The Whig Revival, 1808-1830

William Anthony Hay provides in this book a brilliant reassessment of British party politics in the first third of the Nineteenth Century. The transformation of the Whig party between 1808 and 1830 laid the foundations for the Whig-Liberal ascendancy that dominated British politics until 1886. On the basis of painstaking research Hay shows how and why the Whigs gained power in 1830. With their ranks thinning after the collapse of the Whig-dominated Talents Ministry in 1807, the party seemed doomed to obscurity. Byron famously quipped that "Nought's permanent among the human race/Except the Whigs not getting into place." Contrary to expectations, the whigs had rebuilt their support by 1830 through an alliance with provincial interest groups brokered by Henry Brougham. While Edmund Burke had crafted the original justification for party activity by the Rockingham Whigs, Brougham applied the concept practically and extended it beyond Parliament to the political nation as a whole. In doing so, he integrated the vibrant popular politics of the Hanoverian counties and boroughs into the struggle for power at Westminster. Hay makes clear how Brougham's appeals to provincial merchants, manufacturers, and religious Dissenters transformed a faction of aristocratic, metropolitan oriented Whigs into the dominant force of Victorian Britain.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Party Structure and the Whigs in British Politics Elections, the Press, and Whig Tactics in Opposition: 1812-17 1818 and the Westmorland Election Social Tension and Party Politics in 1819 Public Opinion and the Limits of Opposition: 1820-26 A Revolution in Parties: 1827-30 Conclusion Notes Bibliography

About the Author :
WILLIAM HAY is Assistant Professor of History at Mississippi State University and a Senior Fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has published on British history and international relations in journals including Diplomacy & Statecraft, Albion, and Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs.

Review :
'An incisive analysis of British political culture in the early nineteenth century that throws much light on the transformation from ancient regime to liberal Britain. Skillfully linking political ideas and practices, Hay's work is of major importance for our understanding of the nineteenth century political world in Britain.' - Professor Jeremy Black, University of Exeter 'The Whig Party in the first three decades of the Nineteenth Century is a topic that has long cried out for a serious reappraisal...Now at last Hay has come to their rescue in a fine new history that fully appreciates their importance.' - Richard W. Davis, Emeritus Professor of History, Washington University in St. Louis 'Scholarly, lucid and insightful, The Whig Revival offers an important reappraisal of the Whig party's wilderness years. This is political history of the highest level.' - Dr. Amanda Foreman, Queen Mary College, London University, Uk