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90-557: Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster , first published in 1910, about social conventions , codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. Howards End is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was conceived in June 1908 and worked on throughout the following year; it was completed in July 1910. The story revolves around three families in England at

180-691: A campaign group, the Friends of the Forster Country, which aimed to preserve for future generations the landscape that Forster knew. In 1997, a sculpture marking Forster's connection with the area was unveiled beside St Nicholas churchyard by the MP for Stevenage, Barbara Follett . In September 2017 Rooks Nest house was put up for sale. In the novel, Wickham Place, the London home of the Schlegel sisters,

270-562: A combined White population smaller than that of London would hold off the concentrated power of the British Empire for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years and take 400,000 Imperial troops to secure victory. The war split the Liberal Party into anti- and pro-war factions. Great orators, such as Liberal David Lloyd George , who spoke against the war, became increasingly influential. Nevertheless, Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain , who

360-519: A concert, Helen takes Leonard Bast's umbrella by mistake and heads home. After awkwardly retrieving it, Leonard, an impoverished clerk, leaves with her sister Margaret's card. Later, the Wilcoxes move to London and become neighbours with the Schlegels. Margaret befriends Ruth Wilcox, the matriarch of the family, who feels a deep connection to Howards End. Ruth, on her deathbed, writes a note leaving

450-477: A convention, for example an average of many measurements, agreed between the scientists working with these values. A convention is a selection from among two or more alternatives, where the rule or alternative is agreed upon among participants. Often the word refers to unwritten customs shared throughout a community. For instance, it is conventional in many societies that strangers being introduced shake hands. Some conventions are explicitly legislated; for example, it

540-576: A determination to retain a strong naval advantage, the British lacked a military strategy or plans for a major war. The Edwardian era stands out as a time of peace and prosperity. Britain's growth rate, manufacturing output and GDP (but not GDP per capita) fell behind its rivals, the United States and Germany, though the nation still led the world in trade, finance and shipping, and had strong bases in manufacturing and mining. The industrial sector

630-546: A form of rebellion against the child-bearing role women were expected to assume. Many considered abortion to be a selfish act that allowed a woman to avoid personal responsibility, contributing to a decline in moral values. Abortion was often a solution for women who already had children and did not want more. Consequently, the size of families decreased drastically. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 defined who could receive monetary relief. The Act reflected and perpetuated prevailing gender conditions. In Edwardian society, men were

720-524: A four-part adaptation by Kenneth Lonergan was broadcast by the BBC. It was a co-production with US broadcaster Starz . A film version made in 1992 stars Emma Thompson , Vanessa Redgrave , Helena Bonham Carter , Anthony Hopkins , and Samuel West . The film was named Best Picture by BAFTA in 1992 and won the 45th Anniversary Prize at the Cannes Film Festival . At the 65th Academy Awards

810-596: A house in the hamlet of Rooks Nest in Hertfordshire , his childhood home from 1883 to 1893. The house, known in Forster's childhood as " Rooksnest " had, as in the novel, been owned by a family named Howard, and the house itself had been called "Howards" in their day. According to his description in an appendix to the novel, Rooks Nest was a hamlet with a farm on the Weston Road just outside Stevenage . The house

900-643: A policy of using the European balance of power to keep the peace. There were no wars. Bismarck was removed by an aggressive young Kaiser Wilhelm in 1890, effectively decentralizing the Bismarckian Order that had been shrewdly managed, and empowering French efforts to isolate Germany. With the formation of the Triple Entente , Germany began to feel encircled: to the West lay France, with whom rivalry

990-508: A political voice. There was significant support for woman suffrage in all the parties, but the Liberal Party was in control after 1906 and a handful of its leaders, especially H. H. Asquith , blocked it. There were numerous organisations which did their work quietly. After 1897, they were increasingly linked together by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) led by Millicent Fawcett . However, front page publicity

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1080-524: A quick victory for the side that was better-prepared, better armed, and faster to move. No one saw that the innovations of recent decades—high explosives, long-range artillery and machine guns—were defensive weapons that practically guaranteed defeat of massed infantry attacks with very high casualties. After 1805 the dominance of Britain's Royal Navy was unchallenged; in the 1890s Germany decided to match it. Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930) dominated German naval policy from 1897 until 1916. Before

1170-527: A senior official of the new government and even became a top British official in the World War. In 1901, the six British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia united to form the Commonwealth of Australia, with almost complete control of its internal affairs, but with foreign policy and defence handled by London. Edmund Barton

1260-453: A social rule changes over time within the same society. What was acceptable in the past may no longer be the case. Similarly, rules differ across space: what is acceptable in one society may not be so in another. Social rules reflect what is acceptable or normal behaviour in any situation. Michel Foucault 's concept of discourse is closely related to social rules as it offers a possible explanation how these rules are shaped and change. It

1350-405: A society, but at the same time, are re-produced by the individuals. Sociologists representing symbolic interactionism argue that social rules are created through the interaction between the members of a society. The focus on active interaction highlights the fluid, shifting character of social rules. These are specific to the social context, a context that varies through time and place. That means

1440-429: A two-part adaptation by Amanda Dalton was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , with John Hurt as the narrator, Lisa Dillon as Margaret Schlegel, Jill Cardo as Helen Schlegel, Tom Ferguson as Tibby Schlegel, Alexandra Mathie as Aunt Juley, Malcolm Raeburn as Henry Wilcox, Ann Rye as Ruth Wilcox, and Joseph Kloska as Charles Wilcox. Allen Shearer 's opera Howards End, America (2016), with a libretto by Claudia Stevens , moves

1530-453: A wise person adopts a Middle Way without holding conventions to be ultimate or ignoring them when they are fruitful. In sociology , a social rule refers to any social convention commonly adhered to in a society . These rules are not written in law or otherwise formalized. In social constructionism , there is a great focus on social rules. It is argued that these rules are socially constructed, that these rules act upon every member of

1620-442: A woman's life. Because abortion was illegal and physicians refused to perform the procedure, local women provided abortions, often using crochet hooks or similar instruments. Feminists of the era focused on educating and finding jobs for women, leaving aside the controversial issues of contraceptives and abortion, which in popular opinion were often related to promiscuity and prostitution. The Church condemned abortion as immoral and

1710-584: Is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King George V . The era is dated from the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, which marked the end of the Victorian era . Her son and successor, Edward VII, was already the leader of a fashionable elite that set a style influenced by the art and fashions of continental Europe . Samuel Hynes described

1800-772: Is conventional in the United States and in Germany that motorists drive on the right side of the road, whereas in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Nepal, India and the United Kingdom motorists drive on the left. The standardization of time is a human convention based on the solar cycle or calendar. The extent to which justice is conventional (as opposed to natural or objective ) is historically an important debate among philosophers . The nature of conventions has raised long-lasting philosophical discussion. Quine , Davidson , and David Lewis published influential writings on

1890-542: Is marked on modern Ordnance Survey maps at grid reference TL244267 . The area to the north-west and west of Rooks Nest House is the only farmland remaining in Stevenage (the area to the east of the house now comprises the St Nicholas neighbourhood of the town). The landscape was termed "Forster country" in a letter to The Times signed by a number of literary figures, published on 29 December 1960. The letter

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1980-543: Is the social rules that tell people what is normal behaviour for any specific category. Thus, social rules tell a woman how to behave in a womanly manner, and a man, how to be manly . Other such rules are as follows: In government , convention is a set of unwritten rules that participants in the government must follow. These rules can be ignored only if justification is clear, or can be provided. Otherwise, consequences follow. Consequences may include ignoring some other convention that has until now been followed. According to

2070-468: The 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century . A Manchester Guardian review written in the year of novel's publication praised it as "a novel of high quality written with what appears to be a feminine brilliance of perception." Critics have described Howards End as a " Condition-of-England novel " for its depiction of the poverty and precarity of the Bast family as well as the rapid changes in

2160-546: The Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale linking France and Great Britain, and finally the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became the Triple Entente . France thus had a formal alliance with Russia, and an informal alignment with Britain, against Germany and Austria. By 1903 good relations had been established with the United States and Japan. Britain abandoned

2250-464: The industrial working class . Women started (again) to play more of a role in politics. The Edwardian period is sometimes portrayed as a romantic golden age of long summer days and garden parties, basking in a sun that never set on the British Empire . This perception was created in the 1920s and later by those who remembered the Edwardian age with nostalgia, looking back to their childhoods across

2340-465: The 1910-1911 Tonypandy riots ; the 1911 Liverpool general transport strike ; the National coal strike of 1912 ; and the 1913 Dublin lockout . It was modern Britain's worst labour unrest and compares with the 1926 general strike . The period of unrest was labelled "great" not because of its scale, but due to the level of violence employed by both the state and labourers; including deaths of strikers at

2430-538: The Anglican fold – were a powerful element, dedicated to opposing the established church in the fields of education and taxation. However, the Dissenters were losing support and played a lesser and lesser role in party affairs after 1900. The party also included Roman Catholics, including the notable Catholic intellectual Hilaire Belloc , who sat as a Liberal MP between 1906 and 1910. They included secularists from

2520-559: The Clyde River, marked as it was by the emergence of independent locally based unions among both dockers and seamen. By the late-1880s, the Industrial Revolution had created new technologies that changed the way people lived. The growth of industry shifts in manufacturing factories, special-purpose machinery and technological innovations, which led to increased productivity. Gender roles shifted as women made use of

2610-481: The Conservative government, with Arthur Balfour as Prime Minister , had numerous successes in foreign policy, defence, and education, as well as solutions for the issues of alcohol licensing and land ownership for the tenant farmers of Ireland. Nevertheless, the weaknesses were accumulating, and proved so overwhelming in 1906 that the party did not return to complete power until 1922 . The Conservative Party

2700-443: The Edwardian era as a "leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun never set on the British flag." The Liberals returned to power in 1906 and made significant reforms . Below the upper class, the era was marked by significant shifts in politics among sections of society that had largely been excluded from power, such as labourers , servants , and

2790-652: The German Empire formed in 1871, Prussia never had a real navy, nor did the other German states. Tirpitz turned a modest fleet into a world-class one that could threaten the British Royal Navy. The British responded with new technology typified by the Dreadnought . It made every other class of battleship obsolete and, supported by a global network of coaling stations and telegraph cables, enabled Britain to stay well ahead in naval affairs. Apart from

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2880-609: The House of Lords, the Liberals lost most of their members, who in the 1890s "became Conservative in all but name." The government could force the unwilling king to create new Liberal peers, and that threat did prove decisive in the battle for dominance of Commons over Lords in 1911. The government entered the Second Boer War with great confidence, little expecting that the two small rural Boer republics in southern Africa with

2970-461: The Liberal MPs elected in 1906 were supportive of the " new liberalism ", which advocated government action to improve people's lives. Liberals in 1906–1911 passed major legislation designed to reform politics and society, such as the regulation of working hours, National Insurance and the beginnings of the welfare state, as well as curtailing the power of the House of Lords. Women's suffrage

3060-542: The Liberals, allowing for cross-party support in elections, and the emergence of a small Labour contingent in Parliament. It was a temporary arrangement until the 1920s, when the Labour Party was strong enough to act on its own, and the Liberals were in an irreversible decline. Subtle social changes in the working-class were producing a younger generation that wanted to act independently. Michael Childs argues that

3150-671: The Schlegels and Basts of plotting against him. Margaret, disturbed by the revelation, forgives Henry and wishes to salvage their relationship. Helen strongly disapproves of Henry's mistreatment of the Basts and spends the night with Leonard discussing their plight. Helen later confides in her brother Tibby and decides to send financial help to the Basts, but Leonard returns the first cheque and declines further assistance. After her wedding to Henry, Margaret becomes concerned about Helen's restless travels. When their Aunt Juley falls ill, Margaret asks Helen to return to England, but Helen refuses to see

3240-400: The Schlegels were loosely based on Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell , who were Forster's contemporaries in the liberal and humanist-minded Bloomsbury Group. The house of the title, Howards End, "is a mystical symbol of the beauty and gentility of that fast-disappearing world. The question of who will own it – for which read England's social future – dominates the book." It sits in

3330-488: The United States, especially in railways. These assets proved vital in paying for supplies in the first years of the World War. Amenities, especially in urban life, were accumulating—prosperity was highly visible. The working classes were beginning to protest politically for a greater voice in government, especially after 1908, reaching a crescendo known as the Great Unrest in 1910-1914. The extreme agitation included

3420-682: The War Office and David Lloyd George at the Board of Trade . Campbell-Bannerman retired in 1908 and was succeeded by Asquith. He stepped up the government's radicalism, especially in the " People's Budget " of 1909 that proposed to fund expanded social welfare programmes with new taxes on land and high incomes. It was blocked by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords , but eventually became law in April 1910. Almost half of

3510-413: The Wilcoxes of some of their deep-seated social and economic prejudices. The Schlegels, a family of intellectual and idealistic sisters, once befriended the Wilcoxes, a wealthy and conventional family, during their time in Germany. Helen Schlegel visits the Wilcoxes' country house, Howards End, where she becomes engaged to Paul Wilcox but soon regrets the hasty decision and they break off the engagement. At

3600-480: The abyss of the Great War . The Edwardian age was also seen as a mediocre period of pleasure between the great achievements of the preceding Victorian age and the catastrophe of the following war. Recent assessments emphasise the great differences between the wealthy and the poor during this period and describe the age as heralding great changes in political and social life. Historian Lawrence James argued that

3690-519: The action to 1950s Boston . The adaptation is discussed in Stevens' article "Page to Stage: A New Opera, Howards End, America " in the Polish Journal of English Studies. Social conventions In physical sciences , numerical values (such as constants, quantities, or scales of measurement) are called conventional if they do not represent a measured property of nature, but originate in

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3780-472: The beginning of the 20th century: the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings (Margaret, Helen, and Tibby), whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group ; and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background. The idealistic, intelligent Schlegel sisters seek to help the struggling Basts and to rid

3870-403: The better-off element of traditional working-class Britons in the larger cities. In rural areas, the national headquarters made highly effective use of paid travelling lecturers, with pamphlets, posters, and especially lantern slides, who were able to communicate effectively with rural voters – particularly the newly enfranchised agricultural workers. In the first years of the twentieth century,

3960-558: The build-up of its navy from 1898 which led to the Anglo-German naval arms race . British diplomat Arthur Nicolson argued it was "far more disadvantageous to us to have an unfriendly France and Russia than an unfriendly Germany". The impact of the Triple Entente was to improve British relations with France and its ally Russia and to demote the importance to Britain of good relations with Germany. After 1905, foreign policy

4050-400: The countryside, away from London, holding immense sentimental value to Mrs Ruth Wilcox, who threatens the male line of inheritance when she attempts to leave the house to newly befriended Margaret Schlegel upon her death. The core message of the novel is its epigraph, "Only connect", a similar theme to that of Forster's novel Maurice , which also features cross-class relationships. In the end,

4140-575: The family. Margaret and Henry visit Howards End, hoping to surprise Helen, and discover her secret pregnancy. Margaret stands by her sister and urges Henry to forgive her as she has forgiven him, but he remains unconvinced. Leonard arrives at Howards End the next day, tormented by his affair with Helen and unaware of her presence there. Charles Wilcox attacks Leonard, causing him to grab a bookcase that collapses and fatally injures him due to undiagnosed heart disease. Margaret decides to leave Henry, but he reveals that Charles will be charged with manslaughter by

4230-655: The film won three Academy Awards for films released in 1992: Thompson for Best Actress, Luciana Arrighi for Best Art Direction, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . In 1949, an adaptation by Horton Heath aired on NBC University Theatre , with Alma Lawton as Margaret Schlegel, Eileen Erskine as Helen Schlegel, Tom Dillon as Henry Wilcox, Ben Wright as Charles Wilcox, Terry Kilburn as Leonard Bast, and Queenie Leonard as Jacky Bast. In 2009,

4320-432: The hands of police and sabotage on the part of the workers. The Great Unrest saw an enormous increase in trade union membership, which affected all industries to varying extents. The militants were most active in coal mining, textiles and transportation. Much of the militancy emerged from grassroots protests against falling real wages, with union leadership scrambling to catch up. The new unions of semiskilled workers were

4410-453: The house to Margaret, but her widowed husband Henry and his children conceal the inheritance and burn the note. Leonard Bast lives with a woman named Jacky. When Jacky shows up at the Schlegels' house looking for her "husband" one night, Helen is mystified. Leonard explains the situation: he had been out walking under the stars that night. Henry Wilcox and his daughter Evie visit the Schlegels; Henry wrongly advises Leonard to quit his job due to

4500-596: The incomes of households and increases in town tax revenues helped cause the decline of mortality. The new money permitted higher spending on food, and also on a wide range of health-enhancing goods and services such as medical care. The major improvement in the physical environment was the quality of the housing stock, which rose faster than the population; its quality was increasingly regulated by central and local government. Infant mortality fell faster in England and Wales than in Scotland. Clive Lee argues that one factor

4590-494: The influence of Forster's closeted homosexuality on the novel. Critic Vivian Gornick argued that Forster's lack of romantic or sexual experience at the time of writing "haunts" the book: "Unable to achieve emotional experience himself, yet impelled to write about it, he here adopts the intellectually intelligent voice of a writer who senses the import of what lies behind the tragedy of life but doesn't really know what he's talking about." Forster based his description of Howards End on

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4680-607: The internees died. Emily Hobhouse visited the camps and was appalled at the living conditions, which she brought to the attention of the British public. Public outcry resulted in the Fawcett Commission which corroborated Hobhouse's report and eventually led to improved conditions. The Boers surrendered, and the Boer Republics were annexed by the British Empire. Jan Smuts —a leading Boer general—became

4770-835: The issue, with a large faction strongly opposed to the war in Africa. The Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia is often compared to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria–Hungary and Italy, but historians caution against the comparison. The Entente, in contrast to the Triple Alliance or the Franco-Russian Alliance , was not an alliance of mutual defence, and Britain therefore felt free to make her own foreign policy decisions in 1914. The Liberals were highly moralistic, and by 1914 they were increasingly convinced that German aggression violated international norms, and specifically that its invasion of neutral Belgium

4860-431: The labour movement. The middle-class business, professional and intellectual communities were generally strongholds, although some old aristocratic families played important roles as well. The working-class element was moving rapidly toward the newly emerging Labour Party . One unifying element was widespread agreement on the use of politics and Parliament as a means to upgrade and improve society and to reform politics. In

4950-646: The leaders felt increasingly threatened by rival powers such as Germany, Russia, and the United States. Nevertheless, the sudden arrival of World War I in the summer of 1914 was largely unexpected, except by the Royal Navy, because it had been prepared and readied for war . There was a growing political awareness among the working class, leading to a rise in trade unions, the Labour movement and demands for better working conditions. The aristocracy remained in control of top government offices. The Conservatives – at

5040-916: The life of a young gay man in New York. The play opened on 2 March 2018, at Young Vic and later transferred to the West End at the Noël Coward Theatre . The production won four Olivier Awards including Best Play . The play opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in September 2019. A British television adaptation of the novel in the BBC 's Play of the Month series was broadcast in 1970, and starred Leo Genn , Sarah-Jane Gwillim , and Glenda Jackson . In November 2017,

5130-485: The local authorities. Charles is found guilty and sentenced to prison. Henry, overwhelmed by shame, agrees to honour Ruth's wish and leave Howards End to Margaret. He also stipulates that, after Margaret's death, the property will pass to the son of Helen and Leonard. Helen returns to Howards End, and the family warmly welcomes her and her son. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Howards End 38th on its list of

5220-607: The machine-made lace and finishing trade. It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the Trade Boards Act 1918 . Under the leadership of David Lloyd George Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers. Conservative peers in the House of Lords tried to stop the People's Budget . The Liberals passed the Parliament Act 1911 to sharply reduce

5310-512: The most militant. The National Sailors' and Firemen's Union directed strike activities in many port cities across Britain. The national leadership was strongly supported by local leaders, for example the Glasgow Trades Council. In Glasgow and other major cities there were distinctive local variations. Glasgow was more unified and coherent than most centres. The long-term result was seen in the strength of waterfront organisation on

5400-516: The new technology to upgrade their lifestyle and their career opportunities. Mortality declined steadily in urban England and Wales 1870–1917. Robert Millward and Frances N. Bell looked statistically at those factors in the physical environment (especially population density and overcrowding) that raised death rates directly, as well as indirect factors such as price and income movements that affected expenditures on sewers, water supplies, food, and medical staff. The statistical data show that increases in

5490-490: The older generation of Liberal voters. The Liberal Party lacked a unified ideological base in 1906. It contained numerous contradictory and hostile factions, such as imperialists and supporters of the Boers; near-socialists and laissez-faire classical liberals ; suffragettes and opponents of women's suffrage; antiwar elements and supporters of the military alliance with France. Nonconformist Dissenters – Protestants outside

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5580-524: The policy of holding aloof from the continental powers, so called " Splendid Isolation ", in the 1900s after being isolated during the Boer War . Britain concluded agreements, limited to colonial affairs, with her two major colonial rivals: the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907. Britain's alignment was a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and

5670-528: The power of the House of Lords to block legislation. The cost was high, however, as the government was required by the King to call two general elections in 1910 to validate its position and ended up frittering away most of its large majority, with the balance of power held by Labour and Irish Parliamentary Party members. Germany's Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dominated European diplomacy from 1872 to 1890, with

5760-450: The procedure was used not only as a means of terminating pregnancy, but also to prevent poverty and unemployment. Those who transported contraceptives could be legally punished. Contraceptives became more expensive over time and had a high failure rate. Unlike contraceptives, abortion did not need any prior planning and was less expensive. Newspaper advertisements were used to promote and sell abortifacients indirectly. Not all of society

5850-543: The rapid expansion of the school system, and the emergence of the new profession of nursing. Education and status led to demands for female roles in the rapidly expanding world of sports. Women were very active in church affairs, including attendance at services, Sunday school teaching, fund raising, pastoral care, social work and support for international missionary activities. They were almost completely excluded from practically all leadership roles. As middle-class women rose in status, they increasingly supported demands for

5940-609: The social and economic structure of England in the Edwardian period. The Wilcox family represent " new money " as well as global capitalism with their ownership of the Imperial and West African Rubber Company, while the German Schlegel sisters represent the educated, cosmopolitan " New Woman " and raise questions of women's suffrage. The Wilcoxes were possibly inspired by the harsh landlords of Forster's childhood home, while

6030-464: The source of wealth. The law restricted relief for unemployed, able-bodied male workers, due to the prevailing view that they would find work in the absence of financial assistance. However, women were treated differently. After the Poor Law was passed, women and children received most of the aid. The law did not recognise single independent women, and put women and children into the same category. If

6120-819: The subject. Lewis's account of convention received an extended critique in Margaret Gilbert 's On Social Facts (1989), where an alternative account is offered. Another view of convention comes from Ruth Millikan 's Language: A Biological Model (2005), once more against Lewis. According to David Kalupahana, The Buddha described conventions—whether linguistic, social, political, moral, ethical, or even religious—as arising dependent on specific conditions. According to his paradigm, when conventions are considered absolute realities, they contribute to dogmatism, which in turn leads to conflict. This does not mean that conventions should be absolutely ignored as unreal and therefore useless. Instead, according to Buddhist thought,

6210-438: The supposed collapse of his employer’s company. Time passes as Margaret and Henry's friendship turns into a romance. They become engaged despite opposition from Henry's children, who remember and fear their mother’s dying wish to give Howards End to Margaret. Helen attends the wedding of Evie Wilcox with Leonard and Jacky, who are now married and in dire financial straits. Henry recognizes Jacky as his former mistress, and accuses

6300-500: The three families are forced into a form of uneasy reconciliation; critic Barbara Morden argues: "Ultimately, it is Leonard Bast, the uprooted and dispossessed peasant, who proves to be the key to the novel's pattern of connection and theme of inheritance. It is his and Helen's illegitimate baby, a child of nature rather than a 'Son of Empire', born at the heart of the old house into a newly constituted family, who will inherit Howards End, perhaps England." Several critics have also assessed

6390-697: The time called "Unionists" – were the dominant political party from the 1890s until 1906 . The party had many strengths, appealing to voters supportive of imperialism , tariffs, the Church of England , a powerful Royal Navy , and traditional hierarchical society. There was a powerful leadership base in the landed aristocracy and landed gentry in rural England, plus strong support from the Church of England and military interests. Historians have used election returns to demonstrate that Conservatives did surprisingly well in working-class districts. They had an appeal as well to

6480-483: The top tier of the working-class and lower middle-class, and there was dissatisfaction among intellectuals. The 1906 general election was a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, which saw its total vote share increase by 25%, while the Conservative total vote held steady. The Labour Party was emerging from the rapidly growing trade union movement after 1890. In 1903 it entered the Gladstone–MacDonald pact with

6570-477: The traditional doctrine (Dicey) , conventions cannot be enforced in courts, because they are non-legal sets of rules. Convention is particularly important in the Westminster System of government, where many of the rules are unwritten. Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It

6660-441: The younger generation had reason to prefer Labour over Liberal political styles. Social factors included secularised elementary education (with a disappearing role for Dissenting schools that inculcated Liberal viewpoints); the "New Unionism" after 1890 brought unskilled workers into a movement previously dominated by the skilled workers; and new leisure activities, especially the music hall and sports, involved youth while repelling

6750-462: Was a majority of support for suffrage in Parliament, the ruling Liberal Party refused to allow a vote on the issue; the result of which was an escalation in the suffragette campaign. The WSPU, in dramatic contrast to its allies, embarked on a campaign of violence to publicise the issue, even to the detriment of its own aims. Although abortion was illegal, it was nevertheless a widespread form of birth control. Used predominantly by working-class women,

6840-458: Was accepting of contraceptives or abortion, and opponents viewed both as part of one and the same sin. Abortion was much more common among the middle classes than among those living in rural areas, where the procedure was not readily available. Women were often tricked into purchasing ineffective pills. In addition to fearing legal reprimands, many physicians did not condone abortion because they viewed it as an immoral procedure potentially endangering

6930-645: Was awakening after a generation of dormancy following the Franco-Prussian War , to the East sat Russia, whose rapid industrialization worried Berlin and Vienna. Joseph Chamberlain , who played a major role in foreign policy in the late 1890s under the Salisbury government, repeatedly tried to open talks with Germany about some sort of alliance. Berlin was not interested. Meanwhile, Paris went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain. Key markers were

7020-506: Was completely unacceptable in terms of morality, of Britain and Germany's obligations under the Treaty of London , and of British policy against any one power controlling the continent of Europe. Until the last few weeks before it started in August 1914, almost no one saw a world war coming. The expectation among the generals was that because of industrial advances any future war would produce

7110-407: Was demolished to make way for a block of flats; it did not have a direct real-world counterpart. Forster's conception of it owed a great deal to number 1 All Souls Place, where the sisters of Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson lived. On Beauty , a 2005 novel by Zadie Smith , is loosely based on Howards End and was written as a homage to Forster. A stage adaptation by Lance Sieveking and Cottrell,

7200-561: Was largely in charge of the war, maintained his hold on power. When General Kitchener took command in 1900, he initiated a scorched earth policy to foil Boer guerrilla tactics. Captured Boer combatants were transported overseas to other British possessions as prisoners of war. However, he relocated non-combatant Boers—mostly women and children—into heavily guarded internment camps. The internment camps were overcrowded with bad sanitation and meagre food rations. Contagious diseases such as measles, typhoid and dysentery were endemic. Many of

7290-454: Was losing its drive and enthusiasm, especially after the retirement of the charismatic Joseph Chamberlain . There was a bitter split on "tariff reform" (that is, imposing tariffs or taxes on all imports), that drove many of the free traders over to the Liberal camp. Tariff reform was a losing issue that the Conservative leadership inexplicably clung to. Conservative support weakened among

7380-489: Was not on the Liberal agenda. There were numerous major reforms helping labour, typified by the Trade Boards Act 1909 that set minimum wages in certain trades with the history of "sweated" or "sweatshop" rates of especially low wages, because of surplus of available workers, the presence of women workers, or the lack of skills. At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and

7470-515: Was performed in 1967 on tour and at the New Theatre in London, with Gwen Watford , Gemma Jones , Michael Goodliffe , Joyce Carey and Andrew Ray in the cast. Forster co-operated in the production. The Inheritance is a play in two parts by Matthew Lopez, which gets inspiration from the Forster novel to portray instead the generation that came after the height of the AIDS crisis, addressing

7560-470: Was seized by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Founded in 1903, it was tightly controlled by the three Pankhursts, Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928), and her daughters Christabel Pankhurst (1880–1958) and Sylvia Pankhurst (1882–1960). It specialised in highly visible publicity campaigns such as large parades. This had the effect of energising all dimensions of the suffrage movement. While there

7650-493: Was slow to adjust to global changes, and there was a striking preference for leisure over entrepreneurship among the elite. However, London was the financial centre of the world—far more efficient and wide-ranging than New York, Paris or Berlin. Britain had built up a vast reserve of overseas credits in its formal Empire, as well as in an informal empire in Latin America and other nations. It had huge financial holdings in

7740-420: Was sustained as an important aid for women negotiating wider social shifts and tensions in their lives." Increased literacy in the middle class gave women wider access to information and ideas. Numerous new magazines appealed to their tastes and helped define femininity. The inventions of the typewriter, telephone, and new filing systems offered middle-class women increased employment opportunities. So too did

7830-485: Was the continued overcrowding in Scotland's housing. During the First World War, infant mortality fell sharply across the country. J. M. Winter attributes this to the full employment and higher wages paid to war workers. For housewives, sewing machines enabled the production of ready-made clothing and made it easier for women to sew their own clothes; more generally, argues Barbara Burman, "home dressmaking

7920-535: Was the first prime minister. The Liberal Party under Henry Campbell-Bannerman rallied Liberals around the traditional platform of free trade and land reform and led them to the greatest electoral victory in Liberal Party history. The Prime Minister was overshadowed by his frontbench, most notably H. H. Asquith at the Exchequer, Edward Grey at the Foreign Office, Richard Burdon Haldane at

8010-567: Was tightly controlled by the Liberal Foreign Secretary Edward Grey (1862–1933), who seldom consulted with his party leadership. Grey shared the strong Liberal policy against all wars and against military alliances that would force Britain to take a side in war. However, in the case of the Boer War, Grey held that the Boers had committed an aggression that it was necessary to repulse. The Liberal party split on

8100-535: Was written in response to two compulsory purchase orders made by the Stevenage Development Corporation; it expressed the hope that 200 acres of the countryside around the house could be preserved both as one of the last beauty spots within 30 miles of London and "because it is the Forster country of Howards End." In 1979, the centenary of the author's birth, the area was officially named the Forster Country by local planners after efforts by

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