In the shadow of the castle: political and religious conflict in Dudley, Worcestershire. c. 1815-1867

Davies, Judith (2025). In the shadow of the castle: political and religious conflict in Dudley, Worcestershire. c. 1815-1867. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis is a study of politics and religion in the Black Country town of Dudley in the early and mid-nineteenth century. It demonstrates how political and religious conflict in Dudley connect with, and illuminate regional and national events, whilst also indicating what was distinctive about Dudley’s experience. It highlights challenges to the status quo and analyses the resultant division and conflict. Politics and religion were two of the major conduits of power and authority, and they are studied in a town experiencing unprecedented change. Situated on the South Staffordshire coalfield, in the southern part of the fast-developing Black Country, Dudley grew from a small Worcestershire market town into a rapidly expanding centre for mining and metalworking which was increasingly overcrowded. By 1851, life expectancy in Dudley had declined to sixteen years seven months, the lowest in England and Wales.
Dudley was traditionally insular, Anglican and conservative, with a weak local government structure and lords of the manor who preferred to live elsewhere. Those trying to preserve the status quo faced an influx of newcomers, an increase in religious diversity and growing demand for political change. In this period, politics and religion aroused strong passions and this thesis shows how some of the most dramatic controversies reached down to street level, from the raucous support for Queen Caroline in 1820, to the effects of the Murphy meetings in 1867/68.
This is the first detailed academic study of Dudley from 1815 to 1867 and also the first to look at politics and religion together. This thesis acknowledges the major contributions to the historiography made by, amongst others, George Barnsby and Richard Trainor although it rejects Barnsby’s Marxist analysis, preferring a more nuanced explanation of political and religious conflict. This thesis augments Trainor’s study of elites by considering the significant role played by non-elites, particularly the hitherto neglected shopkeeper class. Furthermore, the thesis contributes to Katrina Navickas’s study of ‘space and place’, by showing how Dudley’s leaders used space, both in real terms and symbolically, to reinforce their authority.
This is also a town study which compares Dudley with similar urban areas, but the majority of the other towns are larger than Dudley with well-established local government, or they are studied from a particular point of view, as for instance, Paul Phillips focuses on sectarianism. This present study is objective and adds a smaller, Black Country town to the available comparisons.
The approach taken by this thesis is both chronological and thematic. The period 1815 to 1867 is broken down into three sub-periods which are studied in separate chapters whilst individual case studies consider three major themes in more detail: the evolving role of print culture, the church rates controversy and anti-Catholicism. The methodology is based on a detailed re-assessment of primary sources, particularly documents and ephemera held at the Dudley Archives and Local History Centre, augmented by other sources, which have not previously been used in studies of Dudley, such as the records of a Dudley church rates case at the Court of Arches and the political writings of the radical, Thomas Parkin.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):