Staff Book and Media Recommendations

A New England?: Peace and War, 1886-1918

G.R. Searle

Great Britain in 1886 was the 19th century world superpower as well as a place of pomp and celebration of empire within a period of peace, prosperity, and refined sensibilities under the then 49 year reign of Queen Victoria. The English were gearing up for her Golden Jubilee in 1887 and discussing Irish Home Rule in Parliament. However, in thirty-two years, Great Britain will see a complete transition in politics, monarchy, society, and a global challenge in peace and power. In this time, the question posed by G.R. Searle is does the world have a new England by 1918?

Searle leaves the answer up to the reader, but does tell a clear, well-written, and fascinating story of England from 1886-1918 by masterfully describing the shifts in social, cultural, political, and economical life of the English within the context of domestic and international factors. Searle begins the book with an analysis of English society and identities, a discussion that is interwoven throughout the work. During the era, the question of what does it mean to be English is always at the forefront of society within terms of immigration, gender, economic class, politics, and empire.

In the late Victorian Period, from 1886 to the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the identity and power of England faces many challenges. There was the support and lack of support of the Irish Home Rule question, the rise of the welfare state in the 1890s with the rise of the civil service, nationalization and trade unions, and the death of the Liberal Party and rise of the Labour party. In addition to the political changes at home at this time, the status of empire is challenged with the Boer War and changes in foreign policy that left the empire not that isolated from the continent.  The Edwardian Period sees these change accelerated across the spectrum. Searle argues that one of the reasons that this is a period of such transformation is how quickly the Victorian sensibilities and values unravel through the lead up to the Great War. One of the interesting parts of Searle’s work is the discussion of the Edwardian devotion to leisure and play and emerging technology of the early 20th century including the car, the telephone, and advances in passenger ships making the world more accessible to all.  There is an excellent story of the Bolton football (soccer) team and members who got into an argument with the church vicar, went to the pub and reemerged as a new football club. Also included is a frank discussion of “forbidden pleasures” in leisurely activities including street fights and drugs.

Searle’s examination of the Great War is well structured and direct. Searle reasons that the four-year period of World War I offers the fastest period of change socially for the English as the war united everyone in the empire under one common enemy as well as destroying an entire generation of men. One in three men aged 19-22 in 1914 did not live to see 1918, and many of these men were of the upper middle class forever changing the population and society dynamic. Additionally, women’s involvement in the home front with an increase in women in the workforce lead to many changes in women’s rights for England post war.

After reading A New England, this reader answers the question with a resounding yes that the England of 1918 is drastically different from that of 1886. Searle’s volume is one of many of the New Oxford History of England, and at 900 pages may seem like a daunting read. However, Searle has a very clear writing style making this a very easy read. Searle’s focus on social and cultural history at the time makes this book a standard for European and British historians and enthusiasts and shows the importance of all of human life as history. Searle has an excellent grasp of the topic, thorough use of the current research on these periods and provides a detailed bibliography and chronology. ~ Dana Jackson

Reviewed March 2013