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Out and About: The historical significance of the Botanic Garden in Oxford
Historian feature
The Oxford Botanic Garden was Britain’s first botanic garden and is world-renowned. Mia Andreasen, who knows it well, explores why they have been so successful and how they reflect not only plant life but also the global history of the past 400 years.
Out and About: The historical significance of the Botanic Garden in Oxford
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Real Lives: the long life of Old Tom Parr
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. If you have any people that you think might also fit this category and would like to write about them, please do contact: martin.hoare@history.org.uk
In this article, Dexter Plato tells us about the...
Real Lives: the long life of Old Tom Parr
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Doing history: reconstructing the life of physician, psychiatrist and anthropologist James Cowles Prichard
Historian feature
Margaret Crump’s Doing History explains how she went about researching the life of a Victorian scientist, gathering material about the man himself from a variety of sources including newspapers, genealogical databases, and archives, supplemented by contextual knowledge of the period.
Doing history: reconstructing the life of physician, psychiatrist and anthropologist James Cowles Prichard
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Update: The Princes in the Tower
Historian feature
A subject of endless fascination for the historian, the story of the ‘princes in the Tower’ hit the news again recently, following the discovery of Richard III’s body in Leicester and Philippa Langley’s ensuing quest to show that the much-maligned king was not responsible for the princes’ deaths. In this...
Update: The Princes in the Tower
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In conversation with Elizabeth King
Historian feature
Elizabeth King’s Miracles and Machines (2023) is a vivid, searching account of a small sixteenth-century automaton – a robed figure, nicknamed ‘the monk’ – that walks, beats its breast, turns its head, and appears to pray. Co-authored with clockmaker David Todd, the book is at once a material history of an extraordinary...
In conversation with Elizabeth King
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Coroners, communities, and the Crown: mapping death and justice in late medieval England
Historian article
Life in medieval cities could be violent and dangerous, and the records generated by state officials charged with regulating that violence offer invaluable insight into everyday life. Stephanie Emma Brown takes us behind the scenes of the recently launched Medieval Murder Map project, which was based on coroners’ rolls, to...
Coroners, communities, and the Crown: mapping death and justice in late medieval England
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Mercurial justice: a Jesuit chaplain’s view of life in the prisons of sixteenth-century Seville
Historian article
Justice in the early modern period was discretionary, which meant it could be both violent and deeply unfair. Elites often escaped the most severe punishments inflicted on the poor and minoritised groups. Clare Burgess shows how a Jesuit chaplain in sixteenth- century Seville used his spiritual discretion and zealous belief...
Mercurial justice: a Jesuit chaplain’s view of life in the prisons of sixteenth-century Seville
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James Macpherson: a Scottish Robin Hood
Historian article
James Macpherson led a notorious gang of robbers in late seventeenth-century Scotland, and he became infamous for robbing rich lairds to give to the poor. Anne-Marie Kilday explains how his notoriety is also significant for revealing how people in early modern Scotland could hold complex attitudes towards the Gypsy Roma...
James Macpherson: a Scottish Robin Hood
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Finding Bad Bridget: the lives and crimes of Irish immigrant women in America
Historian article
From the early nineteenth century until the First World War, millions of Irish women emigrated to North America in search of better lives. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, co-leads for the AHRC-funded Bad Bridget research project, tell us how poverty, discrimination, isolation from family as well as greed and opportunism...
Finding Bad Bridget: the lives and crimes of Irish immigrant women in America
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Out and About: Locating the Local Lockup
Historian feature
If you are arrested for a crime today, you will very likely be taken to a police station and locked in a cell while officers decide if they have enough evidence to charge you. But have you ever wondered what happened to criminals and other disorderly folk – roughs, drunks...
Out and About: Locating the Local Lockup
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Imperial spaces of a ‘miniature world’: the case of Rugby School, c.1828–1850
Historian article
English public schools in the nineteenth century were training grounds not just for society’s elites but also for careers in Britain’s imperial service. In this article, Holly Hiscox explores the ways in which schools such as Rugby provided pupils with a miniature world of domestic and professional life which prepared...
Imperial spaces of a ‘miniature world’: the case of Rugby School, c.1828–1850
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Decoding medieval pilgrimage
Historian article
Pilgrimage played a significant role in medieval life and belief. Pilgrims travelled far and wide to express their devotion to saints and their cults. Who were the pilgrims and what did pilgrimage involve? Luke Daly makes sense of this fascinating and complex phenomenon...
Decoding medieval pilgrimage
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From our branches: Conwy Borough Branch
Historian feature
A new branch of the Historical Association has recently opened in North Wales. In this article, branch founders Morgan Ditchburn and Gemma Campbell introduce themselves and provide an exciting account of the present and future activities of the Conwy Borough Historical Association Branch...
From our branches: Conwy Borough Branch
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Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. We are all part of the rich fabric of the communities in which we live and we are affected sto greater and lesser degrees by the big events that happen on a daily...
Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
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Doing history: Contemporary narratives and the legacy of the Dagenham Ford Factory Strike of 1968
Historian feature
In this article, Zubin Burley looks at how a visit to the local archive can transform our understanding of an important event in British social history...
Doing history: Contemporary narratives and the legacy of the Dagenham Ford Factory Strike of 1968
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The Historian 166: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 166: Crime and Punishment
Last summer, crime and punishment made the headlines as Britain’s prisons came close to full capacity. In response, the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, ordered the release of nearly 10,000 prisoners who had served a significant portion of their sentence. The aim was to...
The Historian 166: Out now
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Update: Revisiting the Court of King Charles I
Historian feature
The reputation of kings, as with all political figures, is problematical. It would be surprising if it were any other way. Yet, the monarchy of Charles I remains as controversial as ever. In this article, Michael Questier looks at two diametrically opposed contemporary accounts of monarchical authority in the Stuart...
Update: Revisiting the Court of King Charles I
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‘By his Majesties authoritie’: worship and religious policy in Caroline Britain and Ireland
Historian article
When Charles I acceded to the throne in 1625, he inherited a situation that appeared stable but which simmered beneath the surface. As Chris R. Langley explains, in seeking to maintain his Royal Supremacy, Charles I had to manage the very different, but interconnected, religious affairs of England, Ireland and...
‘By his Majesties authoritie’: worship and religious policy in Caroline Britain and Ireland
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Caroline Court Women, 1625–1669
Historian article
Aristocratic women at the court of Queen Henrietta Maria from 1625–69 were integral to court life and actively involved in royal service; in court family networks; in dispensing and seeking patronage; and, in political and religious politics. As Sara J. Wolfson shows, it is important to study women at the apex of power...
Caroline Court Women, 1625–1669
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Piecing together the life and times of Charles I
Historian article
In this article, Chris R. Langley discusses the sources we use to reconstruct the life and times of Charles I. He explains how historians can use a wide range of sources in creative ways to understand different aspects of political, cultural and religious change in the mid-seventeenth century...
Piecing together the life and times of Charles I
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Charles I in objects and architecture
Historian article
We asked some of Britain’s leading museums and archives what object in their collections best exemplifies the reign of Charles I and why. Join Alden Gregory, Jessica Evershed, Mike Webb, Denise Greany, Glyn Hughes and Kevin Winter as they discuss some prominent objects and places in their collections and the...
Charles I in objects and architecture
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What caused the decline of trams in West Yorkshire?
Historian article
In an article based on his award-winning essay for the Young Historian competition, Christopher Barnett describes the development, decline and potential resurrection of West Yorkshire’s tram network...
What caused the decline of trams in West Yorkshire?
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Out and About: Charles Darwin, a voyage of discovery
Historian feature
Dave Martin follows Charles Darwin’s journey from university back to his birthplace, Shrewsbury.
Cambridge
The bronze statue of Darwin as a young man perches elegantly on the arm of a garden bench in the grounds of Christ’s College, Cambridge where he was a student from 1829 to 1831. Of this...
Out and About: Charles Darwin, a voyage of discovery
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From strategic routes to economic lifelines: the historical and contemporary importance of La Pintada
Article
In his work on the local history of his hometown in Panama, Miguel Elias Escobar Cornejo highlights the importance of understanding the geography of the historical sites we study. Here, he explains how a defensive route from the coast to the rugged mountain interior developed into one of the most important...
From strategic routes to economic lifelines: the historical and contemporary importance of La Pintada
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Uncomfortable secrets: uncovering family history and other stories
Historian article
Kate Brooks’ interest in her family history led her to trace the life of her great grandfather, Joseph Lowe. His life story provides insights into 19th-century life, disease, orphanages, and child labour, but she also reflects on the ways in which the past can sometimes resonate with the present in unexpected...
Uncomfortable secrets: uncovering family history and other stories
