From Jockeys to Ministers: How Horse Racing Shaped Rockingham’s First Ministry

In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, we welcome Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri from the University of Aberdeen, who considers the importance of horse racing in the formation of the Rockingham administration of 1765. The structure of mid-eighteenth-century politics was often defined as much by social custom as by constitutional form. What Leslie Mitchell has called the ‘circle of acquaintances’ of the ruling, largely … Continue reading From Jockeys to Ministers: How Horse Racing Shaped Rockingham’s First Ministry

In with the new – the appointment of Lord Chancellor Richard Neville in 1454

It was confirmed yesterday that the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party will be travelling to Balmoral next week, rather than Buckingham Palace, to receive the Sovereign’s invitation to form a government. This news comes amidst knowledge of HM the Queen’s ongoing mobility issues. But in 1454, when a new chief minister needed to be appointed it was the mental, not physical, faculties of … Continue reading In with the new – the appointment of Lord Chancellor Richard Neville in 1454