The Producer Politics of British Pro-Confederate Support: Sheffield during the American Civil War

Abstract This article re-examines Transatlantic popular responses to the American Civil War, using the underexplored pro-Confederate movement in the metal-producing town of Sheffield. Export interests to the Southern states were central to the Sheffield movement, which spanned society, incorporating eminent figures, various manufacturers, and acquiring popular appeal. This article advances historiography on British pro-Confederacy, transcending debates around cotton imports, to instead examine the producer-side politics of inland manufacturing districts. It unearths rich socio-cultural connections between industrial Britain and the US South, revealing how complex Transatlantic attitudes to race and slavery influenced provincial economy and society beyond British emancipation in 1838.