Category Archives: Books
How ‘liberal’ were the Tory governments of 1822-1830?
In the early 1820s, Liverpool made important changes in his Cabinet. Canning became Foreign Secretary after Castlereagh’s suicide and Peel replaced Sidmouth at the Home Office in 1822. Robinson took the place of Vansittart at the Exchequer and Huskisson became … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Nineteenth century politics
Tagged Catholic Emancipation, Lord iverpool, Sir Robert Peel, William Huskisson
How did Pitt face the French Revolution between 1789 and 1801?
In 1789, the fall of the Bastille[1] foreshadowed revolution in France. Reactions were mixed in Britain but many people were initially well disposed towards the revolution. Pitt saw political advantages for Britain because it weakened France’s colonial ambitions. Some thought … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Nineteenth century politics
Tagged Corresponding Societiues, Edmund Burke, French Revolution, repression, Thomas Paine, William Pit
Why did Pitt dominate politics between 1783 and 1793?
Pitt was a cautious reformer. In 1785, he unsuccessfully attempted to abolish thirty-six rotten boroughs and transfer their seats to London and the counties, failed to achieve economic union with Ireland and dropped the idea of economic union with America. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Nineteenth century politics
Tagged commerce, finance, trade, William Bligh
New review
Richard Brown, Famine, Fenians and Freedom, 1830-1882, Authoring History, second edition, 2017, £20.37, paperback, ISBN 978-1540352231; Richard Brown, Three Rebellions: Canada, South Wales and Australia, Authoring History, second edition, 2016, £19.72, paperback, ISBN 978-1539455707 The opportunity to revise and update … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Books, Canadian history, Chartism, Eureka Stockade 1854
Tagged Australia, Canada, Chartism, Eureka Stockade, rebellion
Famine, Fenians and Freedom, 1830-1882
First book for 2017 Famine, Fenians and Freedom, 1830-1882 is the second book in the Rebellion Quartet, a series looking at resistance and rebellion in the British Empire. It examines the Irish dimension in Britain’s Empire, evident in Three … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Charles Stewart Parnell, Daniel O'Connell, diaspora, Fenians, Ireland, Isaac Butt, Young Ireland
Three Rebellions…a second edition
There have been important change in the Rebellion Trilogy, a series of books that were written between 2004 and 2010 and published in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The series will become a Quartet with the addition of a fourth volume … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Books, Canadian history, Chartism, Nineteenth century society
Tagged Australia, Ballarat, Canada, gold, Newport, rebellions, South Wales, Victoria
Breaking the Habit: a review by John A. Hargreaves
Breaking the Habit: A Life of History, Richard Brown, Authoring History, 2016, 175 pp., £7.13, paper, ISBN 9781530295234 In this retrospective but far from introspective, autobiographical memoir Richard Brown muses ‘on the nature of History in an increasingly challenging environment’. … Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical fragments, Books, What is History?
Chartism: A Global History—a review by John A. Hargreaves
Chartism: A Global History and other essays, Richard Brown, Authoring History, 2016, 324 pp., £10.96, paper, ISBN 1534981438 This volume of essays written partly, the author reveals, as a response to a student enquiring in 2003 ‘What impact did Chartism … Continue reading
Writing Reconsidering Chartism
When I retired it was my intention to write a book on Chartism…one volume that distilled much of my teaching of the subject into a narrative history of the movement. That was ten years ago and it’s only now that … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Chartism
Tagged Chartism, Historiography, wriiting
Vicars and Tarts!! Well almost
Tom Hughes Clerical Errors: A Victorian Series, Volume 1, (Kindle edition), £3.86 The behaviour of public figures has always been subject to scrutiny from an often prurient public. This has been particularly the case with clergymen especially those who pronounce … Continue reading
Breaking the Habit: A Life of History
Just Published Historians, it has been said, are rather like a good bottle of wine…they mature with age. Being seen as a rather crusty claret may not be a bad thing and I’ve now reached the point in my life … Continue reading
Posted in Autobiographical fragments, Books
The Chartists, Regions and Economies
NOW PUBLISHED Like its predecessor volume it provides a characteristically illuminating, succinct and thoroughly researched regional and local perspective on this complex but fascinating movement. It identifies clearly the salient features of each geographical area under review, comparing and contrasting … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Chartism
Tagged Chartism, radicalism, regionalism
Chartism: Localities, Spaces and Places, The North, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
Chartism: Localities, Spaces and Places, The North, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Richard Brown, Authoring History, 2015, paperback, 408 pp., ISBN 9781517788988 J.M.W. Turner’s romanticised depiction, completed in 1838, of vessels being unloaded in the Dee estuary with the first of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Chartism, Chartism: Local Studies
Chartism: Localities, Spaces and Places, The North, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
JUST PUBLISHED This, the second volume looks at northern England covering Yorkshire and the North-East in Chapter 6, Cheshire, Lancashire and the North-West in Chapter 7 and at Scotland, Wales and Ireland respectively in Chapter 8, 9 and 10. It … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Chartism, Chartism: Local Studies, Chartism: Narrative, Chartist Lives
Annie Besant (1847-1933) : la lutte et la quête
My appallingly bad yet typically English ‘franglais’ will never do justice to what is an elegantly written and much needed study of Annie Besant. Until now, we have had to rely on Anne Taylor’s sound, if partial, biography published in … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Annie Besant, feminism, theosophy
