In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the City of York with its majestic Minster and two thousand year history was as popular with tourists as it is today. Detailed guide books, such as Black's Guide to Yorkshire, were available to help visitors make the most of their stay. Black's was updated each year and included historical facts about local towns and villages, where to stay, what to see and excursions to places of interest. This 60 page booklet combines text relating to York from Black's Guide, published in 1888, with photographs taken from postcards and 'magic lantern' projection slides owned by the Keasbury-Gordon Photograph Archive. It is in three parts. The first is thirty photographs, most of which were taken between 1890 and 1920; the second, a detailed, visitor's guide to York and the third, a general history and description of Yorkshire. The texts for parts two and three are reproduced from the 1888 guide-book. The Black's Guide text and the photographs complement each other and enable us to travel back in time to visit one of Britain's most interesting, historic cities.
Second edition of The Pocket Guide to Edwardian England, newly revised and expanded. The Edwardian Era simplified, organized, and easy to reference. Aimed towards writers of historical fiction, though genealogists, Downton Abbey fans, and the curious alike will find this an excellent starting point for their own research. Compiled from lectures and blog posts on Edwardian Promenade, as well as 70% more original content, Edwardian England: A Guide to Everyday Life, 1900-1914 poses to give a entry level, but thorough look at the time period made popular by Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge.
Bonnets, capes, caps, shawls, bodices, and crinolines as people actually wore them from 1840 to 1914. More than 200 photos depict aristocrats and members of the middle class as well as celebrities.
Using different combinations of historical techniques and sources (including coroners' private case papers), this examines four major elements of suicide in Victorian and Edwardian England: suicide rates and distribution; individual experiences; social attitudes; and efforts at prevention.
This study of the working classes of York in the late Victorian period places respectability at the heart of the interpretation of working-class culture, drawing attention to its distinctive role within working-class daily life while eschewing a class-based analysis. Through an investigation of workers’ actions, choice-making and personal testimony, and using a wide range of textual and non-textual sources, a picture is produced of what it meant to be respectable in working-class communities and respectability’s role in personal and community identity formation. Not only is the importance of gender-based notions of the male breadwinner and female homemaker explored, but fresh light is cast on how respectability was engaged with and negotiated in everyday contexts. Respectability is shown to be a dynamic and culturally creative process with workers building their identities within the confines of “structural” constraints, including street and neighbourhood based mores and institutions, but with a measure of self-generated cultural, social and organisational space. Far from respectability being a function of socio-economic differentiation, even the poorest are shown to have aspired to join self-help organisations and become worthy citizens. Crucially, “working-class respectability” is shown to have been moral and Christian in character—underpinned by a form of diffusive Christianity that was robust and vital rather than some kind of legacy cultural and religious phenomenon. Although different attributes of respectability could be prioritised within working-class circles, respectability is seen as a distinctive and essentially pan-class culture centred on a set of universal values which distinguished and defined the respectable citizen and separated him from imagined or real rough “Others.” This study will appeal to readers interested in social and cultural history, gender studies and material culture. York inhabitants are given their own voice through hitherto unpublished, as well as published, oral and written testimony. Worker and family attitudes are analysed in the everyday contexts of work, home, neighbourhood and leisure, and as part of the wide-ranging discussion, attention is paid to the cultural significance of what working people ate and wore, and what goods they bought to furnish their often very modest homes. The emphasis throughout is on a “grass-roots” analysis, showing clearly how and why respectability answered the needs and aspirations of most ordinary Victorian and Edwardian workers and their families.
In the heyday of Empire just before the First World War, Lord Cromer was second only to Lord Curzon in fame and public esteem. In the days when Cairo and Calcutta represented the twin poles of British power in Asia and Africa, Cromer's commanding presence seemed to radiate the essential spiritof imperial rule. In this first modern biography Roger Owen charts the life of the man revered by the British and hated by today's Egyptians, the real ruler of Egypt for nearly a quarter of a century.A member of the famous City banking family of Baring Brothers, Cromer in his youth seemed to be distinguished mainly by lack of academic ability and a taste for the fashionable pursuits of his day. His first military posting, to Corfu, was welcomed by him on account of the excellent shooting to behad in the region. Roger Owen shows how, almost imperceptibly, his commitment to public service grew, due in part at least to his relationship with Ethel Errington who, after long delay, became his first wife. From the island outposts of the old British Empire, to India, the jewel in its crown, and finally to the new Empire in Africa, Cromer represented the might of Britain's Empire. Few imperial administrators had either his range of experience or his long practice of ruling different non-Europeanpeoples, at a time when the whole notion of Empire itself entered more and more into the metropolitan political debate. Roger Owen makes extensive use of Cromer's official correspondence, family papers, memoirs, and the personal letters of his friends and colleagues to explore all aspects of Cromer's life in imperial government. He examines his innovative role in international finance and his energetic re-engagementwith Britain's troubled political life following his formal retirement in 1907. Finally, he assesses the sometimes bitter legacy of imperial rule left by Cromer.
