Trust and Distrust - Corruption in Office in Britain and its Empire, 1600-1850

Mark Knights offers the first overview of Britain's history of corruption in office in the pre-modern era, 1600-1850. Drawing on extensive archival material, Knights shows how corruption in the domestic and imperial spheres interacted, and how the concept of corruption developed during this period, changing British ideas of trust and distrust.

List of contents

• 1: Introduction


• 2: Indian Civil Servants


• 3: Conceptualising Office


• 4: Conceptualising Corruption


• 5: Trust, Standards of Public Office, and Corruption


• 6: Interest and Disinterestedness


• 7: Public Money, Public Accounts, and Accountability


• 8: Informal Accountability


• 9: Freedom of the Press and Anti-Corruption


• 10: The Politics of Anti-Corruption


• 11: Sale of Office


• 12: Gifts and Informal Profits of Office


• 13: Conclusion


• 14: Policy Implications

About the author

Mark Knights has published extensively on early modern Britain with a particular focus on its political culture. His first book was Politics and Opinion in Crisis, 1678-1681 (1994), and he has published two further books with OUP on later Stuart culture. He moved to the University of Warwick in 2007 and has directed its Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre. The research for Trust and Distrust: Corruption in Office in Britain and its Empire, 1600-1950 won two awards, the first 2014-16 an AHRC Leadership Fellowship and in 2020 a Leverhulme Fellowship.

Product details

• Authors: Knights Mark
• Publisher: Oxford Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 15.09.2025
• EAN: 9780198820505
• ISBN: 978-0-19-882050-5
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, European History, British Empire, HISTORY / Modern / General, Social & cultural history, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Imperialism, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Colonialism & imperialism, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Social and cultural history, Colonialism and imperialism, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, C 1600 To C 1700, HISTORY / Europe / Renaissance, C 1700 To C 1800