Peel and the Victorians

By Donald Read

Peel and the Victorians examines the relationship of arguably Britain’s greatest peace-time Prime Minister with the public from the time he became the leading figure in the Opposition in the early 1830s.

The author traces the course of Peel’s public career through his two periods as Prime Minister to his death in 1850. The emphasis throughout is on the impact of Peel and his policies on the articulate society of that time.

Set against the great social and economic changes caused by the Industrial Revolution and adjustments in political life brought about by a newly reformed electoral system, the text depicts Peel’s developing offer of leadership to the Victorian people and their increasingly favourable response.

Donald Read (1930 – 1 October 2018) was a British historian and emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent, who was appointed to write the authorised history of Reuters. Read died in 2018, aged 88.