Author Archives: jowen1832

MP of the Month: the remarkable rise of William Schaw Lindsay

Posted on June 29, 2015

In the Persian Gulf in 1839, William Schaw Lindsay, captain of the merchant ship Olive Branch, was attacked by a sabre-wielding pirate, whom he promptly shot dead. If this brief encounter was almost unbelievably spectacular, Lindsay’s rise from a destitute … Continue reading →

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Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Rebekah Moore, ‘Contested spaces: temporary houses of Parliament and government, 1834-52’

Posted on March 24, 2015

Originally posted on The History of Parliament:
At our last ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ seminar, Rebekah Moore, holder of an AHRC collaborative doctoral award with the History of Parliament and Institute of Historical Research, gave a paper on the temporary…

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MP of the Month: Edward Greene, brewer and businessman

Posted on February 26, 2015

At Westgate, in the heart of Bury St. Edmunds, stands the historic Greene King brewery, first established in 1799 by Benjamin Greene, a member of a Nonconformist Northamptonshire family of drapers, and his business partner William Buck. The brewery had … Continue reading →

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Victorian MPs born at Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2014

Having drafted more than 1,000 biographies of MPs for the History of Parliament’s 1832-68 volume since our project began, we are now able to begin examining particular groups of parliamentarians in more thematic ways. In recent blogs, for example, we … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: George Palmer, a ‘firm friend of the shipwrecked’

Posted on October 22, 2014

In September 2008 an exceptionally rare Gold Medal produced by the Royal National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was sold at auction for £3,200. The medal, with its unique pendant in the shape of a lifeboat, was … Continue reading →

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A Victorian Essex Election

Posted on October 9, 2014

As electors go to the polls in the Clacton by-election, we consider how Essex voters behaved in the mid-nineteenth century, when the expanding seaside resort was still part of the Essex North constituency. In the fifty years following the 1832 … Continue reading →

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Verse and Victorian MPs: National Poetry Day 2014

Posted on October 2, 2014

Poetry played an important role in Victorian political culture. From rhyming election squibs celebrating a prospective candidate, to Members of Parliament reciting classical verse in the Commons, political versifying was prevalent. To celebrate National Poetry Day, we offer a small … Continue reading →

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