'Naval engagements': Patriotism, cultural politics, and the Royal Navy, 1793--1815

This thesis examines the place occupied by the royal navy in British culture during the wars of 1793--1815 with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France It explores the manner in which images of the navy operated in domestic British culture, and relates their significance to larger dynamics within late eighteenth and early nineteenth century society and political culture.;Chapter one is an introduction, which justifies the topic in light of recent writing on British national identity in the period, outlines the sources employed, and introduces necessary terms and concepts. Chapter two investigates the cultural politics of the first major naval engagement of the war, Lord Howe's victory over the French fleet on May 29--June 1, 1794. It traces the attempt made by partisan interests to capitalise upon the naval victory. Chapter three considers the naval mutinies of 1797 and examines their effect on elite perceptions of the navy's ability to function as an effective national symbol. As it was closely followed by Admiral Duncan's victory over the Dutch fleet off Camperdown on October 11, 1797, the manner in which the celebrations for his victory became caught up in a project of national and naval rehabilitation is addressed. Chapter four explores the social and cultural dynamics that were part and parcel of patriotic activity for contemporaries. It examines a range of efforts made, and projects launched, to commemorate and acknowledge naval superiority in the years around the battle of the Nile (August 1, 1798). Admiral Horatio Nelson---the most celebrated naval hero in Britain's history---is the focus of the fifth chapter. It traces the development of his public image, locating it---to a degree that has never been before suggested---in its relationship to some of the manifest social tensions of the period. Chapter six considers the parliamentary career of Lord Cochrane MP, and explores the manner in which he was able to exploit naval symbols and associations in the radical political cause.;The thesis concludes by making a revisionist assessment of current interpretations of national identity in the period, arguing that significant class and political tensions have been ignored.