Young England facts for kids

Young England was a political group during the Victorian era (when Queen Victoria ruled Britain). They believed in an old-fashioned idea of society, like a dream version of feudalism. This meant having a king or queen with all the power (an absolute monarch) and a very strong official church. They also thought that rich people should feel it was their duty to help the poor. This idea is called noblesse oblige.

Most members of Young England were a small group of Tory aristocrats. These were wealthy, noble people who had studied together at special schools and universities. Some key members included George Smythe, Lord John Manners, Henry Thomas Hope, and Alexander Baillie-Cochrane. The group's main leader was Benjamin Disraeli. He was special because he wasn't from a noble family and didn't go to the most famous universities. Young England promoted a conservative and romantic type of social Toryism, which focused on helping all parts of society.

A person named Richard Monckton Milnes is thought to have created the name "Young England." This name made people think of other groups from the mid-1800s like Young Ireland, Young Italy, Young Germany, and Young Europe. However, these other groups were different. While they were also nationalistic (proud of their country), they had a lot of public support. They also believed in more freedom for people and wanted republics, not kings.

Spreading Their Ideas: How Young England Tried to Grow

Young England tried to share their ideas with ordinary people. They gave speeches in the countryside and handed out pamphlets. But the few writings, poems, and novels they created were mostly for a "New Generation." These were educated, religious, and socially aware conservatives. Like the Young England members, they were worried about how factories and new industries were changing society. They also disliked the ideas of Jeremy Bentham, which they felt made people too focused on themselves.

They believed these new ideas were causing social problems in Victorian times. Young England was inspired by similar reactions to these changes. Other groups like the Oxford Movement and the Evangelical movement also wanted to bring back older values. Important writers like Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle also influenced them.

Young England members, like the Oxford Movement, did not like the idea of everyone just competing for money. They felt that rich people had stopped being good leaders. They also thought the church wasn't doing enough to help the poor, like giving to charity. Young England looked to England's Christian past, especially the feudal times, as a model for how society should be. They believed this old system could solve new problems.

Young England's Writings: Novels and Poems

Benjamin Disraeli first wrote about Young England's ideas in a book called The Vindication of the English Constitution in 1835. This book started by criticizing the ideas that focused only on usefulness and profit. But it was Lord John Manners and George Smythe who shared the group's old-fashioned ideals more widely. They did this through poems and stories.

Lord Manners' poem England's Trust and Plea for National Holy-days (1843) and George Smythe's Historic Fancies (1844) both imagined a return to feudal times. They offered solutions for the problems caused by industry, but their ideas were mostly about farming and the countryside. This was interesting because Victorian society was becoming more and more urban (city-based).

Disraeli wrote a series of three novels: Coningsby (1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847). These books explained Young England's ideas in detail. They also showed real sympathy for the poor people of England. However, Tancred showed Disraeli moving away from some of Young England's original ideas. It was published when the group was already starting to fade away.

These three novels explained the political, social, and religious messages of Young England. Their ideas included improving working conditions in factories. They also wanted a strong official church, but they believed in religious tolerance for Catholics and Jews.

Their Role in Politics: How They Made a Difference

In Parliament, Young England tried to form alliances with other groups. They made their voices heard in the 1840s. Most of what they achieved in the House of Commons was by working with other groups. They sometimes teamed up with the Social Tories to fight against the New Poor Law, which they thought was unfair to the poor. They even sometimes worked with the Radicals, who had very different ideas. For example, in 1844, Young England helped the Radicals stop a bill that would have given more power to judges in worker disputes.

Why Young England Faded Away

Young England did not last long. It slowly disappeared a few years after 1847. This was when Benjamin Disraeli stopped working closely with the group in Parliament. Disraeli often disagreed with his rival, Robert Peel. Also, his novel Tancred showed that he was becoming less committed to all of Young England's social and political ideas.

Even earlier, Disraeli's actions had hurt the group's reputation. In 1845, he opposed the Maynooth Grant Bill. This law would have permanently increased funding for a Roman Catholic seminary (a school for priests) in Ireland.

Later, Disraeli's opposition to ending the Corn Laws in 1846 also connected him more closely with the interests of wealthy landowners.

What Young England Left Behind: Their Legacy

Unlike Social Toryism, which had similar ideas, Young England did not survive to face the rise of socialism in the 1880s. At its best, Young England influenced some laws that helped reform society in the mid-Victorian era. However, it never gained enough public support to fully achieve its deeply conservative vision for society.

The dream-like, old-fashioned ideas of Manners, Smythe, and Disraeli came from the same concerns about Victorian society as other groups. For example, the Owenite socialists, who were on the political left, also had utopian (perfect society) dreams. Like Owenism, Young England soon failed. But because its ideas were too conservative for a new, more democratic time, it quietly faded away without trying out its big plans.

Karl Marx mentioned Young England as an example of Reactionary Socialism in his famous book The Communist Manifesto.