History of England

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Formation of the United Kingdom
The Acts of Union between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed by both parliaments in 1707, which dissolved them in order to form a Kingdom of Great Britain governed by a unified Parliament of Great Britain according to the Treaty of Union. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate states, with separate legislatures but with the same monarch) into a single Kingdom of Great Britain.[17]
The two countries had shared a monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head. There had been three attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689 to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that the idea had the will of both political establishments behind them, albeit for rather different reasons.
The Acts took effect on 1 May 1707. On this date, the Scots Parliament and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain, based in the Palace of Westminster in London, the home of the English Parliament.[18] Hence, the Acts are referred to as the Union of the Parliaments. On the Union, historian Simon Schama said "What began as a hostile merger, would end in a full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world ... it was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history."[19]
In 1714, the reign of Queen Anne ended. Anne was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. She was succeeded by her second cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover, who was a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of James VI & I.[20] A series of Jacobite rebellions broke out in an attempt to restore the Stuart monarchy, but all ultimately failed. Several Planned French Invasions were attempted, also with the intention of placing the Stuarts on the throne.

The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours.[21]


The Act of Union of 1800 formally assimilated Ireland within the British political process and from 1 January 1801 created a new state called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland to form a single political entity. The English capital of London was adopted as the capital of the Union.

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Modern England, 18th-19th centuries
Main article: History of the United Kingdom
Further information: Social history of England and History of local government in England#The evolution of modern local government (1832-1974)
Following the formation of the United Kingdom, the history of England is no longer the history of a nation, but rather the history of a constituent country which is a part of the United Kingdom.
In the early 18th century, there were roughly 10 million people living in England, and an estimated two million were, “vagrants, rogues, prostitutes, beggars or indigents.”[22] In 18th century England, half the population was at least occasionally dependent on charity for subsistence.[23]

[edit] Industrial Revolution

Main article: Economic history of Britain
During the late 18th century and early 19th century, there was considerable social upheaval as a largely agrarian society was transformed by technological advances and increasing mechanization, which was the Industrial Revolution. Much of the agricultural workforce was uprooted from the countryside and moved into large urban centres of production, as the steam-based production factories could undercut the traditional cottage industries, because of economies of scale and the increased output per worker made possible by the new technologies. The consequent overcrowding into areas with little supporting infrastructure saw dramatic increases in the rate of infant mortality (to the extent that many Sunday schools for pre-working age children (5 or 6) had funeral clubs to pay for each others funeral arrangements), crime, and social deprivation.
The transition to industrialization was not wholly seamless for workers, many of whom saw their livelihoods threatened by the process. Of these, some frequently sabotaged or attempted to sabotage factories. These saboteurs were known as "Luddites".

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Local governance
Further information: History of local government in England
The Local Government Act of 1888 was the first systematic attempt to impose a standardised system of local government in England. The counties of England at the time (today known as the historic counties, since the major boundary changes of 1974) were used as the basis of the system. A second Act in 1894 (Local Government Act 1894) also created a second tier of local government. Henceforth, all administrative counties and county boroughs would be divided into either rural or urban districts, allowing more localised administration.
By 1888, it was clear that the piecemeal system that had developed over the previous century in response to the vastly increased need for local administration could no longer cope. The sanitary districts and parish councils had legal status, but were not part of the mechanism of government. They were run by volunteers; often there was no-one who could be held responsible for the failure to undertake the required duties. Furthermore, the increased "county business" could not be handled by the Quarter Sessions, nor was it appropriate to do so. Finally, there was a desire to see local administration performed by elected officials, as in the reformed municipal boroughs. The Local Government Act was therefore the first systematic attempt to impose a standardised system of local government in England
The counties of England at the time (now known as the historic counties, since the major boundary changes of 1974) were used as the basis of the system. The counties themselves had undergone some boundary changes in the preceding 50 years, mainly to remove enclaves and exclaves. The act called for the creation of statutory counties, based on the ancient/historic counties, but completely corrected for enclaves and exclaves, and adjusted so that all settlements were completely within a single county. These statutory counties were to be used for non-administrative functions: "sheriff, lieutenant, custos rotulorum, justices, militia, coroner, or other". With the advent of elected councils, the offices of lord lieutenant and sheriff became largely ceremonial.
The statutory counties formed the basis for the so-called 'administrative counties'. However, it was felt that large cities and primarily rural areas in the same county could not be well administered by the same body. Thus 59 "counties in themselves", or 'county boroughs', were created to administer the urban centres of England. These were part of the statutory counties, but not part of the administrative counties.
A second Act in 1894 (Local Government Act 1894) also created a second tier of local government. Henceforth, all administrative counties and county boroughs would be divided into either rural or urban districts, allowing more localised administration. The municipal boroughs reformed after 1835 were brought into this system as special cases of urban districts. The urban and rural districts were based upon, and incorporated the sanitary districts which had been created in 1875 (with adjustments, so that districts did not overlap two counties).
The Act also provided for the establishment of civil parishes. The 1894 Act formed an official system of civil parishes, separated from the ecclesiastical parishes, to carry on some of these responsibilities (others being transferred to the district/county councils). However, the civil parishes were not a complete third-tier of local government. Instead, they were 'community councils' for smaller, rural settlements, which did not have a local government district to themselves. Where urban parish councils had previously existed, they were absorbed into the new urban districts.

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20th and 21st centuries

[edit] Political issues

Following years of political and military agitation for 'Home Rule' for Ireland, the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 established the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) as a separate state, leaving Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. The official name of the UK thus became "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
England, as part of the UK, joined the European Economic Community in 1973, which became the European Union in 1993.
There is a movement in England to create a devolved English Parliament. This would give England a local Parliament like those already functioning for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. This issue is referred to as the West Lothian question.

[edit] General history and local government

A Local Government Commission was wound up in 1966, and replaced with a Royal Commission (known as the Redcliffe-Maud commission). In 1969 it recommended a system of single-tier unitary authorities for the whole of England, apart from three metropolitan areas of Merseyside, Selnec (Greater Manchester) and West Midlands (Birmingham and the Black Country), which were to have both a metropolitan council and district councils. This report was accepted by the Labour Party government of the time despite considerable opposition, but the Conservative Party won the June 1970 general election, and on a manifesto that committed them to a two-tier structure.
The reforms arising from the Local Government Act of 1972 resulted in the most uniform and simplified system of local government which has been used in England. They effectively wiped away everything that had gone before, and built an administrative system from scratch. All previous administrative districts - statutory counties, administrative counties, county boroughs, municipal boroughs, counties corporate, civil parishes - were abolished.
The aim of the act was to establish a uniform two tier system across the country. Onto the blank canvas, new counties were created to cover the entire country; many of these were obviously based on the historic counties, but there were some major changes, especially in the north.
This uniform two-tier system lasted only 12 years. In 1986, the metropolitan county councils and Greater London were abolished. This restored autonomy (in effect the old county borough status) to the metropolitan and London boroughs. The Local Government Act (1992) established a commission (Local Government Commission for England) to examine the issues, and make recommendations on where unitary authorities should be established. It was considered too expensive to make the system entirely unitary, and also there would doubtlessly be cases where the two-tier system functioned well. The commission recommended that many counties be moved to completely unitary systems; that some cities become unitary authorities, but that the remainder of their parent counties remain two-tier; and that in some counties the status quo should remain.
The rate-capping rebellion was a campaign within English local councils in 1985 which aimed to force the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher to withdraw powers to restrict the spending of councils. The affected councils were almost all run by left-wing Labour Party leaderships. The campaign's tactic was that councils whose budgets were restricted would refuse to set any budget at all for the financial year 1985-86, requiring the Government to intervene directly in providing local services, or to concede. However, all 15 councils which initially refused to set a rate eventually did so, and the campaign failed to change Government policy. Powers to restrict council budgets have remained in place ever since.
In 1997, the Lieutenancies Act was passed. This firmly separated all local authority areas (whether unitary or two-tier), from the geographical concept of a county as high level spatial unit. The lieutenancies it established became known as ceremonial counties, since they were no longer administrative divisions. The counties represent a compromise between the historic counties and the counties established in 1974.
The Labour government (1997–2010) had planned to introduce eight regional assemblies around England, to devolve power to the regions. This would have sat alongside the devolved Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish Assemblies. In the event, only a London Assembly (and directly elected Mayor) was established. Rejection in a referendum of a proposed North-East Assembly in 2004 effectively scrapped those plans. A pre-condition of having a regional assembly was for the whole area to move to unitary authority status. Since the 2005 general election the government has floated the idea of voluntary mergers of local councils, avoiding a costly reorganisation but achieving desired reform. For instance, the guiding principles of the government's "New Localism" demand levels of efficiency not present in the current over-duplicated two-tier structure.
In 2009, new changes to local government were made whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in areas which previously had a 'two-tier' system of counties and districts. In five shire counties the functions of the county and district councils were combined into a single authority; and in two counties the powers of the county council were absorbed into a significantly reduced number of districts.

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See also

[edit] Related historical overviews

• Bretwalda
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Danelaw
• History of the British constitution
• History of the British Isles
• History of the United Kingdom
• History of Scotland
• History of Ireland
• History of Wales
• Politics of the United Kingdom
• Administrative geography of the United Kingdom

[edit] Historical lists and timelines

• List of British monarchs, British monarchs' family tree
• Timeline of English history
• English and French monarchs overlap chart

[edit] Regional English history

[edit] Societal overviews

• English people
• Population of England - historical estimates
• Culture of England
• Politics of England
• Social history of England

[edit] Local government

• History of local government in England
• 2009 structural changes to local government in England
• Regions of England
• Subdivisions of England
• Unitary authorities of England

[edit] Historical subtopics

• History of education in England
• History of the Jews in England
• English nationalism

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1. <LI id=cite_note-0>^ The Anglo-Saxons, BBC - History <LI id=cite_note-1>^ [1][dead link] <LI id=cite_note-2>^ The Church in History - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wiMn496AIDMC&pg=PT135&lpg=PT135&dq=king+j ohn+vassal+%22holy+see%22&source=bl&ots=JzSAFkAtG6 &sig=J8zfUWpwTQw-d8TVAx9CU9aNHSM&hl=en&ei=wQu9SrjTGJWu4Qag0qHFCQ&sa =X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=k ing%20john%20vassal%20%22holy%20see%22&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-14. <LI id=cite_note-3>^ The day the Sweet Track was built, New Scientist, 16 June 1990, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212.800-science-the-day-the-sweet-track-was-built.html, retrieved 2009-12-04 <LI id=cite_note-Amgueddfa_1-4>^ "Who were the Celts?: Rhagor". Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum of Wales website. Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum of Wales. 2007-05-04. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/1939/. Retrieved 2009-09-29. <LI id=cite_note-5>^ The Anglo-Saxons - Who were the Anglo-Saxons, BBC <LI id=cite_note-6>^ 6th-10th century AD <LI id=cite_note-7>^ Elizabeth Stewart (2008-02-07). "Q&A: Sharia law". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/07/religion.world1. Retrieved 2010-05-02. <LI id=cite_note-8>^ "The Story of Ireland". Brian Igoe (2009). p.49. <LI id=cite_note-famine-9>^ "The savage wars of peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian trap". Alan Macfarlane (1997). p.66. ISBN 0631181172 <LI id=cite_note-10>^ [2][dead link] <LI id=cite_note-11>^ "Africans, Slavery, and Race". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). <LI id=cite_note-12>^ "Leaving England: The Social Background of Indentured Servants in the Seventeenth Century", The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. <LI id=cite_note-vdk114-13>^ Van der Kiste, 114–115 <LI id=cite_note-davies-14>^ Davies, Norman, The Isles: A History (1999) ISBN 0195134427, p.614. <LI id=cite_note-15>^ Troost, 212–214 <LI id=cite_note-16>^ Welcome parliament.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2008. <LI id=cite_note-17>^ Act of Union 1707, Article 3 <LI id=cite_note-18>^ "Britannia Incorporated". Simon Schama (presenter). A History of Britain. BBC One. 2001-05-22. No. 10. 3 minutes in. <LI id=cite_note-Lodge78-19>^ Lodge (1832), pp. 7–8 <LI id=cite_note-20>^ The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth-Century England Laura Del Col, West Virginia University <LI id=cite_note-21>^ "Early America 1650-1800", Boise State University.
2. ^ "Why did the American Revolution take place?". Digital History.

[edit] Further reading

• A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC – 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
• A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603–1776 by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2001 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
• A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002 ASIN B00006RCKI
• The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-513442-7
• The History of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of William and Mary in 1688, 1819 by Father John Lingard (Roman Catholic perspective)
• Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-023323-7
• History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Sir Winston Churchill Cassell reference, ISBN 0-304-36389-8 — the writing of which helped bring Churchill to public attention in the 1930s, and which forms the basis of many later reference works
• Letters of the Kings of England, now first collected from the originals in royal archives, and from other authentic sources, private as well as public by J O Halliwell-Phillipps, London, H. Colburn, 1846. vol. 1 — Google Books
• Stephen and Matilda The Civil War of 1139-53 by Jim Bradbury, Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd., 1996, ISBN 0-7509-0612-X