Remaking the Victorian county town 1860-1910

This is a study of the 'remaking' of the English county town between 1860 and 1910. During this period, under the pressure wrought by a shifting urban hierarchy, declining status and an eroded market position, the municipal elites in late Victorian county towns transformed their boroughs into specialised urban centres. The study uses a combination of printed sources including census returns, directories and local newspapers together with local manuscript sources, including municipal records, to analyse the process of urban specialisation in two English county towns in different regions, Bedford and Lincoln. The thesis argues that county towns were more dynamic than is generally perceived. In support of this argument the evolving central place function of the county town is examined together with the administrative and market role. Two chapters focus on significant occupational sectors, manufacturing and the professions, to demonstrate the economic dynamism of Victorian Bedford and Lincoln. The core of the thesis is a comparative study of the development of the two municipal boroughs considering the influence of geographical location, networks and the existing urban resource base in developing economic and environmental specialisation. Finally the managers of urban change, the municipal elite, are examined to assess how their composition, occupations, and lifestyles impacted on their strategies of urban management.