Page 6 - History 2020

EPISODE 2: MERRIE ENGLAND REVISITED - THE GREAT EXHIBITION
Lord Eglington’s great joust; Joseph Paxton (the Crystal Palace), August Pugin (the
Medieval Court); Sir William Armstrong (Cragside)

At Lord Eglington’s castle
Last season, we ended with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and British
reactions to experiencing it. We found. to a surprising degree, a culture of dislike and
denial. Critics like John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle attacked it not just for the ugliness

of the new industrial towns like Birmingham, but also for its spirit and philosophy, its
new emphasis on profit and efficiency and individual gain. They attacked its
“utilitarian” philosophy, attributed to the reformer Jeremy Bentham but in fact
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dating back to the 18 century Enlightenment. It judged policies and institutions on
whether they promoted “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”; this could
be worked out rationally, even calculated numerically. It inspired Bentham and his
followers to pursue rational change and reform.

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But at the turn of the 18 and 19 centuries there was a backlash against this ethos.
The violent excesses of the French Revolution turned people off radical change, or
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even reform of any kind. Many turned their back on the Enlightenment and the 18
century “age of reason”. This merged with the backlash against the Industrial
Revolution. The “Romantic Movement” emerged instead, preaching feeling rather
than reason, tradition rather than change, community rather than the individual. Part
of this was an escape to the past, summed up in the medieval novels of Sir Walter

Scott, set in a largely fictional “Merrie England”.

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Its most visible expression was in the 19 century Gothic Revival, a rejection of the
classical architectural style in favour of the Gothic, medieval style. Pugin was its
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leader and as the 19 century advanced, our towns and cities were filled with Gothic
churches and public buildings. In 1834 Parliament burned down and the Gothic

Revival achieved its greatest triumph: a lavish new Palace of Westminster was
commissioned in the Gothic style, with interior decoration by Pugin.*

*For more on the above, see last year’s notes on the History Page:
http://www.verwoodu3a.org.uk/_wp_generated/history%20spring%2020/index.html
#p=148 )

To further illustrate the “Merrie England” theme of escapism from the Industrial
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Revolution, we need to look at an unlikely event: the great joust of the 13 Earl of
Eglington in August 1839. Archibald Eglington, aged 27, was a wealthy Tory aristocrat