The complexities of English patriotism. When & why the Roast Beef of Old England was the national anthem
The national anthem, God Save the Queen or King, first became common in the 1790s when ‘Church and King’ mobs backed by sailors were keen to oppose radicals who supported the French Revolution.
The traditional English anthem had been the Roast Beef of Old England, and the playing of the new national anthem did not always go down well. A riot took place in Sheffield in 1812 when naval officers insisted it was played at a theatrical performance.
The politics behind the anthem was that good food-in this case roast beef-was seen as part of the birth right of the ‘Freeborn Englishman’.
Of course for many it was anything but. E P Thompson notes in the Making of the English Working Class that after 1820 while the artisan might be able to afford roast beef for a Sunday dinner, it would have been at best a special occasion for many urban workers and largely impossible for rural labourers.
The point of the anthem then was to highlight the difference between what England claimed to be and what it actually was.
As the media and politicians boosted up flag waving English patriotism as England played the European Championships final on Sunday some might reflect how the rhetoric looks next week as furlough winds down and the Government presses ahead with a return to ‘normal’ as COVID infections rise once again.
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