Articles by Charles Littleton
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Putting ‘spirit in the conduct of the war’: the November 1775 government reshuffle
In his last post for the Georgian Lords, From bills to bullets: Spring 1775 and the approach to war in America, on the advent of the American War of Independence, Dr Charles Littleton left things hanging with the prorogation on…
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From bills to bullets: Spring 1775 and the approach to war in America
A recent article in this series [Background to the American Revolution] looked at the debates in the House of Lords in early February 1775 on a bill for conciliation with the American colonies. After its rejection the imperial crisis continued…
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Robert Burns in Edinburgh: peers, patrons, and politics
In the wake of Burns Night, it is worth considering how the patronage of a small number of Scottish nobles helped Robert Burns become established as the national bard. In his latest piece for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton,…
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‘The most surprising instance of a change of fortune raised by a man himself’: the case of James Brydges, 1st duke of Chandos
In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton, considers the career of the 1st duke of Chandos, a man who rose to become one of the most flamboyant peers of the early 18th century and a key…
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‘A very good bed for old courtiers to rest in’: The 18th-century Post Office and its Postmasters-General
Much attention has concentrated recently on the scandal surrounding the Post Office’s prosecutions of numerous sub-postmasters and -mistresses. The 18th-century Post Office was established and run on very different lines than that of today, but as Dr Charles Littleton shows,…
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Loud enough to wake the dead? Fireworks and celebration in the mid-18th century
With Guy Fawkes night almost upon us, we can expect to see and hear fireworks going off all across the country. A previous blog showed how throughout the late 17th century, fireworks and bonfires were used to mark the momentous…
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‘Kind patron of the mirthful fray’: the English aristocracy and cricket in the 18th century
The Ashes Test series currently under way provides an opportunity to consider the English aristocracy’s role in cricket’s early development in the 18th century. In this blog for the Georgian Lords Dr Charles Littleton looks back at some of the…
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‘The most solemn, magnificent, and sumptuous ceremony’: The coronation of George II and Queen Caroline, 11 October 1727
Contemporaries were agreed that the coronation of George II and Queen Caroline on 11 October 1727 was spectacular. In our second Coronation-themed blog, Dr Charles Littleton looks back on the event and considers the roles played by some of those…
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Parliament’s Committees of Privileges
The House of Commons Committee of Privileges has its origins in 1995 when, in the light of scandals such as ‘cash for questions’, a Committee of Standards and Privileges was established to monitor and regulate the conduct of MPs. In…
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Of Pretenders and Prime Ministers: Robert Walpole and the Atterbury Plot 300 years on
As 2022 draws to an end Dr Charles Littleton considers the tercentenary of the Atterbury Plot, the failed plan for a Jacobite insurrection in England in 1722. The investigation of the conspiracy by Parliament in 1722-23 had far-reaching effects, as…
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‘A very disagreeable situation’: the brief premiership of William Cavendish, 4th duke of Devonshire
Following Liz Truss’s record-breaking short tenure as Prime Minister, recently much attention has turned towards some of the historical figures who held the post of Premier for only a short period of time. William Cavendish, 4th duke of Devonshire, is…
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‘A frenzy of quitting’: the art of resigning in the 18th century
In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton considers two episodes in the mid-18th century when governments were subject to mass resignations… Between 5 and 7 July 2022, over 60 members of Boris Johnson’s government resigned, the…