Introduction

The late 1820s and the 1830s were tumultuous times. Thomas Mozley, divine, journalist, friend, and brother-in-law of Newman, recorded that the ‘whole fabric of English … society, was trembling to the foundations … a thousand projectors were screaming from a thousand platforms ... all England was dinned with philanthropy and revolution’. Quite so, and Mozley’s Reminiscences, Chiefly of Oriel College and the Oxford Movement, published in 1882, is a very full account, and, with Newman’s Apologia pro Vita Sua, is essential reading for any student of Tractarianism. Things looked very rocky for the established order of things: there was a disturbing growth of various sects; the Anglican Church and the monarchy were under attack; utilitarianism and unfeeling attitudes towards the less fortunate members of society were causing concern; power was about to shift away from a landed aristocracy and gentry; and a mainly country-dwelling nation was to become urbanised.

Yet during a time of momentous change (1830–7) reigned a king who deserves more credit than he is usually given: supported by his gentle, intelligent consort, Adelaide, William IV steered the British monarchy through a difficult time, leaving it more secure than it had been on the death of his dissipated brother, George IV. Eccentric, bluff, dutiful, and fundamentally decent, known as the ‘Sailor-King’, William deserved the accolades of those who called out as he passed by, ‘Well done, old boy!’

When Victoria was born, her appellation had a foreign sound, exciting some insular prejudice, but gradually it acquired an appropriateness to her reign during which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland enjoyed unprecedented prestige, and became what is now known as a superpower.