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Reposted by Jennifer Davey

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 17h

The History of Parliament team were very sad to hear of the recent death of Professor Michael Rush.

A pioneering scholar of parliament, Professor Rush's work on the social background of MPs and resulting Database stands as a fundamental source for generations of historians and political scientists.

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History Today @historytoday.com · 19h

Parliament’s champion of the people or scandalous, self-serving politician? #Georgian radical John Wilkes kept a foot in both camps.

🔓 Robin Eagles’ History Matters is free for 7 days

www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...

The Radical John Wilkes

www.historytoday.com

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Jennifer Davey @jhdavey.bsky.social · 2d

Busy week(s) here at @histparl.bsky.social

The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · 2d

It's all change for @histparl.bsky.social, @victoriancommons.bsky.social, @georgianlords.bsky.social and the rest of us at Bloomsbury Square.
Old Street, here we come.

photograph of a room filled with packing boxes

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Lord Norton of Louth @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social · 16d

Extremely brief. My chapter in @iaindale.bsky.social 'British By-Elections 1769-2025' covers the by-election...

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 15d

#OTD 1915, Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, Liberal MP for St Austell, died, having been wounded at the battle of Loos.

Dr Kathryn Rix explored his life and career on the #HistParl website:

‘In a dirty ditch somewhere in France’: the Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (1880-1915) - The History of Parliament

For a detailed account of Agar-Robartes’ political career, see Paul Holden, ‘“A very English gentleman”. The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes

historyofparliament.com

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Parliamentary History Journal @parlhistjournal.bsky.social · 23d

It’s also exciting to have doctoral student @chloechallender.bsky.social contributing ‘Ringside seat? Women’s modes of entry to the early 19th century parliament’, which promises to be a fascinating read!

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Parliamentary History Journal @parlhistjournal.bsky.social · 23d

We’re delighted that @jamesepeate.bsky.social is one of the early career contributors to the next edition of Parliamentary History on ‘Rough Work on the Hustings’: Sheridan, Cobbett, and Newspapers in the General Election of 1806.

Subscribe here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1750...

Parliamentary History

Click on the title to browse this journal

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Jane Winters @jfwinters.bsky.social · 15d

Join us on 20 November for the Annual Digital Lecture, a partnership between The National Archives, UK and the School of Advanced Study. The wonderful @nannathylstrup.bsky.social will be speaking about ‘When saving becomes loss: archival memory in the digital age’. Free to register!

When saving becomes loss: Archival memory in the digital age

Explore archival memory, data loss, and attempts to preserve the past in the digital age at this year’s Annual Digital Lecture.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 23d

How different did Parliament look in the Middle Ages?

Dr Simon Payling seeks to answer this question, tracing its Anglo-Saxon roots to the more formal split between the House of Commons and House of Lords that we recognise today:

Parliament and Politics in the Later Middle Ages - The History of Parliament

Dr Simon Payling, of our 1461-1504 section, tracks the development of Parliament and Politics in the Later Middle Ages, from its Anglo-Saxon roots to the more

historyofparliament.com

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The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · 23d

Robin Eagles of @histparl.bsky.social has a piece in the latest edition of @historytoday.com on John Wilkes, whose 300th birthday is coming up in October.
#WilkesandLiberty #HistParl

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The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · 29d

New post on the @histparl.bsky.social site from Robin Eagles on the long history of the family of HRH the late Duchess of Kent:
historyofparliament.com/2025/09/16/t...

Descended from a giant: the Worsleys of Hovingham - The History of Parliament

Dr Robin Eagles considers the Worsley family’s connection with the north of England.

historyofparliament.com

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 15

Died #OTD 1830, William Huskisson, MP from 1796-1830. A leading financier and influential politician, he is also considered the first wildly reported railway casualty, after being runover by Robert Stephenson's 'Rocket' locomotive.

High Speed 2: The Victorian Perspective - The History of Parliament

After yesterday's speech from Ed Balls at the Labour party conference, the High Speed 2 rail link is in the news again. Today’s blog is from a guest blogger,

historyofparliament.com

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 10

Died #OTD 1549, Sir Anthony Denny.

MP for Ipswich and Hertfordshire, Denny became an intimate friend of Henry VIII. As groom of the chamber he attended the reception of Anne of Cleves, where the King confided to him his disappointment in the new Queen:
historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-...

A quarter length portrait of a man in front of a plain light green background. He is wearing a black coat with a white frilled shirt appearing just over the high neckline. He is also wearing a black cap with silver detailing. He has short brown hair which is just noticeable due to the cap, and a long goatee and moustache with a reddish tint to it.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 10

#ICYMI, last week on the #HistParl website guest author Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri explored the importance of horse racing during the Rockingham administration of 1765. Read the post here:

From Jockeys to Ministers: How Horse Racing Shaped Rockingham’s First Ministry - The History of Parliament

In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, we welcome Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri from the University of Aberdeen, who considers the importance of horse racing

historyofparliament.com

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Dr Kathryn Rix @kathrynrix.bsky.social · Sep 10

Currently researching Duncan McLaren, Liberal MP for Edinburgh from 1865. On holiday in 1868 the men of the family went to a Liberal meeting at Oban, but the women did not. McLaren's wife Priscilla Bright McLaren wrote: 'As we have the misfortune to wear petticoats we are not to go’.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 7

Born #OTD 1926, Patrick Jenkin, Conservative MP for Wanstead and Woodford from 1964 to 1987, and an influential cabinet minister under Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher. In 2012 he took part in our #OralHistory project:

www.historyofparliamentonline.org

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 8

New article today from @victoriancommons.bsky.social.

Dr Kathryn Rix explores the creation of a dedicated reporters' gallery in the House of Commons after the fire of 1834, showing the growing importance of the press in reporting proceedings in the Commons in the 19th century:
buff.ly/Y1uTIXt

‘The status of the Press is changed indeed’: the reporters’ gallery in the nineteenth-century House of Commons - The History of Parliament

MPs temporarily moved into the chamber previously used by the House of Lords. A dedicated reporters’ gallery with its own separate entrance was created within this space in 1835.

historyofparliament.com

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Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · Sep 8

As dinner time approaches, we're hoping for something better than the offering for parliamentary reporters in the Commons in the 1860s: 'a bottle of whisky on tap, a loaf or two of stale bread, and a most nauseous-looking ham’. victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2025/09/08/t...

‘The status of the Press is changed indeed’: the reporters’ gallery in the nineteenth-century House of Commons

Continuing our series on parliamentary buildings, Dr Kathryn Rix looks at the accommodation provided for the newspaper journalists who reported on the proceedings of the nineteenth-century House of…

victoriancommons.wordpress.com

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Sep 5

#OTD 1981 the first women arrived at Greenham Common to protest against nuclear missiles being stored at a nearby RAF base. The protest developed into a women-only Peace Camp, that would protest outside the military base for another 19 years.🧵 (1/8)

A coloured picture of women gathering outside a barbed fence. To the right a group of women are sitting down on the brown coloured land, to the left women are walking down the path and gathering next to the fence boundary. The sky is overcast and light grey.

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Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · Aug 22

We are very sorry to hear of Frank O'Gorman's death. His work made a huge contribution to the history of elections and he was kind enough to support our House of Commons, 1832-68 project by writing some articles for us.

Matthew McCormack @historymatt.bsky.social · Aug 22

RIP Frank O'Gorman. He was a lovely man and a brilliant historian, and I was very fortunate that he was my PhD supervisor. I will miss him.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Frank O’Gorman obituary

Other lives: Manchester University historian who wrote books on 18th- and 19th-century society

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Davey

Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · Aug 13

James Barlow Hoy, formerly Conservative MP for Southampton, died #OnThisDay 1843 after falling into a ravine in the Pyrenees. But was this an accident or murder? Find out more in our blog: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/m...

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

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 fr…

victoriancommons.wordpress.com

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Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · Aug 1

For #YorkshireDay we are revisiting some of our past articles. Here we looked at the constituency of #York, one of relatively few seats where a Chartist candidate stood during our period: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2020/07/30/y...

York: exploring the local history of a Victorian constituency

This blog, which explains some of the key features of our constituency articles, and how they might be of use to those interested in the history of a particular locality, originally appeared on the…

victoriancommons.wordpress.com

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · Jul 11

During the King's Speech of July last year, the government proposed a bill which would remove all hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
But reform to the Lords is not new. Find out about the changes made in 1999 and debates around it, in this article from Dr Emma Peplow:

‘A negative achievement’: Behind the scenes of the House of Lords Act 1999 - The History of Parliament

The House of Lords Act 1999 was the last major reform to membership of the House of Lords; removing the rights of all but 92 hereditary peers to sit in the House. This act was intended to be a ‘first…

historyofparliament.com

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Mansfield College, University of Oxford @mansfieldoxford.bsky.social · Jul 8

A new free exhibition, curated by Dr @teadevotee.bsky.social, at Bruce Castle Museum & Archive spotlights trailblazing MP Joyce Butler (Wood Green, 1955–79) - a pioneer of women’s rights, peace activism, & consumer protection.

Congrats Lyndsey on the successful launch of this project! 🎉

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Jennifer Davey @jhdavey.bsky.social · Jul 11

This looks great!

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