Author Archives: salmonphilip

Vaccination and the Vote: a Victorian dilemma

Posted on March 22, 2021 by salmonphilip

With mass vaccinations underway across the nation, spare a thought for the Victorian pioneers of the UK’s first major vaccination programme, against smallpox. As well as battling against all sorts of safety fears and logistical problems, they unwittingly found themselves … Continue reading →

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Professor Angus Hawkins (1953-2020)

Posted on January 6, 2021 by salmonphilip

We were deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Professor Angus Hawkins shortly before Christmas. His publications will be familiar to anyone working on 19th century politics, an area of study that he helped to refine and reshape … Continue reading →

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Elected without his consent: William Wilshere (1804-67) and the venal electors of Great Yarmouth

Posted on December 16, 2020 by salmonphilip

The huge financial cost of Victorian elections, especially in venal constituencies, has been a recurrent theme in some of our more recent blogs. It’s tempting to think of the MPs associated with bribery, treating and other forms of electoral corruption … Continue reading →

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A ‘pocket’ borough or a borough needing deep pockets? Abingdon’s elections in the nineteenth century

Posted on November 6, 2020 by salmonphilip

In this blog, originally posted on the main History of Parliament site, Dr Philip Salmon examines the parliamentary representation of Abingdon in the 19th century. Abingdon was widely regarded as an easily managed ‘pocket’ or ‘nomination’ borough during the 19th … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Thomas Barrett Lennard (1788-1856)

Posted on August 25, 2020 by salmonphilip

Thomas Barrett Lennard‘s career neatly captures some of the oddities and contradictions of early Victorian politics, especially the survival of older attitudes and beliefs alongside the emergence of more ‘modern’ progressive ideas. Lennard’s campaign to abolish the death penalty for … Continue reading →

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Floods, Plagues and the Second Coming: Charles Augustus Tulk MP

Posted on March 23, 2020 by salmonphilip

Apocalyptic end days, doomsday scenarios and final judgements were prominent features of many people’s religious beliefs in the 19th century, but a few went further, maintaining that the Second Coming had already taken place. Among them was our MP of … Continue reading →

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Sir Robert Peel and the modern Conservative party

Posted on February 5, 2020 by salmonphilip

Today (5 Feb) marks the birthday of Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), the 19th century prime minister traditionally credited with founding the modern Conservative party. Peel is also subject of a new BBC ‘Prime Properties’ episode – click here to view … Continue reading →

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Happy New Year from the Victorian Commons!

Posted on January 2, 2020 by salmonphilip

For eight years now we have been marking the new year with some highlights from the previous 12 months. The events of 2019 certainly focused attention on parliamentary history and the UK’s constitutional practices as never before. Taking our cue … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Thomas Neville Abdy (1810-1877) and electoral misconduct

Posted on November 25, 2019 by salmonphilip

Thomas Abdy’s political career provides a useful reminder of the chicanery, lies and corruption sometimes associated with 19th century English electioneering – venal traditions that became increasingly unacceptable during the Victorian era. Born into a naval family – his father … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Sidney Herbert – still dancing to Nightingale’s tune

Posted on September 16, 2019 by salmonphilip

September’s MP of the Month is Sidney Herbert, who was born on this day (16 September) in 1810 and widely expected to become a Victorian prime minister. Fate, however, cruelly intervened, as Dr Ruscombe Foster, the author of an important … Continue reading →

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Political Prorogations: a view from the Victorian Commons

Posted on September 4, 2019 by salmonphilip

It’s been a long time since the business of suspending Parliament and starting a new session has generated so much political controversy. Throughout most of the 20th century prorogations invariably tallied with the expectations of most parliamentarians, neatly book-ending a … Continue reading →

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‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Thomas Jones Phillips (1790-1843): pioneering Tory election agent

Posted on August 6, 2019 by salmonphilip

If you think some of the recent electioneering tactics that have hit the headlines seem extraordinary, spare a thought for the voters of Monmouth in the 1830s. As a new episode of the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ … Continue reading →

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Political protest in the age of Peterloo

Posted on July 9, 2019 by salmonphilip

Originally posted on The History of Parliament:
Today’s blog from the editor of our House of Commons 1832-68 section, Dr Philip Salmon, is the first of many pieces in which we will discuss the Peterloo Massacre that took place in…

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Conscience versus constituency: the dilemma facing Henry Sturt MP

Posted on March 29, 2019 by salmonphilip

The Victorian Commons, as some of our recent blogs have shown, was an important testing ground for many of the practices and parliamentary procedures that remain in place today. It also provides early examples of MPs having to grapple with … Continue reading →

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Electoral malpractice and uncivil political speech: the case of Alfred Seymour MP

Posted on January 28, 2019 by salmonphilip

Our ‘MP of the Month’ blog highlights some themes still fresh in our minds after attending a conference on corruption at Oxford Brookes University. Alfred Seymour (1824-1888) was the younger brother of the better known archaeologist and explorer Henry Danby … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Elections, MP of the Month, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Lord Derby, ‘centre’ parties and minority government

Posted on December 7, 2018 by salmonphilip

150 years ago the Conservative prime minister Lord Derby retired from office, having managed to pass one of the most significant constitutional reform packages of the 19th century – despite leading a minority government. This post examines the career of … Continue reading →

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The role and power of the House of Lords

Posted on November 13, 2018 by salmonphilip

To mark Parliament Week 2018, our editor Dr Philip Salmon looks at a key element of Parliament which we don’t usually have much opportunity to reflect on in our work on Victorian MPs and constituencies: the House of Lords. Yet, … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Henry Fawcett (1833-84)

Posted on July 19, 2018 by salmonphilip

Continuing our recent focus on the personalities and campaigns associated with ‘votes for women’, our MP of the Month highlights the remarkable career of Henry Fawcett, husband of the leading suffragist Millicent Fawcett (1847-1929), whose statue was unveiled in Parliament … Continue reading →

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Upcoming event: Victorian Elections & Political Culture Workshop

Posted on April 17, 2018 by salmonphilip

On Friday 20 April 2018 the Research Centre in Victorian Political Culture, led by Professor Angus Hawkins, will be hosting a workshop on Victorian politics aimed at graduate students in the Jean Robinson Room, Keble College, Oxford OX1 3PG. The seminars … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: John Barton Willis Fleming (1781-1844)

Posted on March 28, 2018 by salmonphilip

With modern electioneering tactics currently attracting so much scrutiny at home and abroad, our Victorian MP of the Month focuses on a notorious election fixer or ‘boroughmonger’, whose activities increasingly pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. His refusal to answer … Continue reading →

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Parliaments and Popular Sovereignty Conference

Posted on February 20, 2018 by salmonphilip

On 22 March 2018 the History of Parliament will be hosting an event at Westminster featuring 19th century highlights from the recent conference: ‘Parliaments and Popular Sovereignty: Political Representation in the British world, 1640-1886’. This conference was held at the … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor (1825-1899)

Posted on November 30, 2017 by salmonphilip

Continuing our celebration of the 150th anniversary of the 1867 Reform Act, November’s MP of the Month focuses on one of the most enigmatic figures in the reform crisis of 1866-67, the property-owning magnate and multi-millionaire Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, later … Continue reading →

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Reporting Parliament: a view from the Victorian Commons

Posted on November 17, 2017 by salmonphilip

Today we take it for granted that parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. In the Victorian era, however, there was no ‘official’ record. In this blog to end Parliament Week, Dr Philip Salmon shows how, before the advent of modern … Continue reading →

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Parliaments and Popular Sovereignty Conference: Manchester

Posted on November 10, 2017 by salmonphilip

Last week two members of the Victorian Commons project gave papers in Manchester, at a conference held at the People’s History Museum, home to what must surely be one of the UK’s finest collections of political memorabilia associated with mass … Continue reading →

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MP of the Month: Sir Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton (1806-81)

Posted on July 31, 2017 by salmonphilip

Many of our recent ‘MP of the Month’ posts have focused on self-made men from non-élite backgrounds. Their numbers on the back benches and contribution to the practical business of Parliament (especially in committee) grew dramatically during the Victorian era. … Continue reading →

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Minority governments and major change: a Victorian view

Posted on June 12, 2017 by salmonphilip

For most modern commentators the prospects for minority governments, based on the experience of the last half century or so, don’t look particularly good. Nearly all the recent examples currently being revisited by analysts, such as those of the 1970s, … Continue reading →

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Local polls and general elections: a Victorian perspective

Posted on May 4, 2017 by salmonphilip

As barometers of political opinion, local elections have long had a special place in British politics, offering useful (though not necessarily accurate) guides to national trends. The link between local and national polls, however, has always been complicated. As the … Continue reading →

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Call for Papers: conference on ‘Parliaments and Popular Sovereignty’, 3-4 Nov. 2017

Posted on April 6, 2017 by salmonphilip

Durham University and the History of Parliament are hosting a conference with the People’s History Museum in Manchester, 3-4 Nov. 2017, with support from the Royal Historical Society and Durham University’s Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies. For further details see below … Continue reading →

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Defying the Whip: ‘rebel’ MP of the month, Swynfen Jervis (1798-1867)

Posted on March 13, 2017 by salmonphilip

One of the themes being explored by the Victorian Commons project is the decline of ‘independence’ in the 19th-century Commons and the rise of party-based voting by MPs – a development neatly captured in Gilbert and Sullivan’s famous lampoon of … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: James Barlow Hoy (1794-1843)

Posted on September 28, 2016 by salmonphilip

As biographies of long-forgotten politicians go, this month’s MP ticks all the boxes, offering an extraordinary rags-to-riches tale, the beginnings of a brilliant political career accompanied by fraud and bankruptcy, and even an allegation of murder. Hoy, or Barlow as … Continue reading →

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Petitioning Parliament: two PhD studentships

Posted on August 3, 2016 by salmonphilip

One of our former colleagues, Dr Henry Miller, has recently secured a major grant to further his work on petitioning, as part of an important new project with Dr Richard Huzzey at the University of Durham. Petitioning has long been … Continue reading →

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An ‘upstart from the ranks’: MP of the Month, John Thomas Norris (1808-70)

Posted on May 24, 2016 by salmonphilip

Norris’s political career illustrates a number of the striking developments being explored in our work on the Victorian Commons, including the ever-expanding number of ‘non-elite’ MPs; the role of town council elections as a stepping stone to Parliament; and the … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: Rowland Alston (1782-1865)

Posted on January 25, 2016 by salmonphilip

Rowland Alston’s career provides a useful illustration of just how diverse (and to a modern eye incongruous) the political outlook of MPs in the same party could be before the development of more formal modern political allegiances. It also serves … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: William Pinney and another kind of ‘slavery election’

Posted on November 29, 2015 by salmonphilip

William Pinney’s career as an MP serves as an important reminder of the legacy of slave ownership in British public life and the very different attitudes to electoral corruption that existed in the nineteenth century, even among radically-inclined Liberals. In Pinney’s … Continue reading →

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180th Anniversary of Town Council Elections

Posted on October 16, 2015 by salmonphilip

This month marks the anniversary of a completely new system of local elections being implemented throughout England and Wales. One hundred and eighty years ago, almost 180 boroughs in England and Wales began to publish the lists of all those … Continue reading →

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Goodbye and Good Luck to Dr James Owen!

Posted on June 1, 2015 by salmonphilip

This month we bid farewell to Dr James Owen, who is leaving the 1832-68 project for a teaching post in the USA. Since joining us in 2009 James has completed over 200 MP biographies and almost 30 full-length constituency articles … Continue reading →

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Victorian Political Memorabilia

Posted on January 14, 2015 by salmonphilip

One of the many eye-openers of this project has been the sheer amount of political memorabilia produced by the Victorians. British politics has of course always been associated with satirical prints and various forms of commemorative art. However, the volume … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: Sir Harry Neale and ‘outside interests’

Posted on December 16, 2014 by salmonphilip

The issue of MPs having ‘outside interests’ is not one traditionally associated with the Victorian period, when all MPs were unpaid and had to fund their own election campaigns, often at vast expense. Victorian MPs, almost ipso facto, had to … Continue reading →

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Catholics in the Commons: part 1

Posted on November 5, 2014 by salmonphilip

As we celebrate Bonfire Night, it is worth reflecting on the anti-Catholicism still faced by Catholic MPs in the Victorian Commons, over two centuries years after Guy Fawkes’s failed attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605. It may seem surprising … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: Wyndham Lewis

Posted on July 28, 2014 by salmonphilip

Wyndham Lewis (1780-1838) is probably best remembered today for bankrolling the future prime minister Benjamin Disraeli’s election to Parliament. Lewis’s wife Mary, an aspiring society hostess with an eye for younger men, had taken a shine to Disraeli and adopted … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: Lord Elcho

Posted on June 30, 2014 by salmonphilip

In the third of our guest blogs, Stephen Lees, one of our leading external contributors and co-editor of the well-known ‘Who’s Who of British Members of Parliament’ volumes, celebrates the career of Lord Elcho, who died one hundred years ago … Continue reading →

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The mathematics of Victorian representation: part 2

Posted on May 8, 2014 by salmonphilip

In an earlier blog on Victorian double-member elections, we looked at the differences between the total vote received by candidates and the levels of support for each party. Put simply, owing to splitting (cross-party voting) and other ‘non-party’ forms of … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: John Tollemache and the ‘thraldom of party’

Posted on March 25, 2014 by salmonphilip

Tollemache is best remembered for his pioneering allotment schemes, which originated the phrase ‘three acres and a cow’, later made popular by the land reform campaigns of Jesse Collings MP and Joseph Chamberlain MP. The allotments with three-bedroom cottages he … Continue reading →

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The mathematics of Victorian representation: part 1

Posted on February 5, 2014 by salmonphilip

In this new series of posts, we look at the Victorian multi-member constituencies that predated the UK’s current electoral system and highlight the mathematical challenges they pose for historians. The first-past-the-post system of electing MPs has long been viewed as … Continue reading →

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Project progress: 1,000th article

Posted on December 9, 2013 by salmonphilip

The 1832-68 project recently passed a major milestone with the completion of its 1000th article. 897 biographies and 106 constituency accounts (comprising over 2 million words) have now been written and are being uploaded to our preview website, which, when … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: William Coningham

Posted on November 27, 2013 by salmonphilip

One of the most striking features of researching Victorian MPs is the extraordinary range of abilities and interests they often possessed beyond the Commons chamber. Previous blogs have highlighted well known figures like William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of … Continue reading →

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Elections before the secret ballot

Posted on August 5, 2013 by salmonphilip

This month marks the 141st anniversary of the first use of the secret ballot to elect an MP, at a by-election in the Yorkshire borough of Pontefract. Before the 1872 Ballot Act, and throughout the period covered by our Victorian … Continue reading →

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MP of the month: George Faithfull

Posted on June 19, 2013 by salmonphilip

Continuing our recent focus on Victorian female voters and women’s suffrage, this MP of the month feature highlights the career of George Faithfull (1790-1863), a Brighton radical who clashed spectacularly with his former supporters over the rights of women voters … Continue reading →

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The Victorian female franchise

Posted on March 18, 2013 by salmonphilip

Welcome to the first of our guest blogs. On BBC Radio 4 tonight Dr Sarah Richardson presents a programme about the discovery of an early Victorian poll book listing women voters (click here to listen). Female participation in non-parliamentary elections … Continue reading →

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A youthful romance: Tom Lefroy MP and Jane Austen

Posted on February 14, 2013 by salmonphilip

Last month marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which makes the subject of our Valentine’s Day blog all the more appropriate. One of the more memorable romantic tales involving MPs who sat in the Victorian Commons is … Continue reading →

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