Mary Linwood of Leicester's Pious Address of Violent Times

This article explores the role that contemporary religion and politics played in the subject matter of Mary Linwood's needlework paintings. Linwood was one of Britain's pioneering needlewomen of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Her approach to depicting famous narrative paintings in stitch has been largely overlooked by historians of art. The article is underpinned by use of primary source material, and draws on the most recent scholarship in the field of textile history, notably the work of Heidi Strobel and Rosika Desnoyers. Mary Linwood was an evangelical and a woman interested in the politics of the period. Her use of needlework was a means of both the expression of her piety and of the representation of her political views – especially attitudes to the brutality of the Napoleonic wars. The article also indicates that Linwood's views and medium were of remarkable interest to the wider public during the period.

Championing the 'Alien Church': The Religious Politics of Late Victorian and Edwardian Wales – in Cartoons

J. M. Staniforth was a popular cartoonist working (from the early 1890s until his death in 1921) for the Cardiff Western Mail and the Sunday News of the World. Himself an Anglican, he took a keen interest in the religious politics of the day, particularly those which involved Nonconformist and Liberal attacks on the position of the Established Church. Recognized as an important commentator by both opponents (such as David Lloyd George) and fellow Anglicans (including a number of Anglican clerics), Staniforth's cartoons challenged the assumptions which governed the arguments in favour of disestablishment and disendowment, as well as critiquing the motives and ethics of their proponents. A study of his work affords fascinating insights into the visual culture of some of the most hardfought debates of late Victorian and Edwardian Wales.

The Meaning of 'Liberalism' in the Thought of John Henry Newman

On becoming a cardinal John Henry Newman made the declaration that he had spent his life opposing 'liberalism in religion'. Historians, including the late Frank Turner, dispute Newman's rendition. Indeed, Turner suggests that Newman used this phantom term as a smokescreen and that his supposed opposition to liberalism was in fact a calculated attempt to curry favour with the Vatican. Whether or not Turner's analysis explains the variety of conflicting interpretations given within Newman scholarship it is clear that a comprehensive definition of this term has so far proved elusive. Here Turner's revisionist account is discussed in relation to Newman's Anglican and Catholic use of this term. This is followed by a survey of the relevant Newman literature in which three distinct patterns of interpretation are identified. The article then explores whether an understanding of Newman's classical formation may offer a clue for unlocking the complexity of this term. Newman's references to the ancient world are examined in relation to his use of the term liberalism and it is proposed that this offers the possibility of a more complete understanding of Newman's conception of the antecedents and developments of liberalism.