J. R. Dinwiddy – författare

Much of Bentham's correspondence of this period is concerned with his persistent but eventually unsuccessful efforts to secure the implementation of his Panopticon penitentiary scheme. The letters also throw light on his work in other fields, especially public finance and the reform of the police.

This is the seventh volume of Bentham's Correspondence, and nearly three-quarters of the letters included in it have not been published before.In 1802 Bentham started to acquire an international reputation through the publication of his Traités de législation civile et pénale. The correspondence contains information about the numerous last-minute revisions which Bentham suggested, about early reactions to the work, and about its translation into Russian. When, in 1802 - 3, Bentham failed in his attempt to get his Panopticon penitentiary project implemented by the government, he turned his attention to adjective law, writing extensively about evidence and procedure, and in 1808 he published a substantial pamphlet on the reform of the Scottish judicature. Exchanges of letters with Sir Samuel Romilly, Francis Horner and others throw some light on the composition of these works and also illuminate aspects of his personal life: his relationships with his brother Samuel, with his Genevan editor Etienne Dumont, with Lord Holland's sister Caroline Fox, to whom he proposed marriage in 1805, and with Aaron Burr, adventurer and former vice-president of the United States, who formed a close friendship with him in 1808.

This book examines the nature and ideas, as well as the underlying social interests and motives, of the reform movements of the early nineteenth century. Focusing primarily upon movements calling for parliamentary reform, Dinwiddy also pays attention to other agitations of the period, including Luddism, co-operative socialism and the Factory Movement. His analysis, while especially concerned with the politicization of the working classes, covers reformism and its repercussions at middle- and upper-class levels.

This book brings together the articles of J.R. Dinwiddy to show both the coherence and importance of his contribution to British history in this period. His work covers the spectrum of political activity and thought from the Whigs to the Luddites and from Burke via Bentham to Marx.