About the Project
The architectural historian, Mark Girouard famously described English country houses as “power houses”: the centre and showpiece of elite power that ultimately derived from landownership. This reading of the country house places emphasis on its scale, form, character and contents, and on its symbolic role as perhaps the supreme statement of cultural capital. It was also a nexus of social and economic relations: a place of sociability and consumption which both defined the landowning elite and linked them into wider flows of people, goods and ideas.
This project explores the houses of the northern industrial elite as expressions of their power. This group has been neglected in recent analyses of material culture, consumption and sociability, yet their power was perhaps most in need of the bolstering influence of cultural and social capital, built as it was on the sometimes uncertain profits of trade and industry. It takes a comparative approach, linking analysis of the elite of two key regional centres in the north of England – probably Manchester and Newcastle – to examine: the ways in which their material and social lives were centred on the construction of a particular domestic realm; how this helped to project their power and influence, and how this linked into the status of these cities as northern power houses. It critically examines broader ideas about the transfer of cultural and social leadership to a new (urban?) bourgeoisie.
The project is split into three broad phases and the student will determine the details and balance between these.
First phase: attention focuses on tracing the changing number, occupation/status, and residential location of the Manchester and Newcastle elites between c.1750 and c.1880. This not only gives a basis on which to understand their relationship with the economic, social and cultural development of the two cities, but also allows assessments to be made of the internal coherence of the elite. Was there, for instance, a decline in the involvement of the local gentry? Were residential patterns different for an established elite and new comers? And did industrialists seek to buy country estates or were they more active in the rise of the suburban villa (a surprisingly neglected phenomenon in urban history)?
The project then turns to the material lives of the industrial elites. This might comprise some survey work, e.g. on the architectural character of their houses: did they build in a particular style or scale that reflected their political or social ambitions; and how did they respond to changing tastes amongst the landed elite? However, the core of the study will comprise detailed analysis of the domestic material culture of a small sample of merchant-gentry families. This could involve:
[a] tracing changes in the contents of houses and in stylistic tastes – were houses regularly updated and refurnished, and what does this tell us about their material lives? Was there what Bourdieu would term a particular habitus that characterised the industrial elite and did this differ from that of the landed elite?
[b] reproducing the networks through which these domestic settings were created. This focuses on intermediaries, which might be viewed in three ways: the tradesmen, architects, etc. who provided goods and services; the wives and families who, as Harvey and Vickery note, played an important role in shaping domestic environments, and the material goods themselves. This means engaging with Actor Network Theory and the agency of non-human objects.
Final phase: attention might turn to the motivations and impact of this consumption. Ideas of emulation, conspicuous consumption, distinction through taste, and character type have received much attention in recent years. Drawing on these ideas will provide the context for a deeper understanding of the (changing) motivations and identities of a socially mobile group. Such analysis will also tell us much about broader ideas of class relations and cultural leadership – was this group part of a shift in power to the bourgeoisie or a bolster to older elites and older patterns of consumption? It provides insights into the relationship between the “power houses” of the northern industrial elite and the emergence of Manchester and Newcastle as northern powerhouses.
Applications closing date: 31st January 2017.
To apply, please use the form in: http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply/postgraduate-research-course/
Informal enquiries contact: [Email Address Removed]
Please quote the Project Reference.
Funding Notes
This scholarship is open to UK, EU and International students
For information on Project Applicant Requirements please visit: http://www2.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-study/scholarships/detail/vc-artshum-js-2017-2-northern-power-houses.php