Parliamentary Life
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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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First impressions of Westminster in the words of former MPs: back to school, into ‘Dracula’s castle’ or safe at home?
Ahead of Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Emma Peplow & Priscila Pivatto, responsible for the History of Parliament Trust’s oral history project which is interviewing former MPs about their lives and experiences. They recently…
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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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Divorce, cuckoldry and bastardy: two unhappy medieval marriages
Today’s blog comes from Dr Charles Moreton, senior research fellow in our Commons 1461-1504 project, who begins our latest blog series all about parliamentarians’ marriages. Here Dr Moreton turns his attention to two particularly unhappy medieval marriages… Unlike some of…
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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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Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland: the brains behind the Gunpowder Plot?
As we approach Bonfire Night on 5 November, Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Lords 1558-1603 project ponders whether we should be remembering a much more prestigious figure than Guy Fawkes… The Gunpowder Plot is one of the great ‘what ifs’…
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The barbarity of the medieval criminal law: petty treason and the murders of Sir Thomas Murdak and John Cotell
In today’s blog Dr Simon Payling, senior research fellow in our Commons 1461-1504 project, once again turns his attention to crime and punishment in the medieval period. In the 14th century, the criminal law system may have worked slowly, but…
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Post-war politics in the Welsh valleys: ‘socialists by birth and background’
Today, Emma Peplow, co-ordinator of the History of Parliament’s oral history project and co-editor of the new collection of extracts from the project, The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: an Oral History of Parliament, contributes to our local history…
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Gap years and study abroad: 17th century MPs and the legacy of a foreign education
As international travel continues to be unpredictable and as universities and colleges start a new academic year in uncertain times, Dr Vivienne Larminie, Assistant Editor of the Commons 1640-1660, considers MPs who went abroad to complete their education and the…
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Parliament and the Mayflower: the case of Samuel More’s children
This month marks the 400 year anniversary of the voyage of Mayflower, the ship that transported 102 passengers to begin their lives in ‘New England’. Last month the History of Parliament’s Director, Dr Stephen Roberts, explored the men who during…
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John Wheathampstead: Face to Face with the Abbot
The news this week is shaping up to be full of Abbots and of particular interest to the History of Parliament is a certain Abbot of St Albans cathedral who was also a long-serving parliamentarian in the fifteenth century, John…
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The puzzling career of the luckless Sir Thomas Mallory (c.1416-1471), author of Le Morte d’Arthur
In today’s blog Dr Simon Payling, senior research fellow for our Commons 1461-1504 project, explores the mysterious life of Sir Thomas Mallory, who spent much of his life incarcerated. Whilst Mallory’s literary legacy is clear to see, the reasons behind…