At the IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar on 6 May 2025, Dr Murray Tremellen of York Museums Trust will be discussing ‘The Speaker’s House and the Evolution of the Speakership, 1794–1834’ .
The seminar takes place on 6 May 2025, between 5:30 and 6.30 p.m. It will be hosted online via Zoom. Details of how to join the discussion are available here.
There are many ceremonial traditions associated with the Speaker of the House of Commons, but in most cases their origins are obscure.
One thing known for certain is that in 1794 the Speaker acquired an official residence at Westminster for the first time. Speaker Henry Addington was granted a large townhouse within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster, and his successors continued to occupy it until the old Palace was ravaged by fire in 1834.
My paper for the IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar on 6 May explores the political impact of this first Speaker’s House, explaining how successive Speakers used it to support their official duties.
In particular, it demonstrates that the Speaker’s House facilitated political sociability, both formal and informal. It argues that the facilities provided by the house facilitated the continuing development of the Speaker’s role, and the growth of their political stature.
For more on Speaker’s House you can read Murray’s short article ‘‘A palace within a Palace’: an introduction to the Speaker’s House’ here.
Dr Murray Tremellen graduated from the University of York with a PhD in History of Art in 2023. His interdisciplinary research explored the history of the first Speaker’s House from both political and architectural perspectives.
His wider interests span eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture. He has also published research on the architecture of the Southern Railway. Since completing his PhD, Murray has worked as Curator of Social History at York Museums Trust.
The seminar takes place on 6 May 2025, between 5:30 and 6.30 p.m. It will be hosted online via Zoom. Details of how to join the discussion are available here.
