Politics and Society in Great Yarmouth 1660-1722

This book examines the political development of a major English town between 1660 and 1722. It analyses the reaction of the provinces to the great upheavals of the age, and relates local experiences to regional and national developments. By concentrating on the ruling town council, it traces the relationship between social and political change at local and national levels.

This is the first intensive study of the political development of a major English town during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Perry Gauci examines the activities of the local oligarchy over a period which begins in upheaval, in the aftermath of civil war, and ends in the relative stability of early Georgian England. He brings a fresh perspective to such important episodes as the borough regulation of the 1680s, and the `rage of party'' after 1689, by broadening the sphere of `politics'' to encompass provincial experiences. He examines the role of the town corporation, a little-studied organ of local government, whose membership reveals much about the relationship between social and political change in this period. Gauci challenges accepted views on these corporations, showing them to be much more dynamic, and less self-interested, than is usually supposed. His analysis of the structures of local politics transcends local history and reveals a great deal about the influence of national authorities over provincial life. It is a significant contribution to the urban history of England.