Reporting debates in the Victorian Commons

Today we take it for granted that parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. During the Victorian era, however, there was no ‘official’ record. Dr Philip Salmon shows how, before the advent of modern democracy, public interest in Parliament was sufficient for reports of debates to be produced and sold commercially. As democracy advanced, however, the public’s appetite began to change … During the early 19th … Continue reading Reporting debates in the Victorian Commons

‘The status of the Press is changed indeed’: the reporters’ gallery in the nineteenth-century House of Commons

Continuing our series on parliamentary buildings, Dr Kathryn Rix looks at the accommodation provided for the newspaper journalists who reported on the proceedings of the nineteenth-century House of Commons. The history of parliamentary reporting in the 19th century has two connected strands: the history of Hansard, and the history of reporting by the newspaper press, whose accounts of Commons debates formed the basis for Hansard’s … Continue reading ‘The status of the Press is changed indeed’: the reporters’ gallery in the nineteenth-century House of Commons

A Medieval Monk’s View of Parliament: Thomas Walsingham’s Chronica Maiora and the Parliaments of 1376 to 1410

Thomas Walsingham is best known for his role as a chronicler of his own religious life, but he was also privy to many of the events that took place in Parliament in the late 14th century. Simon Payling, from our Commons 1461-1504 project, explores what Walsingham’s writing can tell us of the medieval political landscape as well as his own feelings towards Parliament. Ordained in … Continue reading A Medieval Monk’s View of Parliament: Thomas Walsingham’s Chronica Maiora and the Parliaments of 1376 to 1410