Tag: political culture

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

Out this month: ‘The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: An Oral History of Parliament’

Later this month the very first book based on our Oral History Project Archive is published by Bloomsbury Academic. Today, the book’s authors, Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Priscila Pivatto, give a preview of what you can expect in the book… A publication based on our oral history project archive has been some time coming – as readers of this blog will know, we have … Continue reading Out this month: ‘The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: An Oral History of Parliament’

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18th Century history, Elections, Fashion, Georgian Lords, Social history, Women and Parliament

Dancing into the Houses of Parliament: the role of balls in Georgian electoral campaigns

The latest blog from the Georgian Lords investigates the importance of dance in the eighteenth-century political process. Our guest author, Hillary Burlock, is a PhD student at Queen Mary, University of London, researching the politics of dance in eighteenth-century politics, and currently holds a BSECS/Georgian Papers Programme research fellowship. Eighteenth-century elections, rife with ritual and corruption, were not only responsible for electing MPs, but for … Continue reading Dancing into the Houses of Parliament: the role of balls in Georgian electoral campaigns

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18th Century history, Georgian Lords, House of Lords 1660-1715, Party splits, Social history, Women and Parliament

From ‘my charming angel’ to ‘a fool and tool of a party’: The love letters of Mrs Sarah Sidney to Baron Ossulston

In this latest blog post for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton, senior research fellow on the Lords 1715-1790 section, considers a surprise find among the personal papers of a Whig peer in the early years of the eighteenth century. Historical gems can turn up in unexpected places and in initially unpromising sources. Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston, is a case in point. In the … Continue reading From ‘my charming angel’ to ‘a fool and tool of a party’: The love letters of Mrs Sarah Sidney to Baron Ossulston

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20th century history, Elections, Oral history, Post-1945 history

1945 Election: A political awakening

Seventy years ago yesterday the results of the 1945 General Election were declared. Although the poll had been held on 5 July, the results were only announced on the 26th because of the time needed to return the ballots of service men and women from overseas. The result – a Labour landslide – had a dramatic impact on British politics. The new government led by … Continue reading 1945 Election: A political awakening

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20th century history, Oral history, Post-1945 history, Social history

Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Kayleigh Milden, ‘From the Grassroots: An oral history of community politics in Devon.’

Reporting back from our latest ‘Parliaments, politics and people‘ seminar – our ‘From the Grassroots’ project co-ordinator, Dr Kayleigh Milden, shared some of the new archive’s secrets… In this seminar I explored approaches in oral history and how this related to the research undertaken for the HLF-funded History of Parliament project ‘From the Grassroots: an oral history of community politics in Devon’. Oral history is … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Kayleigh Milden, ‘From the Grassroots: An oral history of community politics in Devon.’

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20th century history, Oral history

How does it feel to be a new MP?

This week at Westminster MPs elected for the first time will still be finding their feet. With such a large new intake these certainly will not be on their own, but how will they be feeling? This question is one we ask former MPs when we interview them for our oral history project. There are some very common answers (we’ve lost track of how many … Continue reading How does it feel to be a new MP?

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19th Century history, 20th century history, Elections, Social history

‘Elections and how to fight them’: electioneering a century ago

We continue our series on election campaigning through the centuries today. Dr Kathryn Rix, Assistant Editor of the Victorian Commons, gives us an insight into the campaign trail at the turn of the 20th century… The title of this post, ‘Elections and how to fight them’, comes from a handbook written in 1905 by John Seymour Lloyd. This was just one of several guides published … Continue reading ‘Elections and how to fight them’: electioneering a century ago

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20th century history, Conferences/seminars, Oral history, Post-1945 history

Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’

Our last ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar was an internal affair, as Priscila Pivatto and Emma Peplow spoke on the History of Parliament’s own national oral history project, which is recording MPs’ memories in their own words. We began by introducing the project and our progress so far (you can find out more here), before discussing some preliminary findings from our project for post-war British … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Priscila Pivatto & Emma Peplow, ‘MPs in their own words: the History of Parliament’s oral history project’

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20th century history, Conferences/seminars, Post-1945 history, Social history

Parliaments Politics and People seminar: Harm Kaal, ‘Popular politics: the friendly match between sport and politics in the Netherlands’

Dr Kathryn Rix, of the Victorian Commons, reports back on our last ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar… Harm Kaal of Radboud University, Nijmegen, gave a fascinating paper on ‘Popular politics: the friendly match between sport and politics in the Netherlands, c. 1960-1980s’. His analysis of the relationship between politicians and sport, and its representation in the mass media, clearly proved his argument that the study … Continue reading Parliaments Politics and People seminar: Harm Kaal, ‘Popular politics: the friendly match between sport and politics in the Netherlands’

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