Political

Four times Prime Minister, Gladstone owes his great reputation, A.F. Thompson argues, less to his achievements in office than to his character and personality.

A study of diplomacy in transition by Nicholas Henderson

Thomas Balston profiles John Boydell, Lord Mayor of London in 1790, who created the first great printselling business in Britain, and could count Reynolds, Romney, Fuseli, Benjamin West, and Wright of Derby among the artists who worked for him.

Hugh Trevor-Roper recounts how the “Cromwellian Exiles” returned from abroad to restore the English Church's episcopal structure.

An acceptable minister in peace-time, Lord North’s misfortune was to hold office at the time of the American Revolution and War, as Eric Robson here shows.

L.F. Marks introduces Savonarola, dominant within the turbulence of Florentine politics of the 1490’s.

Chinese Governments are notoriously difficult in their relations with Europe. G.H.L. LeMay gives a chastening account of two early British attempts to get into diplomatic touch with Pekin.

A.P. Ryan introduces the life and career of The Earl of Balfour: Conservative Prime Minister, 1902-5; Foreign Secretary, 1916-19; President of the Council 1919-22, 1925-9.

Ann Dewar recounts the once-annual political battle to make Derby Day a parliamentary holiday

D.C. Somervell profiles the predominant figure in British politics during the interwar years.