Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones, Research Fellow on the Victorian Commons project, has edited ‘The Politics of Organising in the Long 19th Century’, this year’s special issue of the journal Parliamentary History. The whole issue is free to read until the end of June 2026.
This collection of 11 essays makes the case for a fresh approach to the history of extra-parliamentary politics that examines both the practice of political organising and the organisation of political practices in British, Irish and colonial contexts. It builds on a growing interest among historians in ‘practical politics’, namely, the doings – and the not-doings – of politics. In framing histories of politics as histories of practice, it urges greater dialogue between political historians and those who would not consider themselves as such, and across traditional, often restrictive, periodisations.
The collection contains contributions by current and former Victorian Commons colleagues:
Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones, ‘Political Organising, Practical Politics and Histories of Politics in the Long 19th Century’.
Dr Kathryn Rix, Assistant Editor on the Victorian Commons project, ‘Living Politics: The Professional Agents and Party Organisation, 1880-1914’.
Dr Henry Miller, former Victorian Commons Research Fellow, ‘Petitions and the Material Culture of Political Organising’.
The special issue arose from the conference Organise! Organise! Organise!, held by Naomi in collaboration with the History of Parliament in 2023. You can read a series of reflections on the conference on our website:
Dr Erin Geraghty, ‘Reflections on the Organise! Organise! Organise! Conference’, who also contributed to the special issue
Dr Helen Sunderland, ‘Political practices: new directions in political history in the long nineteenth century’
Patrick Duffy, ‘Organise! Organise! Organise! Conference reflections’
George Palmer, ‘Organise! Organise! Organise! Conference review’