Before Hansard
Robert Woodall describes the state of early parliamentary reporting, during a period when it was disapproved by Members .
Robert Woodall
The Ballot Act of 1872
A secret ballot at general elections had been a reformers’ demand since the seventeenth century. It was achieved two hundred years later, writes Robert Woodall, after much experience of bribery.
The Abolition of Purchase in the British Army
The purchase system, writes Robert Woodall, was regarded by its opponents as the main obstacle to the creation of professional officer corps.
Orsini and the Fall of Palmerston
Robert Woodall describes how Palmerston lost office in February 1858 during the Anglo-French controversy over Orsini’s bomb plot.
The Jewish Relief Act, 1858
Robert Woodall describes how twenty-nine years of public controversy preceded the political emancipation of British Jews.