Priscilla Baines has recently published a new book, ‘Colonel Josiah Wedgwood’s Questionnaire: Members of Parliament 1885-1918’. Her work analyses the replies to questionnaires sent in 1936 by the History of Parliament’s founder, Josiah Wedgwood, to gain personal reflections from his fellow MPs on their experiences in the House. This is the first of a series of blogs that will share some of her findings. ‘Colonel … Continue reading Colonel Josiah Wedgwood’s Questionnaires: An introduction

After last week’s rulings from the European Court of Human Rights on religious discrimination in the workplace, Dr Charles Littleton discusses the issue of religious discrimination in 18th Century Britain. Debates about the right to express one’s faith according to one’s conscience are nothing new in British politics. In the days of late January 1703 Parliament was convulsed by debates surrounding the bill to ‘prevent … Continue reading Parliament and religion: the defeat of the first Occasional Conformity Bill, January 1703

Last month, the History of Parliament played host to a workshop organised by Dr Emma Crewe of SOAS, University of London, to discuss her current research on the modern day House of Commons. The History was brought right up to date during this workshop as anthropologists, political scholars and parliamentary officials gathered to discuss their work and in particular Dr Emma Crewe’s current project on … Continue reading British MPs at work: Dr Emma Crewe’s parliamentary workshop

The History of Parliament is supporting a one-day colloquium, organised by Paul Cvill and Alexandra Gajda through the Centre for Early Modern British and Irish History, to be held on Saturday 20 April, in the Habakkuk Room, Jesus College, Oxford. Because the ideological template of early modern England remained resolutely traditionalist, it was the re-envisioning of the past that empowered the momentous changes of this … Continue reading Upcoming colloquium, 20 April 2013: Writing the History of Parliament in Early Modern England