Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) was one of the most significant political figures in nineteenth-century Britain. He was also one of the most controversial. In this new, three-volume edition, Dr Richard Gaunt, an authority on Peel’s life and work, brings together a range of contemporary perspectives considering Peel’s life and achievements. From the first observation of Peel’s precocious talent as an Oxford undergraduate to his burgeoning reputation as a cabinet minister, the volumes draw together sources on Peel’s forty-year political career. The edition pays particular attention to the most controversial aspects of his political life – the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, his ‘founding’ of the Conservative Party during the 1830s and the achievements of his landmark government of 1841-6, culminating in the repeal of the corn laws in 1846. It also considers Peel’s post-1846 career, and the unusual position he occupied in British politics before his untimely death in 1850. Combining perspectives from different parts of the political spectrum, the collection will be of use to a wide range of researchers, with interests in history, politics, religion, economics and political biography.
SIR ROBERT PEEL: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
Edited by Dr Richard A. Gaunt
VOLUME 1: ‘ORANGE PEEL’, 1788-1830
Part 1: Origins and Ancestry
1. Pedigree of The Right Honourable Sir R. Peel, Bart, and the Peels of Lancashire. From 1600 (Blackburn, 1885), note and pp. 3-8.
2. A Yarn, spun for the use of the son of the Cotton Spinner, by an Operative (1835), pp. 3-20.
Part 2: The Currency Issue
3. A Very Short Letter to the Right Hon. R. Peel [on prices as affected by the bank notes in circulation] (London, 1819), pp. 5-17.
4. The Currency Question freed from mystery, in a letter to Mr Peel shewing how the distress may be relieved without altering the standard (London, 1830), pp. 1-50.
Part 3: Home Office Reforms, 1822-30
5. An Abridgement of Mr Peel’s five important Acts of Parliament just passed for the improvement of the criminal law, etc (London, 1827), pp. 3-128.
6. Sketch of a new national police bill, by which the progress of crime would be arrested, and the community protected…as submitted to the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel when in office (London, 1832), pp.iii-31.
Part 4: Catholic Emancipation
7. A Voice from Palace Yard! Addressed to Sir Robert Peel and Members of both House of Parliament. By George Canning [A Satirical Poem] (London, 1844), pp. 7-24.
8. A Letter to the Right Hon. Robert Peel on the danger and impolicy of the measures at present proposed to the British Parliament, for the purpose of rendering Roman Catholics eligible to some of the highest offices in the State¸ by a Student at Gray’s (London, 1829), pp. 3-16.
9. An Answer to the arguments of the Right Hon. Robert Peel in favour of further concessions to the Catholics, by a Barrister of the Inner Temple (London, 1829), pp. 1-60.
Part 5: The Oxford By-Election 1829
10. Reverend Charles Girdlestone, Substance of a Speech for the Convocation House, Oxford, 26 February 1829 (Oxford, 1829), pp. 3-8.
11. A Circular Letter of Advice and Justification from the Committee for Ensuring the Election of Sir Robert Inglis (Oxford, 1829), pp. 1-44.
12. Letter from the Rev. J. Blanco White, M.A. of Oriel College, to a Friend in Oxford, pp. 1-3.
13. A List of the committee for the re-election of Mr Peel as representative of the University of Oxford; with two circular letters (1829)
14. Oratio Demosthenica et Poetica (Oxford, 1829)
VOLUME 2: THE NEW CONSERVATISM, 1830-45
Part 1: Reform in Church and State 1831-35
1. An important Question!!! How will the Agriculturists be benefited by the Reform Bill? As shown in a speech delivered by Sir R. Peel in the House of Commons, July 27, 1831 (London, 1831), pp. 3-23.
2. Richard Carlile, Church Reform: the only means to that end, stated in a letter to Sir Robert Peel…to which is prefaced a correspondence with the Bishop of London on the same subject (London, 1835) pp. iii-viii, 1-96.
Part 2: From Minority to Majority, 1834-41
3. Charles Vincent Graham, Heads or Tails: A Poetical Epistle Addressed to Sir Robert Peel, on the reappearance of a Whig Administration (London, 1835), pp. 3-24.
4. On Sir Robert Peel’s Speech, delivered at a dinner at Merchant Tailor’s Hall, Monday, May 11th, 1835 (Bath, 1835).
5. Hints to the Conservatives, in a letter addressed to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P. (London, 1835), pp. 3-23.
6. A Letter to Sir Robert Peel on the present crisis (London, 1835), pp. 1-16.
7. A Few Plain Words to Sir Robert Peel (London, 1836), pp. 5-24.
8. John Ryan, Personal Narrative. Sir Robert Peel’s claims to the confidence of Protestant Conservatives (London, 1841), pp. 3-48.
Part 3: A Reforming Ministry, 1841-45
9. Sir Richard Vyvyan, A Letter from Sir Richard Vyvyan to his constituents upon the commercial and financial policy of Sir Robert Peel’s Administration (London, 1842), pp. 5-55.
10. W. Morris, Three Letters to Sir Robert Peel on the repeal of the present system of Revenue and Protections, Imports, Excise, Stamps, Assessed Taxes &c. and the adoption of a general system of Income Tax (Exeter, 1843), pp. i-41.
11. The Ten Hours’ Factory Question. A report addressed to the Short Time Committees of the West Riding of Yorkshire (of certain conferences held with the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart, M.P., and several of his colleagues) (London, 1842), pp. 3-36.
12. An Earnest Plea both for the poor and for the rich. A letter to Sir Robert Peel in which it is shewn how the New Poor Law machinery may be made the instrument of diffusing immediate and universal blessings throughout the land¸ by a Parochial Clergyman (London, 1842), pp. 3-15.
13. William Robarts, Results of Experience in the working of the New Poor Law: comprised in a few remarks and suggestions…submitted to…Sir Robert Peel (1842), pp. 3-20.
VOLUME 3: THE FALL OF PEEL, 1845-50
Part 1: The Maynooth Grant, 1845
1. Maurice Fitzgerald, A Letter to Sir Robert Peel on the Endowment of the Roman Catholic Church of Ireland (London, 1845), pp. 5-15.
2. An Answer to the Speeches Sir Robert Peel and W. E. Gladstone on the Bill for endowing the Jesuit College of Maynooth, in an address to my countrymen (London, 1845), pp. 3-16.
3. Reverend William Nicolson, A Warning to the Rulers of this Land, specially addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, with reference to the proposed endowment of Popery (London, 1845), pp. 5-23.
4. Sir Robert Peel The Greatest Radical of the Age, and the Best Friend of O’Connell (London, 1845), pp. 3-30.
Part 2: The Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846
5. John Francis Byrne, Four Letters on the Corn Laws, addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel (London, 1841), pp. 3-19.
6. Charles Cavendish Fulke, Sir Robert Peel and the Corn Law Crisis, 2nd Ed. (London, 1846), pp. 3-33.
7. Corn and Consistency. A few remarks in reply to a pamphlet entitled, ‘Sir Robert Peel and the Corn Law Crisis’ (London, 1846), pp. 3-54.
8. Letter to Sir Robert Peel on the mode of meeting the present crisis. From M.P., a supporter hitherto of the League (London, 1846), pp. 3-34.
Part 3: Peelite Politics, 1846-50
9. ‘Reflections Suggested by the Career of the Late Premier’, Blackwood’s Magazine (January 1847), pp. 93-128.
10. J. C. Colquhoun, The Effects of Sir Robert Peel’s Administration on the Political State and Prospects of England (London, 1847), pp. iii-vii, 1-35.
11. Physiology of the Peel Party; or an inquiry into the nature of the new neutral policy (Edinburgh, 1847), pp. 3-31.
12. The Man of the Day: to the tune of the Vicar of Bray (Edinburgh, 1847), pp. 3-8.
Part 4: Death and Legacy, 1850
13. Joseph Arnould, Memorial Lines on Sir Robert Peel (London, 1850), pp. 3-8.
14. The Death of the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel. A Song (London, 1850) 1 page with image if possible
15. James S. M. Anderson, The Dead yet speaking. A sermon preached in St George’s, Brighton…on…the Sunday after the death of Sir Robert Peel (London, 1850), pp. 3-23.
16. The Life, Political Career, and Death of Sir Robert Peel (London, 1850), pp. 3-16.
17. Captain Henry Martin, A Personal Sketch of the late lamented Sir Robert Peel, as a Parliamentary Speaker and Party Leader in the British House of Commons &c (Hamburg, 1850), pp. 3-24.
Biography
Dr Richard A. Gaunt, Department of History, University of Nottingham
