Wellington's Charge: A Portrait of the Duke's England - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Jan, 2003

A Portrait of the Duke's England. Berwick Coates. Robson Books. [pounds sterling]17.95. 324 pages. ISBN 1-86105-516-1. The survey of English life in the period (1782-1851), covers the life span of the great Duke of Wellington. It naturally devotes more attention to the period after Waterloo (1815) and before the Duke's death in 1851, when he was the Crown's leading subject and, for many years, among its leading officers of state.

This is 'a portrait, an impression' of a period which saw tremendous changes in society, economics, transport and government. It is not based on original research and there is no scholarly apparatus but the author does write with a certain verve and has adopted what may be called a rather relaxed style that makes his topics come alive for his readers. His comment on the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which he closes his 'portrait', deserves quoting. 'The soaring success of the Great Exhibition makes an ironic contrast to the downward plunge of the Millennium dome from salesman's pitch to comedian's butt'. The difference was, of course, that the Victorians did not apologise for their country, their religion or their achievements and knew, furthermore, what they were about when erecting the 'crystal palace' in Hyde Park. (T.B.)