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The article examines how the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction impacted political reform in Great Britain during the 1860s. It discusses liberalism in British politics, perceived messages about liberty, self-determination, and constitutional government sent from the U.S. to Great Britain, and radicalism in Great Britain. The article also discusses reaction to the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation issued by then-U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and economic conditions in Bradford, Yorkshire.

This article describes and elucidates the making of Manchester Chartism, with special reference to the Reform Crisis of 1830–32 and its role in highlighting and confirming divisions within and between groups of radicals. For all the importance of personalities, ideas, organisations and national as well as local reform issues, the history of Chartism in Manchester was shaped above all by the town's political configuration. Political and class identities became stronger in 1830–32. This, and subsequent differences of opinion on key questions, ensured that no inclusive reform alliance was possible in Manchester. After examining the Reform Crisis of 1830–32, tracing the separation of middle-class from working-class activists and exploring the internal schisms within plebeian and respectable middle-class campaigns, this article shows how the polarisation of the early 1830s continued into the Chartist period. Problems of contact, communication and sympathy between the different groups were never overcome, and Manchester Chartism would itself experience fragmentation and resistance, just as earlier popular mobilisations in the town had been divided and opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues on the interpretation of Jonathan Foyle, a historian of architecture, on the architectural framework of the Thomas Wolsey's Great Hall at the Hampton Court Palace in London, England. Foyle states that the first-floor hall were created by Wolsey and the parts were retained by Henry VII including the south wall, basement cross wall, oriel window, north wall, three access stairs, north-east corner stair turret, and the east wall. However, his idea is contradicted because there is no evidence to prove it. It is added that Wolsey were not able to implement his plans of creating the hall and it was Henry VIII who created the Great Hall as a prelude to a suite of first-floor apartments.

Recent debates about modern farming have come to be couched in the terminology of sustainable agriculture, a concept originally developed in respect of international post-World War Two farming, and especially in developing countries. In this paper we ask whether there is a historical dimension to the sustainability question and, in particular, whether by recasting the approach to the long-term development of agriculture it is possible to develop a new view of the manner in which farming has changed through time. We look at open-field farming where it dominated the agriculture of 17th and 18th century England. We show how collective community action had developed over many centuries to protect scarce land resources, and how pressures upon these resources through changing economic and demographic conditions inspired communities to develop and promote sustainable methods of husbandry and management. We demonstrate this world of sustainability through its maintenance of the ecological integrity of the land resource, the economic climate in which it operated, and the equitable ownership and decision-making processes that kept it in place. We also show that eventually the ecological integrity was put under mounting economic pressure arising from demographic forces, and also the external pressures arising from war. In particular we show how such pressures compromised the equitable ownership and access to land resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates land management and land income on the Oxbridge college agricultural estates in the middle of 19th century in England. The 19th and early 20th century finances of Oxford and Cambridge universities and their constituent colleges and halls have attracted the attentions of modern scholars investigating the ways the universities adjusted their finances, specially their agricultural incomes. Old tenures adopted what were known as leaseholds and copyholds. Leasehold tenures were held by leaseholders of their landlords either for terms of years or for lives. They could run for the duration of the life of the named lessee, or the lives of a succession of names lessees. In total, the annual rents and other services did not necessarily reflect annual land values, as did rack rents. The colleges were entitled to receive interest on the money that the Copyhold Commission held for them. The process of converting tenures could only be accomplished across the holdings of most estates over an extended period, because entry fines would not all come up for renewal at the same time. A number of advantages inherent in traditional leasehold agreements might be relinquished if modern rack rents were introduced.

Opinion. Responds to a review article written by professor Gregory Clark, which reviewed the book `Agricultural Rent in England, 1690-1914,' by M.E. Turner, J.V. Beckett and B. Afton, which dealt with a study of rents between 1690 and 1914. Method used to conduct study; Statistical information provided; Criticisms against the review by the authors;

Examines the relative efficiency of farming in open fields or enclosures in England. Yield and output of principal grain crops in 1795 to 1801; Implications to total agricultural productivity.

Discusses various aspects of the prevailing economic ideas in nineteenth-century Manchester, England. Economic ideology of Mancunian businessmen; Mancunian opposition of free-trade; Leading reformers in Manchester; Mancunian commitment to orthodox economics; Role of liberal reformers in agitation and opinion mobilization.

The article discusses taxation and economic growth in eighteenth-century England. The tendency for direct taxation to rise in wartime was due almost entirely to the fact that the land tax was raised to four shillings in war periods. Direct taxation was the most readily available method of raising a predictable sum in the shortest time. On the other hand the tax was retained at four shillings from 1776 onwards, and the relative lack of impact that this had on the tax burden, which was lower by the 1790s in per caput terms, may explain British Parliament's willingness to maintain the rate at the full amount in peacetime. The evidence of the figures presented here suggests that the overall rise in the incidence of taxation was regressive, and in consequence would have tended to reduce demand, although it is an interesting reflection on government policy that some of the new and most rapidly growing sectors of industry including cotton, wool, pottery, iron, and metallurgy, were not subject to excise.

Presents a response to the comment made by economist Mark Overton on an article of the author on the agricultural productivity change in England during the eighteenth century. Speculations regarding agricultural productivity in England; Details of several interpretations regarding wheat yields in England; Summary of the growth of British agriculture over the eighteenth century.

The article assesses agricultural productivity in 18th century England, based on the measurement of crop yields. The contribution of agriculture to the economic development of Great Britain in the eighteenth century has been subject to periodic debate and revision. This was couched in terms of improved productivity in agriculture, productivity being measured in a number of ways: in terms of new crops and techniques; in terms of improved diets and standards of living, or at least of no serious deterioration in standards of living; and in terms of the role of enclosure in extending the area under cultivation by reducing fallow land or bringing otherwise unproductive land into cultivation. This last method is presented in terms of increasing total product as distinct from unit productivity. There has also been the discovery that unproved crop rotations, especially those which introduced more livestock with the natural ability to fertilize the land, lead to improved yields. The implication of this discovery was that total product and unit productivity both increased.

This article discusses the social consequences of parliamentary enclosure on small landowners in England. It can be shown that indeed the post-enclosure value of land increased to such an extent as to make enclosure a very profitable investment, but the use of the mortgage to raise funds has yet to be demonstrated. The scanty evidence which has been found in Buckinghamshire title deeds suggests that the mortgage was a convenience enjoyed by the promoters of enclosure only. In general there were four methods of financing enclosures. The most common was for the commissioners to levy a rate or rates upon the landowners, equitably in proportion to their property or perhaps in proportion to their contribution to something like the poor rates. It will become clear in due course that this was merely an accounting device with which the commissioners defrayed costs. It tells of the method the commissioners employed, but neglects to show how the landowners raised the rates, if in fact they did. In all, the British Parliament enacted nearly 5300 enclosures, of which about 80 per cent by area were enacted between 1750 and 1815.

Caesarean section (CS) rates throughout Europe have risen significantly over the last two decades. As well as being an important clinical issue, these changes in mode of birth may have substantial resource implications. Policy initiatives to curb this rise have had to contend with the multiplier effect of women who had a CS for their first birth having a greater likelihood of requiring one during subsequent births, thus making it difficult to decrease CS rates in the short term. Our study examines the long-term resource implications of reducing CS rates among first-time mothers, as well as improving rates of vaginal birth after caesarean section (VBAC), among an annual cohort of women over the course of their most active childbearing years (18 to 44 years) in two public health systems in Europe. We found that the economic benefit of improvements in these two outcomes is considerable, with the net present value of the savings associated with a five-percentage-point change in nulliparous CS rates and VBAC rates being €1.1million and £9.8million per annual cohort of 18-year-olds in Ireland and England/Wales, respectively. Reductions in CS rates among first-time mothers are associated with a greater payoff than comparable increases in VBAC rates. The net present value of achieving CS rates comparable to those currently observed in the best performing Scandinavian countries was €3.5M and £23.0M per annual cohort in Ireland and England/Wales, respectively., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.