Portrait of a young man with dark hair wearing 18th-century clothing, a dark coat and a buff waistcoat

Robert Burns in Edinburgh: peers, patrons, and politics

In the wake of Burns Night, it is worth considering how the patronage of a small number of Scottish nobles helped Robert Burns become established as the national bard. In his latest piece for the Georgian Lords, Dr Charles Littleton, considers the important role played by a clutch of elite Scots families. Burns first published his Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, in Kilmarnock in … Continue reading Robert Burns in Edinburgh: peers, patrons, and politics

Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union, c.1700-1945: Registration Open

Registration is now open for the conference Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union, c.1700-1945, taking place at Durham University, Tuesday-Wednesday 23-24 July 2024. It is organised by Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones and is supported by the History of Parliament, together with the British Agricultural History Society, the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, the Leverhulme Trust, the Past & Present Society and the Scottish Historical … Continue reading Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union, c.1700-1945: Registration Open

To attend or not to attend: state trials during an outbreak of smallpox

In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles considers the dilemma facing some peers summoned to attend the trials of the Jacobite peers after Culloden as London faced an outbreak of smallpox in the summer of 1746. On 28 July 1746 the House of Lords convened in Westminster Hall for the trials of three Scots peers, who had been arrested following the … Continue reading To attend or not to attend: state trials during an outbreak of smallpox

Four Scots Lords: One line in a Poem

Inspired by a reference in an early eighteenth-century poem, in the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Stuart Handley considers the interlinked careers of four Scots peers, who all sat in the House of Lords. The early eighteenth-century poem, Advice to a Painter, by Alexander Robertson of Struan contains a line grouping four Scots peers: Rothes, Ross, Buchan and Belhaven, who were all part … Continue reading Four Scots Lords: One line in a Poem

The Union in Peril: The British Government and the Scottish Question in the Shadow of the Oil Crisis, c. 1973-1975.

Ahead of next Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Robbie Johnston of the University of Edinburgh. On 10 May 2022, between 5.15 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., Robbie will be responding to your questions about his paper on Parliament and the Scottish question in the 1970s. Robbie’s full-length paper is available by signing up to his seminar and contacting seminar@histparl.ac.uk. Details of how to join the discussion are … Continue reading The Union in Peril: The British Government and the Scottish Question in the Shadow of the Oil Crisis, c. 1973-1975.

All over in 4 ½ minutes? The battle of Prestonpans, 21 September 1745

In the latest blog for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles considers some of the Members of Parliament involved in the battle of Prestonpans along with some of the other personalities caught up in the first major action of the 1745 Rebellion. Early in the morning of 21 September 1745 government forces commanded by General Sir John Cope, encamped about ten miles east of Edinburgh, … Continue reading All over in 4 ½ minutes? The battle of Prestonpans, 21 September 1745