Local History
-
A Lancastrian City? Coventry and the Wars of the Roses, 1451-1471
This piece is in memory of Professor Peter W. Fleming, who died in April 2025. His publishing career spanned 40 years, from an article on the religious faith of the gentry of Kent in 1984 to a defining monograph on…
-
‘Confirmation of the People’s Rights’: commemorating the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688
For many, the beginning of November means the advent of longer nights as the year winds down to Christmas. Some may still enjoy attending firework displays marking the failure of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. In November 1788, though, serious efforts…
-
Descended from a giant: the Worsleys of Hovingham
The recent death of HRH the Duchess of Kent, who was married to the late queen’s cousin at York Minister in 1961, reminds us of her family’s long association with Yorkshire. This has included two brothers who served as archbishop…
-
From Lancaster to York and back again: the political evolution of the Derbyshire Blounts
Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the fortunes and shifting loyalties of one gentry family in Derbyshire during the Wars of the Roses. The troubled politics of the mid-fifteenth century are illuminated by the histories of leading gentry…
-
‘Good for nothing and lived like a hog’: the destructive obsession of Francis, Lord Deincourt
Dr Patrick Little of the 1640-60 Lords section, explores the strange life of a peer who valued money above everything. It had started so well. Francis Leak, the son of Sir Francis Leak, a prosperous landowner in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire,…
-
Bloomsbury Square and the Gordon Riots
For almost 20 years, Bloomsbury Square has been the home to the History of Parliament. In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles considers the history of the square in one of its most turbulent periods. Bloomsbury…
-
‘I shall persist’: Joseph Brotherton (1783-1857) and late hours in the Commons
Among the new constituencies created by the 1832 Reform Act was Salford, whose first MP, Joseph Brotherton, proved to be a notably hard-working member of the Commons. Dr Kathryn Rix, Assistant Editor of our House of Commons, 1832-1945 project, examines…
-
A Yorkist Family during the Wars of the Roses: the Devereuxs of Weobley in Herefordshire
Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the fortunes of one particularly loyal Yorkist family during the Wars of the Roses. For leading landowning families ready to commit themselves to one side or the other, the Wars of the…
-
‘of all others most desirable’: Pitt the Younger and elections for Cambridge
From the onset of his lengthy political career, William Pitt the Younger had his eyes fixed on representing his alma mater, the University of Cambridge. Writing to his mother in July 1779, he observed that the University seat was ‘of…
-
Some thoughts on William Pulteney, earl of Bath
The 31 May 2025 marks Dr Stuart Handley’s last day at the History of Parliament. One of his last biographies for The House of Lords, 1715-90 has been William Pulteney, earl of Bath. It will be the third History of…
-
The story of a manor in memorials: the early tombs in the Shropshire church of Kinlet
The Shropshire church of Kinlet stands isolated in parkland, the village it once served re-sited in the early-eighteenth century on the building of the still-extant Kinlet Hall. It contains a fine series of memorials, the two earliest of which mark…
-
The Making of a Marcher Town: Ludlow and the Wars of the Roses
Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the crucial role of the Shropshire town of Ludlow during the Wars of the Roses. Political geography ensured that the town of Ludlow would, for good or ill, play some part in…