James Gregory

Victorians Against the Gallows (eBook, ePUB)

Capital Punishment and the Abolitionist Movement in Nineteenth Century Britain

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

By the time that Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, the list of crimes liable to attract the death penalty had effectively been reduced to murder. Yet, despite this, the gallows remained a source of controversy in Victorian Britain and there was a growing unease in liberal quarters surrounding the question of capital punishment. Unease was expressed in various forms, including efforts at outright abolition. Focusing in part on the activities of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, James Gregory here examines abolitionist strategies, leaders and personnel. He locates the 'gallows question' in an imperial context and explores the ways in which debates about the gallows and abolition featured in literature, from poetry to 'novels of purpose' and popular romances of the underworld. He places the abolitionist movement within the wider Victorian worlds of philanthropy, religious orthodoxy and social morality in a study which will be essential reading for students and researchers of Victorian history.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 384
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. November 2011
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780857730886
• Artikelnr.: 39141723

Autorenporträt

James Gregory is Associate Professor of Modern British History at Plymouth University, UK. He is the author of Victorians and Vegetarians (2007), Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists (2010), Victorians Against the Gallows (2011), The Poetry and the Politics (2014) and Libraries, Books and Collectors of Texts, 1600-1900 (2018).