t Brighton seaside, made such these activities less — rather than more — acceptable to this new class.
If the middle class was receptive and supportive of economic laissez-faire, it had no such ideal about leisure. Legislation, local government initiatives, and policing had their roots in active rational recreational forces, endeavouring to re-establish through leisure a moral and codified framework which would stabilise and transform society. Facilities for mental improvement were similarly developed with middle-class assistance. Simple academic instructions and debates were provided on an mutuality basis or by the new working men's clubs, institutes and a wide variety of Friendly societies. Many industrial employers used mental improvement to serve the purpose of work, and Robert Owen in New Lanark and the Strutts of Belper, for example, provided musical instruction for their employees.
Money was another important factor in leisure, and the middle class used its business and organisational skills to great effect to establish clubs. Pooling together members' resources enabled the purchase of grounds and buildings for leisure activities; golf, cricket, rugby, and tennis clubs all examplify this trend. Public liability legislation further encouraged these developments. What can be any more middle class than the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis and Croquet club?
Football is a classic example whereby the notion of rational recreation transformed a traditional rural leisure activity. Football was codified with the ideological objective of engendering the principles of obedience to given rules, discipline, hygienic living, teamwork, masculinity, and a projection of a national identity. Ordered football was meant to gather society together in a common pursuit, bringing together players and gentlemen alike. This did not to take into account of working class agency that localised the sport, introduced the concept of passing the ball, produced individualism and claimed it as there own. Early football grounds were provided by and for local industries or middle-class associations such as Sunderland's teachers. But as the popularity and its commercial potential became apparent, grounds and stadiums developed at a rapid rate, whereby nearly every town, city or village in Britain boasted a purposely constructed football ground or stadium.
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Bailey, P.C. Leisure, Culture and the Historian. Leisure Studies 8 E.& F.N. Spon Ltd. 1989. Pp. 109-122.
Cunningham, H. Leisure in the Industrial Revolution c1780-c1880. London: Croom Helm. 1980.
Cunningham, H. Leisure, in The Working Class England, 1875-1914. London: Croom Helm. 1985.
Leader, A. Culture Theory and Popular Culture. Brighton: Harvester/Wheatshed. 1974.
Lowerson, J.& Myerscough, J. Time to Spare in Victorian England. Harvester Press. 1977.
Robbinson, K. Nineteenth-Century Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1988.
Thompson, E.P. Customs in Common. Chapter 8 "Rough Music." Pp. 497-531.
Walton, J.K. The English Seaside Resort. London: St. Martins Press. 1983.
Last modified 1996