Whigs and Cities: Popular Politics in the Age of Walpole and Pitt

This is the first major study of urban politics in the early Hanoverian era. Rogers challenges the view that the political nation was of minimal significance, and highlights the critical contribution of larger towns to the agitations that beset Walpole and swept Pitt to power. He shows, through a study of Bristol, Norwich, and London, the relative strength of opposition sentiment, the persistence of local antagonisms, and the interplay of economic interest and political clientage. Offering a challenging reinterpretation of the role of the crowd in urban politics, Whigs and Cities sheds new light on the dynamics of urban political culture in the 18th century.