History of Parliament

1945 Election: A political awakening - The History of Parliament Seventy years ago yesterday the results of the 1945 General Election were declared. Although the poll had been held on 5 July, the results were only announced

Died #OTD 1967, Clement Attlee, Labour Party leader and Prime Minister 1945-1951. Attlee led his party to a landslide victory in July 1945: an event that many late 20th c. MPs describe in their #OralHistory interviews as their 'political awakening'. historyofparliament.com/2015/07/27/1...

2/ Albemarle was only 35 when he died. He did however leave behind a will, which was hotly-contested and divisive:
historyofparliament.com/2016/10/19/d...

1/ Died #OTD 1688, Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle

Monck was first returned to Parliament at the age of 13 for Devon. When his father George, architect of the restoration of Charles II, died in 1670, Monck had to wait till he was 21 to enter the Lords as 2nd Duke of Albemarle.

‘The hero legislator of Uxbridge’: the Hon. Charles Thomas Mills (1887-1915) - The History of Parliament 100 years ago the Battle of Loos proved deadly for a third MP, as today marks the anniversary of the seventh MP who died in fighting in the First World War.

#OTD 110 years ago, the Hon. Charles Thomas Mills MP died at the Battle of Loos.

Dr Kathryn Rix explored the parliamentary and military service of the youngest MP killed during the First World War on the #HistParl site:

‘You just become a tiny little speck of history’: First Impressions of the Palace of Westminster - The History of Parliament When newly elected MPs first enter the Palace of Westminster, it is hard to ignore the hundreds of years of history that surrounds them. And as Dr Emma

Born #OTD 1946 Ann Widdecombe, MP 1987-2010.

As part of our #OralHistory project, Widdecombe described the feeling of sitting in the House of Commons for the first time. Listen to this clip and reflections from other former MPs in this article: historyofparliament.com/2022/09/29/y...

A black and white lithograph of a man wearing a dark doublet with dark large sleeves, a thick white ruff and a black tall hat with a soft brim. He is clean shaven except from a long twirled moustache.

Born #OTD 1554, Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke.

MP for various constituencies until he was raised to a peerage in 1621, he served as Chancellor of the Exechequer under James I for seven years. Find out more via his #HistParl bio: historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-...

In the third of our videos on parliamentary leadership Dr Emma Peplow discusses the career of Denis Healey, the Labour party leader that never was. The excerpts of Healey's voice are from the… Parliamentary Leadership: Denis Healey

Died #OTD 2015 Denis Healey. Chancellor of the Exchequer during the economic crises of the late 1970s, and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in the turbulent early 1980s.

Head over to our YouTube channel to find out more about Healey's career:

‘One of the best’: Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (1883-1915) - The History of Parliament Sadly the anniversaries of MPs' deaths in the First World War are coming at very regular intervals currently - today marks the 100th anniversary of the sixth

Today marks 110 years since the death of Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart, MP for Cardiff, who died serving during WWI.

Dr Kathryn Rix has explored the career and service of 'one of the best':

Portrait of a man stood with on hand on a table and the other held to his chest, with a scroll in his hand. He wears a long, curly grey wig. He has black robes with gold braid detail over the shoulders and sleeves, and a white lace collar and cuffs.

Born #OTD 1691 Arthur Onslow.

MP for Guildford 1720-1727, then representing Surrey until 1761, Onslow holds the record for the longest-serving Speaker of the Commons, holding onto the seat for 33 years

Read his bio here:
ow.ly/48YM50KRcIX

#OTD 1938, Neville Chamberlain returned to the UK, having signed the Munich Agreement.

However, the agreement which sought to avoid a wider European war had its fair share of major dissenters, as our TikTok explains:

‘In a dirty ditch somewhere in France’: the Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (1880-1915) - The History of Parliament For a detailed account of Agar-Robartes’ political career, see Paul Holden, ‘“A very English gentleman”. The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes

#OTD 1915, Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes, Liberal MP for St Austell, died, having been wounded at the battle of Loos.

Dr Kathryn Rix explored his life and career on the #HistParl website:

Extremely brief. My chapter in @iaindale.bsky.social 'British By-Elections 1769-2025' covers the by-election...

Born #OTD 1928, Eric Lubbock, Liberal MP for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. His victory at the 1962 Orpington by-election was one of the most famous in modern British political history, marking the beginning of a brief 'Liberal revival':

“Honest and essential service”: Henry Fox, Lord Holland, government fixer - The History of Parliament Even in the 18th century, governments of all sorts relied on tough politicians who were willing to do the dirty work to keep administrations afloat. In the

Born #OTD 1705, Henry Fox (later Lord Holland), who sat for 28 years in the Commons.

In this #HistParl post, Dr Robin Eagles explored the career of one of the period’s most recognisable and controversial politicians:

A mezzotint black and white portrait of a man sitting down. He is wearing light stockings and tight pantaloons, as well a light detailed waistcoat, a white frilled shirt and a grey overcoat. He is clean shaven with swept back curled medium length hair. His head is resting on his left hand, with his arm propped up on a table on the right. Below that there is another table, on top of which is a selection of parchments and open books.

Born #OTD 1739, Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock.

MP for Bedfordshire 1761-67, he previously sat in the Irish House of Commons for Armagh 1759-61. Although an MP until his death, he had a known 'detestation' for the House of Commons: 👇

www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-...

The shipping and the railway interests: Whitby’s electoral politics, 1832-1868 - The History of Parliament In today's blog Dr Kathryn Rix, assistant editor of our Commons 1832-1868 project, continues our look at port constituencies for local history month. Here,

6/ There was also the emergence of the railway interest, with many MPs involved in the railway mania of the 1840s.

The impact of the interest can be seen in elections for Whitby in the 19th c, as the railway opened up the possibility of transforming Whitby to a holiday destination: buff.ly/qgiaotT

‘Virtually a fourth class of passenger carriage’: the parliamentary train With the pleasures and pitfalls of Britain’s rail services now frequently in the news, it is worth recalling that the relationship between Parliament and the iron road is a long one. In fact, the p…

5/ In 1844, a reform overseen by William Gladstone - the Railway Regulation Act - created what was known as the ‘parliamentary train’.

This required railway companies to provide at least one cheaper train a day on each railway route for poorer travellers:

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Getting to the polls: from carriages and horses to trains and motor cars Getting the vote out and ensuring a high turnout of likely supporters has always been an essential part of any successful election campaign. Over the centuries, however, the inducements offered to …

4/ The mid-19th century expansion of the railways also transformed how some people were able to vote!

Making the journey to their constituencies significantly quicker for some, special ‘voter trains’ saw carriages booked up to transport voters to the polls: buff.ly/UeZXsG4

From typhus to trains: the tragic deaths of 19th century MPs The biographical format we follow when writing about the 2,591 MPs covered by our 1832-68 project means that we usually have one obvious finishing point: the MP’s death. As we have noted before in …

3/ This resulted in a tragic episode, where the locomotive ‘Rocket’, designed by Stephenson and directed by Locke, struck and killed the Liverpool MP William Huskisson.

He became the first recorded fatality on the railways: buff.ly/yt8fPVR

MP of the Month: Joseph Locke (1805-1860) Our Victorian MP of the Month is Joseph Locke (1805-1860), who represented Honiton from 1847 until his death. With Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) and Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), Locke forme…

2/ Two engineers crucial to the expansion of the railways later became MPs: Joseph Locke (Honiton, 1847-60), and Robert Stephenson (Whitby, 1847-59), son of ‘father of the railways’, George Stephenson.
Both were involved in the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in 1830: buff.ly/gEWGn8Z

Today we are celebrating #Railway200, as 200 years ago, #OTD 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened.

To mark this milestone, we thought we’d look at some of the ways Parliament and the railways have intersected in the last 200 years: (🧵 1/6)
@victoriancommons.bsky.social

Born #OTD 1711, Richard Grenville, 2nd Earl Temple.

When he was first brought into Parliament, Grenville, his first cousin George Lyttelton, and their friend William Pitt went into opposition forming the nucleus of a political group nicknamed 'the cousinhood':

A black and white quarter length photographic portrait of a man. He is wearing a grey textured suit jacket, a white collared shirt and a black tie with thin white horizontal stripes. He is clean shaven except for a thick moustache, and has short side combed hair.

Born #OTD 1886, A. V. Hill, Independent Conservative MP for Cambridge University, 1940-5. Before his political career, Hill was a physiologist, and in 1922 shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on muscle physiology. He is the only MP to have won a Nobel Prize in the sciences.

Bloomsbury Square and the Gordon Riots - The History of Parliament For almost 20 years, Bloomsbury Square has been the home to the History of Parliament. In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles considers

Next month @histparl.bsky.social will leave its home in Bloomsbury Square after almost 20 years. Robin Eagles used this as an opportunity to reflect on the history of the square, which witnessed one of the most violent episodes in London's history:
historyofparliament.com/2025/06/05/b...

Born #OTD 1929, Roy Roebuck, Labour MP for Harrow East, 1966-70 and one of the first participants in our #OralHistory project:

‘Why not you?’ Sir John Cust, reluctant Speaker of the House of Commons - The History of Parliament It is one of Westminster's many traditions that, when an MP is elected to the role of Speaker of the House of Commons, they must show reluctance to accept the

Died #OTD 1770, Sir John Cust, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1761 to 1770.

It is tradition that an MP should feign reluctance when appointed Speaker; however, Cust may not have been faking his reluctance...

Painting of a man leaning with his chin in his right hand. He is propped against a table covered roughly in a red cloth, with papers scattered on it. He has pale skin and short brown hair, curled upwards at his ears. He wears a grey velvet-effect jacket over a waistcoat and shirt with frilled collar and sleeves. His left hand is in his pocket.

Born #OTD 1717, Horace Walpole. Son of Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister, he was an MP from 1741-68 and in 1791 became 4th earl of Orford. He is well known for building Strawberry Hill House, and writing one of the first Gothic Novels.

‘He knewe the slaightes, stratagems, and the pollecies of warlike affaires’: Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and the battle of Blore Heath - The History of Parliament On 23 September 1459 the battle of Blore Heath took place. In today's blog, marking the anniversary of the battle, Dr Simon Payling from our Commons 1461-1504

#OTD 1459, the battle of Blore Heath took place.

Dr Simon Payling discussed the battle over on the #HistParl website, exploring what happened as the earl of Salisbury’s Yorkist forces faced up to those led by the Lancastrian Lord Audley:👇

MPs in World War I: Harold Thomas Cawley (1878-1915) - The History of Parliament Today marks the 100th anniversary of the fourth MP who died fighting in the First World War. Continuing our series of short biographies of these men, Dr

#OTD 1915 Harold Thomas Cawley, Liberal MP for Heywood, was killed in action at Gallipoli. As part of a previous series for #HistParl on MPs killed while serving in the war, Dr Kathryn Rix explored his life and career. historyofparliament.com/2015/09/23/h...

Robin Eagles of @histparl.bsky.social has a piece in the latest edition of @historytoday.com on John Wilkes, whose 300th birthday is coming up in October.
#WilkesandLiberty #HistParl