English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria

by George Macaulay Trevelyan, Asa Briggs (Introduction)

Social history, writes G.M. Trevelyan, is "the history of a people with the politics left out". This book offers an unparalleled portrait of everyday English life, from the emergence of the English as "a racial and cultural unit" in Chaucer's day through six varied and kaleidoscopic centuries to 1901. Beneath the surface of the great changes in political and military history "social change moves like an underground river"; it is Trevelyan's unique achievement in this inspiring and evocative book to capture every tiny detail of its ebb and flow.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

George Macaulay Trevelyan, OM, CBE, FRS, FBA, was an English historian. Trevelyan was the third son of Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, and great-nephew of Thomas Babington Macaulay, whose staunch liberal Whig principles he espoused in accessible works of literate narrative avoiding a consciously dispassionate analysis, that became old-fashioned during his long and productive career. Contemporary E. H. Carr considered Trevelyan to be one of the last historians of the Whig tradition.

Many of his writings promoted the Whig Party, an important aspect of British politics from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, and of its successor, the Liberal Party. Whigs and Liberals believed the common people had a more positive effect on history than did royalty and that democratic government would bring about steady social progress.

Trevelyan's history is engaged and partisan. Of his Garibaldi trilogy, "reeking with bias", he remarked in his essay "Bias in History", "Without bias, I should never have written them at all. For I was moved to write them by a poetical sympathy with the passions of the Italian patriots of the period, which I retrospectively shared."

Reviews

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in December 2000.

Trevelyan's best known work is a pioneering classic, and in many respects remains a great achievement. It covers the period from the early fourteenth century to the end of the nineteenth, and is one of the very first attempts to describe everyday life in England between these dates. It is not entirely consistent in approach, but in the main it centres around certain individuals whose writing is important in understanding their times: Chaucer, Defoe and Cobbett, for example.

While much of the writing is coloured by an upper class patrician attitude, and the history concentrates a bit too much on the experiences of the middle and upper classes - I can't really see that the change in fashion from deer to fox hunting, or the development of the examination system at Oxbridge really had much effect on the average English person - it remains a useful outline guide. More space could be given to the later periods, which had the most formative influence on our own society; at least, I feel that, because to me much of the interest in social history is concerned with how the culture in which we live today came about. Some sections are less interesting and there are occasional patches of arch humour that have dated badly. These are matched with some fascinating pieves of historical writing, notably the essay about the transition from medieval to modern Britain, which is a tour de force.

A lot of the popular history which you still see in bookshops was written about fifty or sixty years ago, like this book. It is still there because it is well written, but perhaps it is about time to move on.

[Martin Empson · Rating 2 out of 5]

History isn't as simple as Trevelyan thought, and England certainly wasn't as unique as he dreamed. So while there is much in this book that modern readers will find useful and enjoyable, it is also sadly flawed.
Full review: http://resolutereader.blogspot.co.uk/...

[Roger Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but parts were definitely trying to prove how great the English are/were which was not necessarily true. The Scottish clearances was completely ignored and the Scots supposedly migrated to other parts of the UK or the world voluntarily. The British dominance of the oceans was definitely a major influence on the outcome of world history, but little was said about the life of the sailors recruited by the press gangs. Parts were good as for background information about the life of the non-aristocrats in England at the time of my ancestors, but only in a general way. Some chapters had a section of suggested further reading, but unfortunately this was not for every section.

[Stephen Hemingway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am no historian, but this opened my eyes to a lot of stuff I didn't know about: for example, how the loss of life in the Black Death had a huge impact on the relationship between the classes over the next century, including the transition to mostly livestock farming, especially wool production (because this is much less labour-intensive than arable).

[K. Kumar Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of his political ideologies are reflected in this piece of English History. Well written and the narration has a flow till the end, as if it is a fictional story. Somehow, while reading the pages penned by Trevelyan... I felt that our social history (Indian) is very much similar to the English, except that the 'reformation' happened at a later period in our society.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful example of popular history--well-written, smart and even-handed. It surprisingly hardly feels dated. It's funny to see things from Trevelyan's perspective writing as he was in 1939 before the start of the war and publishing it after. Highly recommended.

[Giovanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro molto interessante.Piacevolmente scorrevole e ricco di spunti per ulteriori approfondimenti.Consigliato a chiunque abbia voglia di conoscere.

[Wyntrnoire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!!