Sydney Nevile: Squire in the slums or progressive brewer?

Alistair Mutch argues that Sydney O. Nevile co-operated with social workers in Somers Town owing to his own position as the son of a member of the gentry. Whitbread's subsequent pub improvement programme, Mutch contends, reflected the firm's work in this London slum. This article challenges Mutch's thesis, and points to Nevile's social status as an outsider, who survived truly by his own wits, arduous effort, sense of social inferiority and as a result of sheer luck. Involvement with Somers Town pubs came late in Whitbread's pub improvements and had impact neither on the company nor on how Nevile subsequently approached reforming pubs.     

Shanghai splendor: economic sentiments and the making of modern China, 1843–1949

This response to the critique of my article by David Gutzke focuses on the definition and impact of the word ‘progressive’. It is agreed that Sydney Nevile was a progressive brewer in relation to the industry of his time, but his connections with the broader movement of Progressivism are called into question. The links Gutzke suggests can have other explanations, which are briefly outlined. Some misunderstandings about the social status of Nevile are also corrected.