For Parliamentarians in the early Georgian period, Christmas was not infrequently interrupted by the business of politics. Dr Charles Littleton and Dr Robin Eagles of the Georgian Lords consider some of the ways the festivities might be upset. The parliamentary calendar has long marked the period between the festivals of Christmas on 25 December and Epiphany on 6 January with a recess, a time for … Continue reading Georgian Christmas Recesses
In the latest blog from The Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton continues his examination of foreign reporters of Parliamentary events – a theme that will also feature in our forthcoming coverage for Parliament Week. A recent entry in the History of Parliament’s blog series, emphasized the important role of Huguenots such as Paul Rapin de Thoyras and Abel Boyer in shaping our knowledge of the … Continue reading Reporting George I’s parliaments: a Prussian diplomat’s view
Published this week and edited by our own Dr Vivienne Larminie, Huguenot Networks, 1560–1780 The Interactions and Impact of a Protestant Minority in Europe includes new research on the Huguenot community and Parliament. In today’s blog, Dr Charles Littleton discusses the phenomenon of the Huguenot Parliamentary reporter… Three hundred years ago a short political pamphlet was published in London with a French title, Dissertation sur … Continue reading “A foreigner is therefore the most likely man to give an impartial account”?: French observers of the early eighteenth-century British Parliament
The latest Georgian Lords blog by Dr Charles Littleton, Senior Research Fellow of the Lords 1715-90 Section, considers the origins and use of the two manuscript copies of the Declaration of Independence to be found in the United Kingdom. The Declaration of Independence has iconic status in the United States of America as one of the country’s foundation documents and the 4th of July, the … Continue reading A Turning Point? The Declaration of Independence and the House of Lords
Next month the History of Parliament will publish our first set of volumes focussing on the House of Lords. Covering the period 1660-1715, this five-volume work is now available for pre-order at Cambridge University Press, at a special pre-publication price. This month we’re publishing a series of blogposts inspired by research from the volumes. In the third of this series, and in advance of father’s … Continue reading House of Lords 1660-1715… for Father’s Day
In August 1704 the duke of Marlborough led allied forces to a great victory at Blenheim. Dr Charles Littleton, Senior Research Fellow in our Lords 1660-1832 section, discusses the effect the news of victory had on British politics… In these days of the internet, of Facebook and Twitter, and of 24-hour rolling coverage of news, we can take it for granted that information of what … Continue reading The Battle of Blenheim and British Politics
During this week’s excitement over the birth of Prince George of Cambridge, a number of commentators have discussed the ‘warming-pan baby’ – James Edward Francis Stuart. It was his birth, in 1688, that led to the now abandoned tradition of Home Secretaries being present at a royal birth. Here, Dr Charles Littleton explains the circumstances and dramatic political consequences of that royal birth… While the … Continue reading The ‘warming-pan baby’: James Edward Francis Stuart
300 years ago this April, a series of treaties known as the Peace of Utrecht was signed to end the War of Spanish Succession (1702-13). Dr Charles Littleton tells us more… The War of Spanish succession began after the Spanish King Carlos II bequeathed Spain and its empire to the grandson of Louis XIV of France, a concentration of power in the French King that … Continue reading The Peace of Utrecht, April 1713
After last week’s rulings from the European Court of Human Rights on religious discrimination in the workplace, Dr Charles Littleton discusses the issue of religious discrimination in 18th Century Britain. Debates about the right to express one’s faith according to one’s conscience are nothing new in British politics. In the days of late January 1703 Parliament was convulsed by debates surrounding the bill to ‘prevent … Continue reading Parliament and religion: the defeat of the first Occasional Conformity Bill, January 1703
Dr Charles Littleton discusses the ‘Provisional Government’ that formed on this day – 11 December – in 1688 to take control after James II’s first flight from William of Orange. The members of the late 17th-century House of Lords were in no doubt that they were the ‘natural’ governors of the realm next to the king himself. Thus on 11-16 December 1688, for the brief … Continue reading The first meeting of the ‘Provisional Government’ and the signing of the Guildhall Declaration
