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‘Restless, turbulent, and bold’: Radical MPs and the opening of the reformed Commons in 1833
MPs and peers returned to Westminster earlier this month after over a year of upheaval, disruption, and online chambers. In…
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The History of Parliament Trust and St James’s House: Publication Collaborations
On 22nd September we, the History of Parliament Trust, came together with St James’s House to celebrate the publication of our…
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‘He knewe the slaightes, stratagems, and the pollecies of warlike affaires’: Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and the battle of Blore Heath
On 23 September 1459 the battle of Blore Heath took place. In today’s blog, marking the anniversary of the battle,…
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Early women MPs: Margaret Wintringham and Parliament
In September 1921, Margaret Wintringham (1879-1955) was elected to the House of Commons as the first ever Liberal woman MP.…
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Immigrants and refugees at Westminster: the foreign ancestry of mid-17th century MPs
With refugee crises and immigration back in the news, Dr Vivienne Larminie, assistant editor of our Commons 1640-1660 section, considers…
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300 Years of Leadership and Innovation: Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first ‘Prime Minister’ and the History of Parliament Online
On 3 April 1721 Robert Walpole was appointed First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was…
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Parliament and the Naval Review
In today’s blog our director Dr Paul Seaward is casting his eyes out to sea, with a look into the…
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We’re all going on a summer … staycation: sightseeing in medieval England
The post-lockdown staycation has proven popular this year and in today’s blog Dr Hannes Kleineke, editor of our Commons 1461-1504…
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William Augustus, duke of Cumberland, ‘the real Prime Minister’ and ‘the strangest cabinet in British history’
2021 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of one of British history’s most controversial characters: William Augustus, duke of…
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What did the Elizabethan House of Lords look like?
This might seem like a simple question but, as Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Lords 1558-1603 project explains, the answer…
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‘It was the dissimulation of this one man that stirred up that whole plague of evils which followed’: William Catesby, Speaker in the Parliament of 1484, and the accession of Richard III
On 25 August 1485 William Catesby, Speaker of the House of Commons, was executed. But what brought about the downfall…
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‘The Downe-fall of Dagon’: the post-Reformation campaign against Cheapside Cross
The recent trend of attacks on statues with uncomfortable moral or historical associations is nothing new; Dr Paul Hunneyball of…
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Victorian MPs and holidays
With the summer holiday season well under way, our blog today looks at how nineteenth-century MPs spent their vacations, and…
