The Radical John Wilkes
Parliament’s champion of the people or scandalous, self-serving politician? Georgian radical John Wilkes kept a foot in both camps.
Georgian
‘The Rage of Party’ by George Owers review
They go low, we go lower. The Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain by George Owers offers up the origins of Britain’s fractious political culture.
Slavery After Abolition: Revolt on the Amelia
The slave trade was an international criminal enterprise. In 1811 an uprising on the slaving ship Amelia off the coast of West Africa revealed a complex network spanning four continents.
What Birmingham Taught Muslim India
Industrial Birmingham was an important stop on the grand tours of various Muslim rulers, all eager to learn from the city of a thousand trades.
Ship Shape: British Naval Strategy After Napoleon
British military engagement in northwest Europe did not pause after Waterloo and resume in 1914. The intervening century saw fluctuations in French power – and the creation of a strategic system to control it.
Europe and the End of Old Java
In 1825 Java’s old order rose up against encroaching European colonialism. What – and who – were the Javanese rebels fighting for?
Execution of the Thief-Taker General
Britain’s self-styled ‘Thief-Taker General’ was not all he seemed. On 24 May 1725 Jonathan Wild was finally brought to justice.
Smuggling Under the Cover of Plague
For 18th-century smugglers in Guernsey and the Isle of Man, plague was a business opportunity.
Jane Austen: A Partial and Prejudiced Historian
On the 250th anniversary of her birth, Jane Austen still has lessons for readers of history.
What was the Industrial Revolution?
Over the 18th and 19th centuries Britain’s economy, technology, and society were transformed by the so-called Industrial Revolution. Why?