This text provides an analysis of 18th-century urban culture and local historical scholarship. The author shows how a sense of the past was crucial not only in instilling civic pride and shaping a sense of community, but also in informing contests for power and influence in the local community.

Eighteenth-century Colchester in Essex was a sizeable provincial town. Colchester People is a mine of information for those researching particular individuals and families. It also builds up a picture of social, political and religious connections between families, individuals and neighbourhoods.This biographical dictionary is based on the archive compiled by John Bensusan Butt. It identifies over 1,000 individuals of the middling sort and town gentry who lived in or were associated with Colchester.This is the first of three volumes.It covers those with surnames from A to L. Volume 2 deals with surnames M to Y. Volume 3 contains appendices including entries for Colchester's eighteenth-century inns and full indexes cross-referenced across all volumes.