The English and Violence since 1750

The garrotters who terrified London in 1862; the Irish Fenians who carried out terrorist bombings in London; and the gangs who dominated parts of the East End in the early years of the twentieth century all used violence to achieve their ends. Hard Men is a survey of the changing pattern of violent behavior, public and private, in England over two hundred and fifty years. People in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were certainly more tolerant of domestic violence and rough communal sports and celebrations than their grandchildren. While the exercise of violence reflected changes in society and attitudes, it is difficult to point to a golden age in the past without it.

IllustrationsPrefaceAbbreviations1 A Violent Society?2 Garotters, Gangsters and Perverts3 Play the Game4 Family and Home5 Foreign Passions: English Laws6 Violent Protest7 Stones and Fisticuffs8 Violent Policemen9 Viokence and the State10 The PresentNotes Index