Ahead of the first Parliaments, Politics and People seminar of the New Year at the IHR this evening, Dr Robin Eagles, Editor of the House of Lords 1715-1790 Section gives us a taster of his seminar paper from our last meeting before Christmas – interior design and the eighteenth century Palace of Westminster… In October 1834 the old palace of Westminster suffered a devastating fire … Continue reading Keeping up appearances: make do and mend in the old Palace of Westminster
Since 2014 Dr. Kathryn Rix, Assistant Editor of our House of Commons, 1832-1945 project, has been blogging about the 24 MPs and former MPs who died on military service during the First World War. We have published her posts to mark the centenary of the death of each of these parliamentarians, one of whom was in the Lords by the time of his death. We’re … Continue reading Gerald Arbuthnot MP and the Parliamentary War Memorial
Ahead of our final Parliaments, Politics and People seminar of the term this evening at the IHR, here’s the blog from our previous session from Elizabeth Biggs of the University of York and Liz Hallam Smith of the University of York and the Houses of Parliament. Their paper discussed the changing identity and uses of St Stephen’s Cloisters… Space within the Houses of Parliament has … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar – St Stephen’s Cloisters: Politics, Patronage and Space
This month’s installment of our ‘Women and Parliament’ blog series comes from the HPT’s Dr Paul Seaward, who is currently holder of a British Academy / Wolfson Foundation Research Professorship for his project, Reformation to Referendum: Writing a New History of Parliament. You can read more about the project, which involves looking at Parliament’s past in a very different way, here . In this blog, Paul … Continue reading Duchesses in the Gallery: women watching the eighteenth-century House of Commons
In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, we are delighted to welcome a guest blog from Dr Rachel Wilson, Research Fellow for the Leverhulme Trust funded Sheridan Project at the University of Leeds, who considers the ceremonial uses of the Prince’s Chamber in the old Palace of Westminster, the venue for lyings in state throughout the eighteenth century For the majority of the eighteenth … Continue reading ‘A noble sight’: the Prince’s Chamber and Royal Lyings in State in the Eighteenth Century
Rebekah Moore is currently completing a PhD (Institute of Historical Research/History of Parliament) on the temporary Houses of Parliament and the new Palace of Westminster, 1830-1860. In this guest blog, she draws some parallels between the current proposals for Restoration and Renewal at Westminster and events in the nineteenth century. On 31 January 2018, the House of Commons approved plans for the restoration and renewal … Continue reading Symbolising political change: space and the temporary House of Commons
At the ‘Parliaments, Politics and People’ Seminar on 7 November 2017 Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt (University of Kent) spoke on ‘The challenges of designing the House of Lords’ nineteenth-century ventilation system – A study of a political design process, 1840-47.’ Here he gives us an overview of his paper…
The earliest set of architectural drawings for the House of Lords were produced in Charles Barry’s office between 1836 and 1839. Starting in 1840, however, the plans had to be significantly modified to accommodate a new scheme for ventilation and climate control proposed by the physician David Boswell Reid. As the requirements of this system had not been anticipated in the earlier stages Barry’s team had to adapt their existing architectural plans. This was a complex, often challenging, process that led to serious delays. The delays were not the result of the immediate technical difficulties alone. The challenges of designing a ventilation system were further accentuated by the difficulties with successfully integrating the specialist skills and knowledge of a doctor within a process involving a large team of engineers, architects and draughtsman. Numerous studies have attributed the delays to insufficient cooperation between Barry and Reid and have dismissed the ventilation scheme as a failed endeavour. In his talk Dr. Schoenefeldt challenged this claim by retracing the evolution of their working relationship and its impact on the final design for the House of Lords, completed in 1847.
Combining the study of archival material, (e.g. original letters, drawings, sketches and diaries) with detailed building surveys inside the House of Lords, his research has allowed him to reconstruct the House of Lords’s original ventilation system and to uncover the extent of Barry and Reid’s respective contributions to its development. The original letters reveal that the pressure to reduce the risk of further delays, drove Barry and the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to trial new, more collaborative modes of working. These trials were based on the belief that Reid’s relative inexperience with engineering and architectural design could be compensated through a closer partnership between him and Barry’s team. Members of the House of Lords were also directly involved in the process of resolving the problems. The impact of Reid’s involvement on the design process became the subject of extensive reviews, conducted by several Select Committees and independent expert panels appointed by the Lords between 1843 and 1846. Neither the nature of the practical design challenges of incorporating the system within the architectural plans nor the role of Barry’s team in assisting in its development, have been investigated by historians in any depth before. This, however, is critical to fully understand the inherently political nature of the design process.
Parliamentary Archives PAR/4/24
The talk is based on research conducted in conjunction with his current project within the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme, which is entitled ‘Between Heritage and Sustainability – Restoring the Palace of Westminster’s nineteenth-.century ventilation system‘ and is funded through a grant from the AHRC. Henrik’s recent publications include ‘ The Lost (First) Chamber of the House of Commons’, AA files, 72 (June 2016), pp. 161-173.
HS
Join us tonight for our first seminar of the new term: Sonia Tycko of Harvard University will speak on ‘The politics of impressment, 1639-41: a Gloucestershire microhistory’. Full details here.
With Big Ben – possibly – due to fall silent next week, our Director, Dr Paul Seaward, discusses the history of the famous bell… The reaction in some quarters to the news that Big Ben will cease to strike from noon on Monday 21 August until 2021 (the Daily Telegraph says there is a ‘backlash’; the Mail says it’s a ‘death knell for common sense’) … Continue reading Big Ben and the British
Last month our Director, Dr Paul Seaward, spoke at our ‘Parliaments, politics and people’ seminar on ‘Do our buildings shape us? On oblongs, hemicycles, and the style of British politics.’ Here he reports back on his paper… We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. Having dwelt and served for more than 40 years in the late Chamber, and having derived fiery great … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Paul Seaward, ‘Do our buildings shape us’?
