Whigs and Nonconformists: "Slumbering Radicalism" in English Politics, 1739-89

Abstract

1 omnibus terms and are sorely in need of redefinition, but this must await the studies of local history which are just now emerging. two words are used synonymously here to refer to the Presbyterians, Independents or Congregationalists, and the Baptists, a group commonly referred to as Dissent, thus excluding both Quakers and Methodists. conservative impact of Methodism upon politics has long been recognized, though it is still disputed by some. See Bernard Semmel's introduction to and translation of Elie Halevy's Birthi of Methodism in England (1906; Chicago, 1971). In contrast, the Dissenters are often thought to have had a liberal influence on politics, though this is far from proven. three denominations of Old Dissent had a central organization in their London-based Dissenting Deputies. See Bernard Lord Manning, Protestant Dissenting Deputies (Cambridge, 1952). For the problems involved in terminology, see D. G. Hay, The Pattern of Nonconformity in South Yorkshire, 1660-1851, Northern History, 8 (1973), 90; Richard W. Davis, Dissent in Politics, 1780-1830: Political Life of William Smith, MP (London, 1971), p. 36. Douglas R. Lacey, Dissent and Parlianmentary Politics in England, 1661-1689 (New Brunswick, 1969) is an important study which must be the starting point for any future work in the later period. In 1737 and 1739 organized attempts were made by the Dissenters to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts; agitation for repeal did not again reach Parliament until 1787, and it was not broadly supported by Dissenters until 1789 or 1790. Attention in the past has focused on these years of parliamentary activity almost to the total neglect of the intervening fifty-year period. G. S. Veitch. Genesis of Parliamentary Reform (London, 1913), p. 189; S. Maccoby, English Radicalism, 1786-1832: From Paine to Cobbett (London, 1955), p. 27, note 2; Richard W. Davis, Dissent in Politics, pp. 31, 47, 49; Russell E. Richey, The Origins of British Radicalism: Changing Rationale for Dissent, ECS, 7 (Winter, 1973-74), 188, 191; G. M. Ditchfield, The Parliamentary Struggle Over the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, English Historical Review, 89 (1974), 551-77.