Ben Griffin

What can history teach us about the future of globalisation?

Watch Professor Jeremy Adelman give the inaugural Girton Global History Lecture now on our YouTube ⬇️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vNdntTrroo

Chartist Lives - the paperback
#Chartism #C19th #BritishHistory 🗃️
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

Clear out toys now!

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round

Black and white portrait photograph of Benjamin Disraeli. He is sat looking to the side, wearing Victorian morning clothes, with a combed side parting haircut and goatee beard. He is resting a cane against his leg.

Black and white portrait photograph of William Gladstone. He is looking directly at the camera, wearing a dark Victorian-style suit, a bow tie and large stiff collar. He has wavy, slightly dishevelled hair combed with a side parting, and large sideburns.

Unsurprisingly, the Budget statements are typically very long. To date, the longest Budget speech was that of Gladstone in 1853, coming in at a whopping 4 hours and 45 minutes. The shortest was Benjamin Disraeli's budget speech in 1867 which lasted just 45 minutes. (7/10)

‘The sagacity of the elephant, as well as the form’: MP of the Month, George Ward Hunt (1825-77) The recent rise of a certain parson’s daughter to the premiership provides a fitting opportunity to consider the unexpected ascent of a parson’s son to one of the great offices of state during the …

The tradition of holding up the red box – which contains a copy of the Chancellor’s Budget speech to Parliament – apparently began after George Ward Hunt was unable to find it before making his 1868 Budget speech, which as a result was one of the shortest ever! buff.ly/16QwgkA (6/10)

This image is a 19th century cartoon of Budget Day in the House of Commons. In the top left corner the Chancellor, George Goschen is stood at the dispatch box leaning over a chaotic pile of papers. He is wearing traditional suit and old-fashioned spectacles. The caption above his head reads 'Mr Goschen in the thick of it.' He is flanked by two men on either side of him, sat on the frontbench. One is looking on with a faint smile of admiration, the other is looking anxious. In the bottom left corner a group of constituents are depicted sat in the public gallery asking questions to a backbench MP. Another caption reads 'Hon Members' Constituents want to know something of the Land bill! (awkward)'. In the bottom of the picture Samuel Storey, depicted with a long beard, is n waiting to give a speech. In the bottom right William Harcourt is depicted as a large man towering over William Harcourt in a conversation. In the top right, James Bain is stood in the Common chamber wearing a top hat.

Today is #BudgetDay 2025!
To mark this important day in Parliament's calendar, here is a short thread on the history and traditions of the UK's annual Budget. 💸 (1/10)

A poster advertising the By-Fellowships and Research Grants offered by Churchill Archives Centre. The text included on this image can be found at the link in the main post.

📚 Whether you're an undergraduate, postgraduate, academic, or independent researcher, our research grants and By-Fellowships are designed to support work using our collections here at Churchill Archives Centre.

🔗 Click the link to find out more & apply: buff.ly/JGsTtHK

A Liberal councillor who made LGBT+ history Sam Green was the first openly gay politician ever elected in the UK – and possibly the world.

I was honoured to unveil a plaque for Sam Green, the first openly gay politician to be elected in the UK.

He did so much for his community and his courage and dedication remind us to keep championing equality, respect and the rights of everybody.

Cf. when an author ignores the substantive arguments you have made that are directly relevant to their article, and instead condescends to cite only the most innocuous sentence you ever wrote.

William Thomas obituary: Oxford historian Protégé of AJP Taylor who specialised in 19th-century intellectuals and became a fixture of Christ Church, Oxford, dies aged 89

An obituary for William Thomas, whose book The Philosophic Radicals remains a standard work.

www.thetimes.com/article/ae37...

The Commons and Cricket: Charles George Lyttelton (1842-1922) Being that time of the year when, to use Kipling’s less than charitable terms, the ‘muddied oafs at the goals’ begin to make way for ‘the flannelled fools at the wicket’, it seems apt for our MP of…

Charles George Lyttelton, born #OnThisDay 1842, became Liberal MP for East Worcestershire at a by-election in June 1868. He was one of the most accomplished cricketers to sit in the Commons, as our post on him explored: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/t...

AI here, making a basic error in calculation (the product is actually £25,397)

An excellent essay from @michaelledgerlomas.bsky.social

Congratulations!

It doesn't matter how many grant writing workshops you put on, or how much pressure you put on academics to apply - if the money isn't there, the money simply isn't there.

An academic career in the UK - constant anxiety. Every moment of every day you're thinking, oh **** I need to do that, and that too, and oh **** that too, and **** I've forgotten that, & that, & that... And still you're working flat out...
#academia

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Since I just got back from seeing Rick Wakeman and his amazing band play live, here’s a link to one of the greatest rock and roll shaggy dog stories ever: it runs from 28.45 to 39.15, and I bet you can’t guess who had come to tea.

youtu.be/zppfjeculUs?...

Sending best wishes to you and your family.

I Am One of 20 Million in US With Long COVID. RFK Pulled the Rug From Under Us. RFK Jr. has shut down the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, gutted funding, and derailed trials and studies.

RFK Jr. has shut down the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, gutted funding, and derailed trials and studies.

Paternal Rights, Child Welfare and the Law in Nineteenth-Century Britain and Ireland* Abstract. This article problematizes the persistence of sexual inequality in Britain, by examining the intellectual work performed by judges as they sought

academic.oup.com/past/article...

Family law shift hailed as victory for children facing domestic abuse ‘Groundbreaking’ repeal of presumption of parental involvement in England and Wales ‘will ensure courts place safety of children above all else’

For those interested in the decision to remove the presumption that parental contact is in the best interests of a child, I wrote about the history of paternal rights and the development of the concept of a child’s best interests here:

doi.org/10.1093/past...

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Friedrich Engels ‘took creative liberties’ with descriptions of class divides in Manchester Cambridge historian Emily Chung finds philosopher’s blistering depictions of segregation may have been exaggerated

Behind the sensationalised headline, there’s some excellent and fascinating research here.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Lord Ronald Gower (1845-1916): the life of a queer MP at the time of the Second Reform Act - The History of Parliament Dr Martin Spychal introduces his series of articles on Lord Ronald Gower (1845-1916), who was elected as MP for Sutherland in 1867. This is the first of five

Having reached Q in our #1832AtoZ, we are looking at Queer history, revisiting Martin Spychal’s series of articles on Lord Ronald Gower, elected as MP for Sutherland in 1867. historyofparliament.com/2025/08/11/l...

We're excited to announce the call for papers for #MBS26, the next Modern British Studies conference, at Birmingham in June 2026. We'll be launching the #MBS Association at this event, to support further regular conferences in Modern British Studies.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/moder...

Parliament destroyed by fire On 16 October 1834 an immense fire started by the over-zealous burning of waste took hold in the old Palace of Westminster, completely destroying the medieval Commons and Lords chambers as well as …

#OnThisDay 1834 London's largest fire since 1666 destroyed much of the old Palace of Westminster. Find out more about this event and how it was perceived in our article: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/p...

Victorianists get ready for BAVS 2026 in Liverpool!

PLEASE TAKE OUR MONEY!
With the new academic year now well under way, a reminder that we offer University Research Grants of up to £1,000 for students carrying out research on the British Army or of the land forces of the British Empire & the Commonwealth.
Details at: www.sahr.org.uk/university-r...

Look what just arrived! An intellectual treat in the form of @singingarchives.bsky.social’s new social history of the modern voice.