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

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(275)

18. First Civil War: the fight gets going

Oh dear, oh dear. Charles I pushed and pushed. Eventually, the other side pushed back. First it was the Scots, who turned out to be a lot better at fighting than Charles had imagined, and gave him a c...

12 Helmi 202113min

17. Things fall apart

Charles I, like his father, proved extremely good at not being at all good at getting on with people he really needed to be really good at getting on side. Just like with his Dad, that mainly meant Pa...

7 Helmi 202110min

16. Slippery Slope

Charles I started his reign in just the way he'd go on with it, and in just the way his father James I/VI had ended his: by getting right up the noses of most of his subjects in Scotland as well as En...

2 Helmi 20218min

15. Bad to Worse

The end of James Stuart's reign over Scotland and England was no more impressive than the earlier part. One of the wonderful, crazy and ultimately futile episodes was the 'Spanish Match', involving th...

28 Tammi 20218min

14. Reckless Romanticism, a Touch of Gayness, and Bonfires

The marriage of James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, to Anne of Denmark started off with some romanticism, including a dangerous sea crossing to fetch her home, and it certainly produced a ...

23 Tammi 20219min

13. Wise Fool

James I of England (VI of Scotland) had clear ideas of what kingship meant. It meant he'd been chosen by God to run the show and Parliament wasn't going to get in his way. The trouble was, Parliament ...

18 Tammi 20219min

12. Hunting and Hanging

Boy, did it take a long time for James VI of Scotland to get from his proclamation as King of England, down to London to take the throne as James I. Partly that was because he had other things to do o...

13 Tammi 20217min

11. Transition

With no children of her own, what had Elizabeth I done to guarantee a smooth succession after her death? The answer is precious little. Which meant there had to be some clever footwork by her Chief Mi...

8 Tammi 20218min