A Vision for London, 1889-1914

The Centrality of Locality: The Local State, Local Democracy, and Local Consciousness in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain

“…46 At the end of the day, Pennybacker concludes, the progressive LCC was an intrusive enough presence in people's lives to make them feel they were being messed about, but not a big enough one to make much of a positive difference in their material circumstances: 'intrusion and supervision were substituted for grander programmes of social amelioration or cultural enlightenment'. 47 One can accept the validity of this line of reasoning and still conclude that it is exaggerated. The Edwardian municipality was indeed an engine of moral discipline, but it was manifestly an engine of material progress, as well, and indeed often an engine of cross-class solidarity and initiative that led to notable improvements in the urban environment.…”

“…44 Municipal nanny-statism extended from the washing of slum children at cleansing stations to the restrictive licensing of pubs and music halls, and it had significant political implications. Indeed, Susan Pennybacker argues that the demise of the LCC progressive coalition was at least as much a revolt against their 'appetite for managing other people's lives' 45 as it was a rate revolt. The over-vigilant supervision of domestic hygiene, school attendance, and popular entertainments prompted too many Londoners to equate the LCC with 'the niggling state, the bureaucrat always there when you did not need him, never when you do'.…”

Civic Communication in Britain

“…It takes its cue from a recent collection of essays in which municipal services are described as "promising ground for further study" 3 and Susan Pennybacker's observation that more work could be accomplished on the role of Progressivism. 4 The Municipal Journal was an important publication, a source which reveals much about the standards of citizenship that city populaces were expected to achieve in the last years of Victoria's reign and early years of Edwardian Britain. As this article will demonstrate, it usefully illustrates some of the limits of urban governance too.…”