Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Rebecca Goldsmith, of Jesus College, Cambridge. On 30 April she will discuss Mass-Observation and popular politics at the 1945 general election. The seminar takes place on 30 April 2024, between 5:30 and 6.30 p.m. It is fully ‘hybrid’, which means you can attend either in-person in London at the IHR, or online via Zoom. Details of how to join the discussion are available here. In 1945 the experimental social research organisation Mass-Observation studied the general election campaign as it played out in the London c ..read more

A new series exploring Benjamin Franklin’s time in Europe launches on streaming services this month, but how did the American ‘Founding Father’ respond to the politics in Britain during the 1760s? In this blog Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our House of Lords 1715-1790 project, looks at Franklin’s opinion of the British political agitator John Wilkes- a man who divided not just his own nation… Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is celebrated as one of the foremost politicians, authors and thinkers of the second half of the 18th century. As one of the ‘Founding Fathers’ of the United States, he played a ..read more

Robert Harley (1661-1724) was in his late 20s when he was first elected to Parliament as MP for Tregony in April 1689. He would remain a member of Parliament, first of the Commons and then of the Lords, for the rest of his life. Both his power and personal style was reflected in a number of nicknames: ‘Robin the Trickster’, ‘Harlequin’ and ‘the Dragon’ being some of the best known. Plenty of people were returned to Parliament earlier than Harley. Yet, if not the youngest MP, Harley was a particularly well prepared one. Dr Robin Eagles reconsiders Harley’s upbringing and progress towards Westmi ..read more

In this blog, Dr Alex Beeton from our House of Lords 1640-1660 project explores a little-used parliamentary source – the ‘Scribbled Books’ – and reveals some of the important information that can be found within them… John Browne, the Clerk of the Parliaments (i.e. the House of Lords) in the Long Parliament, did not have an easy job. His primary purpose was, with the help of a team of assistants, to write the Journal of the House of Lords, the official record of the House’s daily business. The journal was not a verbatim account of what was said and done and forging the final product was a leng ..read more

As we mark Women’s History Month throughout March, here Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 project, looks into the life of Helena Snakenborg. How did this Swedish native become key figure in the court of Elizabeth I? One of the most striking features of Queen Elizabeth I’s funeral, held on 28 April 1603, is that the place of Chief Mourner in the procession was taken by Helena, dowager marchioness of Northampton, a member of the privy chamber. Despite having served Elizabeth for the past thirty-six years, Helena was not English-born but a native of Sweden. Born in about 1549, Helen ..read more

For Women’s History Month, Dr Simon Payling from our Commons 1461-1504 project discusses the life of Elizabeth Lancaster, the sister of Henry IV, who demonstrated a degree of independence unusual for an aristocratic woman. It is surprising to find the sister of a King buried in a remote Shropshire church.  Henry IV’s sister, Elizabeth, in marked contrast to her elder sister, Philippa (d.1415), wife of King John I of Portugal, grandly entombed in Batalha Monastery, found her final resting in the modest country church of Burford.  The two sisters were also markedly contr ..read more

Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Mary O’Connor of Somerville College, University of Oxford. On 12 March she will discuss the political identity of ‘inhabitant’ in early nineteenth-century England The seminar takes place on 12 March 2024, between 5:30 and 6.30 p.m. It is fully ‘hybrid’, which means you can attend either in-person in London at the IHR, or online via Zoom. Details of how to join the discussion are available here. In the decades prior to the 1832 Reform Act ‘inhabitant’ was the leading political identity used to present arguments ..read more

We at the History of Parliament have been deeply saddened to hear of the death of Lord Cormack, Patrick Cormack, who has been one of the History’s greatest friends and allies for more than forty years. Former Director, Paul Seaward, writes about Lord Cormack’s political career and involvement with the Trust. Official Parliamentary portrait of Lord Cormack Patrick Cormack was something of an institution in Parliament: not just because of his old-fashioned courtesy and his habit of pronouncing all the syllables in ‘Parliament’, but also as a man of strong will, generous disposition, and definite ..read more

Elizabethan noblemen enjoyed enormous privileges, but generally recognized that there were limits to their freedom of action. However, one particular peer confounded his contemporaries with his convention-busting behaviour, as Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Lords 1558-1603 section explains… ‘Although he doth many times go apparelled like a nobleman, yet other times he useth such apparel as the poorest man in London can go no worse…; he lately came to the Guildhall in an old whitish gown girded unto him halting right down, with a staff in his hand, and upon his head a linen cloth very mean, with a ..read more

Ahead of next Tuesday’s online Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Dr Jim van der Meulen of Ghent University. On 27 February between 5.30 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., Jim will discuss seventeenth-century Dutch provincial assemblies in East Asia, North America and the Dutch Republic. The seminar takes place online on 27 February 2024, between 17:30 and 19:00. Details of how to join the discussion are available here. When the Saxon land surveyor Caspar Schmalkalden hitched a ride to the island of Formosa (now Taiwan) in 1648, he was able to witness a peculiar spectacle. From ..read more