In the years between 1780 and 1840 England experienced considerable change and tensions associated with the so-called Industrial Revolution, urbanisation, population growth and a long-term war with France that lasted for a generation. This book is concerned both with the disturbances and protests generated by these changes and with the debates between social historians who have studied this period. A number of parameters have been imposed on this study: namely, the coverage is restricted to England, and it ends when Chartism makes its appearance in the late 1830s.