{"id":{"repo_id":"cambridge","oai_identifier":"oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/339098"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cambridge/oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/339098","repository":{"repo_id":"cambridge","name":"Cambridge University","base_url":"https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Confession and intimacy in England, 1851-1913","abstract":"This thesis examines the history of confession as an intimate practice in England through four microhistorical case studies. In the introduction, I briefly outline a broad history of confession and trace the outline of what I argue already forms the history of intimacy. I propose that a promising way to deepen the study of the history of intimacy is to study intimate practices. I further suggest that the history of nineteenth-century confession—in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England—offers fruitful material with which to do this. The first chapter looks at the 1852 ‘Achilli Trial’, in which a convert ex-priest sued John Henry Newman for libel. The second chapter follows the development of confession in the Church of England through a controversial book written for priests wishing to hear confessions, which became the subject of a major scandal in 1877. The third chapter deals with a confessional scandal in Kensington, culminating in allegations of the breaching of the seal of the confessional in 1882. Throughout, I seek to use confession to illustrate broader themes, drawing on cases relating to medical surgery, divorce law, detective work, legal practice, obscenity legislation and, finally, trance mediumship; the final chapter turns to the Society for Psychical Research, and examines the way secrets took on evidentiary value in what I argue was an intimate science. Overall, this thesis argues that confession was not only the site of broader cultural anxieties about gender and sexuality, but that it was a practice which united proponents and opponents in awareness of its radical, and potentially threatening, intimacy. It thus allows us to construct a history of intimacy in modern Britain with broader implications. This thesis contains discussion of sexual violence, suicide, abortion, drug use, and female genital mutilation.","abstract_html":"This thesis examines the history of confession as an intimate practice in England through four microhistorical case studies. In the introduction, I briefly outline a broad history of confession and trace the outline of what I argue already forms the history of intimacy. I propose that a promising way to deepen the study of the history of intimacy is to study intimate practices. I further suggest that the history of nineteenth-century confession—in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England—offers fruitful material with which to do this. The first chapter looks at the 1852 ‘Achilli Trial’, in which a convert ex-priest sued John Henry Newman for libel. The second chapter follows the development of confession in the Church of England through a controversial book written for priests wishing to hear confessions, which became the subject of a major scandal in 1877. The third chapter deals with a confessional scandal in Kensington, culminating in allegations of the breaching of the seal of the confessional in 1882. Throughout, I seek to use confession to illustrate broader themes, drawing on cases relating to medical surgery, divorce law, detective work, legal practice, obscenity legislation and, finally, trance mediumship; the final chapter turns to the Society for Psychical Research, and examines the way secrets took on evidentiary value in what I argue was an intimate science. Overall, this thesis argues that confession was not only the site of broader cultural anxieties about gender and sexuality, but that it was a practice which united proponents and opponents in awareness of its radical, and potentially threatening, intimacy. It thus allows us to construct a history of intimacy in modern Britain with broader implications. This thesis contains discussion of sexual violence, suicide, abortion, drug use, and female genital mutilation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Morris, George"],"institution":"University of Cambridge","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Griffin, Benjamin"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-03-28","date_published":"2022-03-28","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:25Z","subjects":["Modern British History","Intimacy","Confession","Religion"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.86509","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Griffin, Benjamin"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["Trinity Hall-AHRC DTP Studentship"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Morris, George"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2022-03-28"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cambridge"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/339098"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Modern British History","Intimacy","Confession","Religion"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.17863/CAM.86509"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/3b54eae1-d1ca-4021-afbb-b62e577037ba/download"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis examines the history of confession as an intimate practice in England through four microhistorical case studies. In the introduction, I briefly outline a broad history of confession and trace the outline of what I argue already forms the history of intimacy. I propose that a promising way to deepen the study of the history of intimacy is to study intimate practices. I further suggest that the history of nineteenth-century confession—in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England—offers fruitful material with which to do this. The first chapter looks at the 1852 ‘Achilli Trial’, in which a convert ex-priest sued John Henry Newman for libel. The second chapter follows the development of confession in the Church of England through a controversial book written for priests wishing to hear confessions, which became the subject of a major scandal in 1877. The third chapter deals with a confessional scandal in Kensington, culminating in allegations of the breaching of the seal of the confessional in 1882. Throughout, I seek to use confession to illustrate broader themes, drawing on cases relating to medical surgery, divorce law, detective work, legal practice, obscenity legislation and, finally, trance mediumship; the final chapter turns to the Society for Psychical Research, and examines the way secrets took on evidentiary value in what I argue was an intimate science. Overall, this thesis argues that confession was not only the site of broader cultural anxieties about gender and sexuality, but that it was a practice which united proponents and opponents in awareness of its radical, and potentially threatening, intimacy. It thus allows us to construct a history of intimacy in modern Britain with broader implications. This thesis contains discussion of sexual violence, suicide, abortion, drug use, and female genital mutilation."]},{"key":"dc:format.checksum.md5","label":"Dc Format Checksum Md5","values":["ac3362b20eb32d2aff664db985ad416d"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Confession and intimacy in England, 1851-1913"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Griffin, Benjamin"],"dc:contributor.sponsor":["Trinity Hall-AHRC DTP Studentship"],"dc:creator":["Morris, George"],"dc:date.issued":["2022-03-28"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis examines the history of confession as an intimate practice in England through four microhistorical case studies. In the introduction, I briefly outline a broad history of confession and trace the outline of what I argue already forms the history of intimacy. I propose that a promising way to deepen the study of the history of intimacy is to study intimate practices. I further suggest that the history of nineteenth-century confession—in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England—offers fruitful material with which to do this. The first chapter looks at the 1852 ‘Achilli Trial’, in which a convert ex-priest sued John Henry Newman for libel. The second chapter follows the development of confession in the Church of England through a controversial book written for priests wishing to hear confessions, which became the subject of a major scandal in 1877. The third chapter deals with a confessional scandal in Kensington, culminating in allegations of the breaching of the seal of the confessional in 1882. Throughout, I seek to use confession to illustrate broader themes, drawing on cases relating to medical surgery, divorce law, detective work, legal practice, obscenity legislation and, finally, trance mediumship; the final chapter turns to the Society for Psychical Research, and examines the way secrets took on evidentiary value in what I argue was an intimate science. Overall, this thesis argues that confession was not only the site of broader cultural anxieties about gender and sexuality, but that it was a practice which united proponents and opponents in awareness of its radical, and potentially threatening, intimacy. It thus allows us to construct a history of intimacy in modern Britain with broader implications. This thesis contains discussion of sexual violence, suicide, abortion, drug use, and female genital mutilation."],"dc:format.checksum.md5":["ac3362b20eb32d2aff664db985ad416d"],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.17863/CAM.86509"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/3b54eae1-d1ca-4021-afbb-b62e577037ba/download"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cambridge"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby.uri":["https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/339098"],"dc:rights":["http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved"],"dc:subject":["Modern British History","Intimacy","Confession","Religion"],"dc:title":["Confession and intimacy in England, 1851-1913"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:33:25Z"}