Gentlemen amongst the urban-elite: an inquiry into the 'gentrification' of the Victorian middle-classes

TL;DRAbstract

It can be suggested that the historiography relating to the rise of the middle-class as an urban-elite in the nineteenth-century, has previously been dominated by studies of the great, industrial manufacturing towns of the North. Engaging in a case study of Portsmouth, this dissertation aims to address the absence of historiography on the rise of urban-elites, in smaller towns which did not bare the classic hallmarks of middle-class industrial wealth. This study will offer a different perspective on the formation of middle-class urban-elites, proving that despite Portsmouth’s size, there was an urban-elite who exhibited all the trappings of the ideal nineteenth-century gentleman. Using a range of historiography and primary sources, this dissertation will ascertain that a form of conscious gentrification was taking place in Portsmouth. It will be argued that the quest to attain the amorphous title of the ‘gentleman’; was one which united the middle class.

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