The History of Parliament has a vacancy for a research fellow on its 1660-1832 House of Lords project. The successful candidate will have a PhD in British political or cultural history in the eighteenth century. They will join a small team of professional historians researching and writing the biographies of peers and bishops who sat in the Lords in the 1715-1790 period. They will also contribute to the project’s academic and public engagement activities and the development of new digital resources. It is expected that the successful applicant will start in summer 2026.

Full vacancy information, person specification and application details can be found here:

About the 1660-1832 House of Lords project

The 1660-1832 House of Lords project was founded in 1999 in response to a recognition that the History, which had previously covered only the Commons, needed to produce comparable work on the upper chamber. Given the long sweep of the project, it was conceived from the outset that it would be divided into three parts, and part one of the project, covering 1660-1715, was published in 2016.

The project team is now mid-way through covering the second phase, covering the period 1715-1790. This is an exciting project that offers an opportunity to reappraise a key period in British history and the dynamic role the Lords played within it. In writing the lives of the 927 British peers, bishops and Scots representative peers who sat during the period the section explores the changing status of the upper chamber in an era dominated by significant figures in the Commons, such as Sir Robert Walpole, Charles James Fox and William Pitt (elder and younger – the former subsequently equally important in the Lords), but also seeing the ongoing influence of major aristocratic characters, such as the 3rd earl of Sunderland, duke of Newcastle and 2nd marquess of Rockingham. Many members of the Lords held significant office in the period and several major set pieces happened there. The project will explore the composition of political parties, relations between Parliament and the Court, including the opposition courts at Leicester House and Carlton House, the impact of war with America and relations with the colonies more broadly. A survey volume is also being prepared and the work will provide a key resource for political, cultural and local historians interested in politics and society in the eighteenth century.

Alongside research and writing, staff are expected to support the Trust’s engagement work. This could include giving academic papers; attending and helping to organise academic conferences and seminars; collaborating on related research programmes and exhibitions; supporting the Trust’s events in Parliament; and responding to public and media inquiries. The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the section’s social media accounts under the guise of ‘The Georgian Lords’, as well as posting shorter articles on our blogpost, The Georgian Lords.

Job description: research fellow

The History of Parliament is seeking a research fellow to work on the House of Lords 1660-1832 section (currently working on 1715-1790). Working in the section with the editor, Dr Robin Eagles, the postholder will be responsible for:

Researching, writing and revising biographies for the 1715-1790 volumes to a high academic standard, using online resources supplemented by work in libraries and archives using both printed and manuscript sources

Delivering biographies to an agreed timeframe, making changes required by the editor

Actively assisting the History of Parliament’s blogging, social media and engagement activities, preparing and delivering public talks, conference/seminar papers on themes related to the project, supporting the Trust’s wider academic engagement activities, and assisting with inquiries from the public, Parliament and the media

Contributing to the History of Parliament’s development of new digital resources and helping to maintain existing databases and websites

Full vacancy information and person specification can be found here.

A History of Parliament Application Form can be downloaded here:

Note: your application must include:

• Completed application form
• A recent CV
• A letter outlining your suitability for the role. Please refer to the person specification as a guide. Your letter should also include a brief 250 word statement highlighting a particular aspect of 18^th-century history that you believe is ripe for re-appraisal.
• A sample piece of work of c. 10,000 words.

Please send the above to the office manager, Adam Tucker, at atucker@histparl.ac.uk  by 16th February 2026. You must ensure that the job title is included in the email subject line.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the appointment please contact the History of Parliament’s director Dr Jennifer Davey at jdavey@histparl.ac.uk or the project’s editor, Dr Robin Eagles at reagles@histparl.ac.uk.

Here’s Connie Jeffery, our Public Engagement Manager, with a recap of 2025 at the HPT…

2025 has been another busy year for the History of Parliament team, and eagle-eyed followers of our project might have noticed a few changes in recent months…

The most obvious being a new logo for the organisation!

Throughout 2025 our Public Engagement team undertook a wide scale rebranding project, resulting in a new visual identity for the HPT. And it isn’t just a new logo. In November we debuted new banners, leaflets and other new promotional material at the IHR’s History Day in Senate House. Keep an eye out at future History of Parliament events and on social media as we continue to phase in our new look into 2026!

This rebrand is just one part of the History of Parliament’s wider website redevelopment project, which has seen brilliant progress in the past twelve months. Earlier in the year Dr Martin Spychal, Senior Research Fellow in the 1832-1945 House of Commons project, was appointed Digital Humanities Lead, tasked with continuing to redevelop our online database and public facing website, as well as thinking about how the organisation can move forward into a more digital world. We’re excited to see where this development leads in the coming months.

The organisation’s other major change in 2025 was a move into a new office! HPT staff spent the summer organising and packing up our former home in Bloomsbury Square in preparation for our move to Old Street, where we now reside. This was a major task for all of our research sections, many of whom had over twenty years of research notes, books and resources to sort through. Our new office marks a new era for the organisation, as we embrace a more collaborative approach to working and explore a new part of the city.

Amidst all of this change, work on our publications continued throughout the year. In 2025 over 300 biographies were written, totalling nearly 1 million words! In addition, our contemporary history section completed 18 new oral history interviews with former MPs and deposited 26 interviews at the British Library, where they will be archived and made available to the public.

Our staff also contributed to the more than 100 articles published on our website this year. Our most read post from 2025 was Dr Andrew Thrush’s look at how Elizabethan England reacted to an earthquake in 1580. But it is an earlier article from Andrew that takes the crown as our most read post in 2025! Originally published in 2022, read his study of ‘The Execution of Thomas Howard’ here: 

Colleagues continued to represent the History of Parliament and spread their knowledge across various media outlets this year. Dr Robin Eagles was a frequent voice across local radio stations and published an article in History Today, Dr Kathryn Rix was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 to discuss how women in the 19^th century viewed Parliamentary debates, and Dr Alex Beeton also recently featured on Today in Parliament to talk about Christmas in Parliament.

Our Head of Contemporary History, Dr Emma Peplow, was a recurring voice on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley show. Across the year Emma joined Matt to talk about the statues in and around Parliament, providing information about the figures depicted and how these works were commissioned. Emma wrote about some of the statues she profiled in this article.

Dr Martin Spychal also featured on national radio; in November BBC Radio 4 broadcast ‘Materials of State’, a series hosted by David Cannadine examining the history of the British constitution through the objects, for which Martin acted as series researcher. I was personally excited to be involved in this project too, including attending an interview with the new Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, Ed Davis, himself and seeing Black Rod- the object! – in person.

The HPT continued the success of our own podcast series, Tales from the Green Benches: an Oral History of Parliament, too. In June we hosted a special ‘live’ episode of the series, featuring reflections from some of the project’s recent interviewees, Anne Milton former Conservative MP for Guildford, and Gisela, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston, former Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, as well as project founder Dr Priscila Pivatto. The event was recorded and the live episode is still available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts:

Elsewhere within Parliament, in March we held an event titled ‘London and Parliament: From Medieval to Modern’, which included representatives from all HPT research sections and from UCL’s MA Public History course, who worked with us over a term-long placement. In April we then hosted a panel event, which tracked the topic of reform in the House of Lords from the 18^th century through to the current day.

In November members of the HPT team headed to No.11 Downing Street to co-sponsor an event on the history of female cabinet ministers. Our director Dr Jennifer Davey chaired a panel featuring historians of women in Parliament and a selection of former female cabinet ministers- as well as an introduction from Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

And finally, two weeks ago we welcomed Rt Hon. Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations), who gave our Annual Lecture for 2025. The lecture, ‘Clement Attlee’s Labour Governments of 1945-51’, was presented to a sold-out audience, who stayed to enjoy a mince pie and glass of wine to see out the HPT’s year!

Many of our colleagues co-hosted events outside of Westminster too, including two workshops at the British Library: one on Warren Hastings, and another discussing Peter McLagan, Scotland’s first Black MP. Dr Alex Beeton organised a conference on ‘Parliament and the Church, c.1530-1630’, and members of all research sections spoke at an online event on Midlands history.

In staffing news, with Dr Martin Spychal taking on the role of Digital Humanities Lead, Dr Alex Beeton has stepped into the post of Academic Engagement Lead, with support from Dr Naomi-Lloyd Jones, who joined the HPT in late 2024.

Finally, in the summer the team said goodbye and good luck to Dr Stuart Handley, who retired from the HPT after many years of work across our Commons 1690-1715, Lords 1660-1715 and the Lords 1715-1790 projects. His presence in the office is sorely missed, but friends know that he’s never too far away- just head to the IHR!

Thank you to all of our friends, followers and contributors for another brilliant year for the History of Parliament. We’re looking forward to seeing what 2026 brings for us!

CJ

At the end of 2023 the History of Parliament welcomed Dr Jennifer Davey to the director post, and it was straight down to business in the New Year! In January Jennie and members of our Civil Wars project headed to Trinity College, Dublin, to talk about the recently published House of Commons 1640-1660 publication. The team then travelled to The National Archives at Kew in February to host a workshop discussing the volumes and the research processes behind them. In this workshop attendees were given the opportunity to view some of the original sources housed at The National Archives that were used within our publication, as well as allowing attendees to talk informally with our researchers about their work.

Fast forward to the end of the year and we were as busy as ever, particularly with the launch of our first official podcast! Tales from the Green Benches: An Oral History of Parliament launched in November, with a series of six episodes discussing the experiences of MPs in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. Hosted by the History of Parliament’s Head of Contemporary History Dr Emma Peplow and interviewer and historian Dr Alex Lock, each episode used clips from former MPs themselves, as told to our Oral History project, to explore the reality of life in Westminster. A bonus episode also discussed the nature of Oral History itself, as well as what makes the History of Parliament’s project so special. All episodes can still be found on Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube- or wherever you get your podcasts!

Our research teams continued to work on our six active core projects this year, producing nearly 300 new biographies- our Medieval project, headed by Dr Hannes Kleineke, even discovered some previously unknown MPs! Our staff have also been producing articles for our WordPress site throughout the year.

Long-term followers will recognise this year’s most read article, with Dr Paul Hunneyball’s 2019 piece James I and the duke of Buckingham: love, power and betrayal once again taking this year’s top spot. But coming in just behind it at number two is a new post from Dr Robin Eagles, who at the end of November wrote about the descendants of Thomas Cromwell. In just a few weeks this piece, The Last of the Cromwells, managed to become one of our most popular posts ever!

The Public Engagement team welcomed two new members this year, Joe Baker and Alfie Steer, both in the role of Public Engagement Assistant. They have been busy curating the History of Parliament’s online presence, updating our website, and working hard to ensure that we keep up to date with the fluctuating state of social media. You can now find the History of Parliament, the Georgian Lords and the Victorian Commons on all major social media platforms, including X, BlueSky and Instagram! The History of Parliament also continues to post on TikTok, with new videos for 2024 including ‘Could George I speak English?’ and ‘Tony Benn: MP or Peer?’. But it was a video from the previous June that really took off this year, as our video ‘The Origins of Black Rod’, reshared for the State Opening of Parliament in July, hit over 130K views by the end of 2024.

A lot of videos were also produced for our ‘Georgian Elections Project’, an online project led by our Public Engagement Team and Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our House of Lords 1715-1790 section. During the spring, we were delighted to host two students from the University of York’s Public History MA course, who produced a series of TikTok videos discussing the nature of elections in the 18^th century. These videos, along with other written content produced by Dr Eagles and some of our friends from the Eighteenth Century Political Participation and Electoral Culture project, were shared on every day of the 2024 General Election campaign. Some of the topics explored included: the origins of the Tories, the Whigs and the other political forces of the time; what happened at Hustings; and electioneering methods. All of the articles, and links to our TikTok videos, can be seen here. We’re excited to team up with the York Public History course again for another project in 2025!

We continued to work closely with a number of other academic institutions too. At the start of the year we awarded our 2023 Undergraduate Dissertation prize to Joshua Franklin, who won for the dissertation ‘Thatcherism and deregulation in the City of London’. The winner of this year’s competition will be announced early in the New Year. And in November a team from the History of Parliament presented a workshop on writing political biography at the University of Northampton.

Our 2024 events calendar was unfortunately impacted by June’s General Election, and our Annual Lecture was forced to be cancelled as Parliament went into purdah. However, our followers interested in the Civil War will be happy to know that we are still hoping to present Dr Stephen Roberts’s lecture, Power and the Culture of the Commons in the Long Parliament, at some point in 2025. Make sure to follow the History of Parliament’s social media channels, or Eventbrite page, to be the first to find out the rescheduled date.

Nonetheless, this year did see a number of successful events from the History of Parliament team! In March a panel of academics gathered in Parliament to reflect on clips from our Oral History Project, discussing the experiences of women in Parliament after 1997. This event, held during Women’s History Month, questioned whether the increase in women MPs altered the culture of Parliament, and how female MPs from different generations talk about their time in the Chamber.

At the end of the March Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our House of Lords 1715-1790 project, hosted a workshop discussing Robert Harley’s legacy at the British Library, and in April Dr Alex Beeton from our Lords 1640-1660 section welcomed a selection of academics to the History of Parliament offices for a workshop discussing ‘Parliament in Revolutionary Britain’. We were also delighted to sponsor July’s ‘Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union’ conference at Durham University, with Dr Martin Spychal from our 1832-68 section also presenting a paper and chairing a panel.

The History of Parliament continued to host the Parliaments, Politics and People seminar at the Institute of Historical Research this year, and in November staff hosted a stand at the IHR and School of Advanced Studies’ History Day 2024. Finally, in October many representatives from the History of Parliament attended the launch event celebrating our latest collaboration with St James’s House publishers, ‘The Commonwealth at 75’.

Many of our colleagues also celebrated external publications this year! In June Dr Robin Eagles published his book Champion of English Freedom: The Life of John Wilkes, MP and Lord Mayor of London. Dr Martin Spychal from our House of Commons 1832-1868 section also published a book, with his work Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act published in November.

Dr Kathryn Rix’s chapter ‘Living in stone or marble: the public commemorations of Victorian MPs’, was published in Memory and modern British politics, and Kathryn also published a chapter on the 1880 election for the book General Election Campaigns, 1830-2019. Dr Hannes Kleineke and Dr Jonathan Mackman from our House of Commons 1461-1504 project both published works through the Lists and Index Society, and Dr Patrick Little, from our House of Lords 1640-1660 project, has had his recent work Ireland in Crisis: War, Politics and Religion 1641-1650 published in paperback. We would also like to congratulate our colleague Dr Alex Beeton, was also awarded the IHR’s Pollard Prize for 2024!

Finally, this year saw a few changes to the staff in our Bloomsbury Square office. In April Dr Andrew Barclay, who worked on our House of Commons 1640-1660 publication, retired from the History of Parliament after many years of brilliant research. Kirsty O’Rourke left the Public Engagement team in March, but remains a valued member of our Oral History volunteer interviewer team. Dr Alex Beeton formally joined our House of Lords 1640-1660 project as a Research Assistant, and at the end of the year we welcomed Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones to the post of Research Assistant in our House of Commons 1832-1868 project!

We would also like to end on a note of remembrance for our former colleague Dr Simon Healy, who passed away this year. Simon worked with the History of Parliament for a number of years and was a key member of the Parliamentary History community. He will be missed.

Thank you to everyone for supporting the History of Parliament for another year. Plans are already starting for 2025, so be sure to follow us on our social media platforms to keep up to date with all of our work and upcoming events. We have big things in the pipeline!

Wishing you all a happy New Year, and here is to a great 2025!

CJ

In July 2024, the History of Parliament Trust supported the two-day conference Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union, c., 1700-1945, held at Durham University and organised by Naomi Lloyd-Jones. In this blog, Brendan Tam, one of the speakers, reflects on the event and on the state of Scottish and British political history.

Ewen Cameron’s keynote address at the Histories of Scottish Politics in the Age of Union conference, held in July at the University of Durham, while focused on the question of ‘where did the nineteenth century go’ in relation to Scottish political history, was emblematic of the broader themes, developments and approaches that define the current landscape of the field. Equally, the five sections by which Cameron structured his keynote – historiography and sources, structures of the union, local government and localism, slavery, and empire – captured many of the topics and methodological approaches that were addressed throughout this two-day conference.

Papers approaching the two topics of slavery and empire utilised a range of methodological approaches and sources, highlighting the ground that remains to be covered in exploring the interaction between Scotland, empire and slavery across the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries at both a regional and global level.  Matthew Lee tracked the coverage of five Scottish newspapers to explore the effect competing narratives of the Haitian Revolution had on the public debate over abolition in Scotland between 1791 and 1792. Glasgow, whose economy was tied to the Caribbean, exhibited a greater interest in the revolution. Drawing on the appointment diaries of Colin Dunlop Donald (1777-1859), Secretary of the West India Association and a Tory election agent, Stephen Mullen located the electoral interest and control of the West India Interest in early nineteenth century Scotland as being primarily regionally bounded, largely to Glasgow and its surrounds. Thomas Archambaud traced connections between the West Indian and East Indian interests through exploring the globe-spanning political and commercial careers of James and John Macpherson. James Wylie provided a material culture perspective on the intersection of Scottish culture and slavery, exploring the dual role of tartan as both a commodity and a symbol which reinforced hierarchies within the system of slavery.

A significant theme that emerged from the conference was the role of women in Scottish political life. As has been well established in modern historiography, women were not passive observers of political events but active participants, using both formal and informal avenues to influence public life. Natalee Garrett examined the Duchess of Gordon’s use of what Elaine Chalus has termed ‘social politics’ in playing an active role in late eighteenth century politics. By hosting social events like tartan balls, and dinners, Gordon was able to forge relationships across the political divide and wield political influence during moments of political crisis. Lisa Berry-Waite, focusing on a 1938 portrait of Scotland’s first female MP, Katharine, Duchess of Atholl, currently held by the UK Parliament Heritage Collection, emphasised the importance of embracing a broad range of sources to reconceptualise the past. Beyond aristocratic circles, women also played crucial roles in regional political movements. Frankie Aird highlighted the importance of the Perth Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was founded before its male counterpart, and played an active role in the global dialogue relating to the abolition of slavery. Hannah Speed assessed the life writing of three Scottish suffragists, charting how their respective involvements in the WSPU are key to understanding their later political careers, noting the importance of the friendships and networks forged in the WSPU.

The structure of politics throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was often mediated through networks of patronage, friendship and personal alliances. This theme was evident across papers discussing political figures and their relationships, both elite and non-elite. My own paper analysed the patronage networks of Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville. I argued that his friendship with the 4th Duke of Buccleuch reflected how life-long friendships shaped political careers and allowed for the creation and maintenance of political networks that traded on both electoral influence and preferment. Michael Fraser explored how John Campbell, second Duke of Argyll, crafted a public persona of patriotic heroism through speeches and ballads, positioning himself as a defender of Whig Presbyterianism and the Scottish nation.

As Scotland’s political landscape evolved after Union, new forms of popular and radical politics began to emerge. Karin Bowie traced the culture of Scottish loyal addresses and political petitions before and after the 1707 Act of Union, arguing that by tracking loyal addresses and the way they were used as displays of strength by rival factions, a more nuanced image of the Scottish political landscape can be recovered. Richard Huzzey and Henry Miller contended that petitions played a distinctive political role in Scottish politics between 1780 and 1918. That Scotland was over-represented proportionately to the rest of Britain in the number of petitions lodged suggests that petitions were viewed as an avenue for political involvement in the context of the restricted electoral system in Scotland. Dave Steele’s analysis of the 1838 Radical Demonstration on Glasgow Green emphasised the co-operation and connections between English and Scottish radical groups in understanding the radical movement immediately prior to the emergence of the Chartists.

In considering the past, present and future of Scottish political history, the roundtable discussion that closed the conference, featuring Colin Kidd, Emma Macleod,conference organiser Naomi Lloyd-Jones, Malcolm Petrie and Valerie Wallace summarised the trends exhibited by all the contributions made at the conference. Macleod’s reflections of the broad base which political history can cover as typified by the varied papers delivered at the conference, observing that politics can refer to ‘rout parties, balls, portraits, railways and fashion’, brilliantly encapsulated the diversity of approaches that were on show and the many discussions that were had across the two days. Furthermore, the convening of a Scottish history conference in England is noteworthy. It reflects that there is a need to consider all the constituent parts of Britain when exploring and contextualising Scottish political history, taking a ‘four nations’ approach that also includes empire. At the same time, electoral cultures and local level politics at both a macro and micro level cannot be ignored. To understand the dynamics and rhythms of not only Scottish political history but British political history, we must consider the local, national and global dimensions at work.

B.T.

Brendan Tam is a PhD candidate at the University of Warwick. Brendan previously completed degrees at the Universities of Melbourne and Edinburgh and is an elected member of the Society for the History of Emotions Council. His dissertation is focused on exploring the role played by and the dynamics of political friendship in British politics during the late Hanoverian period (1760-1837).  

2023 has been a year of many milestones for the History of Parliament, none more so than the publication of our House of Commons 1640-1660 volumes. Comprising nearly 9,000 pages fitting into nine volumes, and taking nearly thirty years of research, this long-awaited project was sent to print in the summer of 2023. Generally regarded as the most comprehensive collection of information and analysis ever compiled on the parliaments of the Civil Wars, we are delighted to see the volumes now on display in reference, University, and personal libraries across the country- and beyond.

To mark this landmark publication, in July friends, colleagues and contributors of the History of Parliament gathered in Speaker’s House to celebrate. Guests heard from Dr Stephen Roberts, editor of the House of Commons 1640-1660 volumes, before the chair of the History of Parliament, Lord Norton of Louth, formally presented a set of volumes to Sir Lindsay Hoyle to be entered into the Speaker’s personal library.

This reception was just one of many events held to celebrate the publication. In October some of the team behind the Commons 1640-1660 volumes headed to Huntingdon, home of Oliver Cromwell himself, to discuss their research in collaboration with The Cromwell Association, and a month later representatives headed to Baltimore to present some of the findings from the project at the North American Conference on British Studies. Early in 2023 we also launched a temporary blog series to tie in with the publication (all of the blogs from the ‘Commons in the Civil Wars’ series can be seen here) and Dr Stephen Roberts appeared on the World Turned Upside Down podcast, as well as answering ‘everything you wanted to know about the history of British Parliament’ on the HistoryExtra podcast.

But the mid-17^th century focus doesn’t stop there! We are delighted to announce that Dr Roberts will be giving this year’s Annual Lecture, on 22 January, titled ‘Power and the Culture of the Commons in the Long Parliament’ (you can sign up to attend here), and in February we will be heading to the National Archives to discuss the project and the use of archival materials in a ‘hands on’ workshop event (tickets here). And the team are now hard at work researching the House of Lords 1640-1660!

Our other colleagues have also been very busy with events this year, many of which were carried out in partnership with external projects. We hosted two receptions in collaboration with St James’s House publishers in 2023, celebrating our two most recent book projects; in January we welcomed guests to the Cholmondeley Room in the House of Lords to celebrate ‘Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster’, and in September History of Parliament staff, trustees and friends gathered in Westminster Abbey to mark the publication of ‘75 Years of the National Health Service’. This most recent publication is now also available to download for free here.

In April we co-sponsored a conference at the University of East Anglia, titled ‘Politics Before Democracy: Britain and its world, c.1750-1914’, and in July our eighteenth and nineteenth century teams supported the ‘Organise! Organise! Organise! Collective Action, Associational Culture and the Politics of Organisation in Britain and Ireland c.1790-1914’ conference at the University of Durham.

We were also pleased to partner with the Letters of Richard Cobden Online project, based at Leeds Beckett University, for this year’s Schools Competition. Launched in the spring of 2023, the competition asked KS3 students to take inspiration from Richard Cobden and examine how political campaigns of the past can inspire those of the present. The winning entrant, from Lawnswood School in Leeds, was inspired by Cobden’s use of the written word to spread his ideas, and conceived a campaign called ‘Black Voices Matter’, intended to increase the presence of Black authors within school libraries. The winner was awarded their prize by Lord Norton at an event in Parliament, which also acted as the launch of the Cobden Letters site. Dr Simon Morgan, Principal Investigator, explained the project further on our blog.

Finally, in November the Public Engagement team were joined by representatives from all sections at the Institute of Historical Research and School of Advanced Study’s ‘History Day’, introducing our project to a wide audience of students and heritage professionals.

This year we also held the ‘Parliamentarians on their Past’ series; a number of events intended to highlight the work of our groundbreaking Oral History Project. In July we welcomed the Petitioning and People Power in 20^th Century Britain project to the Jubilee Room to discuss their work and how our interviews with former MPs have helped with their research, and in November we gathered in the House of Lords to introduce the project to former members of the Commons and parliamentary staff. However, our largest event in the series took place in June, marking the anniversary of the 1983 General Election. This event saw a panel, consisting of historians Robert Saunders and Helen Parr, former Conservative MP Matthew Parris, and the History of Parliament’s Emma Peplow and Priscilla Privatto, discuss clips from our oral history archive and reflect on the wider historical context of the election, in front of a sell out audience. A full run down of the event can be read in this blog.

The Oral History Project itself continued to go from strength to strength in 2023, with many new interviews being completed, and in the summer we welcomed an intern, PhD student Alfie Steer, who provided invaluable work for the project, including blogs like this on this impact of all-women shortlists. A big thank you to Alfie and to all of our brilliant volunteer interviewers.

Speaking of blogs… It has been a busy year online for the History of Parliament too, as the global social media landscape continues to change at a rapid pace. Now, as well as the usual places, you can find @HistParl, @theVictCommons and @GeorgianLords on BlueSky and in the spring our Public Engagement Team launched our page on TikTok! Highlighting interesting figures, key events, and unusual stories, head over to the @HistParl channel to find videos like this, explaining why turnips proved so dangerous for 19^th century MPs…

The History of Parliament blog covered a wide variety of subjects in 2023, including a series on political factions and a topical exploration of coronations throughout history, and we were glad to host many guest blogs from external contributors. However it was Dr Robin Eagles’ piece on Queen Charlotte that took the top spot in this year’s ‘Top of the Blogs’. In fact, it became our most read blog in the history of our site! You can find a full count down of our most popular blogs for 2023 here. Thank you to everyone- staff and guest bloggers alike- for their contributions.

Finally, 2023 saw some personnel changes within the walls of Bloomsbury Square. Early in the year we were delighted to welcome Dr Alex Beeton to the Lords 1640-1660 project as a Research Assistant, and in the summer it was announced that Dr Jennifer Davey would be taking over as Director of the History of Parliament. Jennifer took up the post in December and has hit the ground running! We would all like to say a big welcome to Jennifer, and we know that staff and followers alike are looking forward to seeing what this new era for the History of Parliament will bring. Read more about the appointment here.

Of course, this means that at the end of this year we said goodbye to Dr Paul Seaward, who led the History of Parliament as director for 25 years. Paul was central in establishing the institution’s status as the central place for parliamentary history, and used his passion and expertise to engage academic, public and parliamentary audiences alike. We would like to say a huge thank you to Paul for all of his work and support. Paul’s infectious energy and encyclopaedic knowledge will be sorely missed, but we know that he won’t be a stranger! Paul will be giving the 2024 Centre for Intellectual History Carlyle Lectures lectures in the New Year, and we are sure he will pop up at some of the upcoming History of Parliament events! Paul can also still be found discussing his research on X @pseaward.

Many thanks to all of our staff, supporters and friends for another great year for the History of Parliament, and I am sure you are as excited as we are to see what the new year brings! As ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via email or social media with any questions, queries or comments.

Wishing you all a happy New Year, and here’s to an exciting 2024!

CJ

5. The King’s Dilemma: How it Fell to George V to Choose a New Prime Minister (Lord Lexden)

We’re kicking off Top of the Blogs at no.5, and the only guest blog to make it into the chart this year! In this blog Lord Lexden, trustee of the History of Parliament, reflects on a decision made by King George V one hundred years ago: who should he choose as the new Prime Minister?

Read the blog here

4. Picturing the Parliament of 1523 (Dr Paul Hunneyball)

Coming in at no.4 this year is Dr Paul Hunneyball from our First Elizabethan Age series. In this blog he asks- what did a meeting of the English Parliament look like 500 years ago? An image of the 1523 State Opening of Parliament might prove useful, but careful interpretation is required…

Read the blog here

3. ‘The buzz, the prattle, the crowds, the noise, the hurry’: the Coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte (Dr Robin Eagles)

The blog in the no.3 spot this year was published as part of our series exploring coronation ceremonies over the years. In May 2023 the world watched the carefully planned coronation of King Charles III in Westminster Abbey, but things weren’t so smooth in 1761. In this blog Dr Robin Eagles looks into the events- both serious and farcical- of the coronation of George III and Queen Charlotte.

Read it here.

2. Mo Mowlam and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (Dr Emma Peplow)

No.2 in our chart and just missing out on the top spot this year is Dr Emma Peplow, who looked at the career of Mo Mowlam through reflections from her parliamentary colleagues. Although Mowlam was never interviewed for our Oral History Project, her work in negotiating the Belfast/Good Friday agreement made her an often spoken about figure within our archive.

Read the blog here

1. ‘Almost an afterthought’: Queen Charlotte (Dr Robin Eagles)

Finally, no.1 and Top of the Blogs for 2023 is Dr Robin Eagles’ blog discussing the 18^th century monarch, Queen Charlotte. Interest in the Queen grew in 2023 due to the Netflix show ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’, but in this blog Dr Eagles asks, who was the real Queen Charlotte? And what did it mean to be married to George III?

Find out why this blog quickly became the History of Parliament’s most read blog ever by reading it here!

Did you know that the History of Parliament also launched on TikTok this year? Our most popular video of 2023 was posted in the summer, all about the history of the Prime Minister’s country home, Chequers. Watch it below!

Thank you to all of our colleagues and guest bloggers who wrote for us this year, and thank you to our wonderful followers for reading them! Make sure to subscribe to the History of Parliament’s WordPress site to avoid missing any of our new blogs, or sign up to our mailing list for regular updates.

Are there any topics that you would like us to explore during 2023? Comment below or send us an email to website@histparl.ac.uk.

CJ

After two years of uncertainty and unsettled working, for the History of Parliament 2022 was an opportunity to resume postponed projects, embrace new methods of working, and, importantly, come together in person once more. In the spring Parliament opened its doors for events once again and in May our staff and trustees gathered to acknowledge the work produced over recent difficult years. For many, this presented a long-overdue opportunity to see colleagues in the flesh and provided the chance to thank and pay notice to staff members who retired or left the History of Parliament during the online years. In October staff and supporters visited Parliament once again, this time for the History of Parliament’s Annual Lecture 2022. A sell-out audience listened to Professor Chris-Given Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews and former member of the History of Parliament’s editorial board, present Parliament, Politics and Pandemics in Later Medieval England– a lecture two years in the making!

2022 saw the 150^th anniversary of the 1872 Ballot Act, an event marked with two events of different sorts by the History of Parliament. On the anniversary of the Act’s passing, we came together online with the Parliamentary Archives to discuss the build-up to this Act and the influence that it had on the electoral machine. Following an introduction from the History of Parliament’s House of Commons 1832-68 editor Dr Philip Salmon, we heard from Dr Benjamin Jones (Central Queensland University) on the importance of Australia’s earlier adoption of the secret ballot, Dr Kathryn Rix (History of Parliament) then explored the first by-election to utilise the new election system, in Pontefract, and finally Dr Gary Hutchison (Durham University) discussed the impact of the Act on the country’s electoral culture. A full recording of this online event can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

Two months later we gathered in person at the Institute of Historical Research at Senate House for a symposium in honour of Valerie Cromwell, who was Reader in History at the University of Sussex and Director of the History of Parliament Trust between 1991 and 2001. Voting reform 150 years on from the 1872 Ballot Act, held in collaboration with History & Policy, saw many academics come together to consider the culture and conduct of Victorian elections and the circumstances that led to the passing of the Act. Our thanks to History & Policy for their collaboration in this event. A recording of the symposium can be viewed on the IHR YouTube Channel.

Our links with the IHR also continued throughout the year, with the History of Parliament-led Parliaments, Politics and People seminar running both online and hybrid sessions. More information about the seminar, including an archive of all previous papers, can be found on our WordPress site. This year our blog site also became home to a new series, Revolutionary Stuart Parliaments, launched to tie in with our newest project, the House of Lords 1640-1660, and our researchers discussed a variety of topics on our main blog page, including short-serving Prime Ministers, Parliaments away from Westminster, and Speakers of the House. You can find out which of our 2022 blogs proved most popular in this year’s Top of the Blogs chart!

2022 was a very busy year for the History of Parliament’s Oral History project, with interviews finally resuming and many new former MPs signing up to be interviewed. Under the guidance of Dr Emmeline Ledgerwood, Oral History project manager, and Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Oral History, 13 new interviews were completed in 2022 and all will be deposited into the British Library’s sound archive in the new year. We continued to host regular seminars for all Oral History volunteer interviewers, allowing participants to share their experiences of interviewing and discuss the challenges and lessons that may come from our project. Following these seminars one of our interviewers, Peter Reilly, wrote about his interview experience in two blogs for our WordPress site, reflecting on the personal side of oral history and some of the interesting topics that arose. A successful year for the project ended with a workshop on 12 December, where volunteers were invited to think about how our interviews are used after they are recorded and archived, for example by academic research projects and journalists.

Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Priscila Pivatto also continued their work with the History of Parliament Oral History archive throughout the year, presenting their research at several external events. In May they came together with the London Transport Museum for an online workshop focusing on women’s safety in the workplace, as part of the Women’s Histories in Organisations network. In this event, Dr Peplow and Dr Pivatto presented clips from the Oral History Project relating to how female former MPs felt about their place in Parliament. This theme was also picked up on in September, when Dr Peplow and Dr Pivatto hosted a panel discussion as part of the Mile End Institute’s Breaking the Glass Chamber: Women, Politics and Parliament, 1945-1997 conference. The History of Parliament was also delighted to sponsor this ground-breaking three-day conference.

In a year of many news-worthy national and political events, the History of Parliament team was kept in demand across all types of media. Many of our research staff made radio appearances, with Dr Robin Eagles from our Lords 1715-1790 project becoming a regular voice on BBC local radio! Dr Eagles was also invited onto Dan Snow’s HistoryHit podcast in October, discussing if the 3^rd Earl of Bute should be in the running for the title of ‘Britain’s worst Prime Minister’, and Dr Philip Salmon lent his expertise to a Parliamentary Education Service podcast on the history of the secret ballot. Keep an eye (and ear!) out in 2023 as we make our own foray into podcasting…

But back to 2022! Despite some uncertainty over the status of Twitter, our own social media output continued to prove popular this year. In fact, at the start of December, the Georgian Lords Twitter page hit 6,000 followers, with the Victorian Commons page not far behind and our main handle inching towards 17,000! Those who have moved away from Twitter will be pleased to know that we are now on Mastodon too, posting all of the usual content. Throughout the year we continued to work closely with Royal Holloway, University of London to produce videos and look more closely into the place of parliamentary history in the curriculum; a collaboration that will continue into the new year and will result in lots of new videos on our YouTube channel. Teachers and academic contacts can also now find us on LinkedIn, where we will be sharing our education resources, including soon announcing the winner of our 2022 Undergraduate Dissertation Competition.

Finally, 2022 saw us say goodbye to some colleagues and welcome new faces into the fold. In December we said goodbye to Dr Charles Moreton, Senior Research Fellow in our Commons 1422-61 and 1461-1504 projects, and earlier in the year Dr Vivienne Larminie, Assistant Editor of our House of Commons 1640-1660 project, left us as work on the long-awaited Civil War project drew to a close. Our thanks to both for their long service and brilliant work for the History of Parliament. In incoming news, at the end of this year we were delighted to welcome two new members of staff to the team: in October Kirsty O’Rourke took up the role of Public Engagement Assistant, and in December Jonathan Mackman joined the Commons 1461-1504 project as Post-Doctoral Research Assistant. We can’t wait to see what work they produce.

Many thanks to all of our staff and supporters for another brilliant year at the History of Parliament. As ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email, Twitter or Facebook with questions, queries, and suggestions.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2023!

CJ

2021 began with the long-anticipated publication of our House of Lords 1604-29 volumes, edited by Dr Andrew Thrush. Based on detailed manuscript research in 120 archives and containing over 280 biographies and a ground-breaking Institutional Survey, these volumes provide an unrivalled study of the early Stuart upper House. To celebrate the publication, in April we hosted an online event with members of the Lords 1604-29 research staff coming together to discuss the volumes and the new discoveries made during the project. Our early modern team are now working on the House of Commons 1558-1603 project, which you can follow in our First Elizabethan Age blog page. In November we were lucky to finally come together to mark the publication in person with a reception at Speaker’s House. This event was the first time that many of our colleagues had been together in over eighteen months. We celebrated both the Lords 1604-1629 volumes and the publication of our Commons 1422-1461 volumes, which had been released back in 2020. We are very grateful to the Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for his kind words during the reception, as well as to Dr Thrush and Dr Linda Clark, editor of the House of Commons 1422-1461, for their speeches- and for waiting so long for an official launch!

Dr Paul Seaward resumed his role as Director of the History of Parliament in 2021, after a three- year British Academy/Wolfson Foundation research secondment. We are very pleased that Dr Stephen Roberts, who sat in the director’s chair when Paul was away, remains a presence at the History of Parliament and were delighted to hear that he was welcomed into the Learned Society of Wales in the spring. One of Paul’s first jobs was to mark an important date in the our history: the 70th anniversary of the History of Parliament receiving funding to recommence the work started by our founder Josiah Wedgwood some 20 years earlier. In June Paul was invited to give a presentation for the British Academy’s Summer Series. Given in collaboration with official Parliament photographer Jessica Taylor, the session titled ‘Picturing politics, framing Parliament’ saw them discuss images of Parliament in the 19^th c. and beyond.

Throughout the year we continued the new tradition of online events and programming at the History of Parliament, including working with many external partners. In February we came together with Queer Britain and the APPG for Global LGBT+ Rights to mark LGBT History Month, as History of Parliament trustee Chris Bryant, MP, discussed his recently published book, The Glamour Boys. We also collaborated with Goldsmiths’ Centre for Queer History and Parliament’s Visitor Services department in September to mark (a delayed!) Pride Month with a discussion of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, featuring reflections from those directly impacted by the Act.

We are grateful to Chris Bryant for his continued support for the History of Parliament, as he logged online with us once again in November, this time alongside our director Dr Paul Seaward for UK Parliament Week. Together they discussed how to tackle parliament’s history, what it means to them and whether it matters to the politics of today. The Institute of Historical Research Parliaments, Politics and People seminar also continued in its new online format throughout the year, with Q&A sessions run on Zoom. Finally, we saw out the year with a collaborative event with the Parliamentary Archives and House of Lords Procedures and Privileges committee, discussing the importance of the 1621 Parliament. We were joined online by House of Lords clerk Chris Johnson, Deputy Speaker Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall, David Prior from the Parliamentary Archives and our own Dr Andrew Thrush, who discussed the importance of the House of Lords standing orders both today and in 1621, when they were first written.

In September Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our Lords 1715-1790 project, was part of the organising team behind the Bath 250 conference, marking the 250^th anniversary of the Bath Assembly Rooms. The hybrid event saw two days of online papers and discussion, with the final keynote delivered at the Assembly Rooms in person and ending in a Georgian dance recital! However, for our Georgian Lords project, 2021 was all about Robert Walpole. April marked the 300^th anniversary of Walpole becoming the first so-called ‘Prime Minister’ and throughout the year we published blogs and videos exploring his rise and influence. The anniversary also provided inspiration for our latest publication with St James’s House; in September we donned our finery and headed to Westminster Abbey for the launch of 300 Years of Leadership and Innovation, a publication written to celebrate 300 years of leadership, industry and innovation across the full spectrum of British society.

In March our colleagues Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Priscila Pivatto delivered the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art International Women’s Day Lecture, discussing the experience of female MPs as described in our Oral History Project. The  easing  of restrictions and COVID in the summer enabled our new batch of volunteer interviewers to undertake online training sessions under the guidance of Emme Ledgerwood. Whilst COVID prevented any new interviews from taking place in 2021, we are looking forward to getting out and interviewing again in the New Year!

Much like in 2020, this year our online output and social media presence was more important than ever. We continued to produce videos for our Parliamentary Leadership Youtube series, and our long-standing collaboration with Royal Holloway, University of London, saw us produce new videos on Margaret Wintringham, Robert Walpole, Constance Markievicz and Maureen Colquhoun. We had a record number of views on our blog site, hit 16,000 followers on Twitter and even tried our hand at podcasting! We’re already looking forward to our online plans for 2022- so watch this space… We also carried on our tradition of running yearly competitions for both A Level and dissertation-level students. Congratulations to Joe Williams from Dulwich College for winning our Sixth Form Essay Prize. The winner of the Dissertation Competition will be announced early in the New Year.

Finally, in November we said goodbye to our Public Engagement Manager Sammy Sturgess. A member of the History of Parliament Team since 2018, Sammy transformed our presence both online and in person, expanding our social media output and establishing collaborations with external partners that will continue for many years to come. Sammy’s positive energy and passion for engaging our historic community came across in all of her work, and she will be sorely missed!

Thank you all for your continued support throughout what has been another difficult year for us all. As ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via email, Twitter or Facebook with questions, queries and suggestions.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2022!

C.J

*Cue theme tune!*

6. The hunting down of Queen Margaret: the battle of Tewkesbury 4 May 1471 (Dr Simon Payling)

We’re kicking off Top of the Blogs 2021 with the blog in the number six spot, and for this we’re going back to 14 April 1471! 550 years ago the battle of Tewkesbury took place and proved to be a key battle within the Wars of the Roses. In this popular blog Dr Simon Payling from our Commons 1461-1504 project explored the events of the battle and the significance of one person: Margaret of Anjou. Read what happened, as depicted in the blog, here.

5. Party in eighteenth-Century Politics (Dr Max Skjönsberg: Institute of Historical Research Parliaments, Politics and People seminar blog)

Number five in our Top of the Blogs 2021 chart is unusual, as it is not from our History of Parliament colleagues at all. In fact, this blog was written by Dr Max Skjönsberg from the University of Liverpool, who in February 2021 presented a paper as part of the Institute of Historical Research Parliaments, Politics and People seminar. Organised by members of the History of Parliament, this seminar provides a national forum for new research on all aspects of parliamentary and electoral politics, from the people and processes to the records and physical settings. Each paper is circulated, alongside an accompanying blog, ahead of an online Q&A session with the author. You can read Dr Skjönsberg’s incredibly popular blog here, and all of our other seminar blogs can be found on our blog site here. If you would like to join us online for next term’s seminars, head to the IHR website here.

4. Whispers on a landscape- Palatine migration to England, Ireland and beyond (Claire McCormick: Guest blogger)

Coming in at number four in this year’s chart is another guest blog, this time from Claire McCormick, a PhD student at the University of Limerick. In April this blog looked into the fortunes of the eighteenth century migrants who quit Europe for Britain and the New World. Read the blog which covers some very timely themes, by clicking here.

3. From Chicken House to Palace: 10 Downing Street in the 18^th century (Dr Robin Eagles)

Number three in our Top of the Blogs 2021 chart is a regular name in our weekly charts, Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our Lords 1715-1790 project2021 marked the 300^th anniversary of Robert Walpole becoming the first ‘Prime Minister’. In this blog Dr Eagles looked into the history of the PM’s historic residence, Number 10 Downing Street. In the 1730s Walpole was gifted the residence by George II, but it required a lot of work to become the building that we recognise today. Read about the early history of the Prime Minister’s official residence here, and find out more about how we marked Walpole’s anniversary in this earlier blog.

2. ‘Without any wordly pompe’: the burial of a 15^th-century royal consort at Windsor (Dr Hannes Kleineke)

Just missing out on the top spot and coming in at number two in our Top of the Blogs 2021 chart is a topical blog written by our Commons 1461-1504 editor Dr Hannes Kleineke back in April. As the nation mourned the passing of Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, in this blog Dr Kleineke looked into the burial of another royal consort. Queen Elizabeth Wydeville, consort of Edward IV, died in June 1492, but her death in the midst of a pandemic and burial at Windsor suggests many comparisons to the modern day bereavement. Read the blog by clicking here.

1.  Vaccination and the Vote: a Victorian dilemma (Philip Salmon)

But number one and our top blog of 2021 is actually taken from our sister site, The Victorian Commons. In March the editor of our House of Commons 1832-1868 project Dr Philip Salmon looked into a fascinating dilemma that emerged in the mid-19^th century. As smallpox swept the nation, electors found themselves at risk of losing the right to vote if they chose to get vaccinated. But how did this happen? And what was the fallout? Dr Salmon’s blog explains all…

Read 2021’s Top of the Blogs here!

All of the blogs in our 2021 chart countdown were published this year, but we couldn’t miss the opportunity to highlight our overall number 1 and the most read blog from our complete blog archive: Dr Paul Hunneyball’s 2019 blog James I and the duke of Buckingham: love, power and betrayal. In fact, this was the Top of the Blogs not just in 2021, but 2020 as well! Find out why this has been our top blog for the last two years by reading it for yourself here, and keep an eye out for more LGBTQ+ history blogs on our site in February’s LGBT History Month.

C J

Click here to read our review of blogs and videos exploring the 300^th anniversary of Robert Walpole, and here to watch our countdown of our Parliamentary Leadership Youtube series.

Like much of the United Kingdom’s home front, Westminster was no stranger to the effects of the Second World War. Parliament’s recognisable home on the banks of the River Thames was a frequent target of aerial attacks during the Blitz, but it was the bombing on the night of 10 May 1941 that left a lasting impact. The House of Commons Chamber, built by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin nearly 100 years prior, was almost entirely destroyed.

Between 1940 and 1941 Britain was subject to sustained aerial bombing as the Luftwaffe targeted hubs of industry, civilisation, and in the case of Westminster, British identity. The Palace of Westminster was damaged on fourteen occasions throughout the Blitz; in September 1940 a bomb in Old Palace Yard damaged St Stephen’s Porch and the statue of Richard the Lionheart, and on 8 December a bomb destroyed much of St Stephen’s cloisters. But, despite the known threat, the Commons and Lords chambers remained in regular use until the night of Saturday 10 May.

This night was one of the most destructive the capital witnessed during the Second World War: fires from the bombing caused 700 acres of destruction – double that of the Great Fire of London. The attack on the Houses of Parliament was described in an article from The Times on 13 May,

First a large number of incendiary bombs fell on all parts of the building. They were dealt with quickly and efficiently by the fire staff, who put them all out, except one on the apex of the roof of Westminster Hall. The first high-explosive bombs came down about a quarter of an hour afterwards, killing two policemen who were acting as spotters.

‘London’s Latest Ordeal: The Wreckage at Westminster, Commons Chamber Destroyed’ The Times, 13 May 1941

The article also describes the brave actions of Police-Sergeant Forbes, who climbed the scaffolding of the Victoria Tower with a sandbag to prevent further damage. But it was the role of MP Walter Elliot that proved most significant on this fateful night. Why Elliot was in the vicinity of Westminster during the air raid is unclear, nonetheless his decision making in the face of this crisis impacted on the future of Westminster’s architecture.

Walter Elliot entered Parliament in 1918 as MP for Lanark and remained a constant face in the Commons until his death in 1958. A medic and scientist, Elliot held various ministerial positions during his career including Minister for Health, 1938-1940, during which he was instrumental in establishing the pre-war evacuation scheme that began in September 1939. Left out of Churchill’s wartime coalition government, in January 1941 he agreed to become director of public relations at the War Office on Whitehall. It is most likely that Elliot was simply near the Palace as the bombs fell, and as fire consumed the building he rushed to help. Crucially, it was Elliot who ordered the fire service to stop their attempts to save the Commons Chamber and instead place all attention onto putting out the fire in Westminster Hall. The medieval hall, dating back to 1099, had remarkably survived the fire that destroyed much of the old palace in 1834 and thanks to Elliot’s order, today, remains standing as the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster.

As the smoke cleared on May 12 the true extent of the bomb damage became clear: the Victorian House of Commons Chamber and neighbouring Member’s Lobby were entirely lost.

Not since the fire of 1834, which destroyed the old Palace, has there been such a scene of ruin on this historic site. Only a shell of this part of the building remains; and the broken walls stand sentinel over an interior mass of debris.

‘London’s Latest Ordeal’, The Times, 13 May 1941

From 13 May both Houses moved to nearby Church House in a move kept secret from both the press and public. However, just one month later they returned to their historic home. Although a bomb had hit the House of Lords on the same evening, it went through the floorboards and failed to detonate (the same occurred in the Victorian House of Commons Library, which was also unharmed). From June 1941 the House of Lords Chamber was occupied by the Commons, whilst peers moved to the neighbouring smaller Robing Room – where they stayed until the new Commons Chamber was completed in 1950.

Rebuilding became a top priority. A symbol of national identity and resilience, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was determined to construct a new chamber as quickly as possible. In October 1943 he presented a motion in the Commons to establish a Select Committee tasked with the rebuilding project. Churchill wanted the new chamber to maintain much of its previous characteristics, including the traditional ‘oblong’ shape and infamous too-small size:

It should not be big enough to contain all its Members at once without over-crowding and … there should be no question of every Member having a separate seat reserved for him… If the House is big enough to contain all its Members, nine-tenths of its Debates will be conducted in the depressing atmosphere of an almost empty or half-empty Chamber.

Hansard HC deb. vol.393 cc.403-46, 28 October 1943

On 9 December 1943 15 members, including Eleanor Rathbone and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, were nominated to the Select Committee on House of Commons (rebuilding) and on 25 October 1944 their report was published. It, too, recommended retaining the chamber’s small and intimate shape – something solidified by their experience of the slightly larger Lords Chamber – as well as recommendations for increasing the size of the galleries. Unlike when rebuilding the Palace after the fire of 1834, the committee decided against holding a competition to select an architect. Instead, ‘after taking the most authoritative advice’ the committee appointed Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who was, they felt, ‘best qualified’. [‘Report from the select committee on House of Commons (rebuilding) together with photographs, plans and sections, and the proceedings of the committee’, House of Commons Papers, 25 October 1944, p.5]

The resulting chamber was built on the footprint of its predecessor and echoed the gothic tone of the existing Victorian building. However, built in a time of austerity, Gilbert Scott made use of stonework and less ‘cumbersome’ detailing than Barry and Pugin’s previous rendering. Only one part of the old House of Commons was preserved: the entrance to the chamber from Member’s Lobby. When inspecting the rubble on 12 May, Churchill himself suggested rebuilding the arch using the original bomb-damaged stone. This feature, now known as Churchill arch and flanked by his statue, acts as a reminder of the impact of war and a symbol of continuity.

The new House of Commons Chamber was opened in the presence of King George VI on 26 October 1950, fitted with furniture gifted by many Commonwealth countries. But despite their new surroundings, MPs returned to Westminster for business as usual. Prime Minister Clement Attlee declared, ‘I think the British have the distinction above all other nations of being able to put new wine into old bottles without bursting them’. [Hansard HC deb. vol.478, cc.2705, 24 October 1950].

C J

Further Reading

‘Bomb Damage’ and ‘The Commons Chamber’, UK Parliament: Living Heritage

‘Bombing of the House of Parliament: 75th Anniversary‘, House of Lords: In Focus, 8 May 2016

Millar, Gordon F., ‘Walter Elliot’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 06 January 2011 [Online]