99. Cops and Catholics
A History of England17 Heinä 2022

99. Cops and Catholics

The cops are what Robert Peel’s best remembered for. Thanks to him, the world’s first professional, civilian police force was launched. It hasn’t always lived up to initial expectations, with London’s Metropolitan Police going through particularly difficult times just now but, boy, it’s an initiative that has left its mark. And not just in Britain.

There was controversy about setting up a police force, with some resisting the idea of paying people to keep an eye on them and make sure they behaved. To libertarians, that felt like an incursion on basic freedoms. But far more controversial still was the extension of political rights to non-Anglican religious groups.

First, it was dissident Protestants, and Peel had to change his tune to support their emancipation.

But next it was the Catholics, and his U-turn was even more shocking. Nicknamed ‘Orange Peel’ for is backing for the Protestant (Orange) cause, it was astonishing to see him leading the charge for Catholic Emancipation in 1829. But Peel's dramatic changes of view would astonish a lot of people, a lot of times in his career.


Illustration: Photograph of a ‘Peeler’ of the 1850s. Public domain (PD-US-expired).

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License

Jaksot(274)

97. The times they are a'changing

97. The times they are a'changing

That poor, saintly William Wilberforce. He’d spoken with such courage and dedication for the slaves for so long. And yet now, with a more radical movement emerging championing the poor and oppressed i...

3 Heinä 202214min

96. Scandals galore

96. Scandals galore

A scandalous episode: first the king trying to divorce his wife and a major domestic row developing between them, all conducted in public, with armed guards and slammed doors to exclude the Queen from...

26 Kesä 202214min

95. Calicoes, Competition and Condescension: British rule in India

95. Calicoes, Competition and Condescension: British rule in India

Popular belief, back in the nineteenth century and also today, was that the British Empire in India may have been flawed and imperfect, but it set out to benefit the native peoples. In this episode, w...

19 Kesä 202214min

94. Pete, Dave and Bobby

94. Pete, Dave and Bobby

Pete, Dave and Bobby are the subjects of this episode. But Pete’s a place not a person. It’s St Peter’s Field near Manchester, site of one of those epoch-shattering, and epoch-shaming, events that wou...

12 Kesä 202214min

93. A Peace of Kings

93. A Peace of Kings

The Congress of Vienna set up peace in Europe for decades. Indeed, it prevented any kind of general war across the whole of the Continent for nearly a century, until the First World War broke out in 1...

5 Kesä 202214min

92. We meet our Waterloo

92. We meet our Waterloo

Napoleon makes his second bid for power, and comes unstuck, as Wellington and Blücher prove too much for him at Waterloo. It’s a victory the Brits like to celebrate as a great triumph for the country,...

29 Touko 202214min

91. Return of the King

91. Return of the King

It was peace at last. For the first time, apart from one short break, for a generation. Peace, however, requires managing, just like war does. That management took the form of a new approach to the r...

22 Touko 202214min

90. A war fought for no good reason

90. A war fought for no good reason

Although Britain was in the closing stages of a long and desperate struggle with France, it somehow managed to get itself sucked into a separate war with the United States. Called the War of 1812, acc...

15 Touko 202214min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
tsunami
totuus-vai-salaliitto
konginkangas
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rouva-diktaattori
historiaa-suomeksi
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
maailmanpuu
rss-peter-peter
historian-nurkkapoyta
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
apinan-vuosi