Borderline Citizens: Women, Gender, and Political Culture in Britain, 1815-1867

This volume provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of women’s involvement in British political culture in the first half of the nineteenth century. It is based upon extensive archival research, but also engages with recent feminist theories in the social sciences, such as psychology and sociology. The volume is innovative too for its attention to rural experiences of politics, as well as urban. Dr Gleadle not only throws new light on women’s political activities but also does much to challenge many traditional assumptions about contemporary politics per se. This includes, for example, fresh insights into the great Reform Act of 1832, attention to the many continuities in political practice and ideas, and a focus upon the primary significance of parish politics within the day-to-day activities of the middling and gentry classes.

Kathryn Gleadle is a Fellow in Modern History at Mansfield College at the University of Oxford.