Conclusion

Abstract

On the 1st January 1901, one of The Times’s leading articles greeted the arrival of a new century:

The twentieth century has dawned upon us, and as we float past this quiet landmark on the shores of time feelings of awe and wonder naturally creep over us … To Englishmen, Scotsmen and Irishmen, the first of all considerations must be — How will the new century affect the moral and material greatness of their country and their Empire? … We enter upon the new century with a heritage of achievement and of glory older, more continuous, and not less splendid than any country in the world. Our national character, as the ordeal of this last year has abundantly shown, has lost nothing of its virility and doggedness when put to the proof of War … We have a reasonable trust that England and her sons will … live and prosper, one United and Imperial people, to be “a bulwark for the cause of men.” (Read, 1973: 10)

This love letter to Englishness at the dawn of a new era sums up much of what we still associate with the Edwardians today: jingoism, faith in Imperialism, belief in British values and democracy, and optimism about the future. Above all, perhaps, is a sense of a great legacy of progress and prosperity, which originated with the Victorians and now is to be passed down to the generation that follows.