Election Politics and the Mass Press in Long Edwardian Britain

125 Pages·2022·3.105 MB·English

by  Christopher Shoop-Worrall

Election Politics and the Mass
Press in Long Edwardian Britain
This book explores the ways in which the emergence of the ‘new’ daily
mass press of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries repre-
sented a hugely signifcant period in histories of both the British press
and the British political system.
Drawing on a parallel analysis of election-time newspaper content
and archived political correspondence, the author argues that the ‘new
dailies’ were a welcome and vibrant addition to the mass political cul-
ture that existed in Britain prior to World War I. Chapters explore the
ways in which the three ‘new dailies’ – Mail, Express, and M irror –
represented political news during the four general elections of the
period; how their content intersected with, and became a part of, the
mass consumer culture of pre-Great War Britain; and the differing
ways political parties reacted to this new press, and what those re-
actions said about broader political attitudes towards the worth of
‘mass’ political communication.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of media his-
tory, British popular politics, journalism history, and media studies.
Christopher Shoop-Worrall is a Lecturer in Media and Journalism
at UCFB Etihad Campus and an Early Career Member of the Royal
Historical Society.
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Election Politics and the Mass Press in Long Edwardian Britain
Christopher Shoop-Worrall
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www .routledge.com
Election Politics and
the Mass Press in Long
Edwardian Britain
Christopher Shoop-Worrall
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Christopher Shoop-Worrall
The right of Christopher Shoop-Worrall to be identifed as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-18231-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-18380-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25426-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003254263
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Fighting, Fireworks, and Finish Lines: Election
Politics and Spectacle 13
3 Everyday Elections and the ‘Man in the Street’ 37
4 Their Views and Ours: Politicians
and the New  Dailies 58
5 Conclusion 97
List of tables 101
Primary Material 103
Bibliography 105
Index 113

Acknowledgements
Practically, the research undertaken for this book could not have hap-
pened without the invaluable guidance and patience of the staff at the
archives accessed throughout the years of this project. Thanks goes
to the staff at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, the Work-
ing Class Movement Library in Salford, the University of Oxford’s
Bodleian Library (especially Jeremy McIlwaine), the Bishopsgate In-
stitute, the British Library, the archives within the London School of
Economics, and Annie Pinder at the Parliamentary Archives in West-
minster. A debt is also owed to the organisations and conferences at
which aspects of this book were presented, particularly the Newspa-
per and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) and the rigour
and kindness of its members. A huge thank you as well to Suzanne
Richardson and Tanushree Baijal at Routledge, for their invaluable
editorial skill in turning my doctoral research into this book.
A huge debt is owed to people at two institutions. The University of
Sheffeld’s Centre for the Study of Journalism and History was the per-
fect PhD home. Particular thanks to Professors Martin Conboy and
Adrian Bingham: thank you for having faith in me and this research,
and for being such strong, considerate supervisors. To my friends and
colleagues at UCFB: thank you for being so welcoming, and for your
continuance support of my work.
To my parents and two brothers: thank you for the lifetime of
support.
Finally, to my wife and closet friend: thank you for being, simply,
the best.

1 Introduction
(I am) generally not  a politician… a teetotaller, anti-vaccinationist, or
a vegetarian, or any sort of crank… industrious… casual and intermit-
tent interest in football matches and race meetings… I like the theatre
and the music hall – the latter, perhaps the more… sympathetic, but not
sentimental… England for the English, a happy England populated by
prosperous Englishman…
I am the Man in the Street.1
Published on the frst day of the 1906 general election campaign, a
news article from page four of the Daily Express claimed to be written
from the perspective of the ‘man in the street’. This individual claimed
to be ‘the Man who can Control our Destinies’. He was the person
from whom all political parties would be seeking a vote. This same
man in the street was very similar to the individual, according to the
dismissive comments of the then Prime Minister and Conservative
leader Lord Salisbury, who ran and read the Daily Mail from its in-
ception in May 1896: ‘a newspaper produced by offce boys for offce
boys’.2 Salisbury’s negativity ignored the importance of who the Mail,
by his own admission, was particularly appealing to. All three of the
new dailies – the Express, Mail, and the Mirror – built their successes
throughout the Long Edwardian3 period upon their shared ability to
speak to the offce-working man in the street, and millions of other
lower-middle- and upper-working-class4 British citizens whose lives
resonated with the Express’s short biography.5
This book identifes the signifcance of the Long Edwardian period
within histories of both the British press and the British political sys-
tem through a parallel analysis. First, it explores the political content
of the new dailies during the four general elections of the period: 1900,
1906, and the two elections in January and December of 1910.6 The
DOI: 10.4324/9781003254263-1