Many histories have been written of the governing class that ruled England with such absolute power during the last century of the old régime. Those histories have shown how that class conducted war, how it governed its colonies, how it behaved to the continental powers, how it managed the first critical chapters of our relations with India, how it treated Ireland, how it developed the Parliamentary system, and how it saved Europe from Napoleon.

One history has only been sketched in outline: it is the history of the way in which this class governed England. The creators of this audiobook have attempted to describe the life of the poor during this period. It is their object to show what was in fact happening to the working classes under a government in which they had no share.

They found, on searching through the material for such a study, that the subject was too large for a single audiobook. They have accordingly confined themselves in this volume to the treatment of the village poor, leaving the town worker for separate treatment. It is necessary to mention this, for it helps to explain certain omissions that may strike the listener.

The growth and direction of economic opinion, for example, are an important part of any examination of this question, but the creators have been obliged to reserve the consideration of that subject for their later volume, to which it seems more appropriate. The creators have also found it necessary to lean entirely on one side to present the movement for Parliamentary Reform, which was alive throughout this period, and very active, of course, during its later stages.

Two subjects are discussed fully in this volume, they believe, for the first time. One is the actual method and procedure of Parliamentary Enclosure, the other the labourers’ rising of 1830. More than one important audiobook has been written on[viii] enclosures during the last few years, but nowhere can the student find a full analysis of the procedure and stages by which the old village was destroyed. The rising of 1830 has only been mentioned incidentally in general histories: it has nowhere been treated as a definite demand for better conditions, and its course, scope, significance, and punishment have received little attention.