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1 England During the First World War, Trent Bridge cricket ground was transformed from being the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, accustomed to the gentle sound of leather on willow, to serving as a hospital for wounded soldiers returning from the Western Front. While the hospital was initially established by the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) in 1915, its expansion was overseen by Lady Bruce, a doyenne of Ulster Unionist politics who had strong family connections with Nottingham. Bruce was responsible for turning the new facility in the west wing of
2981 The politics 23/1/07 10:01 Page 183 10 England: a British relationship In September 2002 the then Home Secretary David Blunkett appointed Professor Sir Bernard Crick to a post which the BBC, in tabloid style, referred to as ‘Britishness chief’. Crick had actually been selected to chair a committee to advise the Home Secretary on the design of a citizenship syllabus for those seeking full British citizenship. This involved the provision of language skills and practical information about Britain such as the National Health Service, schooling, political
The cricket phenomenon which has captured the imagination of succeeding generations of Australians, Indians, New Zealanders, Pakistanis, South Africans and West Indians, among others, was established in nineteenth-century England when the Victorians began glorifying the game as a perfect system of manners, ethics and morals. Far from being a simple physical activity, cricket
Westminster contemplated the political task ahead of it: uniting the (unspecified) country around a withdrawal from the EU whilst simultaneously seeking new allies and keeping the United Kingdom from coming apart at its national seams in the process. England is a problem. Or rather, Britain’s political classes have a problem situating England within the United Kingdom’s changing constitutional framework and the UK’s shifting position in the global order. England’s problematic place in the United Kingdom, and hence in the European Union and beyond, was a
6 England’s extremity It is a mistake to view Ireland’s response to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 in pro- or anti-British terms. There was a very real sense that this was Ireland’s war, as the issues of participation and the enactment of Home Rule merged in the general euphoria of Nationalist Ireland. As Jeffery has pointed out, this was a war for big words. It was a war for the freedom of small nations, for King, Country, Democracy, Duty and Liberty.1 There was a widespread conviction among nationalists that now was the time for Europe’s newest
This book is a response to a demand for a history which is no less social than political, investigating what it meant to be a citizen of England living through the 1570s and 1580s. It examines the growing conviction of ‘Englishness’ in the sixteenth century, through the rapidly developing English language; the reinforcement of cultural nationalism as a result of the Protestant Reformation; the national and international situation of England at a time of acute national catastrophe; and through Queen Elizabeth I, the last of her line, who remained unmarried throughout her reign, refusing to even discuss the succession to her throne. The book explores the conviction among leading Elizabethans that they were citizens and subjects, also responsible for the safety of their commonwealth. The tensions between this conviction, born from a childhood spent in the Renaissance classics and in the subjection to the Old Testament of the English Bible, and the dynastic claims of the Tudor monarchy, are all explored at length. Studies of a number of writers who fixed the image of sixteenth-century England for some time to come; Foxe, Camden and other pioneers of the discovery of England are also included.
Using original source material, This book seeks to explore the nature of religious belief and practice in pre-Reformation England. For most people in England the main access to the Bible, and indeed to instruction in the faith, would be through hearing priests from their pulpits. The book demonstrates with immediacy and potency the diverse expressions of faith and observance. It discusses the varieties of spirituality in later medieval England and the ways in which they received expression, through participation in church services, actions like pilgrimages, charitable foundations, devotional readings and instruction. Opposition to prevailing spirituality, expressed through 'Lollardy', is also considered. There is a great deal of written evidence for both the theory and the practice of late medieval English religion and spirituality. The mass was the central ceremony of the Church: the consecration of the bread and wine to become the body and blood of Christ. Within Christianity, the principal focus of devotion was necessarily the divinity, in particular Christ, the second person of the Trinity. While there was considerable concern to accumulate spiritual benefits during life, the most important issue was to secure salvation after death. For those who sought advanced domestic spiritual satisfaction, an episcopal licence for the celebration of divine offices within a private chapel or oratory was necessary.
It could be argued that the English always have discussed their national identity at length, if not 'with arms', and rarely at the dinner table. This book introduces the diversity of reflection on Englishness in a number of stages. 'Versions' of England are particularly apparent when reading contemporary travel writing on and about England. The relationship between the claims of continuity and the claims of change can be captured by understanding Englishness as conversation. The book brings together insights from English history, politics, constitutional affairs, literature, psephology and social psychology to provide a digest of current reflection and is divided into three complementary parts. In the first part, the nuances and subtleties of Englishness are explored. It also explores the conceptual structure and sociological texture of what such a cosmopolitan England would look like. The part discusses conversational etiquette of English national self-identification, the fear of an 'English backlash', and the non-white ethnic minority communities. The second part considers Englishness in politics and institutions. After 1997, the Labour government believed that devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland dealt with England in the appropriately English way: pragmatic adjustment without provocation. It includes discussions on Conservatism and Englishness, Gordon Brown and the negation of England, and the Britain central government. The third part reprises the themes discussed in the previous parts with a historical and literary emphasis. It includes discussions on the changing face of Englishness, and the English union in the writings of Arthur Mee and G.K. Chesterton.
ENGLAND Chapter VIII On a fine, sunny, autumn morning in 1886, I arrived at Harwich, England. The language I heard around me sounded like one long word which, I felt, I could never learn to understand, much less speak. An interpreter put me on the train for Liverpool St., London in the corner of a compartment, three of which were already occupied. My vis-a-vis was an Englishman who spoke excellent German, and made a favourable impression upon me. He knew the route well and I received quite a lesson in geography on villages and hamlets we passed which had not