Dominion: A History of England Volume V

The History of England #5

by Peter Ackroyd

Ackroyd, as always, is well worth the read. --Kirkus, starred review



Dominion, the fifth volume of Peter Ackroyd's masterful History of England, begins in 1815 as national glory following the Battle of Waterloo gives way to a post-war depression and ends with the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901.

Spanning the end of the Regency, Ackroyd takes readers from the accession of the profligate George IV whose government was steered by Lord Liverpool, whose face was set against reform, to the 'Sailor King' William IV whose reign saw the modernization of the political system and the abolition of slavery.

But it was the accession of Queen Victoria, at only eighteen years old, that sparked an era of enormous innovation. Technological progress--from steam railways to the first telegram--swept the nation and the finest inventions were showcased at the first Great Exhibition in 1851. The emergence of the middle-classes changed the shape of society and scientific advances changed the old pieties of the Church of England, and spread secular ideas among the population. Though intense industrialization brought booming times for the factory owners, the working classes were still subjected to poor housing, long work hours, and dire poverty. Yet by the end of Victoria's reign, the British Empire dominated much of the globe, and Britannia really did seem to rule the waves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Audiobook, Politics, World History, Victorian

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2018

About the author

Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London.

Peter Ackroyd's mother worked in the personnel department of an engineering firm, his father having left the family home when Ackroyd was a baby. He was reading newspapers by the age of 5 and, at 9, wrote a play about Guy Fawkes. Reputedly, he first realized he was gay at the age of 7.

Ackroyd was educated at St. Benedict's, Ealing and at Clare College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with a double first in English. In 1972, he was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University in the United States. The result of this fellowship was Ackroyd's Notes for a New Culture, written when he was only 22 and eventually published in 1976. The title, a playful echo of T. S. Eliot's Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), was an early indication of Ackroyd's penchant for creatively exploring and reexamining the works of other London-based writers.

Ackroyd's literary career began with poetry, including such works as London Lickpenny (1973) and The Diversions of Purley (1987). He later moved into fiction and has become an acclaimed author, winning the 1998 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the biography Thomas More and being shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987.

Ackroyd worked at The Spectator magazine between 1973 and 1977 and became joint managing editor in 1978. In 1982 he published The Great Fire of London, his first novel. This novel deals with one of Ackroyd's great heroes, Charles Dickens, and is a reworking of Little Dorrit. The novel set the stage for the long sequence of novels Ackroyd has produced since, all of which deal in some way with the complex interaction of time and space, and what Ackroyd calls "the spirit of place". It is also the first in a sequence of novels of London, through which he traces the changing, but curiously consistent nature of the city. Often this theme is explored through the city's artists, and especially its writers.

Ackroyd has always shown a great interest in the city of London, and one of his best known works, London: The Biography, is an extensive and thorough discussion of London through the ages.

His fascination with London literary and artistic figures is also displayed in the sequence of biographies he has produced of Ezra Pound (1980), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), Chaucer (2004), William Shakespeare (2005), and J. M. W. Turner. The city itself stands astride all these works, as it does in the fiction.

From 2003 to 2005, Ackroyd wrote a six-book non-fiction series (Voyages Through Time), intended for readers as young as eight. This was his first work for children. The critically acclaimed series is an extensive narrative of key periods in world history.

Early in his career, Ackroyd was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and, as well as producing fiction, biography and other literary works, is also a regular radio and television broadcaster and book critic.

In the New Year's honours list of 2003, Ackroyd was awarded the CBE.

Reviews

[Geevee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Ackroyd's Dominion is a useful, although narrow and unambitious, account of 19th century England.

This history is mainly a political and parliamentary history focussing on the parties and parliamentarians. As such acts of parliament, the leading political figures and (some) events/situations loom large.

There is much to enjoy and one feels that where the author is interested in a subject the reader benefits. Where he is less interested one sees subjects covered in a sentence (Jack The Ripper as an example), and others ignored for reasons neither explained or mentioned in any way.

Ireland features heavily - in a history of England? Well yes, it is natural and indeed correct for Ireland and the Irish are a major part of the domestic scene. But...

...the author insists on calling Britain, it's army, navy and citizens abroad English. There is no mention of Scotland and Wales...a glaring omission, even if only had he gave them a short mention, because of their mining, ship building and farming that provided fuel, transport and food for England's people, factories and indeed the empire.

The Empire also features surprisingly little. Its expansion and size is briefly commented upon, but the place and influence inwards and outwards for England/Britain is not explored in anyway. The Boer Wars get some inches as does The Crimean War and General Gordon, but over a century, when the world became a third pink (the old colour of the Empire on British maps), this is surprising and inexcusable to see so little or nothing of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies and other African states aside from.South Africa at war with "England".

Literature, arts and science have look-ins, as enjoyably does music hall. Transport is covered but mostly railways and we discuss poverty (mainly in London), education and trade.

There is a lot to like in this book, and maybe the series and its format hinders the author. The subject - Dominion - is too large and multilayered to be covered in just 300 odd pages. We hear little of Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, and nothing of Newcastle, Leicester, Northampton, Bristol or say Stoke. All of whom had industry/manufacturing as well as abject poverty and huge wealth giving much to England and Empire.

For such a well received series having no sources, notes or references is surprising and poor.

[Brian Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The penultimate entry into the sestet covers primarily the years of the reign of Victorian. This should be given an asterisk. This is not another Victorian biography at all. She is largely in the periphery and national interests and global affairs are mainly narrated through the machinations, tumult, and personalities of Parliament. With personas such as Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Melbourne, and Lord John Russell as first ministers of the governing body, it makes a lot sense. Just know if you don't already beforehand, that the leadership of Parliament was indeed very tumultuous at this time, with leadership and majorities exchanging hands sometimes multiple times a year. Despite the stability of Victoria on the throne, Parliament was anything but.

And that is in essence the primary focus of this book. When you cover 1815-1901 Great Britain in 353 pages of prose, an author is not going to cover much in great depth. Entire scientific and technological advances are covered, more often than not, with a single sentence. Jack the Ripper gets one paragraph. Victoria's private life gets two separate paragraphs by my remembrance.

The strength here is Ackroyd's usual approach to prose. If you like him from previous books, he's here in strength. The best chapters are, in my estimation, the coverage of the psychology of steam and rail development, female rights emergence, the chapter on Oscar Wilde, and the Great Exhibition. Like previous entries, an ideal jumping off point for chapters that interest you for further reading, which I most certainly will continue doing. Probably more like 4.5 stars but I will give Ackroyd the benefit of the doubt. Bring on the 20th century next year!

[Erin]

Giveaway Win!

[Nicki Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read the previous four volumes in this series, I was keen to continue the History of England narrative with Dominion, and overall Ackroyd doesn't disappoint. I've always enjoyed the easy style of his prose, which is eminently readable. Once or twice I found myself skimming the heavily political passages, but that has more to do with the fact that I find 19th century politics a tad dull than any negative reflection on Ackroyd's writing. As expected, though, this was a generally delightful and informative read, and I am excited to see how Ackroyd will cap off the final volume, which should bring us bang up to date. If you are looking to get into reading historical non-fiction for the first time, I would always recommend works by Peter Ackroyd. There is always a wonderful storytelling style to his writing.

I received a free review paperback copy of this book from the publisher.

[Emanuele Gemelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

By far this is the worst book of the series; it is simply dull and uninspiring. It looks like the author is tired, and missing the energy and the focus. There is very little of Queen Victoria, who look like a very petty woman, there is little about the vast empire created in the meantime, there is far too much politics or better description of politics. I think that Peter Ackroyd did not make justice of himself

[Sorin Hadârcă · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps the most important volume and not just for the English history. The world as we know it did emerge from the brink of Victorian England: state institutions, party system, public service, law-making, unionism, theatre, railways, telegraph, cars and whatnot. It was still very raw in understanding human rights - the colonial subjects, the poor, women and children had little agency, but the mere fact that all was out for debate, with opposition always ready to take the wheel, was the foundation for progress.

Limited working hours for children above 10 sounds outrageous now, but it was progress then. Workhouses were horrible institutions, says Dickens, but at least an attempt was made to look into the problems of the poor. Compulsory education, water and sanitation, social housing came into being during the Victorian age - and remained around us since. 'A revolution that wasn't' was possible due to baby steps and leap forwards in the right direction.

Statesmanship was admirable: figures like Wellington and Earl Gray are to be remembered for great reforms (and less for the common beef and tea that bear their names). Peele, Palmerston, Gladstone, Disraeli - Britain had the better share of political figures. Controversial at times, but giants nonetheless. And to think of - all this during the reign of one willful and sometimes capricious Queen Victoria, who barely saw the eves of 20 century.

[John Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fluid, engaging overview of the 19th century in Britain. Ackroyd's history doesn't have any explicit overriding agenda. It isn't a book that sets out to challenge your preconceptions of the era and lead you to see it all in a new light. Instead, he presents the century largely chronologically.

That said, some themes do hold his attention more than others: how Victorians made sense of once unimaginable advances in transportation, industry, etc.; the evolution of politics with the expansion of the franchise and Whigs and Tories giving way to Liberal and Conservative parties (and, at the very end, the emergence of Labour); how Ireland and then empire shaped English politics; and the bureaucratization of government are a few of them. He doesn't draw any forced analogies to the present day, but it is interesting to see the language that Victorians used to discuss the technological changes they were experiencing, which often relied on metaphors drawn from magic and sorcery, and compare it to how we make sense of the radical changes of the current information revolution.

It's the smallest of points, but I am not sure why the subtitle of the book is "From the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee." It is only a difference of four years, but Ackroyd barely mentions the Diamond Jubilee (1897) and he ends his book with Victoria's death (1901).

[Randall Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now comes the era of Charles Dickens. England’s population of 12 million in 1811 goes to 21 million by 1851. In 1851, 7 million English went to church every Sunday while 5.5 million never went. The 1819 Factory Act was the first-time workers under aged nine were not allowed. The act limited work to a grueling 12 hours a day for the older kids. The Six Acts leads to all public meetings of 50 or more people becoming forbidden and authorities could enter any one’s house without warrant. Quakers were prohibited from attending Oxford and Cambridge. Catholic Emancipation becomes law. Bobbies get their name from Robert Peel, who establishes the Metropolitan Police. King George IV is replaced by William IV, the Sailor King who rules until Victoria. Rail travel keeps adding lots of new track. 80% of Europe’s coal and 50% of their iron comes from England. Queen Victoria was evidently highly sexed. This book should have mentioned, but doesn’t, that Queen Victoria was the first member of the Royal family to live at Buckingham Palace.

The 1858 Medical Registration Act specifically excluded women from becoming qualified doctors. Children were finally banned from sweeping chimneys. Seaside and industrial towns flourished in population. Funny how no one swam or wanted the sun yet, in those crowded seaside towns. Racist nineteenth century England liked to portray Irish as criminals and the link between blacks and apes. Not to be ignored, “the Chinese were caricatured as wife-murders and child-beaters.” Such compassion. The Crystal Palace was 900,000 square feet of glass and took 2,000 workers to build. Dueling was now out of fashion. In 1861, only 5% of English children stayed in school after the age of 11. An act of Parliament finally created the sewers of London. Wives still had no property rights. A husband could take all his wealthier wife’s stuff and sell it with no consequences. Then comes the telephone, the transatlantic cable, electric lights, turbine engine, (artificial dye not mentioned in the book), and the automobile. The queen is delighted to become Empress of India, the thrill of ruling another nation by sheer force never gets old for the Brits. In this spirit, England invades the Zulu kingdom, but gets its ass handed back to them with the well-earned massacre of the British. Jack the Ripper only terrorized London for four months and becomes famous for all time. I used to be afraid of Jack the Ripper; reading English History makes me more afraid back then of the British Empire and English “justice”.

On page 200, the Indian Mutinies are mentioned but zero mention of the Sepoy Mutiny and the sadistic English execution technique in Jhelum of “blowing from a gun”, tying of a human to a cannon and then blowing him apart (check it out on Google). This book will give you tiny tidbits about: Gladstone, Disraeli, Dickens, Charles Babbage (who wished we could calculate by using steam or machine), Jeremy Bentham, Thackeray, John Stuart Mill, Charlotte Bronte, Tennyson, Ruskin, Engels, Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll, Oscar Wilde, Gilbert & Sullivan, George Bernard Shaw, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But, it didn’t offer much new info I didn’t know, so for me it was only an ok book.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Ackroyd: ‘Dominion’ - History of England Vol 5.

Ackroyd continues his entertaining romp through the English centuries. The characters are there; the half-forgotten and still barely understood, like Northcliffe, Bentham and Babbage. The celebrated and remembered; Disraeli, Stephenson and Wilde. That strange Victorian melancholy pervades like a London fog. There’s a growing religious indifference, and dour dull Sundays pass in a Turner blur of steam and progress. A sullen Victoria and a bored & frustrated Albert, perhaps contemplating the kind of body piercing that still bears his name. Strange palsies and vapours, wandering flâneurs and musical hall tap dancers, (an appearance by Ackroyd favourite Dan Leno), tenements and piss. There’s explosive Fenian dynamite and foreign misadventure in Egypt and Sudan that brings out the worse of handlebar moustached colonialism, while the Boer War leaves a dirty bloody stain. The time sees great industrial and scientific progress, an emerging genuine concern for the poor and the disenfranchised, and the creeping threat of dark European war. The beginnings of social movements for and by the workers, loud protest and progressive ideas. A thrilling ride through a history we can still touch and see all around us.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This is the happiest day of my life." --King George IV, upon learning of the death of queen consort Caroline of Brunswick, his wife
“It is worth being shot at to see how much one is loved.” --Queen Victoria after an assassination attempt

This series is for a British audience, so I sometimes have trouble understanding all the references. In each of the previous volumes, I've wanted to learn more about the women of the time. I figured this volume would be better because, you know, Queen Victoria. There still wasn't enough information about women for my tastes, but we did get the queen plus Mary Anning, Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, and some others. Coverage of the Crystal Palace exhibition was excellent. I want to read more about the Cleveland Street scandal.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another easy-to-read to volume from Peter Ackroyd. It's the political and social history of Victorian England told like a story but like his earlier volumes it occasionally has a slight tendency to be slightly vague about the meaning and import of events or people. We have Wikipedia for that though!

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

feels spare compared to previous editions. Victoria seems awful.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this. Too dry!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth volume of Peter Ackroyd's history of England and covers the Victorian era. Like the previous volumes it is history written in narrative style which makes it easy to read but sometimes difficult to follow when an event is described without a date. It assumes that the reader has some prior knowledge of English history.
The description of British society during the peak of the empire provides a sobering look at the difficult lives of the citizens. It was a time when something called the middle class began to develop some influence on political events and challenge the landed gentry. The book covers in some detail the many changes of government as political interests evolved from many fragmented ones into what we recognize today as political parties.
It is clear that though Britain prided itself in making slavery illegal, it remained a racist society. It is also clear that though slavery based on race was officially illegal, that a form of industrial slavery based on class was strong. This was the era of child labor in the mines and factories. The lowest order of society was known as the 'residuum' and believed to the source of contagion. Wild swings in economic activity led to depressions that caused mass unemployment and starvation. No one understood the source of these swings in economic fortunes and much of the ruling class was protected from the effects.

There were the senseless wars of the empire that were undertaken almost at accident with no sense of strategic purpose e.g. Crimean war.

I was interested to learn that though Florence Nightingale was recognized for the reforms she introduced into caring for the wounded and sick of the Crimean war, there was another notable women who provided care to the soldiers. Mary Seacole was a 'quadroon' from the British West Indies who began nursing British soldiers in Jamaica, and was later drawn to the Crimean war. She was not initially welcomed by Nightingale who had doubts about 'colored' woman. Her assistance was also rejected by the War Office and the Medical Department. Undaunted, she opened her own 'British Hotel' or hospital and built up a group of nurses who alleviated the vastly overcrowded military hospitals.

With the development of the telegraph and railway travel (physicians warned that the human body could not tolerate traveling at 40 mph), there occurred a rise in anxiety among Victorians. Society may have intuited that its underpinnings were shaky and due for massive change. In that it is tempting to draw a parallel to our society today which also copes with a great prevalence of emotional suffering.

[JULIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read something that provided an overview of 19th century England. I tried reading Victorious Century, but the paragraphs seemed to go on forever, and I got lost in the politics of the prime ministers. I got a quarter of the way through it before setting it aside for the time being.

Then I found Dominion, part of Peter Ackroyd's series of the history of England. Although there was still quite a bit about the prime ministers and the politics, there was also more about the social history at the same time. In fact, the politics and social history are intertwined in the sense that solving the problems of the era--poverty, disease, overcrowding, etc.--were more often than not bogged down in the politics, which resulted in little or nothing being done for decades. Eventually, the government had to step in; private societies and church groups could only do so much piecemeal.

All in all, this volume satisfied my need to have an overview. I learned a little about the Crimean War and the Boer Wars (the latter of particular note because my grandparents briefly lived in South Africa around 1902). I understand a little better about the Irish famine and the struggle for Home Rule. And I got a feel for Victorian London in the 1870s, about the time that my grandmother was born (1875). All of which is to say that I'm more prepared for continuing my family history research.

Eventually I'll read Rebellion and Revolution, the third and fourth volumes of this history, to help fill those gaps in my understanding.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, the latest installment in Peter Ackroyd’s ongoing history of the United Kingdom. This covers the period I most like reading about: the Victorian era; though he technically starts it a bit “early,” with the end of the Napoleonic wars. As with his previous books Ackroyd does a good job rotating between the main chronological story, centered mostly on the political stage, and various economic and cultural issues. Keeping with the theme of the series Ackroyd portrays a constantly evolving country, where the government continually strives to catch up to the rapidly changing communities it represents. Following the travails of Wellington, Peel, Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone, and Salisbury the author shows that transformative ideas which at one point seemed heretical could transform within a few years to the mainstream as politicians reacted to the changes their constituencies represented. This ability to adapt spared England the crises faced by her continental neighbors, a point which Ackroyd mentions continuously. Not much of foreign affairs is covered, except as it pertains to the domestic actions of government. All in all a great book, but with few new insights. Great for those wanting a good overview of the UK’s 19th century story.

[robert down · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyable, but perhaps less so then previous inatalments. Maybe it’s the naritive style, sometime a thrilling way to your way through the century: but also requiring previoues knowledge of events. Some of the chapters and stories are very thrilling, as our some of the less well known happanings.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Spanning the end of the Regency, Ackroyd takes readers from the accession of the profligate George IV, whose government was steered by Lord Liverpool... to the "Sailor King" William IV, whose reign saw the modernization of the political system and the abolition of slavery. But it was the accession of Queen Victoria at only eighteen years old that sparked an era of enormous innovation."

I picked up the first book of Peter Ackroyd's History of England series in college--thrilled at the prospect of an intensive and detailed collection of books following English history from William the Conqueror and beyond. Now, five years after graduating college I finally am able to pick up the last book in the series, Dominion: The History of England from the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It's been a long ride but I'm proud of the fact that I finished this series and definitely feel better educated for reading it.

As the last book in Ackroyd's series, Dominion picks up after the events of the Battle of Waterloo, following George IV's regency, and his brother's succession as William IV. Queen Victoria's rise to power is covered, as are the historic innovations and inventions that developed during her reign. As with the previous book in the series, Revolution, Dominion focuses less on the monarchs during its covered time period and more on the law makers and prime ministers who were in power. Every few chapters, in between sections about Downing Street and policy, Ackroyd will expound on various cultural, and social changes England was undergoing during the time--allowing the reader to gain a sense of not only the government during the time, but also the reading, social life, and technology of the time.

As someone who is obsessed with royal history, I definitely found the sections of Dominion where Ackroyd covered various monarchs of the time period much more interesting than his chapters on prime ministers and lawmakers. Dominion is thoroughly detailed and covers extensive material--making it sometimes difficult to follow especially for an American like me who is not necessarily educated on these leaders and their policies. That being said, I feel like I did learn a lot, although it was difficult to keep the names of each politician straight. I think, in light of this, some kind of timeline or chart, with both the names of the monarch and the current prime minister at the time would have been helpful.

The chapters I enjoyed most, besides the ones that focused on the reigns of the three monarchs from this time period, were without a doubt the sections that focused on the developing culture of England. It was so interesting to see how modern day forms of English literature, social structure, theatre, and technology all came into form within this time period. English literacy skyrocketed during this time, and the developing middle class helped create sections of the country's population that would read for fun, participate in leisure activities, and overall generate modern English popular culture. I loved reading about the various magazines, stories, and plays that were developed during this time--especially the chapter about Oscar Wilde and his influence on English society while also being an outsider.

Overall, despite its challenging subject matter--covering a topic not very familiar to me, I really enjoyed reading Dominion: The History of England from the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee by Peter Ackroyd. I feel like I learned a lot about the political and cultural changes England went through during this time, and really hope Ackroyd will consider writing an additional book to this series that covers the World Wars and England's role in them. I feel like it is a topic I, and many others, would enjoy learning about. I am so proud to have finished this series!

[Eoin Holohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 5th installment of Ackroyd's history of England covers Victorian England and its empire. This will be the last of the series that I read. I would like to thank the author for the volumes of information that I have learned from this series knowing nothing very little about English history previously.

I feel the author is losing some steam at this point and is not giving his books the thought he gave earlier volumes. Whilst still mainly engaging I feel the narrative has become slightly less engaging, jumps from topic to topic, and doesn't give some topics the attention they deserve. For example, one chapter deals with parliamentary politics, the Crimean War, and the Indian civil war. The famine in Ireland was covered in only a couple of pages.

I understand he is intending to cover lots of topics in 350 pages so it is understandably light touch in most areas. The book focuses primarily on parliamentary actions by the likes of Gladstone, Robert Peel, Disraeli, Palmerston, and the Duke of Wellington as the Whigs become the liberals and the Tories become Conservatives. Victoria herself does not get alot of coverage apart from if she liked or disliked the various leaders of parliament.

The political issues of the day were really issues of life and death. Legislation introduced reduced the maximum work day to 12 hours and five days a week. They introduced legislation centralising the railways and the postal service, connecting millions. They introduced the remit of schooling to local bodies introducing millions to education. There were sanitation acts trying to clean up open sewers in streets and helping to build sewerage systems in big cities. It was a time of suffrage as many more got the vote and all males were able to vote by Victoria's death. The corn laws were debated for many years during this time which landed interest, represented by the Tories, managed to hold onto for many years.

Queen Victoria is mentioned only in relation to her feelings about each PM that she swore in. Trade Unions get alot of more mention as they clubbed together and became a national force shutting down companies and forcing improved working conditions and hours. There activities culminated in the formation of the labour party and its politicians taking seats in the house of commons.

The situation in Ireland as home rule is sought gets some coverage but probably not enough. Gladst0ne tried his best to get it through government but was roundly defeated by the house of commons who likely had a significant land interest on the island. The effects of the famine only get a cursory mention.

Victorian times were a time of hardship for many, as depicted by Dickens. The workhouses were torturous for people who ended up as residents. But it was all secondary to the leading politician's desire for free trade.

Free trade was making lots of Englishmen lots of money as they traded goods for India and other territorial lands in England and to other countries. The author does not into the Empire in detail but gives the impression it was in its death throes as the Victorian era drew to a close.

England fought several wars during this time, namely the Crimean and Boar wars. The Crimean war was a disaster and the Boar war ended somewhat better after a bad start although they struggled to benefit properly from its spoils.

Thanks Peter for a great series that has severed a great starting point for me to learn about English history. There are many areas that were touched on that I will be reading about in more detail in the future.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth volume of Ackroyd's history of England. I did not enjoy it as much as the previous volumes.

Ackroyd tries to give a life and times sense for each period he covers. I particularly enjoyed the fourth volume focused on the 18th century. It hit the right balance of getting out all of the important facts along with the details and color to make a full picture.

This volume has an awful lot of not very interesting politics. It covers the period where the King lost most of his political power and parliamentary rule took over. There was a parade of 19th century Prime Ministers. Several of them served multiple different times.

During most of the century the Prime Ministers were not very distinguished, despite Ackroyd's attempt to show otherwise. Portland, Shelburne, Addington, Grenville, Peel and Deby march in and out of office.

The controversies of the period are also difficult to follow. There were wave after wave of reform bills to slowly tinker with elections to make them more democratic. The Corn Law was a huge issue. It was a fight over agricultural tariff. The fight over religious freedom for Catholics was a battle over multiple bills about tithes and recusants and civil service reform.

Ackyroyd feels the need to touch on all of these persons and issues and it makes for slow going at times. By the 1860s the politics had evolved into a battle between Gladstone and Disraeli. They were both strong peculiar characters who had firm opposing positions. Ackroyd does a good job with this period.

The non-political parts seem to be add ins. We get a discussion of the huge effect of railroads. Ackroyd outlines the spread of empire, particularly in India and China. He tells the gory and futile story of the Crimean and Boer wars. Most of these set pieces are clear and well done but they seem to be free standing sections. The whole thing is not tied together.

Vocabulary Bonus

Ackroyd is a professional writer who writes in a lucid and clear style. Which is why I was surprised to see two new fancy vocabulary words in two pages.

"The Whigs, once fissiparous, began to congregate together...." "Fissiparous" = tending to break up into parts.

"By which he meant that ...the laws of capitalism are irrefragable." "irrefragable" = not able to be disputed.

[Jack Hrkach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have now read four of the five volumes in this comprehensive history of England. Some may find this period a bit dull. It has mostly to do with the reign of Victoria, and her prime ministers, but she ruled for so long that it includes two wars (Crimean and the disastrous Boer War) and all sorts of invention, new laws protecting more of the English people, and allowing more of them to vote, than any earlier time. The 19th century is the era of the apex of England's long rise to power, but also the beginning of the end of that power. A very important time, but...

While I appreciated all of it, I enjoyed only some of it very much. Ackroyd is a consistently fine writer and as usual has meticulously researched his material. But so much of it deals with prime ministers, whether they were successful or not, whether they were great or not. Two of the greatest are also the most interesting - Gladstone and Disraeli - but I thought that some of the others could have been dealt with more summarily. I am also very interested in cultural and artistic history, and that is not present in abundance, though I appreciated a short section on music hall, and the last chapter begins with Oscar Wilde, and stays with him for some time. Shaw, sadly, is barely mentioned.

I'd say that I found this volume too filled with political aspects and lacking in other areas. Still, I'd recommend this and the first three volumes too to anyone who is quite interested in the history of one of the most important of Western powers . The fifth volume is coming soon and I will certainly read it with relish.

[Shuggy L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a good book but I needed to have more background knowledge of the period in order to get the most out of the narrative. Gladstone, Salisbury, Palmerston and other members of the British government all came across rather indistinguishably as wealthy aristocrats whose power was being eroded by other members of British society. Hence the reform bills and other government measures including education and health care. The general flow seemed to be that the urban industrialists were trying to gain power from the old landed gentry. Additionally, people who had no wealth needed to have their interests represented too. This all seemed to arise because the wealthy didn't share their prosperity in the least. The aristocrats also liked to exploit countries they had conquered abroad in order to protect their interests (wealth) and had little interest in the rights of those people either. Ireland was a case in hand and then some other countries such as Egypt and South Africa. Little care was taken for the common soldier. It was interesting to see how the management of the country transferred from the landowners to a state bureaucracy. To conclude, I have to continue reading about this era to get a better understanding of all the ins and outs of the government parties - Whigs and Conservatives.

[Christopher Dove · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth volume in Peter Ackroyd's history of England. The period covered in this volume is from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the death of Victoria in 1901. Ackroyd's work is always well researched and there is an extensive bibliography at the back of the book, but it is also wonderfully idiosyncratic. Of course, all the major events of the 19th Century are covered and the key statesmen such as Wellington, Disraeli and Gladstone have an important place in the narrative. But in some ways it is the alleys and byways of English history that Ackroyd takes us down that are the most fascinating, perhaps because they are not covered so often. So there is a section on the music hall and entertainment for the masses. There is a chapter devoted to 'The Tichborne affair.' This was a legal case I had never even heard of, but which apparently caused a huge sensation in Victorian England. There is also a chapter devoted to Oscar Wilde. It is Ackroyd's personal take on what are the key events of the 19th century that make this book such an enjoyable and fascinating read.

[Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I'm a BIG fan of Ackroyd in general and particularly this series of English history. Having said that, this book was hard work. What has always made this history series so appealing to me was Ackroyd's side chapters into the mundane everyday life of the people in each period, the popular art as well as the classic art, the economics of existence, the language, the medicine. There is some of that in this volume, but Ackroyd gives overwhelming attention to the politics of the century, the partisan challenges, the votes in Parliament, the comments of politicians on each others' behavior, the lack of policy, the development of policy, and ...well, you get the picture. This is a brilliant writer who gets bogged down. I get the fact that this was an evolutionary time in party politics in England, but surely, there was so much more to write about? This one was quite a slog........Ackroyd's entertaining style and research gets this the third star. I'm glad it's over.

[Alexander Thornborough · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable prose, but a bit too into the weeds of specific policy and actions of the prime ministers at the expense of conveying the bigger picture of the times. This felt like a history of England's key policy makers -- Wellesley, Gladstone, Disraeli, and sometimes Victoria in the background -- not of England as such. We get a picture of deadlock in the administration, the surprisingly pessimistic late Victorian political self-image, but only fleeting glimpses of the social history or broader impacts of the British Empire.
Ackroyd may have just not set out to write that kind of history, and to be fair most popular coverage of the Victorian period does trend in the other direction, centering around the working poor and effects of industrialization, so this far more politically focused history certainly has a place. But I think it would have benefited from a slight shift in the balance.

[Becca Packer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isn't it wild how history just keeps repeating itself. Kind of felt like listening to the news now a days.

Anyway, this was not the best volume in this series. A lot of politics (A LOT) and not much of anything else really. Queen Victoria was barely mentioned, which is a shame because she was fascinating. Jack the Ripper got a single sentence, but only in relation to how he wasn't a really person just a circumstance of the time. Dickens was mentioned a few times but only in context ("as seen in Oliver Twist...").
I get it politics and government is the driving force of history (okay not really) but it was so tedious and this is why art is important to keep in schools.

I miss the days of Kings yelling "to war!" Really anything after Bosworth field, I am starting to realise I have no interest in.

[Walter Bowne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The social and cultural elements were more, say entertaining, than the pages upon pages of the roulette wheel of prime minsyters... Pitt, Disraeli, Goldtsone, Palmerston, etc. But still a great study of the time period. Two wars, the Crimean War and the Boer War, plus the early Irish risings for Indepedence, were things I knew about, but only superficially. Would have liked more literature, but that's included too, the Dickens and Eliot, but I would have prefered more culture than politics. Would have liked more analysis of UK relationship with US too, espeically during Civil War and US Alabama. It's amazing how deeply racist the society was, but not surprising. Still a good read for history buffs.

[Riet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is het 5de boek in een serie. Ergens heb ik nummer 3 of 4 gemist. Dit deel behandelt voornamelijk het tijdperk van koningin Victoria. Niet dat het zoveel over haar gaat, maar zij beheerste toch bijna de hele 19de eeuw. Goed geschreven, net als alle geschiedenisboeken van Ackroyd, maar dit boek heeft naar mijn smaak wat veel politiek. En politiek in het Engeland van die eeuw was ingewikkeld. Het is vaak niet duidelik waar de partijen voor staan. Eigenlijk zijn ze allemaal min of meer hetzelfde. Dat verandert pas aan het eind van de eeuw. Ackroyd beschrijft duidelijk hoe Engeland in deze eeuw langzaam verandert van een sterke klassenmaatschappij in iets wat meer mensen een kans lijkt te geven.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a competent summary of the Victorian period, I think this is a good place to start. It covers the period in a series of topical summaries arranged somewhat chronologically that touch on major events and people living during the Nineteenth Century in England. However, there isn't much of a driving point of view or purpose beyond summarizing the period, and so I found myself putting it down often and finally returning it to the library before I had quite reached the end. From this author I recommend his biography of London London: The Biography, but this one was less interesting to me.

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Victorians are usually characterized as a very staid, static, and boring group of people who were frozen in tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were artists who gave us some of the greatest works of English literature, scientists who gave us both evolution and Maxwell's equations, and politicians who (perhaps slowly) expanded voting rights, corrected electoral abuses, and began to apply corrections to the worst aspects of unfettered free enterprise. In many ways they were extremely innovative and adventurous. With a particular focus on politics, Peter Ackroyd has given us a workmanlike, if somewhat dry, account of this fascinating group of people. This is not a bad introduction to the Victorian Era.