Georgian
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A family affair? Sir Robert Walpole and the ‘Robinocracy’, 1721-1742
April 3 marks the 300th anniversary of Robert Walpole becoming first lord of the treasury and, with it, assuming the title ‘Prime Minister’ for the first time. In today’s blog Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our Lords 1715-1790 project, explores…
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From Chicken House to Palace: 10 Downing Street in the 18th century
In February 1742, Sir Robert Walpole, newly ennobled as earl of Orford quit 10 Downing Street for the last time. It was expected that his successor, the earl of Wilmington, would replace him there, but in the event it was…
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‘Great Quarrels and Disputes’ or A Bun in the Oven? The Penshurst Claimant and the earldom of Leicester
In today’s blog Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our House of Lords 1715-1790 project, continues our look into the marriages of parliamentarians past. When, in 1781, a man emerged calling himself the earl of Leicester, rumours began to swirl about…
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Party in Eighteenth-Century Politics
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Dr Max Skjönsberg, of the University of Liverpool. On 2 March 2021, between 5.15 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., Max will be responding to your questions about his…
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A History of Parliamentary Cucumbers
Our friends at Hansard at Huddersfield provide a great tool for tracking the popularity of certain words in parliamentary debate. It is unsurprising that the use of ‘deal’ and ‘Brexit’ have been common over the last few years, but, as…
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The Death of Earl Stanhope
In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Stuart Handley reconsiders the career of Earl Stanhope, one half of the Stanhope-Sunderland duumvirate that dominated politics in the early years of George I, and who died 300 years ago. James…
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“‘Always rowdy, violent and colourful’?: Eighteenth century elections in the borough of Swords, Co. Dublin
In the second instalment of our local history look at electioneering in Ireland, today we welcome guest blogger Dr Suzanne Forbes, lecturer at the Open University who is currently researching the representative system in 18th century Ireland. In this blog…
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: The 18th-century aristocracy and an early experiment in immunology
This year there will be much talk of vaccinations, a word derived from Edward Jenner’s use of cowpox to immunize humans against smallpox, but the groundwork for the science of immunology in Britain was laid 300 years ago by Lady…
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Asleep on the job? Prime Minister Lord North 250 years on
Accompanying the publication of a new collection covering 300 years of British Prime Ministers, the book’s editor compiled a list assessing the 55 premiers in order of their significance. Frederick, Lord North, who became Prime Minister in 1770 and is…
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‘Manifest injustice and glaring violation of all truth’: Disputing controverted 18th-century elections in Parliament
In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton considers the way in which 18th-century elections were frequently decided on the results of petitions in Parliament, after the initial returns were challenged. The weeks before this year’s election…
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‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ and political representation
On the 230th anniversary of the publication of Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, we hear from guest blogger Dr Ian Harris from the University of Leicester on the theme of political representation, then and now… The 1st…
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The West India Interest and the Parliamentary Defence of Slavery, 1823-33
Ahead of Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Dr Michael Taylor, the author of The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery (2020). He will be responding to your questions about his research on…