By Jove, I think I've got it!
Today was my last day of research, and it was also the day I finally made a break through. Throughout my time here in England, I have been trying to figure out how Preston went from an aristocratic town known for its posh gentility in the 18th century to an overpopulated mill town mired in pollution and poverty just a century later.
In broad strokes, the answer is simple: The Industrial Revolution happened. More specifically, King Cotton happened. But mine is a social history, so I wanted to see when and how society shifted away from the high brow. But I wasn't finding anything definitive. Even when the poor working class outnumbered the middle class and landed gentry by a staggering amount, and pollution left the River Ribble a cesspool, Preston maintained its upper class air (no pun intended).
So, with the guidance of Dr. Furdell, I decided to narrow my focus and look at the amusements in Preston - primarily Preston North End (PNE) Football Club. I got the idea when I visited the National Football Museum with Steve and read a blurb on one of the exhibits that said the football league was a popular diversion for the Victorian working poor, who saw the games as a way to get their minds off their miserable lives.
I would use the history of PNE and the Preston Guild as what Dr. Furdell called "the meat" of my research. The Guild, which dates back to the 11th century, occurs every 20 years. Because it became more of a pageant than a merchant guild in the 19th century, it was a good source of social attitudes.
I read all of the programs and write-ups of each of the guilds from the 19th century. I could see where small activities began for the poor and I saw the introduction of football to the festivities. What I didn't see was any gains by the working class as far as status went. Other than a token few who appeared in the trades processional, the working class was barely even acknowledged.
Today, I decided to extend my research one more guild. I pulled all the records from the 1902 event and began reading. It didn't take me long to discover that I had found what I had been looking for! Not only were there more events geared for the working class, with PNE as a prominent participant, but there were souvenir books of the Guild clearly designed for the working class. The "Official Record," which was dedicated to that year's Guild Mayor, the Earl of Derby, still boasted the flowerly, high-faluting language I had grown accustomed to reading in the Guild literature. But other books were clearly aimed at the everyday man; with articles about PNE, funny stories, and tongue-in-cheek songs. More workers participated in the processional, and they even had a ribald Torchlight processional that would easily have disturbed the sensibilities of the aristocratic Prestonian.
On what was going to be my last day of research, regardless of what I found, I finally found the proof I've been looking for. And for the first time, I know where I'm going with my paper. It's both exciting and a major relief.
In broad strokes, the answer is simple: The Industrial Revolution happened. More specifically, King Cotton happened. But mine is a social history, so I wanted to see when and how society shifted away from the high brow. But I wasn't finding anything definitive. Even when the poor working class outnumbered the middle class and landed gentry by a staggering amount, and pollution left the River Ribble a cesspool, Preston maintained its upper class air (no pun intended).
So, with the guidance of Dr. Furdell, I decided to narrow my focus and look at the amusements in Preston - primarily Preston North End (PNE) Football Club. I got the idea when I visited the National Football Museum with Steve and read a blurb on one of the exhibits that said the football league was a popular diversion for the Victorian working poor, who saw the games as a way to get their minds off their miserable lives.
I would use the history of PNE and the Preston Guild as what Dr. Furdell called "the meat" of my research. The Guild, which dates back to the 11th century, occurs every 20 years. Because it became more of a pageant than a merchant guild in the 19th century, it was a good source of social attitudes.
I read all of the programs and write-ups of each of the guilds from the 19th century. I could see where small activities began for the poor and I saw the introduction of football to the festivities. What I didn't see was any gains by the working class as far as status went. Other than a token few who appeared in the trades processional, the working class was barely even acknowledged.
Today, I decided to extend my research one more guild. I pulled all the records from the 1902 event and began reading. It didn't take me long to discover that I had found what I had been looking for! Not only were there more events geared for the working class, with PNE as a prominent participant, but there were souvenir books of the Guild clearly designed for the working class. The "Official Record," which was dedicated to that year's Guild Mayor, the Earl of Derby, still boasted the flowerly, high-faluting language I had grown accustomed to reading in the Guild literature. But other books were clearly aimed at the everyday man; with articles about PNE, funny stories, and tongue-in-cheek songs. More workers participated in the processional, and they even had a ribald Torchlight processional that would easily have disturbed the sensibilities of the aristocratic Prestonian.
On what was going to be my last day of research, regardless of what I found, I finally found the proof I've been looking for. And for the first time, I know where I'm going with my paper. It's both exciting and a major relief.
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