Monthly Archives: February 2017

‘The son of one of the best men who ever adorned the country’: William Wilberforce (1798-1879)

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Kathryn Rix

Trading heavily on his family name, William Wilberforce (1798-1879), eldest son and namesake of the noted anti-slave trade campaigner, was elected in 1837 as Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Hull, which his father had represented from 1780 until 1784. During one election … Continue reading →

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‘Fighting, swearing, drinking, and squabbling’: Charles Dickens, Eatanswill and the 1835 Northamptonshire North by-election

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Martin Spychal

Today’s blog marks the anniversary of Charles Dickens’s birth by exploring the inspiration behind one of the most notable political events in his first novel. Dickens’s riotous description of the Eatanswill borough election in the Pickwick Papers, first published in July … Continue reading →

Posted in 1832-68 preview site, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments