Revisiting The Polite and Commercial People

Essays in Georgian Politics, Society, and Culture in Honour of Professor Paul Langford

Edited by Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci

An authoritative reassessment of Paul Langford's work, and the impact it has had on the past 30 years of Georgian history studies
Serves to re-connect various recent avenues of Georgian studies, bringing together diverse themes present in Paul's scholarship, but which are often studied independently of each other

Revisiting The Polite and Commercial People

Essays in Georgian Politics, Society, and Culture in Honour of Professor Paul Langford

Edited by Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci

Description

For some time before his death in July 2015, former colleagues and students of Paul Langford had discussed the possibility of organising a festschrift to celebrate his remarkable contribution to eighteenth-century history. It was planned for 2019 to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of his seminal A Polite and Commercial People, the opening volume in the New Oxford History of England series, Paul's best-known and most influential publication. He was delighted to hear of these plans and the tragic news of his death only made the contributors more determined to see the project through to completion.

The importance of A Polite and Commercial People within its own time is unquestionable. Not only did it provide a powerful new vision of eighteenth-century Britain, but it also played a vital part in reviving interest in, and expanding ways of thinking about, Georgian history. As the thirteen contributors to this volume amply testify, any review of the field from the 1980s onwards cannot ignore the profound effect Paul's research had on the social and political publications in his field. This collection of essays combines reflection on the impact of Paul's work with further engagement with the central questions he posed. In particular, it serves to re-connect various recent avenues of Georgian studies, bringing together diverse themes present in Paul's scholarship, but which are often studied independently of each other. As such, it aims to provide a fitting tribute to Paul's work and impact, and a wider reassessment of the current direction of eighteenth-century studies.

Revisiting The Polite and Commercial People

Essays in Georgian Politics, Society, and Culture in Honour of Professor Paul Langford

Edited by Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci

Introduction: Paul Langford (1945-2015), Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci
Politics
1. The Public Life and Death of a Propertied, but Artificial Person: The Divestment of the Royal African Company and a Reconciliation of Parliamentary Supremacy and the Sanctity of Property, 1747-52, William A. Pettigrew
2. East Meets West: John Paterson and the Politics of Improvement in Georgian London, Perry Gauci
3. Parliament Observed: The Gallery of the Old House of Commons, Paul Seaward
4. The Sailor, the Lover, the Husband, and the King: Images of William IV and Change and Continuity in Visual Representations of Elite English society, 1765-1837, Cindy McCreery
Society and Culture
5. The City of London in the Eighteenth century: Corporate Pressures and their Consequences, Ian Doolittle
6. Fantasy, Speculation, and the British State Lottery in the Eighteenth Century, Bob Harris
7. A Devout and Commercial people: Religion and Trade in Manchester during the Long Eighteenth Century, Hannah Barker
8. Antiquarian Transformations in Historical Scholarship: The History of Domesticity from Joseph Strutt to Thomas Wright, Rosemary Sweet
Britain and the World
9. A Polite and Commercial People in the Caribbean: the British in St Vincent, Peter Marshall
10. British Imperial Policy and the American Revolution, Andrew O'Shaughnessy
11. The Harcourts: Anglo-French Relations in a Time of Revolution, Leslie Mitchell
12. Becoming an Englishwoman: Gender, Politeness, and Identity in the Age of Revolutions, Elaine Chalus
13. Afterword: Polite and Commercial's Twin: Public Life and the Propertied Englishman 1689-1789, Joanna Innes
A Bibliography of the Major Works of Paul Langford

Revisiting The Polite and Commercial People

Essays in Georgian Politics, Society, and Culture in Honour of Professor Paul Langford

Edited by Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci

Author Information

Elaine Chalus, Professor of British History, Head of Department of History, University of Liverpool,Perry Gauci, VHH Green Fellow in British History, Lincoln College, Oxford

Elaine Chalus (FRHistS) is Professor of British History at the University of Liverpool. An expert on gender and political culture, Elaine completed her doctorate under Paul Langford. Her numerous publications - especially Elite Women in English Political Life c.1754-1790 (2005) - owe much to his guidance. She is currently preparing a monograph for OUP, based on the forty surviving volumes of Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle's journals. She serves on editorial boards for Women's History Review, Parliamentary History Journal, and the History of Parliament Trust, where she is Section Editor for the House of Lords, 1660-1832.

Perry Gauci is currently the VHH Green Fellow in British History at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was fortunate to be one of Paul Langford's undergraduate students at the college, and his interests in eighteenth-century social and political history owe so much to Paul's teaching and published work.

Contributors:

Hannah Barker
Elaine Chalus
Ian Doolittle
Perry Gauci
Bob Harris
Joanna Innes
Peter Marshall
Cindy McCreery
Leslie Mitchell
Andrew O'Shaughnessy
William A. Pettigrew
Paul Seaward
Rosemary Sweet

Revisiting The Polite and Commercial People

Essays in Georgian Politics, Society, and Culture in Honour of Professor Paul Langford

Edited by Elaine Chalus and Perry Gauci

Reviews and Awards

"Revisiting the Polite and Commercial People is both a memorial festschrift to Langford and an extended reflection upon the themes that have made the book such an enduring, and influential, reference point in the thirty years since its publication." -- Richard A. Gaunt, Journal of British Studies

"Every essay in this volume made me reconsider something or taught me something new about the 18th century and it came as the perfect tonic at the end of a busy academic year. It is a fitting tribute to Langford's fundamental contributions to 18th-century history and is a fantastic collection of essays in its own right." -- Andrew Thompson , The Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust 2019