Category: social history

17th Century history, Early modern history, James I to Restoration, religious history, social history

Cancelling Christmas? William Prynne, kill-joy and martyr, and the onslaught on ‘pagan Saturnalia’

With the government currently recommending scaled-back Christmas celebrations, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Vivienne Larminie, assistant editor of our Commons 1640-60 project, considers a man who advocated scrapping Yuletide festivities for a quite different reason… The idea that ‘the puritans cancelled Christmas’ has widespread acceptance. Indeed it surfaced in the House of Commons recently in debate over what kind of celebration might be prudent … Continue reading Cancelling Christmas? William Prynne, kill-joy and martyr, and the onslaught on ‘pagan Saturnalia’

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History of Parliament Trust, historyofparliamentonline.org, social history, The Commons in the Wars of the Roses

Divorce, cuckoldry and bastardy: two unhappy medieval marriages

Today’s blog comes from Dr Charles Moreton, senior research fellow in our Commons 1461-1504 project, who begins our latest blog series all about parliamentarians’ marriages. Here Dr Moreton turns his attention to two particularly unhappy marriages during the 15th century… Unlike some of the blogs to come in this series, the following offers a couple of examples of unhappy marriages. Both of the parliamentarians in … Continue reading Divorce, cuckoldry and bastardy: two unhappy medieval marriages

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20th century history, History of Parliament Trust, Post-1945 history, social history

The Politics of Protest in Britain: Race Riots in 1980-81

To mark Black History Month 2020, today’s post comes from guest blogger Dr Simon Peplow, senior teaching fellow at the University of Warwick. Dr Peplow is a researcher of modern British race, ethnicity, and migration history and his book ‘Race and Riots in Thatcher’s Britain‘ was released in paperback this month. In this blog he looks into parliamentary responses to the Race Riots that took … Continue reading The Politics of Protest in Britain: Race Riots in 1980-81

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20th century history, History of Parliament Trust, oral history, Post-1945 history, social history

A tribute to John M. H. Lee

In the fifth blog of this sombre series that pays tribute to interviewees from our Oral History Project, Emma Peplow looks back on the life and career of John Lee, Labour MP for Reading (1966-70) and Birmingham Handsworth (Feb 1974-79), who we interviewed in 2013… John Lee was born in Bagshot, Surrey. His comfortable background (his father worked in the City) might be a surprise … Continue reading A tribute to John M. H. Lee

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17th Century history, Early modern history, Health and Medicine, James I to Restoration, Politics, social history

‘Going into the country’: leave, holidays and political intrigue in the 1640s

As the easing of lockdown encourages many of us to seize opportunities to go on holiday, and especially take ‘staycations’, Dr Vivienne Larminie, assistant editor of the Commons 1640-1660 section, looks at the positive and (arguably) negative uses to which civil war MPs put their leave… The widespread perception that the Parliaments of the mid-seventeenth century cut down on holidays is not inaccurate. As has … Continue reading ‘Going into the country’: leave, holidays and political intrigue in the 1640s

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19th Century history, History of Parliament Trust, legal history, Peterloo, Queen Caroline, Royal family, social history, Women and Parliament

The royal scandal that helped change British politics: the 1820 Queen Caroline affair

On 5 June 1820 Caroline of Brunswick returned to England to take her place as Queen Consort to George IV. But the breakdown in the couple’s relationship would become a matter of parliamentary and national importance. This blog from Dr Philip Salmon, editor of our Commons 1832-68 project, explores the impact of the Queen Caroline Affair on British politics. Two hundred years ago the Prince … Continue reading The royal scandal that helped change British politics: the 1820 Queen Caroline affair

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16th Century history, 17th Century history, Early modern history, James I to Restoration, LGBTQ+ History, Politics, religious history, social history

Pride of place: chief ministers and their houses in early modern England

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent convalescence at Chequers, his official rural retreat, Dr Paul Hunneyball of the Lords 1558-1603 project considers a time when senior government figures were expected to possess their own country houses… It’s almost a hundred years since Arthur Lee, Viscount Lee presented Chequers, his Buckinghamshire country seat, to the nation for the use of future prime ministers. This Tudor mansion, … Continue reading Pride of place: chief ministers and their houses in early modern England

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medieval history, Royal family, Schools, social history, The Commons in the Wars of the Roses

Children and Parliament in Medieval England

Continuing the theme of children and Parliament following Helen Sunderland’s blog about schoolgirls’ visits to the House of Parliament, 1880-1918 from earlier this week, senior research fellow for our Commons 1461-1504 project, Dr Simon Payling, explores the relationship between children and Parliament in the later middle ages… It is not surprising that children, whether as individuals or a group, appear very rarely in the records … Continue reading Children and Parliament in Medieval England

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18th Century history, Early modern history, Georgian Lords, social history

Early modern Parliament and Coffee

The History of Parliament team is very fond of a cup of coffee to help power through a day of research, particularly when trying to stay focused working from home! Coffee has a long and interesting place within parliamentary history as Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our House of Lords 1715-90 project, explores… On 12 March 1739 Lord Delawarr reported from a committee tasked with … Continue reading Early modern Parliament and Coffee

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19th Century history, 20th century history, Conferences/seminars, social history, Women and Parliament

Schoolgirls’ visits to the Houses of Parliament, 1880-1918

Ahead of Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Helen Sunderland, a PhD candidate at Corpus Christi, Cambridge. She will be responding to your questions about her research on Twitter between 2pm and 3pm on 28 April 2020. The virtual seminar will be hosted by the History of Parliament Twitter account @histparl. To submit questions for Helen please contact @histparl on Twitter … Continue reading Schoolgirls’ visits to the Houses of Parliament, 1880-1918

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