29 Mar 1626: Charles I defends the Duke of Buckingham against #Parliament in a speech written by William Laud #otd #HistParl Almost exactly year earlier on his deathbed, James VI & I had asked Charles to protect Buckingham.
"his political record is a story of places of profit and dumb votes"
Sir Lewis Namier giving no quarter in his entry on the duke of Bedford's loyal lieutenant, Richard Vernon...
www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1754-...
#HistParl
As part of a new #HistParl series, Dr Patrick Little explores how illness derailed a compromise between Charles I and his Parliamentarian opponents.
On 22 March 1684, William Pulteney, 1st earl of Bath, was born.
Our former colleague, Dr Stuart Handley, in his last post for the #HistParl site last year, reflected on Pulteney’s career after he received his earldom in 1742.
Later this year, Dr Robin Eagles of the Georgian Lords will be speaking at the University of Nottingham as part of their 'We the People' exhibition, which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence.
#HistParl
www.lakesidearts.org.uk/event/a-revo...
260 years ago today, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.
Read Dr Robin Eagles' article for #HistParl to find out more about this controversial legislation and its role in the origins of the American Revolution.
I had a joyful time presenting at @ihr.bsky.social’s #histparl seminar yesterday: a BIG thank you to @martinspychal.bsky.social & Dr Robin Eagles for making me so welcome, to all who came along in person & online, & to Martin, Robin, & Drs Philip Salmon & Naomi Lloyd-Jones for some terrific leads!
Prior to the 1770s it was contrary to the privilege of Parliament for details of debates to be reported. In the latest piece for the Georgian Lords, Charles Littleton considers the case of one person who was able to keep an absent peer up to date.
historyofparliament.com/2026/03/17/d...
#HistParl
The Prime Minister has so far been in office for 1 year and 256 days. Assuming he remains so for another four days, he will overtake Pitt the Younger's second term as PM (1804-1806). He has already far exceeded the 3rd duke of Grafton's tenure (1 year 107 days).
#HistParl
One of those speaking on the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) bill yesterday was the 16th earl of Kinnoull, a direct descendant of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, who is one of the key figures in the early stages of the Lords 1715-90 and was, arguably, the first ever PM.
#HistParl
The passage of the Hereditary Peers Bill in the Lords yesterday means an end to 366 unbroken years of membership of Parliament by peers claiming their seats by hereditary right.
If one overlooks the hiatus of 1649-1660, their participation dates back to the very beginning of parliaments.
#HistParl
Ever wondered why May for UK elections? Find out more 👇in my post for the #histparl blog.
If you're a glutton for May Day traditions, parliamentary reform debate & ideas about Anglo-Saxon direct democracy, I'll be expanding at 5:30 (online & in person) on 17 March @ihr.bsky.social 👉 rb.gy/65bzj7
9 Mar 1607: b. Gervase Holles antiquarian writer, MP & royalist exile #otd (eebo - the speech that got him expelled) #HistParl
photo of a bronze statue of a man in 18th century clothing holding one hand above his head, in the background trees and a blue sky.
The Georgian Lords have been off on a busman's holiday in Bristol, where it was impossible to miss the inevitable statue to Edmund Burke...
#HistParl
New post on the #HistParl website from @kathrynrix.bsky.social!
Read it here:
Excellent to hear Henry Sacheverell remembered today on BBC Radio Wiltshire on the Sue Davies programme.
#HistParl
In his opening remarks #OTD 1710, the attorney general, Sir James Montagu emphasized that Sacheverell had set out to asperse the queen (Anne) and her Revolution 'by insinuating fears, and suggesting False lies', which were 'not a doctrine proper at this time'.
#HistParl
engraving of a man in 18th-century clothes with black robes and a white collar, wearing a long grey curled wig.
#OnThisDay 1710 the state trial of Dr Henry Sacheverell got underway in Westminster Hall.
Sacheverell had infuriated the Whig ministry by preaching against the 1688 Revolution. Their efforts to impeach led to widespread rioting and ultimately brought the ministry down.
#HistParl
"they were so angry with you that it took up a great deal of time and several bottles of wine to appease them"
Lord Bathurst to Lord Gower in 1722, reporting back on a fraught meeting with some of their allies.
Politics as it ought to be done.
#HistParl
Interesting (if sad) deposition from 1747 of Margaret Ley, a gingerbread maker from Lichfield, who reported being assaulted at her stall in Birmingham by 4 men, because her husband and son had voted Whig at the recent general election.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1...
#HistParl
painting of a man in 17th-century clothes, he wears brown robes with a lace collar over them and a long brown wig
portrait of a man in 18th-century clothes, he wears a long grey wig and a grey coat with gold edging
Samuel Pepys, diarist, admiralty official and MP for Castle Rising and Harwich was born #OnThisDay 1633.
As it happens, Pepys shares a birthday with Georg Frideric Handel (#OnThisDay 1685), the composer who most of all provides the 'soundtrack' to Georgian Britain.
#HistParl
In this week's Scribble Book, #HistParl director @jhdavey.bsky.social takes a literary trip to Iceland, and discusses the importance of Parliament in one of the country's most famous novels.
Read and subscribe via the link below!
As part of LGBT+ History Month we are resharing this #HistParl article by Dr Justin Bengry on the problems of pardoning historical homosexual offences.
As part of LGBTQ+ History Month we are resharing Dr Paul Hunneyball's 2018 #HistParl article on James I, his favourite courtiers, his sexuality, and its political effects:
In February 1722, shortly before the dissolution of Parliament the following month, the press reported that in the course of the parliament (1715-22) 42 members of the Lords (peers and bishops) and 62 MPs had died.
That's almost exactly a quarter of the Lords.
#HistParl
Next Thursday sees the by-election for Gorton and Denton. In 1745 a new Act of Parliament required voters to swear a new oath to enable them to vote and demanded 6 questions of them:
Name
Place of Abode
Where their freehold lay
What it consisted of
In whose occupation
Who they voted for
#HistParl
In this week's Scribble Book, #HistParl director @jhdavey.bsky.social explores the unlikely connections between the Winter Olympics and House of Lords reform...
Read and subscribe via the link below!
Sir Charles Hotham's warning to those coming after him never to seek election for a neighbouring constituency (indeed, never to seek election to #Parliament at all):
"If they will be in Parliament, which perhaps it may be wiser never to think of, it should be much farther from home."
#HistParl
Ahead of this weekend, #HistParl Director @jhdavey.bsky.social has had a look through Hansard for references to Valentines' Day in House of Commons debates. Check out her latest post for Scribble Book for more!
photo of two sides of a silver medal bearing the bust in profile of a young man with a round face wearing laurel leaves over his tie-wig
#OnThisDay 1763 the Treaty of #Paris brought to an end the Seven Years War. As part of the settlement, France ceded Quebec to Britain.
Concluding the war was highly controversial in Britain and a major cause of John Wilkes's inflammatory campaign against the government.
#HistParl
