Georgian
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Women in charge? Parliament’s female Housekeepers and Necessary Women, c. 1690-1877
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Mari Takayanagi, senior archivist in the UK Parliamentary Archives, and Elizabeth Hallam Smith, historical research consultant at the Houses of Parliament. On 28 November they will discuss the…
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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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Catherine Despard (c.1755-1815): Wife, Mother, Radical advocate
You may have heard of Catherine Despard from the television series Poldark. In this blog Helen Wilson, PhD candidate with the History of Parliament and Open University, who is researching the Black and Mixed Ethnicity Presence in British Politics, 1750-1850,…
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The Early Career of Hugh Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh
In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Stuart Handley re-examines the early career of Hugh Boulter, briefly bishop of Bristol before being posted to Ireland, offering some corrections to his life story. Thomas Lindsay, archbishop of Armagh, died…
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Everyday Experiences of Politics: Material Culture in the Age of Reform, 1780-1832
Our Parliaments, Politics and People seminar is back for the autumn term! At next week’s seminar Kerry Love of the University of Northampton will discuss material culture and the everyday experience of politics between 1780 and 1832. The seminar takes place…
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Tackling congestion in 18th-century London
In the course of the 18th century, Britain’s towns became increasingly congested with private carriages as well as a variety of carts, drays and hackney coaches going about their business. For pedestrians it could make negotiating the streets a nightmare.…
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Soft power and stigma: Illegitimate children and the History of Parliament
In 2022, Kate Gibson, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Manchester, published her book Illegitimacy, Family and Stigma in England, 1660-1834. To measure the impact of stigma and disadvantage on children born outside of marriage she utilised the…
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‘the genuine foundation of our evils’: the Tea Duty Act and Boston Tea Party 250 years on
In the 18th century, tea was a popular drink in America. Yet the East India Company struggled to sell their produce which prompted the British government to pass the Tea Duty Act. Dr Robin Eagles, editor of the Lords 1660-1832…
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Who do they think they are? Lineage of members of the House of Lords
One thought he was descended from Adam, another that he was a Hapsburg prince. In this latest blog, Dr Robin Eagles, editor of the Lords 1660-1832 project, examines some of the more dramatic claims made by members of the House…
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‘Almost an afterthought’: Queen Charlotte
The latest series of Bridgerton – Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story – has captured viewers with a reimagining of the monarch’s life. But who was the real Queen Charlotte? And what was her marriage to George III actually like? Dr…
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‘The buzz, the prattle, the crowds, the noise, the hurry’: the Coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte
Royal celebrations in the Georgian period were renowned for their mixture of stately formality and farcical mix-ups. In the third of our series on 18th-century coronations, we turn to that of George III in the late summer of 1761, which…
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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…