Georgian

Hot takes and fake news: news management through the Votes of the House of Commons

History of Parliament

May 11, 2017

In the era of live webcasts from the Chamber and committee rooms, rolling Hansard and near-instant transcripts of committee sessions, it is sometimes difficult to conceive of an era when the House of Commons fought jealously to keep reports of…
Parliaments, Politics & People Seminar: Edward Hicks, ‘The importance of character: Spencer Perceval and the early nineteenth century House of Commons’

History of Parliament

April 19, 2017

At our last ‘Parliaments, Politics & People‘ seminar of lent term, Edward Hicks (University of Oxford) spoke on: ‘“The best regulated ambition I ever witnessed”: Spencer Perceval and the Importance of Character in the Parliaments of the Napoleonic Wars’. Here…
‘Time, that great discoverer of truth and falsehood’: the calendar change of 1752 and the dating of Easter

Robin Eagles

April 12, 2017

As Easter weekend – late this year – approaches, Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords 1660-1832 section, discusses the timing of Easter and the 18th century change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar… On…
Edmund Burke and the Brexit debates

Paul Seaward

February 7, 2017

For the second week in a row, parliamentary business is dominated by the government’s ‘Brexit bill’. For many, this bill rekindles the dilemma – put so famously by Edmund Burke – of what an MP should do when their opinion…
‘A good preparation for Christmas’: Revolution and Augustan Yuletides

Robin Eagles

December 20, 2016

Christmas cheer at times came a distant second to political intrigue for those featured in our recently published volumes, The House of Lords 1660-1715. Dr Robin Eagles and Dr Charles Littleton tell us more… Christmas was not always a time of…
Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Paul Seaward, ‘Do our buildings shape us’?

Paul Seaward

December 13, 2016

Last month our Director, Dr Paul Seaward, spoke at our ‘Parliaments, politics and people’ seminar on ‘Do our buildings shape us? On oblongs, hemicycles, and the style of British politics.’ Here he reports back on his paper… We shape our…
History of Parliament dissertation competition 2016

Emma Peplow

December 8, 2016

Every year the History organises a competition for the best undergraduate dissertation presented in 2016 on a subject relating to British or Irish parliamentary or political history before 1997. Universities across the country submit a wide range of entries of…
Parliaments, Politics & People seminar: Alex Lock, ‘Sir Thomas Gascoigne (1745-1810), national politics and the York county election of 1784’

Emma Peplow

November 29, 2016

Thanks to Parliament Week, we’re a little behind in our ‘Parliaments, politics and people’ seminar reports. Before tonight’s seminar, here’s our latest report… A month ago Dr Alexander Lock, Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts at the British Library, spoke…
Parliamentary timetabling

Paul Seaward

October 12, 2016

Back to Westminster for MPs this week! Our Director, Dr Paul Seaward, discusses the history of the parliamentary timetable… It may be a warm October, but with the nights drawing in, the party conferences over and Parliament back, there’s still…
Parliament, patriotism and the Last Night of the Proms

Robin Eagles

September 7, 2016

As the Proms come to an end this Saturday with the traditional ‘Last Night’, Dr Robin Eagles, Senior Research Fellow in the House of Lords 1660-1832 section, discusses the political history of the proms… Few events appear more synonymous with…
Parliament, Politics & People Seminar: Jason Frost, ‘Church, State and Parliament in the Late Eighteenth Century in the Martyrdom Day Sermons of 30th January’

History of Parliament

April 8, 2016

Reporting back from our latest ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ Seminar, Jason Frost (University of Westminster) spoke on ‘Church, State and Parliament in the Late Eighteenth Century in the Martyrdom Day Sermons of 30th January.’ Here he discusses his paper… “…That…
Cabinet resignations: an issue of principle

Emma Peplow

March 22, 2016

Following Iain Duncan-Smith’s high profile resignation from the cabinet this weekend, we take a look back at some other examples of resignations from the cabinet due to policy differences… Resigning your post in government has long been the unhappy minister’s…