Myth?." History 54#182 (1969): 378–392.
  39. ^ G.P. Gooch, Before the war: studies in diplomacy (1936), pp 87–186.
  40. ^ A.J.P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) pp 345, 403–26
  41. ISBN 9781101153413
    .
  42. ^ Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2014) p. 324
  43. ^ Keith Robbins, "Grey, Edward, Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (2004; online edition, 2011) accessed 5 Nov 2017
  44. ^ K.A. Hamilton, "Great Britain and France, 1911–1914" in F. H. Hinsley, ed., British Foreign Policy Under Sir Edward Grey (1977) online p 324
  45. ^ Gerd Krumeich, "The War Imagined: 1890–1914." in John Horne, ed. A Companion to World War I (2012) pp 1–18.
  46. ^ Michael Epkenhans, Tirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas Fleet (2008) excerpt and text search, pp 23–62
  47. ^ Margaret Macmillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013) ch 5
  48. ^ Thomas Hoerber, "Prevail or perish: Anglo-German naval competition at the beginning of the twentieth century," European Security (2011) 20#1, pp. 65–79. abstract
  49. ^ Matthew S. Seligmann, "Failing to Prepare for the Great War? The Absence of Grand Strategy in British War Planning before 1914" War in History (2017) 24#4 414-37.
  50. ^ Jean-Pierre Dormois and Michael Dintenfass, eds., The British Industrial Decline (1999)
  51. ^ a b Arthur J Taylor, "The Economy", in Simon Nowell-Smith, ed., Edwardian England: 1901–1914 (1964) pp. 105–138
  52. ^
    JSTOR 41377834
    .
  53. ^ Clive H. Lee, "Regional inequalities in infant mortality in Britain, 1861–1971: patterns and hypotheses." Population Studies 45.1 (1991): 55–65.
  54. ^ J. M. Winter, "Aspects of the impact of the First World War on infant mortality in Britain." Journal of European Economic History 11.3 (1982): 713.
  55. ^ Barbara Burman, "Made at Home by Clever Fingers: Home Dressmaking in Edwardian England," in Barbara Burman, ed. The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption, and Home Dressmaking (1999) p 34
  56. ^ Margaret Beetham, A magazine of her own?: domesticity and desire in the woman's magazine, 1800–1914 (Routledge, 2003).
  57. ^ Guerriero R. Wilson, "Women's work in offices and the preservation of men's 'breadwinning' jobs' in early twentieth-century Glasgow." Women's History Review 10#3 (2001): 463–482.
  58. ^ Gregory Anderson, The white-blouse revolution: female office workers since 1870 (1988).
  59. ^ Carol Dyhouse, Girls growing up in late-Victorian and Edwardian England (Routledge, 2012).
  60. ^ Cartriona M. Parratt, "Athletic 'Womanhood': Exploring sources for female sport in Victorian and Edwardian England." Journal of Sport History 16#2 (1989): 140–157.
  61. ^ Roger Ottewill, "'Skilful and Industrious': Women and Congregationalism in Edwardian Hampshire 1901–1914." Family & Community History 19#1 (2016): 50–62.
  62. ^ Martin Pugh, Women's suffrage in Britain, 1867–1928 (1980).
  63. ^ June Purvis, "Gendering the Historiography of the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Britain: some reflections." Women's History Review 22#4 (2013): 576–590.
  64. ISBN 9780199133734
    .
  65. ^ Jane Marcus, Suffrage and the Pankhursts (2013).
  66. ^ England, Historic. "The Struggle for Suffrage | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  67. ^ Melanie Phillips, The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas behind it (Abacus, 2004).
  68. ^
    PMID 11610301
    .
  69. ^ a b c McLaren, Angus (1977). "Abortion in England 1890–1914". Victorian Studies: 379–400.
  70. ^
    JSTOR 4288190
    .
  71. ISBN 9780773528628
    .
  72. S2CID 145703473
    .
  73. ^ Davidoff, Lenore (1973). "Mastered for Life: Servant and Wife in Victorian and Edwardian England". Society for the Study of Labour History. 73 (27): 23–24.
  74. S2CID 153704509
    .
  75. ^ Donald Read, Edwardian England 1901–15: society and politics (1972) pp 257–58.
  76. ^ Marilyn Constanzo, "'One Can't Shake Off the Women': Images of Sport and Gender in Punch, 1901–10." The International journal of the history of sport 19#1 (2002): 31–56.
  77. ^ Sarah Cosbey, Mary Lynn Damhorst, and Jane Farrell-Beck. "Diversity of daytime clothing styles as a reflection of women's social role ambivalence from 1873 through 1912." Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 21#3 (2003): 101–119.
  78. ISBN 978-0-333-54846-2
    .
  79. OCLC 740627215.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  80. OCLC 50081013
    .
  81. ISBN 9780486297118
    .
  82. ^ Ann Beth Presley, "Fifty years of change: Societal attitudes and women's fashions, 1900–1950." Historian 60#2 (1998): 307–324.
  83. ^ Kristina Harris, Victorian & Edwardian Fashions for Women, 1840 to 1919 (Schiffer Publishing, 1995).
  84. ^ Sarah Edwards, "'Clad in Robes of Virgin White': The Sexual Politics of the 'Lingerie'Dress in Novel and Film Versions of The Go-Between." Adaptation 5#1 (2012): 18–34.
  85. ISBN 978-0-486-24205-7
    .
  86. ^ a b R.C.K. Ensor, England, 1870–1914 (1936) pp 309–16.
  87. ^ Lord Beaverbrook, Politicians and the War, 1914–1916 (1928) 1:93.
  88. ^ J. Lee Thompson, "Fleet Street Colossus: The Rise and Fall of Northcliffe, 1896–1922." Parliamentary History 25.1 (2006): 115–138.
  89. ^ P. P. Catterall and Colin Seymour-Ure, "Northcliffe, Viscount." in John Ramsden, ed. The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics (2002) p. 475.
  90. ^ "The Edwardian Sense: Art, Design, and Performance in Britain, 1901–1910 | Reviews in History". www.history.ac.uk.
  91. ISBN 978-0-434-60332-9
    .
  92. ^ J. B. Priestley The Edwardians (1970), pp. 132–139.
  93. ^ J. B. Priestley The Edwardians (1970), pp. 172–176.
  94. ^ A.S. Gray, Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary (1985).
  95. ^ David Littlefield, "White City: The Art of Erasure and Forgetting the Olympic Games." Architectural Design 82#1 (2012): 70–77.
  96. ^ Vanessa Toulmin and Simon Popple, eds., The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon: Edwardian Britain on Film (2008).
  97. ^ see for example "The Lost World Of Mitchell And Kenyon – Episode 1 – 4/6"
  98. ^ A. R. Ubbelohde, "Edwardian Science and Technology: Their Interactions", British Journal for the History of Science (1963) 1#3 pp. 217–226 in JSTOR
  99. ^ James Anthony Mangan, ed. A sport-loving society: Victorian and Edwardian middle-class England at play (Routledge, 2004).
  100. ^ Tony Mason, "'Our Stephen and our Harold': Edwardian footballers as local heroes." The International Journal of the History of Sport 13#1 (1996): 71–85.

Further reading

1911 Michelin Guide
  • Black, Mark. Edwardian Britain: A Very Brief History (2012) excerpt and text search
  • Bowman, Timothy, and Mark L. Connelly. The Edwardian Army: Recruiting, Training, and Deploying the British Army, 1902–1914 (Oxford University Press, 2012).
  • Brooks, David. The Age of Upheaval: Edwardian Politics, 1899–1914 (1995) online
  • Dangerfield, George. The Strange Death of Liberal England (1935) online free to borrow
  • Elton, G.R. Modern Historians on British History 1485–1945: A Critical Bibliography 1945–1969 (1969), annotated guide to 1000 history books on every major topic, plus book reviews and major scholarly articles. online
  • Ensor, R. C. K. England 1870–1914 (1936), scholarly survey. online
  • Etherington, Norman. Imperium of the soul: The political and aesthetic imagination of Edwardian imperialists (Manchester UP, 2017).
  • Field, Clive D. "'The Faith Society'? Quantifying Religious Belonging in Edwardian Britain, 1901–1914." Journal of Religious History 37.1 (2013): 39–63.
  • Gray, Anne (2004). The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires. National Gallery of Australia.
    ISBN 978-0642541499
    .
  • Halévy, Elie. History of the English People, 1905–1914 (1934), 686pp.
  • Hamlett, Jane. At Home in the Institution: Material Life in Asylums, Lodging Houses and Schools in Victorian and Edwardian England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
  • Hattersley, Roy. The Edwardians (2005), excerpt
  • Hawkins, Alun. "Edwardian Liberalism", History Workshop (1977) No. 4 pp. 143–61
  • Hearnshaw, F. J. C., ed. Edwardian England AD 1901–1910 (1933) online 294pp; 10 essays by scholars.
  • Heffer, Simon. The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914 (2017), wide-ranging scholarly survey.
  • Heller, Michael. London Clerical Workers, 1880–1914 (Pickering & Chatto, 2011)
  • Holland, Evangeline. Pocket Guide to Edwardian England (2013) excerpt and text search
  • Horrall, Andrew. Popular culture in London c. 1890–1918: The transformation of entertainment (Manchester UP, 2001).
  • Hughes, Michael. "Archbishop Davidson, the 'Edwardian Crisis,' and the Defense of the National Church." Journal of Church and State 57#2 (2015): 217–242.
  • Jenkins, Roy. Asquith: portrait of a man and an era (1964) online
  • Lambert, Andrew D., Robert J. Blyth, and Jan Rüger, eds. The Dreadnought and the Edwardian age (Ashgate, 2011). online review
  • Marriott, J.A.R. Modern England, 1885–1945 (1948) pp 169–358. online political narrative.
  • Meacham, Standish. A life apart: The English working class, 1890–1914 (Harvard UP, 1977), scholarly social history. online
  • Nowell-Smith, Simon, ed. Edwardian England, 1901–14 (1964), 620pp; 15 wide-ranging essays by scholars.
  • Ottewill, Roger Martin. "Faith and good works: congregationalism in Edwardian Hampshire 1901–1914" (PhD. Diss. University of Birmingham, 2015) online. Bibliography pp 389–417.
  • Prior, Christopher. Edwardian England and the Idea of Racial Decline: An Empire's Future (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
  • Read, Donald. Edwardian England (1972) 288pp; survey by scholar. online
  • Roberts, Clayton, and David F. Roberts. A History of England, Volume 2: 1688 to the present (2013) university textbook; 1985 edition online
  • Russell, A. K. Liberal landslide : the general election of 1906 (1973).
  • Searle, G. R. A new England?: peace and war, 1886–1918 (Oxford University Press, 2004), wide-ranging survey, 952 pp.
  • Spender, J.A. Great Britain: empire and commonwealth, 1886–1935 (1936) pp 159–401, Focus on UK politics
  • Thackeray, David, "Rethinking the Edwardian Crisis of Conservatism", Historical Journal (2011) 54#1 pp. 191–213 in JSTOR
  • Thompson, Paul. The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society (2nd ed. 1992)
  • Trumble, Angus, and Andrea Wolk Rager, eds. Edwardian Opulence: British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (2012).
  • Ubbelohde, A. R. "Edwardian Science and Technology: Their Interactions", British Journal for the History of Science (1963) 1#3 pp. 217–226 in JSTOR

Gender and family

  • Aston, Jennifer, and Paolo Di Martino. "Risk, success, and failure: female entrepreneurship in late Victorian and Edwardian England." Economic History Review 70.3 (2017): 837–858. online
  • Wikidata Q107225563
    .
  • Delap, Lucy. "The Superwoman: Theories of Gender and Genius in Edwardian Britain", Historical Journal (2004) 47#1 pp. 101–126 in JSTOR
  • Dyhouse, Carol. Girls growing up in late Victorian and Edwardian England (Routledge, 2012).
  • Liddington, Jill. Rebel Girls: How votes for women changed Edwardian lives (Hachette UK, 2015).
  • Purvis, June. Gendering the Historiography of the Suffragette Movement in Edwardian Britain: some reflections (Routledge, 2016).
  • Ross, Ellen. "'Fierce Questions and Taunts': Married Life in Working-Class London, 1870–1914." Feminist Studies 8.3 (1982): 575–602. in JSTOR
  • Sutherland, Gillian. "Self-education, class and gender in Edwardian Britain: women in lower middle class families." Oxford Review of Education 41#4 (2015): 518–533.
  • Tracy, Michael. The World of the Edwardian Child: As Seen in Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia, 1908–1910 (2008) online

Primary sources and year books

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edwardian_era&oldid=1219643272"