Ideology, Authority and the Politics of Innovation in the Royal Dockyards, 1796--1807 (2014)
Morriss, Roger (Author)
Journal for Maritime Research: Britian, the Sea and Global History
Volume: 16, no. 1
Issue: 1
Pages: 15-27
To promote improvements in the construction, fitting and arming of British warships and in the facilities they needed at the dockyards, the office of Inspector General of Naval Works was created at the Admiralty in 1796. Samuel Bentham (brother of Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher and writer on jurisprudence) was appointed to the post. Bentham brought ideas for the management of the dockyards derived from the Utilitarian creed he shared with his brother. He was opposed by the Navy Board which managed the dockyards on traditional principles and resented the influence Bentham acquired among the yard officers. This article looks at the political conflict that ensued, the respective agendas of the protagonists, and the tactics each pursued to enhance their support. Noteworthy among the administrators who succeeded in abolishing the post of Inspector General and relegating Bentham to a junior seat at the Navy Board were their Evangelical and family connections. On this occasion, emotional, conservative Evangelicalism defeated radical Utilitarianism, in the process revealing that power and authority were more important to senior administrators than improvements in dock facilities, experiments in ship design or new methods of arming ships.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book Morriss, Roger; Science, Utility and Maritime Power: Samuel Bentham in Russia, 1779-91 (/isis/citation/CBB001551977/)
Book
Coad, J. G.;
(2011)
Support for the Fleet: British Naval Bases, 1700--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB001422517/)
Book
Willis, Sam;
(2011)
The Glorious First of June
(/isis/citation/CBB001421486/)
Book
Dyndal, Gjert Lage;
(2012)
Land Based Air Power or Aircraft Carriers? A Case Study of the British Debate about Maritime Air Power in the 1960s
(/isis/citation/CBB001421383/)
Article
Wolters, Timothy S.;
(2011)
Recapitalizing the Fleet: A Material Analysis of Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S. Naval Power
(/isis/citation/CBB001230688/)
Article
Gray, Steven;
(2015)
Coaling Warships with Naval Labour, 1870--1914: “I Wish I Could Get Hold of That Man Who First Found Coal”
(/isis/citation/CBB001422546/)
Book
Howard J. Fuller;
(2021)
Turret versus Broadside: An Anatomy of British Naval Prestige, Revolution and Disaster 1860-1870
(/isis/citation/CBB092585039/)
Article
Leggett, Don;
(2014)
Naval Architecture, Expertise and Navigating Authority in the British Admiralty, c.1885--1906
(/isis/citation/CBB001421387/)
Article
Harland, John H.;
(2013)
The Transition from Hemp to Chain Cable: Innovations and Innovators
(/isis/citation/CBB001421493/)
Book
Doe, Helen;
Harding, Richard;
(2012)
Naval Leadership and Management, 1650--1950
(/isis/citation/CBB001421457/)
Book
Leggett, Don;
(2015)
Shaping the Royal Navy: Technology, Authority and Naval Architecture, c.1830--1906
(/isis/citation/CBB001551964/)
Thesis
Snyder, David Allan;
(2001)
Petroleum and Power: Naval Fuel Technology and the Anglo-American Struggle for Core Hegemony, 1889--1922
(/isis/citation/CBB001560706/)
Book
Roger Morriss;
(2021)
Science, utility and British naval technology, 1793-1815: Samuel Bentham and the royal dockyards
(/isis/citation/CBB221986723/)
Article
Smith, Crosbie;
(2007)
Dreadnought Science: The Cultural Construction of Efficiency and Effectiveness
(/isis/citation/CBB000831457/)
Book
Seligmann, Matthew S.;
(2012)
The Royal Navy and the German Threat, 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War against Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB001421489/)
Book
Cameron, Stephen;
(2011)
Belfast Shipbuilders: A Titanic Tale
(/isis/citation/CBB001421455/)
Book
William N. Still Jr;
Richard A. Stephenson;
(2018)
Shipbuilding in North Carolina, 1688-1918
(/isis/citation/CBB758437735/)
Article
Ryzheva, N.;
(2012)
The Formation and Development of Scientific Methods of Ships Design
(/isis/citation/CBB001321221/)
Article
Rennison, Robert W.;
Scott, Austin W.;
(2008)
The Ironworks of Hawks Crawshay & Sons, Gateshead: 1748--1889
(/isis/citation/CBB000831736/)
Book
Saxon Bisbee;
(2018)
Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War
(/isis/citation/CBB559245592/)
Be the first to comment!