Religious Dissent and Political Modernization Church, Chapel and Party in Nineteenth-Century England

This new research investigates the political controversies that swirled around a powerful and privileged state church and an aroused protestant and Catholic dissent demanding equality. Through close examination of dozens of electoral contests in several carefully chosen constituencies, the author demonstrates that the fundamental division separating the burgeoning liberal and conservative parties in England in the 1830s and 1840s was religion, and that this controversy was what created a perceptible two-party system in British politics.

RICHARD D. FLOYD has a B.A. from The College of William and Mary and a PhD from Washington University. He has taught a number of introductory surveys in history, and as well as upper-division courses in British, European, and imperial history. His other publications include a chapter in History, Nationhood and the Question of Britain (Palgrave, 2004) and contributions to reference works on European, Irish and military history. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and two children.