The Foxite Whigs and Visual Culture, 1780-1810

This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between radicalism and sociability in late Georgian parliamentary and extra-parliamentary politics, focusing on the Foxite-Whig faction. Re-evaluating the significance and tactical use of sociability and radicalism in late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century British politics, the book charts not only the rise and fall of a leading and neglected British political faction, but through its interdisciplinary and thematic focus, it seeks to intervene in the field and situate sociability as a key driver and facilitator of late Georgian politics. By utilising original research into contemporary newspapers, letters, diaries, legal records, parliamentary accounts, and especially political caricature, the authoroffers a new methodological approach in the study of sociability and radicalism and presents original categorisations of contemporary sociability. The book examines how sociability was strategically employed by the Foxite-Whigs and argues for the existence of two primary forms of sociability: insular and porous. Insular sociability manifested itself through dining, drinking to excess, or gambling in a private setting with members of the same aristocratic or political order. Porous sociability however was the extra-parliamentary mechanism by which Fox and his faction tactically opened their insular Whig World to forge connections with the lower orders, French revolutionary leaders, popular radicals, and Irish rebels. The author provides a detailed analysis of Foxite sociability within the context of distinct radical themes, including plebeian radicalism, French Revolutionary radicalism, and Irish radicalism. Beyond its innovative methodological approach to sociability studies, the book foregrounds visual culture as a lens through which to study and enter the ‘wordless experience’ of the eighteenth century and to view the themes of sociability and radicalism from ‘within.’ In doing so, the it reveals the inconsequential or informal dynamics of the Foxites’ political and extra-parliamentary career from their origin in c.1780, to their decline in the early nineteenth century.

Callum D. Smith is a Research Associate at the University of Bristol, and the Head of Online Learning at Aberystwyth University, both in the UK.