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List of contents
1. Introduction
2. Royal Mercy’s Constitutional Context
3. Victoria’s Merciful Predecessors
4. Public Views of Victoria’s Mercy
5. Mercy in the Royal Archives
6. Royal Mercy: Rebellion and Attempted Assassination
7. Victoria Beatrix: Victoria’s Empire of Mercy
8. Envoi to Victoria
9. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the author
James Gregory is Associate Professor of Modern British History at Plymouth University, UK. He is the author of Victorians and Vegetarians (2007), Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists (2010), Victorians Against the Gallows (2011), The Poetry and the Politics (2014) and Libraries, Books and Collectors of Texts, 1600–1900 (2018).
Summary
In the first detailed study of its kind, James Gregory's book takes a historical approach to mercy by focusing on widespread and varied discussions about the quality, virtue or feeling of mercy in the British world during Victoria’s reign. Gregory covers an impressive range of themes from the gendered discourses of ‘emotional’ appeal surrounding Queen Victoria to the exercise and withholding of royal mercy in the wake of colonial rebellion throughout the British empire. Against the backdrop of major events and their historical significance, a masterful synthesis of rich source material is analysed, including visual depictions (paintings and cartoons in periodicals and popular literature) and literary ones (in sermons, novels, plays and poetry).
Gregory’s sophisticated analysis of the multiple meanings, uses and operations of royal mercy duly emphasise its significance as a major theme in British cultural history during the ‘long 19th century’. This will be essential reading for those interested in the history of mercy, the history of gender, British social and cultural history and the legacy of Queen Victoria’s reign.
Foreword
An exploration of mercy and its royal execution in Victorian Britain.
Additional text
James Gregory’s penetrating study highlights Mercy—Portia’s “quality” and “deed”—as a key word in re-evaluating a wide range of cultural challenges coalescing around Victoria’s long reign, including: the nature of monarchy itself; debates on capital punishment, Empire, and rebellion; concerns whether unadulterated justice could tame social complexity. Admirably convincing.
