Consuming Knowledge:
Produce from the Empire in The Penny Magazine
Lucy Warwick
Abstract
There is debate among historians as to whether the British public was uninterested or unaware of the British Empire in the nineteenth century. This article considers the extent to which the Empire and the colonies in fact infiltrated everyday life through trade and produce, specifically in the form of tea, a product that even Britain’s poorest considered a necessity. To do this, this paper draws upon The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) which ran from 1832-1845. Selling an unprecedented 200,000 copies weekly at its peak, what did the public learn about the Empire through articles on its produce in The Penny Magazine? This paper demonstrates that the SDUK promoted Britain as an industrious, imperial land with a strong work ethic- an example to its colonial peoples, and a nation its people should be proud of.
Produce from the Empire in The Penny Magazine
Lucy Warwick
Abstract
There is debate among historians as to whether the British public was uninterested or unaware of the British Empire in the nineteenth century. This article considers the extent to which the Empire and the colonies in fact infiltrated everyday life through trade and produce, specifically in the form of tea, a product that even Britain’s poorest considered a necessity. To do this, this paper draws upon The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) which ran from 1832-1845. Selling an unprecedented 200,000 copies weekly at its peak, what did the public learn about the Empire through articles on its produce in The Penny Magazine? This paper demonstrates that the SDUK promoted Britain as an industrious, imperial land with a strong work ethic- an example to its colonial peoples, and a nation its people should be proud of.
