ABSTRACT
A key development of Britain between 1707 and the present day has been urbanisation. They became the engine of the economy, of consumption and of culture. Much of economic wealth was rural in origin, and most towns depended on it. Though urban people were rarely as subject to a single authority as rural people were to the landowner, they nonetheless belonged to a culture that contained a common set of customs, beliefs and practices in which all town dwellers participated to greater or lesser extents. The elites might have an exclusive culture, based on wealth, multiple homes and the ability to feed their consumption mania, but they still participated with the lower orders in socially bonding common activities. These common activities were often masculine. Masculinity was classless in many respects, dominated by ideals of physical strength, bravery, assurance and financial independence.
