DC Public Library System

The decline and fall of the British aristocracy, David Cannadine

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The decline and fall of the British aristocracy

bibliography

40943483

David Cannadine

Preface to the Vintage edition -- Preface to the 1992 edition -- Prologue : presuppositions and problems. Bias and intention ; Wealth, status, and power ; Correlation, comparisons, and consciousness ; The 1880s : a troubled decade ; Conclusion : the end of the beginning -- Intimations of mortality. The embattled elite. The end of the patrician polity ; The assault on 'landlordism' ; Armageddon and afterwards ; The world turned upside-down -- The decline and dispersal of territorial wealth. Landed riches eroded and overwhelmed ; The breakup of great estates ; The disposal of non-agricultural assets ; The diversity of experience ; A balance sheet -- The erosion of local control. County representation : from deference to democracy ; County government : from oligarchy to bureaucracy ; Ireland : Ruritania and revolution ; 'The end of the notables' -- The eclipse of senatorial order. The Commons : country gentlemen to 'hard-nosedmen' ; The Lords : territorial nobility to plutocratic peerage ; The Cabinet : 'governing families' to career politicians ; Prime ministers : Lord Salisbury to Mr Chamberlain ; Vanishing supremacies -- The demise of patrician professionals. The Civil Service and the Court ; The law and the Church ; The armed forces ; The Foreign Service ; A disguised revolution -- The 'corruption' of public life. The proliferation of titles ; The sale of honours ; The attack on 'decency' ; The impotence of being earnest -- The dilution of select society. The lowering of high society ; The county community undermined ; The allure of far-off places ; From leisure to pleasure -- The light of common day. From leisured class to labouring aristocracy. New professionals and familiar failings ; The City : figure-heads and financiers ; Patrician professionals overseas ; The migratory élite ; Hobson revisited -- Lost causes and disappointed hopes. The land : love's labours lost ; The Lords : a comedy of errors ; Ireland : the winter's tale ; The Church : much ado about nothing ; All's not well-- -- The politics of paranoia. The passing of the Whigs ; The ditching of the die-hards ; Labour aristocrats ; Extremism in extremis ; 'Traitors to their class' -- The reconstruction of social prestige. The towns : 'ornamental' mayors ; The nation : 'the great and the good' ; The Empire : 'great ornamentals' ; Schumpeter revisited -- The Second World War. Climacteric and continuity ; Marginals and mavericks ; Death and destruction ; Victors and victims -- The end of the War. Plenty and poverty ; Elegant anachronisms ; Insubstantial pageants fading ; Guardians or parasites? -- Perfections and perspectives. The European perspective ; The national context ; Lions into unicorns -- Appendices. A, The greatest British landowners, c. 1880 ; B, Patrician members of British Cabinets, 1880-1890 ; C, Senior posts in the Foreign and Diplomatic services ; D, Titled company directors, 1896 and 1920 ; E, Patrician mayors of British towns, 1880-1945 ; F, Chancellors of British universities, 1880-1945 ; G, Viceroys of India and Governors-General of British dominions ; H, Patterns of estate ownership, 1876-1976