ABSTRACT
At the turn of the century A. V. Dicey argued that 1865 formed a dividing line in the attitude of the government to social issues. Before that date policy had been dominated by individualism and Benthamite principles, whereas afterwards Britain came increasingly under collectivist influences. 1 This analysis served a useful purpose in that it showed the nineteenth-century origins of the collectivist State . But the consensus of modern historians is that Dicey did not go far enough back and that the break he assumed occurred in 1865 was too sharp. Instead, it is possible to see movement towards State intervention in social issues during the first half of the century. G. Kitson Clark, for example, divides the nineteenth century into three main phases. The first was the traditional order before 1832, the second a transitional period between 1832 and 1867, and the third, lasting from 1867 to 1885, was when 'modern society, modern democracy and the modern State were beginning to take shape'. 2 The fact that these are the dates of the Reform Acts is no coincidence, since parliamentary reform both reflected current necessity and provided an impetus for further social changes.
