Feature

'The Polling', the third in William Hogarth’s four-part series, An Election, 1754. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Who Should Have The Vote in Britain?

What voting rights did Britons have in the century before 1918?

Women of the Cumann na mBan protest outside Mountjoy Prison during the Irish War of Independence, 23 July 1921. National Library of Ireland. Public Domain.

Female Spies in the Irish War of Independence

Women played a minor role in the Easter Rising of 1916. But they became crucial intelligence agents in the Anglo-Irish War.

Monument commemorating the Battle of Naseby.

Through The Glass Darkly: Britain’s Civil Wars

The dramatic events that shook Britain in the 17th century resonate more strongly than ever, despite attempts to marginalise them.

Schmidt, the new Chancellor of West Germany, 1974.

Helmut Schmidt, Germany's Anglophile Chancellor

The West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt was an admirer of Britain from an early age. But his vision of European integration was not that of his British counterparts.

‘A Change in the Petticoats, or the Years 1780 & 1817’ by William Heath, c. 1817. The posture of fashionable woman of 1817 is reminiscent of the consumptive. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Consumptive Chic: When Tuberculosis was the Height of Fashion

During the 19th century, the physical effects of tuberculosis became the ideals of beauty for the fashionable woman.

Columbus House on Potsdamer Platz in East Berlin burning after the demonstrations and riots, 17 June 1953. (Getty Images)

Day of Dissent in the DDR

The East German Uprising of 1953 was the first major revolt to take place in the Soviet Bloc.

Pocahontas at the English court, from The Story of Pocahontas and Captain John by E. Boyd Smith, 1906. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

England’s Taming of Pocahontas

Pocahontas and John Smith’s story of captivity, salvation and conversion became a tool to justify Britain’s conquest of the New World.

The ogre Buta Terong, from Sejarah Wayan Purwa by Hardjowirogo, 1852.

Princes, Profits and the Prophet

The 18th century was a turbulent period in Javanese history, when local kingdoms, Dutch traders and a mysterious Turk became embroiled in a series of bloody conflicts.

Mary Elizabeth Pitt, Countess of Chatham, possibly by Edward Miles, c.1789.

Born into one of Britain’s great political dynasties and married into another, Mary Elizabeth Pitt was determined to embrace the responsibilities of a woman of her standing, despite the many obstacles in her way.