Made in China: import,distribution and consumption of Chinese porcelain in Copenhagen c. 1600–1760

Excavations in a refuse dump area in Copenhagen, dated c. 1650–1760, have produced large quantities of Chinese porcelain which reveal considerable consumption of Oriental porcelain in the city, pre-dating the establishment of direct trade with China. The character of the porcelain dated to the first 30 years of the Danish China trade may indicate a socially wider consumption of Chinese porcelain than has been generally assumed. When comparing archaeological and documentary data, a differentiated picture of the import, distribution and consumption of Chinese porcelain in the Danish capital emerges.     

Welsh Sojourners in India: The East India Company,Networks and Patronage,c. 1760–1840

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, within the framework of imperial expansion and exploitation there were opportunities for individuals to acquire wealth and power. Several men grew wealthy in India through the opportunities afforded to them by the East India Company, with lucrative careers and the possibility of generating money through commerce and trade. Britain witnessed the return of several East Indians, or ‘nabobs’ as individuals who returned home with considerable wealth were called. Indeed, some of these nabobs succeeded in amassing sizeable fortunes during their time in the East. This article aims to address a neglected area in the historiography, by examining the experiences of Welshmen as sojourners in India. In comparison with Scotland in particular, but also England and Ireland, the Welsh dimension of the East India Company is under-researched. This article highlights the existence of networks of patronage in existence in Wales which facilitated the voyage out to India and the return home of men in the employ of the East India Company during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Networks were predominantly regional or familial, with family members supporting and sustaining loved ones during their time in India, and aiding them in their return home at the end of their sojourn in the East. The importance of letters in maintaining links with home is explored, not only as a method of relaying news, but also as a means for the sojourner to maintain an emotional link with home, and ultimately to lay the groundwork for a smooth transition home. How these Welshmen viewed themselves while out in India will be analysed, and the multi-layered nature of concepts of identity explored. Identity could be regional in focus, while some showed an awareness of a Welsh identity. Integration within the broader framework of the British East India Company is evident, as is the broader European community in the East.     

Book-hunters and Book-huntresses: Gender and Cultures of Antiquarian Book Collecting in Britain,c. 1880–1900

The late-nineteenth century saw private book collecting gain a renewed respectability and cultural cachet as a leisure pursuit for the upper- and middle classes. This paper examines representations of collectors in the literature belonging to a new genre of writing which emerged for the ‘book-hunter’: a late-Victorian variant of the book-collecting passion which could encompass aesthetes and antiquarians as well as aspiring amateurs of more moderate means. It will show how, during the 1880s and 1890s, this particular type of collecting practice was used rhetorically in a range of printed material to venerate ‘gentlemanly’ book-buying, in contrast to feminine forms of engagement with old books in particular. In spite of women's comparative lack of advantage in the market for antiquarian editions, however, I argue that such a critique would not have been articulated so forcefully had women not been taking a determined interest in rare books. Evidence from central London booksellers during this period suggests that a variety of women were making antiquarian collections of their own. Male bibliophiles who denigrated female book-buyers in the periodical press were attempting to partially invent a homosocial tradition of collecting in order to distance their own pursuit from what they saw as the more emasculating elements of modern consumerism. This was a response not just to developments in contemporary print culture, but also to the growing appreciation of second-hand goods of all kinds among affluent female consumers with aesthetic and literary tastes shaped independently of male judgments.     

Passion,Parliament, and the Pen: Articulations of Female Citizenship in Britain,c.1790–1890

Among the plethora of political shifts that defined the Age of Reform, this article will uncover a female narrative of changing conceptions of citizenship, asserting that, despite their formal exclusion, women articulated a distinctly female understanding of citizenship through writing. Furthermore, it will explore the significance of parliament to women's experiences. The spaces in which citizenship was performed are integral to understanding its conception, and the significance of the franchise in 19th-century political culture made parliament a fundamental space for those pursuing citizenship rights. Women from a diverse range of backgrounds articulated their inherently female experiences in their writing as they engaged with the discourses of citizenship that surrounded them. A collection of central themes and issues characterised their writing: honour and legality; representation and the franchise; local and municipal politics; marriage; education; and professional and employment opportunities. These texts illuminate the emerging self-conception of female citizenship by women whose lived experiences were coloured by the historical shifts of reform. Consequently, the tapestry of these texts is formed of an intricately connected web of threads that both merge and deviate from one another around their individual focus, intention, or argument. However, collectively they suggest a resoundingly harmonious image, demonstrating that, although varying between individuals, a whole multitude of women from across society were experiencing this realisation of their right to equal citizenship.     

Evangelicalism and the early vegetarian movement in Britain c.1847–1860

This article explores the complex inter-relationship between evangelicalism and the formation of an organised vegetarian movement in Britain in the period 1847–1860. As well as adding insight into existing historical research into the diet, I will comment on the potential of evangelicalism's influence to reach into various areas of society, a claim that has often been contested in the existing historiography. I will explore the manner by which religious belief interacted with medico-scientific views pertaining to diet; and how it penetrated views on the role of diet to family life.     

The Bang Beggars of Derry city: borough policing in Londonderry,c.1832–70

Was Derry's independent city police force wholly inadequate, was it just inefficient for the suppression of riots; or was it the demonstration of politico-religious partisanship that ensured the force's abolition in 1870? This paper will attempt to explore and answer these three questions. It will also look at the borough force in some detail, examining issues with regard to the force's pay, discipline, its duties and conditions of service. It will not attempt to analyse Derry's nineteenth-century riots or the political and sectarian issues surrounding these riots, except where aspects of these directly affected the borough police.     

Citizens of Nowhere: longing,belonging and exile among Irish Protestant writers in Britain,c.1830–1970

Since the 1970s, the literature on the history of the worldwide Irish diaspora has become increasingly sophisticated, with scholars employing a range of innovative techniques to capture aspects of the migratory experience. Many challenges remain, however, in charting the multifaceted experiences of the Irish in Britain. This article makes the case for a cultural study of Irish Protestants in Britain. It examines the contours of the Irish Protestant migratory mind-set, focusing on the writings of a number of creative émigrés, temporary and permanent, such as W.B. Yeats, Denis Ireland, Nesca Robb, and John Hewitt. Of particular relevance are articulations of longing, belonging and exile, which shaped the literary perspective of these writers, and complicated their relationships with Ireland and Britain. Attitudes regarding emigration within Protestant Ireland are also probed to tease out cross-channel ideals and fears.     

Marketing health education: advertising margarine and visualising health in Britain from 1964–c.2000

During the post-war period, margarine was re-conceptualised as a value-added product with distinct health benefits. This article contextualises the advertising of margarine as a healthy food, focusing on Unilever’s Flora brand as an important case study in legitimising the emergent role of disease prevention as a marketing tool. It uses the methodology of visual culture to examine how advertising employed chronic disease prevention as a selling tool. This article assesses how the post-war environment gave rise to new ways of visually advertising food, and how these promoted innovative visualisations of food, the body and their interactions with health.     

Towards a definition of naval elites: reconsidering social change in Britain,France and Spain,c.1670–1810

Abstract

This work proposes the term ‘naval elites’ in order to provide a new interpretation of social change in the eighteenth century from a comparative perspective. Naval elites, a social group formed by a part of the naval officer corps and midshipmen, are here defined as a historical instrument, the particular and intriguing features of which may be useful in the revision of some perspectives on social change. In particular, the authors analyse shifting power relationships through the reconsideration of naval patronage and bureaucracy, revisit the process of naval professionalization and the transformation of the concept of merit, and suggest that naval elites embodied new notions of social distinction and exclusiveness.