ABSTRACT
In the year of the Great Exhibition the census recorded that, for the first time, one-half of Britain's population lived in towns. Civic pride had a utilitarian base. In the town, people worked to create wealth the benefits of which were diffused, if unequally, through society. Edward Baines of Leeds was convinced that the bourgeoisie of that town were moved by 'dislike and suspicion of the rural-based anti-urban aristocracy'. Large landowners, whose success in remaining at the centre of affairs owes much to their entrepreneurial talents, were substantial urban developers. The building of Leeds Town Hall at a cost of £122,000 in 1858 is the most famous example of conspicuous municipal consumption. Architects, civil engineers and builders were kept in gainful employment by town councillors in the 1850s and 1860s. The most celebrated example of 'local' legislation is the Liverpool Sanitary Act of 1846 which made the council its own health authority.
