The British Volunteer Movement 1794-1814

by Austin Gee

Overview

This is the first major book concentrating on the volunteer force to be published for nearly a century. The volunteers were one of the largest mass movements of the eighteenth century, involving at their height about a quarter of the adult male population. Members included men as varied as William Wordsworth, Robert Burns, Sir John Soňane, William Pitt, and Henry Addington. Austin Gee considers how the volunteers were organized, who joined them and why, and their military and social activities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199261253
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/09/2003
Series:	Oxford Historical Monographs
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

King's College, London

Table of Contents

Preface1. 'So Gallant and Patriotic a Measure': The Gensis of the Volunteer Movement2. The Development of Volunteering3. 'The Shop-Keeping Army': The Membership of Volunteer CorpsTable: Occupation Structure4. A Connection of Loyalty5. 'To Shield Me from all Harm': The Motivation for Volunteering6. The Public Face of Volunteering7. 'An Armed Democracy': The Political Threat of the Volunteer Movement8. 'The Friends of Peace and Order': Invasion, Riots, and Internal PolicingBibliographical NoteBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"This valuable book is of importance for our understanding of social dynamics as well as political practice and the nuances of ideological understanding and commitment in a particularly vexed period....It is well-grounded in the literature, draws on an impressive range of archival sources, and is well argued."—Albion

"This very detailed and scholarly monograph is a welcome addition to the comparatively recent work on the volunteer phenomenon by historians such as John Cookson and Ian Beckett."— American Historical Review

From the Publisher