A reminder of this month's new post from our senior research fellow @martinspychal.bsky.social, who continues his series on Peter McLagan, Scotland's first Black MP, with research into McLagan's father: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2025/12/11/p...

this is one of my very favourite eebo pages, and I will never forget the shock of "discovering it" in the collection. (there is also a very good description of what turns out to be an octopus arriving near cornwall, I believe, in there too)

Great to see the programme for the @long18thsem.bsky.social for next term @ihrlibrary.bsky.social . You can register to attend either in person or online here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The British History in the Long 18th Century Seminar resumes on 14 January 2026, in person at the Institute of Historical Research and online via Zoom. (Kate Gibson, speaking on Fostering in 18th-century Britain). Access next term's programme here. All welcome: free and open to the public.

The National Archives are hiring a Poor Law Research Assistant (39k for 2 years) working on Paul Carter's AHRC project on poverty/welfare in Wales, 1834-1930. Deadline 16 Dec. www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

Thanks to @long18thsem.bsky.social and @ihr.bsky.social for hosting my talk on the convergence of medical and maternal approaches to childcare in Georgian England. A vibrant forum with a really engaged audience. Pleased the recording is now live for anyone interested.

Join us tomorrow (Wednesday) either in person at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, London or on Zoom from wherever you are. Free and open to the public. Registration information in the link below.

THUMBING: a Nottingham phrase, used to describe that species of intimidation practised by masters on their servants when the latter are compelled to vote as their employers please. (Halliwell'd Dictionary, 1847) #politics #history #Elections #England

Helen Esfandiary giving a great paper on elite maternal authority over the care of children in the context of the professional medical market place in the 18th c. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

Chartist rising in Newport #OnThisDay 1839 ends in the death of 22 “rioters” #Chartism #C19th #History

Pretty extraordinary story here www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

This is interesting on eBay. A petition from a group of older school students and their teacher in favour of the Ten Hours Bill (?)presented(?) by Feargus O’Connor #Chartism ebay.us/m/BkU9ue

It's here! Get your copy at reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contest...

📚 New book by our #NRS member Callum Easton's compelling first book, 'The 1797 Naval Mutinies and Popular Protest in Britain: Negotiation through Collective Action', has been published by Palgrave Macmillan: link.springer.com/book/10.1007... #navyhistory#navalhistory #navalrecords #18thcentury

National Army Museum identifies portrait of Black Waterloo veteran: www.theguardian.com/culture/2025... #Hstory #BlackHistory 🗃️

I'm really looking forward to sharing my findings about debates surrounding the Scottish Coal miners. Make sure to come along!

Radical MP, newspaper proprietor and Lord Mayor of London, champion of a free press and self-styled 'Friend of Liberty', John Wilkes was born 300 years ago today... #Happybirthday #Wilkesandliberty #HistParl

Today we visited The National Archives for a workshop organised by @joecozens.bsky.social and our own @martinspychal.bsky.social on Peter McLagan, Scotland's first Black MP. We looked at original documents relating to McLagan's life & had some great discussions about future directions for research.

Hand-printing was a very damp affair. Lung-rot was one of the occupational hazards. And boulders. As late as the 1880s, printers were still twice as likely to die from TB as other trades... www.jstor.org/stable/25564...

Next week (24 Sept) I'm speaking at the @long18thsem.bsky.social on the English court cases relating to the Chevalier d'Eon, and whether they really made a legal judgment of d'Eon's sex (they did not, but don't you want to find out what was actually going on). www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Fascinated that In Our Time is one of the BBC’s most popular podcasts among under 35s. The young people demand three academics and a peer discussing Demosthenes, apparently. And they’re right to do so.

Returning to my favourite institutional home this academic year as an @ihr.bsky.social Research Fellow. Thank you to the wonderful team at the IHR for your ongoing support. I’m no longer affiliated with Goldsmiths, so please contact me at [email protected] going forwards.

Really looking forward to visiting Koblenz in a few weeks, where I’ll be presenting my work on the rise and fall of the written proposal of marriage

Studying a #LabourHistory topic for your dissertation or teaching someone who is? We offer dissertation bursaries up to £500 for undergraduate (final year) and taught Masters students sslh.org.uk/bursaries-gr...

A final bump for this. Closing date is Sunday, 31 August

We're recruiting for a new role in the Early Modern team at TNA to help us integrate the Parliamentary Archives. I'm looking for someone with an expertise in pre-modern Westminster Parliament so we can join the executive, legislative and judicial collections www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD893/r...

Tickets now available for ‘Ireland and the American Revolution’. A conference organized by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland in partnership with the @tlrhub.bsky.social. For booking and more information use the link below. Full programme coming in September. www.eventbrite.ie/e/ireland-an...

Found by the brilliant @thegozfather.bsky.social !!

RIP Frank O'Gorman. He was a lovely man and a brilliant historian, and I was very fortunate that he was my PhD supervisor. I will miss him. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

All welcome. Speakers include @vjctorianist.bsky.social @drdavesteele.bsky.social @dnhamilton.bsky.social & many others not on here! #Chartism #C19th #History #Yorkshire www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

Haha! It worked! I scoped out the angle this morning and figured I’d be very lucky to pull it off, but it was surely worth a try, eh? #Edinburgh #RedArrows #Photography

RMT at the North Sands Massacre 200th commemoration held in Sunderland yesterday. The event marked the 200th anniversary of the day five striking seafarers were shot dead by soldiers during an industrial dispute in Sunderland. You can read more here: rmtunion.org/41ojeVq

'The research by independent scholar Desirée Baptiste shows that George IV, who ruled for a decade until 1830, received profits from enslaved labour on Grenadian plantations – a finding that experts say heightens pressure on the monarchy to confront its historical links to slavery.' 1/3

Brilliant event at North Sands #Sunderland today, marking the 200th anniversary of the 1825 'North Sands Massacre' when state power was turned on striking sailors, resulting in the deaths of at least seven people at the hands of the military. #Solidarity has no expiry date ✊

200 years ago today 3 sailors and 4 onlookers were shot dead by troops in Sunderland. I've been working with local historians and David Gordon Scott (OU) to raise awareness of this little-known massacre. Today we gathered to mark the bicentenary with speeches and the naming of the dead. (1/2)

One like, one history of poverty opinion

This is why I bang on, whenever I can, about the value of having a browseable archive catalogue, and, you know, browsing through it: rather than thinking you can just zap into a specific target.

this is pretty striking but it is also “crucial” and “important” remember this doesn’t make use of eg “delves” good evidence that a piece of writing is LLM generated: humans have always used this word, too, and (deeeeeeepressingly) there are signs that humans are adapting to write more like LLMs

Turn this off if you still have an Academia.edu account.

For more on Black Mary and her Well, see the excellent Grub Street Project: www.grubstreetproject.net/places/90234/ #History #BlackHistory #LondonHistory 🗃️

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Harriet Grote in 1792. As @martinspychal.bsky.social has explored in his series, now available on the #HistParl site, she was able to establish herself as one of Westminster’s leading radical politicians. (1/8)🧵

🚨FT Permanent Job 🚨 My department is hiring a lecturer (B/B) in 18th-c. Irish history, with the desire for someone whose research and teaching pertains to the Irish 'long eighteenth century (1690-1830)...and broader international, political and intellectual context of the period.' 🗃️

New article today for the #HistParl site. @joecozens.bsky.social explores the records of John Lewis, a Black sailor arrested at the 1828 Weymouth by-election, and how his story serves as an example of Black political participation in the early 19th century: historyofparliament.com/2025/06/24/j...

@joecozens.bsky.social, one of our seminar convenors, has just had an article published by @histparl.bsky.social discussing his research into John Lewis, a Black sailor who was arrested during the 1828 Weymouth by-election. historyofparliament.com/2025/06/24/j...

New post today from @victoriancommons.bsky.social, and the first in a new series. @martinspychal.bsky.social explores the life and career of Peter McLagan, Scotland's first Black MP: historyofparliament.com/2025/06/12/p...

In the first of an important new series, drawing on sources ranging from photographs to parliamentary reports, @martinspychal.bsky.social looks at the life and career of Scotland's first Black MP, Peter McLagan, MP for Linlithgowshire, 1865-93. victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/p...

Tattered Pages Discovered in Storage Reveal an Enslaved Man's Daring Bid for Freedom—and His Second Life at Sea share.google/VZHDnXwwXgHz...

Join us next Wednesday at the University of Northampton as we take the Seminar on the road! Starting at 15:00 hyrid, John Coffey (Leicester) will present on the ongoing Wilberforce Diaries project. The event will be proceeded by a walking tour of Northampton! www.history.ac.uk/events/diari...