On the general election wiki page it says ‘n/a’ next to majorities in government before 1832. Why was this?

I'm trying to find out what if anything CID, or the Met in general, had in the way of an "Internal Affairs" type department in the 1920s. Was there a department for following up eg police corruption? A procedure? I'm struggling to find anything and I don't know if that's because I can't find it or it isn't there to be found, so I thought I'd ask if anyone here has any knowledge!

Good afternoon, everyone - I need some help with finding a certain 1950s primary source document. Attlee's address to the Oxford Law Society on 14 June 1957 is quoted a number of times on his Wikiquote page, and I'm wondering whether or not the original full text of that speech is available to the public anywhere, or if not, then at the very least the Times article in which it was quoted the following day. If anybody knows where this might be available to read, that would be really helpful!

Hi all,

I’ve been seriously enjoying making my way through the various works of the late Roy Jenkins and the (thankfully still with us) Professor Sir David Cannadine.

Can anyone please recommend authors (or specific books) with a similar style who have covered more recent (post-WW2) figures from UK political history?

Thanks!

It’s unclear if it included the house. It’s listed as the estate of a stuff merchant left to his wife (who lived in our pretty big Edwardian house in suburban Bradford).

I'm working on a novel that takes place in 18th century London with military characters. Does anyone have any recommendations about any books or other writing about the vibes and dynamics of London at that time? Also I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what was being taught as military education at the time, like what tactics were studied and used. If anyone knows of where to find a contemporary field manual, or a particularly lively contemporary military memoir that would be amazing! I'm focused on the 7 years war period in particular but it doesn't have to be super precise.

Hi, recently I've been looking to pick up a biography of Richard I in order to learn more about him but I'm unsure which Historians work to read. I have previously read the bite sized biography by Thomas asbridge which was part of the penguin monarchs but I'm looking for one that's a bit more detailed. The ones that have caught my eye are:

Richard the Lionheart: The Crusader King of England by W. B Bartlett

Lionheart and Lackland by Frank Mclynn

Richard I by John Gillingham

Are any of these good or should I buy a different one, I'm currently leaning towards W. B Bartlett due to his being more modern but I'm unsure. Thoughts?

Something that I try to explain to britain first types i come across is that, as a colonising nation, all the historical financial advantages come with the inevitable fact that many people from the country you colonise will end up living in the colonising nation, hence why britain has so many indians, nigerians, caribbeans etc, due to natural cultural exchange. this seems to hold true for places like france with africans, algerians etc, netherlands with indonesians, and so on. yet for some reason there seems to be very little native american diaspora here, despite it being a colony for hundreds of years. is this something that has been studied? any ideas why this may be?

Hi everyone, I live in Canada and won’t be able to make it to the UK for quite some time, so I was wondering if someone would be willing to help out.

Here’s the story. My grandparents helped a couple of allied airmen escape France in June 1944 and I’m wondering if we could find some information about their identities.

We know that at least one of them survived as my grandparents received a Christmas card every year from the RAF Escaping Society.

If anyone is heading out to Kew and feels like looking through a couple of boxes, I’d very much appreciate it.

The details, as I understand them :

• two allied airmen
• near Argenton-sur-Creuse in central France.
• grandparents’ names : Jean-René Gravereaux and Solange Lanier Gravereaux
• approximate date of rescue/escape : June 1944 (around D-Day)
• sent to meet my grandparents by resistance
• were given bicycles and civilian clothing in order to ride north and meet with invading force

Cheers!

The Volunteers at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum Trust at Hawkinge (www.kbobm.org) are looking for a King George VI Period Pillar Post Box to be displayed alongside our King George VI 'K6' Telephone Box within the Museum Grounds.

Can you help????

The museum has emailed the Royal Mail / Post Office PR Department several weeks back but as yet has not had a response. Does anyone reading this know who to speak to within the Post Office to see if they would consider donating one to us as a Registered Charity?

We are sure there are yards around the country full of wartime period Pillar Post Boxes that could do with a new home and some love and attention.

If we can find and acquire one, then it is the volunteers' intention to produce a range of Museum Postcards that next year you can purchase, together with a stamp, from the Museum Shop.

If you wish, you can then write your postcard to yourself or one of your friends, post it in the Museum Pillar Post Box before you leave. Later in the day the postcards will be franked / stamped with a 'Kent Battle of Britain Museum Trust - RAF Hawkinge' stamp and then dropped into the Royal Mail Post Box at the Museum Gates and a few days later you and your friends can have a very personal souvenir of your visit!

We just need to find a Period Pillar Post Box to achieve this!

If you work for the Royal Mail / Post Office or know who to speak to, can you kindly email Dave (Museum Curator) at info@kbobm.org

Many thanks in advance!

I was looking to learn more especially about the early 18th century in Britain as bar the odd stand out event like Hannoverian succession, Walpole, Act of Union etc, post-1688 until 1770s it's one of those periods where my knowledge is pretty sparse and I've not come across anything substantial content wise. Any suggestions? Ta

Hello. I'm an avid history enthusiast from the US and I just listening to the amazing audiobook, 'The Eagle and the Hart" by Helen Castor.

She mentions several times in the book that John of Gaunt wore a necklace that was a symbol of the House of Lancaster. The necklace was a series of connected "S"s. I've seen this necklace in portraits of other people too. Wikipedia basically says that no one is sure but it could have something to do with the motto "Souvent me souvien" (think of me often).

Does anyone hear know what the S's stand for? Also, why did the Lancasters have that motto?

I'm studying A-Level history and while I can find some good historians on my Russia module such as Orlando Figes, I can't say the same for my other module which is on Britain, more specifically "Britain: Industrialisation and the people, 1783-1885". Books obviously don't need to be stuck to that guideline and can cover a shorter period of time too, as long as it's around that time period. For context I have researched and tried to find some books on Britain but the only one I can find is "A short History of England" by Simon Jenkins, which I'm sure will have some brief details on my time period and some context about Britain previously, but definitely not as specific Orlando Figes on Russia for example.

I've been pondering the whole political refrain from both major parties, that the other side will "take us back to the seventies". This idea that Britain was in hoc to a bureaucratic union class. Living standards were awful and that everything felt a bit like Hoxhas Albania!

The last real stuff I read on post war britain was Dominic Sandbrook who comes from a sort of whiggish softly pro thatcher perspective. From what I can gather in Sandbrooks telling everything builds up to britain needing a reset in the 80s. Did it? It can't have been that awful?

Are there any books that refute the idea it was all doom gloom and bureaucratic alienation?

I'm going to check out That Option No Longer Exists by John Medhurst which is from a socialist perspective. And I believe Andy Becketts When the Lights Went Out is similar and will also check that out.

I mean maybe it was all just consistently bad- but I can't get a clear read on post war britain? Like how far is it the sick man of europe and this total outlier? Comparatively were the seventies in Britain that different to anywhere else?

Can anyone reccomend any books that maybe balance the period a bit better? I mean I've got family alive who have fond memories of different aspects if the seventies?

But reading sandbrook with a critical eye I feel it's all a bit the decade of crisis.

I discovered the idea about turning the British Empire into an Imperial Federation while the web. But what exactly did the proposal for an Imperial Federation entail? How would it work in theory? And why wasn't it implemented?