Some brief exploration of the extent to which crude and racist historical revisionism has moved from the margins into the cultural mainstream of society can be a truly shocking experience. It is no exaggeration to say that conspiracy theory and its ugly child Holocaust Denial have taken on industrial-scale proportions in the early 21st Century. What many people still don’t seem to appreciate is the degree to which British conspiracists played a key role in this, beginning to sow the seeds almost immediately after the end of the War in 1945. Indeed, the early origins of the extremist attempt to ..read more

Back in 2014-2015 I spent some time in the archives investigating a still relatively under-researched aspect of women’s history, the anti-Suffrage groups that had emerged in Edwardian Britain. How did this come about? My general research on British history had focused on the collation of material on middle-class ‘defence’ and protest movements in south-west London and – when I was exploring some pre-1914 local sources – I increasingly encountered newspaper reports on the ‘direct action’ aspects of suffragette activities. In 1913, for example, two suffragettes set fire to the Tea Pavilion situ ..read more

At the height of invasion fears in the summer of 1940, the British government asked for civilian volunteers ‘to go on duty against airborne invasion’ and be ‘entrusted with certain vital duties’ for which a knowledge of firearms would be necessary. Many people in Britain expected some kind of attempt by the Nazis to land in the country, either by an invasion from the sea or mass parachute landings, or both. But Britain’s citizens responded in various ways, depending upon their age, class, occupation, and gender. There were certainly serious concerns on the part of key British intelle ..read more

What was life like for the many individuals who found themselves being held as wartime prisoners or internees? This is certainly a growing area of research for historians and, I suspect, is also of great interest to anybody who has a fascination with family, social or general military history. I paid a visit to a new exhibition, Great Escapes, which has just opened at the National Archives (TNA), Kew, in south-west London, and runs from 2nd February to 21st July, 2024. The exhibition is subtitled ‘Remarkable Second World War Captives’, and is devoted to three main categories of captive held i ..read more

Britain recently had a Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, who appeared to relish her media reputation as a very rightwing and hardline Cabinet Minister, especially when it came to questions of migration and asylum, ‘race’ and British identity. Braverman argued that many asylum seekers do not share ‘British values’ and she seemed to think that many problems can be blaimed on the ‘outsider’ or the ‘other’. In many ways, Braverman reminded me of another explicitly rightwing Home Secretary who also delighted in his reputation as an outspoken critic of ‘aliens’ and foreigners, and as a defender of a ..read more

When historians dig deeply, many towns and cities often have at least some notorious skeletons in their historical cupboards, individuals who represent the darker side of the past, usually people who current-day citizens would rather forget. In March, 1925, a number of local and regional newspapers in Britain gave some coverage to the racist claims of a boot manufacturer in Northampton, who had claimed that the British Empire was ‘in danger’ from Jews. These claims were also given some publicity by national newspapers, of the kind that Northampton’s inhabitants would rather had not appeared ..read more

Do you have a passion for local history? The latest issue of the annual and award-winning Richmond History (no.44, November, 2023), the journal of the Richmond Local History Society, has just been published and, in my estimation, it contains another fascinating range of articles, including an exploration of how the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell spent his childhood years at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. The article, written by Rachel Hirschler, explains how Bertrand Russell’s upbringing in Richmond Park had a profound and lasting effect on him. Russell was aged three when he came to l ..read more

It has often been remarked by historians that, during the decade or so after the First World War, a number of European countries saw the growth of a cultural fascination with speed and movement, and the dynamism offered by fast machines and new inventions. In Italy, for example, a number of aeroplane pilots found themselves celebrated as the new ‘warriors’ of the air, men who had the freedom to speed across the skies. Indeed, a number of members of the Futurist art movement also sought to reflect this in their paintings. Interestingly, the 1920s in Britain also saw its own version of this cul ..read more

Black History Month in 2023 included the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks, London, in 1948. The now-famous ship brought some of the first black migrants to the capital in search of work after the end of World War Two. As more people from the West Indies responded to the British government’s campaign to fill urgent vacancies in London’s economy, and members of the ‘Windrush generation’ began to appear in workplaces in parts of south-west London, there was a growing awareness of the need to overcome local suspicion of ‘outsiders’. Various citizens and loca ..read more

Accusations of ‘profiteering’ by retailers and business traders became a regular and controversial theme on the Home Front in Britain during the Great War, when rationing made it a near daily challenge for many mothers and wives to feed their families adequately. Allegations that certain retailers were being dishonest and were heartlessly exploiting shoppers were also linked to stereotypes about national identity. It was not ‘British’ or ‘fair’ or even ‘cricket’ for traders to engage in such behaviour, especially during a time of national emergency. But what is quite striking about this is the ..read more