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Steven Oliver

Pioneering spirit

Friday 10 April 2026 at 15:52
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Friday 10 April 2026 at 15:53

Way back in October my partner needed to get to Rochdale, and wasn't too shocked to discover my enthusiasm to take her was A225-related. We 'negotiated' a brief stop here, which is 31 Toad Lane - site of the first co-operative store run by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. Opened in 1844 selling a limited range of goods (sugar, butter, oatmeal and flour) this wasn't the first co-operative - but it has ended up having iconic status in the wider movement. It was established as a museum in 1931 and has a small but fascinating exhibition about co-operatives from the industrial revolution onwards. It's taken until now for the module to catch up with me, but I can now celebrate late-Victorian working class association along with chapter 19!

We had a lovely welcome from the volunteer guide - who it transpires is currently doing an MA in History with the OU - my partner decided at that point that I needed to be removed from further temptation! 😂

Tags: A225, Decline and renewal 1880-1914, Popular culture - identity and the lived experience of the working class
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Steven Oliver

Malthusians....Assemble!

Friday 10 April 2026 at 13:59
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Wednesday 15 April 2026 at 21:18

Exploring 19th and early 20th century concerns with population 'degeneration' was a fascinating aspect of unit 18 in A225. Whilst I don't have any great expertise, I've a little familiarity with the eugenics movement - but the 'Neo-Malthusians' and their 'Malthusian League' were a new group for me. So I was really interested to see that the Borthwick Archives held copies of their monthly journal... 

The Malthusian - organ of the Malthusian League 😃

The fundamental concern of the Malthusian League was 'family planning'. It was initially founded during the "Knowlton trial" of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh in July 1877, when they were prosecuted by the state for publishing Charles Knowlton's 'The Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People'. This pamphlet, written by an American physician in the 1830s, explained various contemporary methods of birth control - and (radically) was aimed at a general readership.

The principles of the League are set out after the first editorial (by Charles Bradlaugh), they present over-population as the primary source of poverty and most social woes, and promote the 'prudential' or 'birth-restricting' Malthusian checks as the only sensible route out of contemporary problems.

I only skimmed the first volume, but the recurrent themes in the contents were: discussions of Malthus and his written works; essays counselling against 'celibacy' as this actually led to 'vice' but to marry early but keep 'control' of family size; social and possibly legislative incentives for small families. There was minimal discussion of any of the practicalities of contraception, but I did come across the following account of a visit by representatives of the League to the International Medical Congress of 1879 held in Amsterdam.

The excerpt above is the closest I came to a discussion of methods of family planning - the physiological 'facts' linked to French physician Adam Raciborski was a variant on the 'rhythm method' trying to identify a 'safe period' for intercourse, other approaches discussed were 'withdrawal', presumably mechanical methods were sheaths.

I was also interested in the following account of a very different, socialist, perspective on poverty. It looks like it got very short shrift at the conference!

There were a couple of examples of 'Malthusian Rhyme' - this one picked on the 'Poor Parson' who had failed to take proper notice of the teachings of the Reverend Malthus!

He was now dependent on the charity of his parishioners because of his failure to take the 'prudential' route and the subsequent inevitable poverty.

The final A225-related excerpt I picked out was on 'The Female Franchise' an important 'Current Topic'. The League were broadly supportive, specifically as they believed this would be an indirect route to 'limited procreation'. 

Tags: A225, Decline and renewal 1880-1914, Urbanisation degeneration and understandings of the big city
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Steven Oliver

'Middle Class' Leeds

Thursday 19 February 2026 at 12:33
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Thursday 19 February 2026 at 18:39

Had a day in Leeds recently, seen through the eyes of A225 and the mid-19th century middle class.

First stop was to check in where the money was coming from, before seeing by the end of the day how and where it was being spent.

This is Leeds Industrial Museum based in Armley Mills to the west of Leeds. The site originally drew on the water power of the river Aire and was for a time in the late 1780s the largest woolen mill in the world. It has milled corn as well as textiles and carried on as an active industrial site until 1969.

Wool was the mainstay of the West Yorkshire economy, but Leeds had a broad industrial base which the museum celebrates and even a small role in the history of moving pictures. There's a good case for the first film recording having been made in Leeds in 1888.

Moving into the city, my first stop was the 'Woodhouse Temperance Hall and Mechanics' Institution' that was met in unit 12 of A225 being opened by Samuel Smiles in 1851. It's still a functional building, situated in a working class area of the city and housing an independent evangelical Christian church.

You can still make out the original plaque.

Whilst the Temperance Hall might, in the OU's words, have a 'classical front [...] designed to announce this was an important building' there's 'announcement' and 'ANNOUNCEMENT!!' and Leeds City Centre is all about the maximal.

I thought this building was a great example of signalling what's important. This is the headquarters of Leeds School Board built in the late 1870s. Ratepayers (male and female I think) now had the chance elect the Board which used their resources to fund universal elementary education across the (then) town.

Leeds Town Hall is currently having a major £20 million refurbishment - so the interior is currently off-limits as the amazing organ and Victoria Hall get a complete overhaul, but I guess the exterior still captures that mid-century 'confidence'.

Temple Mill is also in the middle of a significant makeover - as it moves along with other nearby buildings from industrial to office and 'creative' space.

It is quite an astounding facade!

But it's far from the only 'working' building in Leeds that was essentially a canvas to proclaim the middle class had 'taste'.

St Paul's House was a warehouse in 1878 - but was happy if you mistook it for the Alhambra! 😂

It was owned by Leeds Mayor and Liberal MP John Barran (later of course a Baronet!) and housed the ready-to-wear clothing factory that made his fortune.

This iteration of Leeds Corn Exchange was finished in 1863 (the architect Cuthbert Brodrick would later design the Town Hall).

It has had ups and downs as the agricultural sector boomed and crashed - but now is more than happy to sell you 'middle class stuff' (in my case some artisanal chocolates for Valentine's Day 😃). 

It was shopping all the way from now on - and Leeds has a fantastic range of Victorian spaces to sell things to all classes.

The current Market Hall dates back to 1904, but the first covered market on the site went up in 1857 - appropriately for A225 its design was inspired by Paxton's 'Crystal Palace'.

Perhaps the most significant legacy it holds for the modern high street is as the location for Michael Mark's first 'Penny Bazaar' ('Don't ask the price, it's a penny'). A Polish migrant fleeing anti-semitism he arrived in Leeds in the early 1880s with no resources, unable to speak English - he would partner with Yorkshireman Tom Spencer in 1894 .... ('ambition, anxiety, crisis, confidence, decline, renewal' sounds like a typical M&S news story 😂)

Finally a few more shopping 'Arcades'. 

Thornton's Arcade was completed in 1878 - Charles Thornton was a major property developer in the town - for anyone of a 'certain age' he also owned the Varieties Music Hall in Leeds, home to the 'Good Old Days' which blessed or blighted British TV during my childhood with a bizarre nostalgia for our period (I've just discovered a few episodes lurk on the iPlayer). Whilst perhaps there's a hint of 'Moorish' in those arches - the main aim seems to be full-on 'Gothic-revival', the mechanical clock (which always seems to me to show rather too much thigh 🤣) is a tribute to Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe'.

To end - the 'Cross' and 'County' Arcades - these went up over the turn of the century, finished in 1903. 

They are, and probably always were, way beyond my price range. 😂

Tags: A225, The making of the British middle class, The Industrial Revolution, Confidence and crisis 1840-1880
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Steven Oliver

'Rational Recreation' in 'Shock City'...

Sunday 8 February 2026 at 16:49
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Sunday 8 February 2026 at 17:19

I'd been hoping to get over the pennines for an 'A225-visit' to Manchester and finally got the chance for a whistle-stop tour early in 2026. 

First location was Manchester Art Gallery which holds one of two copies of Ford Madox Brown's 'Work', which graces the cover of 'Confidence and Crisis'. I've loved this painting for years and I see a little more every time. There are some good resources about it on the Manchester Gallery website.

What was really exciting this time though was to see a relatively recently acquired companion piece - 'Woman's Work - a medley' by Florence Claxton. Whilst Florence may not have known about Ford's painting they sit fantastically together. Claxton satirises the restricted working opportunities for women in a whole variety of ways (in Ford Madox Brown's painting women are at most able to give out some temperance leaflets or get hauled away by the police for selling fruit.)

The detail in Florence Claxton's painting is again fascinating - above the male 'false idol' reclining on his throne you can read 'The proper study of womankind is ...man' 😂

Next stop, Manchester Free Trade Hall. (If anyone wants a flashback to A113 and the sixties - it will be sixty years ago exactly in May since the famous cry of 'Judas' rang out there as the crowd reacted to Bob Dylan's abandonment of acoustic performance!) This was built in the mid-1850s to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

Land for the building was given by cotton manufacturer Richard Cobden, who was elected an MP with the support of the Anti-Corn Law League.

There's iconography across the building celebrating the advantages of 'free trade' and you can see the Anti-Corn Law League symbol of wheat sheafs in the detail below.

The building stands on what was once St Peter's Field, the location of 'Peterloo' - there is a commemorative plaque to mark this and just around the corner, in front of the Convention centre, is a specific memorial that was completed in 2019 for the two hundredth anniversary...

The symbolism on the Peterloo Memorial is again rich, detailed and political. There are images of tools and weaving paraphernalia, linked hands and a compass indicating the direction and distance of other public protests that were met with state violence: Blood Sunday in Northern Ireland, Tiananmen Square, Jallianwala Bagh/Amritsar... The steps commemorate individuals who died at Peterloo and the communities that participated. 

By lunch I'd made it to the Science and Industry Museum - the machinery was surrounded by screaming children, but now on trips from schools that equivalent 19th century Mancunian youth couldn't have imagined, and the screams were (as far as I could tell) of laughter... 

Next on my itinerary was the People's History Museum, which is an A225 'must-see' if you're in Manchester. 

There's just so much packed into a couple of galleries - and thanks to the OU and A225 - I found so much of it had interest and meaning. The following are just a few snaps of the material that was there.

Tom Paine's death mask and the table on which he wrote 'Rights of Man'...

Ceramic commemoration of Peterloo, with reference to the radical journal 'Black Dwarf' and 'Orator Hunt'...

Tin Plate Workers Society banner, from 1821. The museum has a fantastic array of flags and banners from groups and protests across the last two hundred years. This is their oldest union banner - I found it interesting to think what message they wanted to give by prominently including the Union Flag, perhaps that their aims were aligned with the 'true' national interest?

Outside again for perhaps a surprising figure - 'Honest Abe' stands tall in Lincoln Square. Originally destined for Parliament Square this statue ended up in Manchester when an alternative version was prefered for the London site. Local Manchester authorities argued that it should celebrate the response (welcomed by Lincoln at the time) of Lancashire textile workers to the 'Cotton Famine' in the 1860s.

We may study the past, but we live in the present.

Lincoln Square is the location for a 'camp' of homeless people, apparently 'migrants' who have been moved around a number of public spaces in Manchester in recent years.

My final stopping place was Chethams Library (it's Cheethams - I of course guessed it wrong first time 😂)  Originally a religious house, it was acquired by a very wealthy Manchester merchant, Humphrey Chetham, in the 17th century - whose will established a school and library in 1653.

This was a lovely place to think back on A223 and the growth and influence of the printed word across society. 

Humphrey Chetham also funded a number of chained libraries for local parish churches - stocked with Godly reading for local congregations (interesting to think who could have actually accessed these).

But it wasn't all A223 - there's one fabulous link to A225 in this little alcove...

In 1845 this was the regular meeting and study space for .... Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. 

Outside the 'Hungry Forties' were biting hard in Manchester, here they would chiefly read economics texts from the library and discuss ideas that became the basis for the Communist Manifesto written a couple of years later. 

Have to say it was an exhausting day - but great fun. Of course Manchester was also a key site in the Women's Suffrage movement, so perhaps I might try and get back for a visit to the Pankhurst Museum watch this space! 😀

Tags: A225, A223, A113, Marx Luxemburg and Lenin, Revolutions and the First World War, Literacy - learning and the printed word, Communities activities and places, The 'age of equipoise' and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Ambition and anxiety 1789-1840, Imagined nations made real?, The rise of the working class?, The Industrial Revolution, Politics and the people
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Steven Oliver

Wilberforce: abolition and politician

Sunday 11 January 2026 at 16:41
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Sunday 11 January 2026 at 16:45

I only live a few miles from the village of Wilberfoss in the East Riding where William Wilberforce's family had their roots, he went to school in the nearest town of Pocklington and of course Hull, his birthplace and first electoral seat isn't far away - so felt obliged to go on a bit of field trip in December 2025, in the end it stretched over a couple of days 😀

The column below was erected in Hull in 1834-5 shortly after Wilberforce's death - the first stone was laid on the day the Abolition Act came into effect. This is its second location - it was moved in 1935 during a period of urban reorganisation.

This is Wilberforce House - birthplace of William, the son of a local merchant who traded mainly with the Baltic ports. It's not obvious here, but the house essentially backs on to the river Hull - very close to business. A more mature William is shown in the imposing statue - however I'm not sure he was really a very physically imposing man, certainly described as a 'shrimp' at one political meeting. 

The house is home to a museum which largely focuses on the story of transatlantic slavery. Although of course there is a lot of 'Wilberforce' content I think they do a pretty good job of presenting a well rounded picture, with a strong focus on the experience and voices of enslaved people and plenty of coverage of the extra-parliamentary abolition campaign.

The image of the 'Brookes Ship' is probably very familiar - showing crowded bodies packed on a slave ship - but I'd not seen a 3D model before. Thomas Clarkson had this one made for Wilberforce to show in parliament. 

There is also a reconstruction of Thomas Clarkson's Chest - another example of the campaigning inventiveness the abolitionists showed. This displayed potential African goods that might form the basis of trade as an alternative to the purchase of enslaved people - lower layers of the chest contained shocking instruments of punishment and restraint.

Couldn't resist a bit of A111 reminiscence - here's a display of manillas - brass traded with West African communities. 

Even more directly connected to A111 and the art of Benin - the museum (for now) holds one 'Benin Bronze'. Plenty of history layered on this object - it was salvaged in its current state from the wreckage of Hull's Museum, which was completely destroyed during WWII bombing.

Day 2 of my Wilberforce-athon was today in York University library archives (I'm always astounded at what you can just request to see as a member of the public) and focused more on his life as a politician - in an as yet very unreformed parliamentary world.

For most of his time in parliament Wilberforce represented the County of Yorkshire (then with two seats) and sat as an 'independent' (though he was probably best described as a Tory). 

Shortly after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 an election was called - Wilberforce had been elected five times before, but none of those occasions had actually required anyone going to the polls. In fact no one had voted in the County of Yorkshire since 1742!

On this occasion there was a 3-way contest - and it all got very exciting - and very expensive. Wilberforce raised his expenses via a public appeal - and ended up spending the equivalent of around £1¾ million in today's prices, his opponents each spent over £6 million each (of their families money). [If you wanted a shortish read about the election there's a great blog about it here from the Eighteenth-Century Political Participation & Electoral Culture project]

The object below is catalogued in the archive as an 'Election Ticket' from 1807. 

On one side there is an oak wreath and 'Wilberforce for ever'. The other side shows another wreath and the text: 'Humanity is the cause of the people' and 'King and Constitution' (felt there were lots of links possible with the idea of 'imagined communities'!) The medallion obviously allowed you to display your allegiance at the parliamentary election, I wonder whether it was also a marker that might have got you admission to the supporters' bars and refreshments? 

Once an election was over you could relive the best bits of invective and satire collected together in a 'squib book'. This one was produced in 1807 by the editor of the Leeds Mercury, Edward Baines. 

The two other candidates were:

Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Viscount Milton of Wentworth Woodhouse and Milton Hall (Whig) - He was young, inexperienced and his party supported Catholic emancipation

the Honourable Henry Lascelles of Harewood House (Tory) - He was from Yorkshire's most wealthy plantation owning family, had campaigned against abolition of the slave trade and was against Catholic emancipation.

As the squib book shows their opponents didn't hold back! 

Voting took place in the centre of York over 15 days, with public votes totalled up each day. Wilberforce just sneaked in on top, followed by Milton - in total just over 30,000 votes were cast (people had two votes, but didn't always use both) - the 1801 population of Yorkshire was around 860,000, so democracy was still some way away!

Tags: A225, A111, Ambition and anxiety 1789-1840, The British Isles and the Atlantic World, The birth of the modern state, The art of Benin: 1897 to present day
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Steven Oliver

Sites of knowledge/power

Sunday 11 January 2026 at 16:25
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Wednesday 4 February 2026 at 18:33

Got a real dose of 19th century authority in November 2025 on a trip to Ripon, which has museums preserving a prison, police station, court and workhouse!


This building was originally the house of correction and then became the station for Ripon's police force.


There are a series of exhibits in the former cells, explaining the transition from watchmen and constables, through to the uniformed police.


Plenty of material to show how punishment has changed over time - the image below is of a birching stool, this one came from Leeds police station and was last used in 1920. The slats allowed the height to be adjusted; have to say I was a bit shocked at how small a child it had been designed to accommodate.


The courthouse used for petty and quarter sessions is also preserved - it was in use from 1830-1998 (I'm in the dock here, facing the bench!).


Finally, I explored Ripon Union Workhouse - the 'long-stay' facilities are currently being renovated, but it was still possible to explore the large buildings setup for 'vagrants'.


Individuals were allowed a two night stay, were bathed on admission and had their clothes taken away for fumigation before being given access to spartan cells. Wherever possible they had to work whilst in the building and could not then return to Ripon for a prescribed period.


All three buildings were swarming with school trips - made me stop and wonder which aspects of contemporary society are going to be mainstays of educational visits in the future!

Tags: A225, Ambition and anxiety 1789-1840, Managing uncertainty: new forms of 'knowledge', The birth of the modern state, Confidence and crisis 1840-1880, Work poverty and the new Poor Law
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Steven Oliver

Reading the long 19th century

Saturday 22 November 2025 at 14:32
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Sunday 26 April 2026 at 19:56

I've set myself the challenge of accompanying my A225 studies of the 'The British Isles and the modern world, 1789–1914' with a year of 19th century reading. I'm going to try and keep roughly to the chronology of the module and also make sure that I'm exploring the geographical spread of the course (so some Irish, Scots, ?Welsh reading). I'd started just thinking about novels, but have been persuaded that the period also featured a lot of narrative poetry, so this will also get a look in.

So here goes - probably aiming to stop somewhere around HG Wells, but that feels a long way away right now...

William Wordsworth - The Prelude 

Published: 1850 (after Wordsworth's death), but the version I read wasn't published until 1926. This was the manuscript of his 1805 revision of the 1799 original.

Period covered: 1770s to 1805

A225 links: The text includes the 'Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive' section, exploring Wordsworth's experience of the French Revolution. By 1805 he had revised his original optimism, but I spared myself too much conservative retrenchment by avoiding the 1850 text. There are sections describing Wordsworth being under surveillance as a 'radical' in the Revolutionary period that link to OU examination of links between the Romantic movement and more radical politics. Another A225 connection is in the idealisation of childhood - something that underpinned some responses to child labour in the industrial revolution.

Stars: ⭐⭐ (quite heavy going)

Walter Scott - The Antiquary

Published: 1816

Period covered: Summer 1794

A225 links: In one sense the whole idea of a historical novel and Scott's role in the Romantic movement is a solid A225 connection. There are definitely links to the ideas of identity formation (and the false narratives of 'invented' tradition in the Antiquary's theories. There is a section on the patriotic formation of the militia in response to an empty threat of invasion (with an English officer coming to lead them).

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ (wordy, but lighter and more humorous than I'd anticipated)

Jane Austen - Persuasion

Published: 1817 (after Austen's death)

Period covered: 1814

A225 links: The meaning of aristocracy and the role of gentry (and military) in early 19th century society explored in this, as in every, Austen novel. Nature of naval lives - particularly outside of conflict - features. The naval activity often makes reference to the Caribbean - so some interesting links to the A225 content on the Atlantic world and the importance of naval dominance in enabling trade and domestic wealth.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐(a re-read, not my favourite - but good bitchy humour)

Charlotte Brontë - Shirley

Published: 1849

Period covered: 1811-12

A225 links: Radical politics, 'Luddites', patriotic conservatism, 'working class' identities are all present. There are also some interesting aspects of illness behaviour and health included (Shirley's fear of rabies was a surprise)

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐(not as off the scale as Jane Eyre, but still fabulously heightened - quite a queer book, hard not to read some Anne Lister into Shirley....until she is 'mastered' 😃)

John Banim ('Barnes O'Hara') - The Nowlans

Published: 1826

Period covered: c1820s

A225 links: Sectarian divide in Ireland, some referral back to 1798 uprising, several references to the 'Peelers' - the 'paramilitary' force set up ahead of police force in Britain, long discussion regarding need for education and public schools in Ireland.

Stars: ⭐almost unreadable in parts, melodramatic and ridiculous plot twists. Some interestingly 'modern' aspects with mental anguish over forsaken vows of celibacy 

George Eliot - Felix Holt, the Radical

Published: 1866

Period covered: 1832

A225 links: Excellent description of changing society over time in the opening section, embedded in an imaginary coach ride. There is little political theorising - Eliot seems to hope for a conservative 'amelioration' of problems, there's certainly little appetite expressed for 'radicalism'. Sections on the chaotic scenes surrounding the election were interesting - and highlight how different the process of voting was in a public forum. Important to note the book was published around time of the second Reform act, looking back on the first. There's a sense of persisting middle-class (novel writer/reader class) anxiety about further extension of the franchise. (There's an interesting sounding bit of writing by Eliot 'Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt' that's aimed directly at these new voters - worth hunting down perhaps)

Stars: ⭐⭐ Felix is such a 'serious' character that he does seem to suck the life out of much of the book - I wasn't expecting quite so much 'mystery' and felt this was laid on a bit thick in parts. Not Middlemarch 😀

Benjamin Disraeli - Sybil or The Two Nations

Published: 1845

Period covered: late 1830's and 1840s

A225 links: Disraeli obviously enjoys satirising the salons and shenanigans behind the Whig/Tory politics and there is a strong sense of how personal and aristocratic parliamentary government was. Chartism is central to the 'plot' and the 'poor' are shown sympathy, even if they feel pulled directly form press reports and 'Blue Books'. Disraeli's (bizarre) solution to the divided 'Two Nations'; ??young, reformed aristocratic leadership and reinvigorated feudalism?? is the real heart of the novel - definitely (unfounded) confidence and crisis rolled into one!

Stars: ⭐ Hard work with barely a single credible character, except the narrator! 😀

Alfred Tennyson - The Princess: a Medley

Published: 1847

A225 links: Education, and specifically further education for women, isn't touched on much in the module - so any links are tenuous. The narrative section has plenty of 'chivalry' and 'medievalism' alongside the provocative ideas of female power and independence, evidence of some of the 'anti-modern' cultural responses of the time which are highlighted. 

Stars: ⭐⭐ Odd and interesting, rather than deeply engaging - but with occasional moments - couldn’t resist quoting this speech from one of the female scholar leaders on her view of the future (still some work to do!)

                                              At last
She rose upon a wind of prophecy
Dilating on the future; "everywhere
Two heads in council, two beside the hearth,
Two in the tangled business of the world,
Two in the liberal offices of life,
Two plummets dropt for one to sound the abyss
Of science, and the secrets of the mind:
Musician, painter, sculptor, critic, more:
And everywhere the broad and bounteous Earth
Should bear a double growth of those rare souls,
Poets, whose thoughts enrich the blood of the world."

Dinah Maria Mulock ('Mrs Craik') - John Halifax, Gentleman

Published: 1856

Period covered: 1790s-1834

A225 links: There were so many, perhaps the strongest was the central theme of a man rising into the middle class - becoming 'Gentleman'. There are: corrupt elections, Catholic emancipation, vaccination (successful), steam power, food riots, fear of the French, emancipation, the Atlantic World (love-torn son flourishes in the New World)... The other inescapable theme is a domestic Christianity that seems to deliberately avoid an overly 'Anglican' perspective, with Quakers and Catholics featuring quite favourably.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ an unanticipated pleasure, once I'd got over the omnipresent asexual crippled narrator!! Felt like it existed wholly in a Victorian sensibility - couldn't have been written/read before or after. (First time I've really felt this reading idea might be a good one 😂)

Elizabeth Gaskell - Cranford

Published: 1853

Period covered: early 1840s

A225 links: First and foremost, female middle class life! The chapters also touched on the expansion of the railways (and their danger), banking collapses and their social consequences and ideas of empire and the orient.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ a complete pleasure. I loved the gentle humour and the brilliantly captured characters. Just the right length and hardly put a step wrong in tone. Definitely my favourite read in quite a while.

Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone

Published: 1868

Period covered: (1799) 1848-1850

A225 links: The 'Indian' links are of course central - with trouble coming from the East. It is interesting to see Collins make the primary 'evil' a British affair, with pillage and murder committed to obtain the Moonstone. Oriental stereotypes abound, wily and ready to stop at nothing in the name of their religion - opium plays a central part in the mystery. There's a lot of communication and transportation infrastructure at work in the plot as well, railways, steamers, telegraph and horse cabs are key parts of moving the story and characters around. Miss Clack embodies the 'awful' end of the Evangelical spectrum, weaponising religious tracts - and the 'ladies committees' that Godfrey Ablewhite monopolises suggest some of the ways middle-class women tried to find avenues for agency!    

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I'd forgotten that it was a real page-turner, with some great surprise twists and fantastic characters. Let down perhaps only by the occasional unfeasible plot device.

Anthony Trollope - Phineas Finn

Published: 1869

Period covered: 1867-8

A225 links: Trollope was quite happy to bend history to fit his narrative - in this version it is the Liberals who get to pass the 2nd Reform Act! 😄 However, overall this was an excellent accompaniment to the A225 material on high politics. Best novel so far on aspects of the relationship between Ireland and Britain, with Phineas eventually politically compromised by his support for Irish tenants-rights. Also touched on imperialism, Phineas if for a time an under-secretary at the colonial office - working on the railways and development of Canada.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Some fantastic female characters, so depressing on the limits faced - including marriage as 'property'. Not as much fun as the Barchester Chronicles - but still a good read.

Mrs Oliphant - Hester

Published: 1883

Period covered: 1860s-1870s

A225 links: 'Domestic ideology' is at the heart of the book, with the matriarch, Catherine Vernon, demonstrating the power and limits of female agency as she saves the local bank (twice!). An interesting set of reflections on financial 'speculation' a route to ruin, but perhaps also a morally acceptable career (for some)

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The inner lives of Hester and the other characters, female and male, were cleverly and convincingly explored - and a great range of female characters in particular.

George and Weedon Grossmith - The Diary of a Nobody

Published: 1894

Period covered: late 1880s

A225 links: A great source for suburban and domestic middle-class life, much discussion of 'swells' and the markers of class in dress and behaviour. The transport system is used regularly to cross the metropolis and the seaside holiday features.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ It would be hard to like someone who does not fall for Mr Pooter - I'm so pleased that A225 simply adds another layer to enjoying this book.

Henry James - In the Cage

Published: 1898

Period covered: late 1890s

A225 links: Social class interactions and the potential (and hardships) for female employment. Information technology sits at the centre of the book - speed of communication, privacy, storage and recall are very contemporary 'modern' features. 

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ Enough to make me think I'll approach Henry James with caution - simply a stylistic challenge, and I wondered if the payoff was really worth it.

H Rider Haggard - King Solomon's Mines

Published: 1885

Period covered: 1870-80s

A225 links: Given its contemporary success. there's no doubt it is interesting evidence of how 'tales of Empire' and encounters with the African 'other' were presented - and what that might say about cultural impacts of Empire. The book is informed by racism, there are essential differences based on race represented throughout the story - although these are not a simple case of 'white supremacy', some African characters are accorded considerable power and status. Resource exploitation is central - ivory, diamonds, gold all extracted.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ An 'adventure story' that keeps you turning the pages and whilst populated almost entirely by conventional stereotypes is surprisingly 'balanced' in the way 'races' are presented.

Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness

Published: 1902

Period covered: 1880s

A225 links: Empire and the 'Scramble for Africa', 'on one end a large shining map, marked with all the colours of a rainbow. There was a vast amount of red - good to see at any time, because one knows that some real work is done in there, a deuce of a lot of blue, a little green, smears of orange, and, on the East Coast, a purple patch, to show where the jolly pioneers of progress drink the jolly lager-beer'.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perhaps the most over-interpreted book on the list, simply because Conrad leaves so much unstated or opaque 😃 Astounding creation of oppressive atmosphere.

Rudyard Kipling - The Five Nations

Published: 1903

Period covered: 1899-1902

A225 links: Some of the strongest and most direct links to A225 content so far. The 'five nations' are the 'settler-colonies' of the British Empire: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa plus Great Britain and the poems generally all touch on 'decline' and/or 'renewal'. There is a section of 'barrack room ballads' specific to the South African War and others which touch on the economics of Empire (even including one specifically about preferential tariffs in Canada!). 

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐ Whilst the read has been great in combination with A225, the ideas expressed are often deeply uncomfortable. However, the poetry is powerful - undoubtedly.

E ΠSomerville and Martin Ross - Further Experiences of an Irish R.M.

Published: 1908

Period covered: early 1900s

A225 links: Whilst 'fish-out-of-water' is the central premise of Anglo-Irishman Major Yeates's misadventures, there is a strong sense of a functioning community. In a way the A225 link is in presenting a counter-argument - a different image of Irish society to the tensions that populate the module. It also gives a good idea of an elite who could pass comfortably between Ireland and England.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Despite fox and bird slaughter and whipped dogs and horses, I still really enjoyed. Shades of Wodehouse, Blandings and Lord Emsworth 🙂 

Allen Raine - Queen of the Rushes. A Tale of the Welsh Revival

Published: 1906

Period covered: 1904-5

A225 links: Despite its 20th century setting the strongest links are with the coverage of the 1859 Ulster revival. The descriptions of charismatic behaviour are relatively limited, but there is plenty of hymn singing! 

Stars: ⭐⭐ My one 'Welsh' outing. Quite a lot of romantic 'gush' as one critic described it ('Cold Comfort Farm' came to mind quite often 😂). 

George Bernard Shaw - Press Cuttings: A topical Sketch compiled from the editorial and correspondence columns of the Daily Papers

Published: 1909

Period covered: April Fool's Day 1912

A225 links: [Read in Progress]

 
Tags: Reading the long 19th century, A225
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Steven Oliver

Dublin day-trip

Sunday 3 March 2024 at 18:02
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Edited by Steven Oliver, Sunday 19 April 2026 at 16:52

I was lucky enough to manage a day trip to Dublin last week and packed in a fair bit of A111 and A113 😀

The following are just a few snaps from the day.


The GPO building where the Republic was proclaimed in 1916 - the museum was good (but pricey at €15) few of video installations featured historians who contributed to OU materials.

Garden of Remembrance that features in A111 and was opened in 1966

The iconography of 'celtic' weapons broken and cast into water as a mark of the end of hostilities

The Children of Lir - rising, resurrected, redeemed, reborn....

Just outside the Garden is this memorial to the formation of the Irish Volunteer Force on that spot (it was I think an ice rink then) in 1913 - in response to the earlier establishment of the UVF that is discussed in A113. 

Apparently Parnell's statue caused some controversy when it went up in 1911, I presume because he was then still a divisive figure. Really interested in what I assume are Roman 'fasces' under all the drapes, I think at this point in time they may have been used as a symbol of Republican 'unity'. It's also a classic Roman sculptural pose that we encountered in A111. 

Second sculpture by Oisín Kelly (the first was Children of Lir) - this one of James Connolly's comrade, Jim Larkin. A co-founder of the Irish Citizens Army and a staunch revolutionary socialist. 

He used the quote below in one of his speeches - it apparently harks back to the French Revolution and is generally credited to Camille Desmoulins.

From A113 the 'Liberator' Daniel O'Connell (plus obligatory seagull) gets centre stage with a monument and of course the main street (since 1924)

Kilmainham Gaol

Corridor where most of the 1916 rebels were held before execution.

The classic 'panopticon' prison design in the Victorian wing of KIlmainham Gaol. Éamon de Valera was a prisoner here and Hugh Grant danced down the steps at the finale of 'Paddington 2' (Noel Coward also celebrated the apparent achievement of the 'Italian Job' here)

A final look back into the stone-breakers yard and the spot where James Connolly was executed. It was interesting, given the reflection in A111 on contested memories, to hear that the prison wasn't initially promoted in the Free State as a 'hallowed' site - the fact it was also the place of execution of some anti-Treaty rebels made its heritage a difficult one, at least until Fianna Fáil gained power.

Tags: A111, A113, Remembering and forgetting in Ireland, Religion & political polarisation in Ireland, Revolutions and the First World War, A225, Political ferment
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