Parliamentary History Journal

I love the cover image for this special issue (which I may have had a hand in choosing). It shows 11 survivors of Peterloo assembled at Failsworth near Oldham in 1884 in support of parliamentary reform, and speaks to many of the themes contained in the special issue.

@katrinanavickas.bsky.social @kathrynrix.bsky.social

We will be posting about individual articles over the next few weeks, but why don't you take a look over the weekend! @histparl.bsky.social @victoriancommons.bsky.social @georgianlords.bsky.social @lauracforster.bsky.social @henryjmiller.bsky.social @drdavesteele.bsky.social

Parliamentary History Click on the title to browse this journal

The 2026 special issue, edited by Naomi Lloyd-Jones is now live! The issue is the product of a 2023 conference at @durhamhistory.bsky.social discussing collective action and the politics of organisation in Britain and Ireland in the long nineteenth-century:
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Parliamentary History Journal | LinkedIn Parliamentary History Journal | 4 followers on LinkedIn. Peer-reviewed research on the history of parliamentary institutions in Britain, Ireland and the British colonies. | Parliamentary History provi...

Parliamentary History is delighted to join LinkedIn! Check out our page and give us a follow. Details of our upcoming special issue will be posted on our platforms very soon! www.linkedin.com/company/parl...

And, the winner of the 2024 Parliamentary History essay prize (and free to read!) is Sarah Moxey’s fascinating analysis of the 1945 Motherwell by-election.

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Inevitable Results and Political Myths? Ilford North's 1978 By‐Election* Reductive and teleological ‘path to power’ myths continue to underpin explanations of Margaret Thatcher's first general election success. The by-elections that eroded the Callaghan government's major...

In 2022, @marccollinson.bsky.social took a revisionist approach to the 1978 Ilford North by-election and the road to Margaret Thatcher’s general election victory a year later.

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By‐Elections and Political Change in a Local Context: The Case of the 1973 Dundee East By‐Election and the SNP With their unpredictability and occurrence in between nationwide elections, by-elections have attracted a degree of scholarly interest. However, this has focused almost exclusively on how the contest...

In a similar vein, Thomas A.W. Stewart has analysed the 1973 Dundee East by-election as a seminal moment in the SNP’s rise to become Scottish nationalism’s premier political organisation.

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‘A Nationalist in the Churchillian Sense’: John MacCormick, the Paisley By‐Election of 18 February 1948, Home Rule, and the Crisis in Scottish Liberalism Click on the article title to read more.

Likewise, Michael Dyer has explored the 1948 Paisley by-election, which has been treated as one of the steps in the emergence of the SNP as a major force.

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‘The Party Hack, and Tool of the British Government’: T.P. O'Connor, America and Irish Party Resilience at the February 1918 South Armagh By‐Election The common view of Irish electoral politics for the 1916 to 1918 period is one of major decline for the traditional nationalist representatives, the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), and the meteoric ...

Meanwhile, Erica Doherty has analysed the South Armagh by-election of 1918 as a case study showing the enduring strength of the Irish Parliamentary Party despite the rise of Sinn Fein.

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British Parliamentary By‐Elections during the First World War, 1914–18 During the First World War, British by-elections were more frequent than in either the pre- or post-war period due to the length of the parliament, the stress of the war, and combat fatalities. Due t...

In 2018, Ralph Walter examined the 118 by-elections held during the First World War, a hugely inflated number due to the length of the parliament, war stresses, and combat fatalities.

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Fixing the Membership of the Lords and Commons: The Case of Sir John Cam Hobhouse and the Nottingham By‐Election, 1834 When Melbourne replaced Grey in 1834 he looked to recruit men with experience to join his government. He enlisted Sir John Cam Hobhouse, but Hobhouse needed a seat in the Commons. This was achieved b...

In this OpenAccess article, John Beckett has written about the 1834 Nottingham By-Election, which was orchestrated by Lord Melbourne to get the experienced Sir John Cam Hobhouse into the Commons and the government.

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Legge, Bute and the Hampshire By‐Election of 1759* Click on the article title to read more.

In 2008, P.J. Kulisheck wrote about the consequences of Lord Bute’s meddling in the 1759 Hampshire By-Election.

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With the Gorton and Denton by-election coming up, it seemed a good time to share some of the articles we’ve published on by-elections over the years!

The journal looks forward to publishing both entries in Parliamentary History. @histparl.bsky.social @victoriancommons.bsky.social @georgianlords.bsky.social
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It explores the overhaul of the party machinery, participation in Commons debates, and the reassessment of the party’s enduring principles. They reconciled their traditional advocacy of the League of Nations and international law with a pragmatic acceptance of rearmament.
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Ewan Lawry has been awarded the proxime accessit for: 'The politics of survival: Foreign policy, party management, and the Liberal Party, 1935-1936'.
Lawry's article focuses on the Liberal Party in parliament after the 1935 election when they were reduced to 21 MPs.
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The article also explores the role of the police in opposing reform of this system.
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Before 1918, polling dates in UK general elections lasted weeks. Keeling's article examines the operation of non-simultaneous elections from 1885 to 1918. It explains how polling dates were chosen and how candidates and parties attempted to exploit the system.
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The Trustees and editors of Parliamentary History are delighted to announce that the essay prize for 2025 has been awarded to Peter Keeling (linktr.ee/peterkeeling) for:
‘Non-simultaneous polling in United Kingdom general elections, 1885-1918'
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Before 1918, polling dates in UK general elections lasted weeks. Keeling's article examines the operation of non-simultaneous elections from 1885 to 1918. It explains how polling dates were chosen and how candidates and parties attempted to exploit the system.
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Great to see our colleague @martinspychal.bsky.social's book Mapping the State reviewed by Matthew Roberts as 'a work of impressive scholarship which deserves to be widely read'. Mapping the State is available on Open Access here: uolpress.co.uk/book/mapping...

Apologies for the delay, but we’re delighted to see our latest issue out in the wild! There are plenty of fascinating articles to get your teeth into, but we’re especially excited by the number from early career historians! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/doSea...

Great to see this excellent article and well-deserved proxime accessit for the Parliamentary History prize 2024 in print! Especially brilliant is the new source describing women's experiences of the 'ventilator' in the Commons.

My article on the Motherwell by-election is now available to read in @parlhistjournal.bsky.social
It explores the reasons for Dr. Robert McIntyre's victory and how he became embroiled in a sponsorship saga.

Mapping the State: English Boundaries and the 1832 Reform Act. By Martin Spychal. London: University of London Press/Royal Historical Society: New Historical Perspectives. 2024. xviii, 348 pp. Hardback. £90, paperback £29.99, e‐book open access. ISBN 9781915249258 Click on the article title to read more.

And more reviews from:

Matthew Roberts
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And @richardtoye.bsky.social
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St Stephen's Chapel and the Palace of Westminster. Edited by Tim Ayers, J.P.D. Cooper, Elizabeth Hallam Smith, and Caroline Shenton. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. 2024. xxiv, 368pp. Hardback. £115.00. ISBN 9781837651634. Click on the article title to read more.

And don’t forget a number of excellent reviews by:

Hannes Kleineke
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Alex Beeton
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Patrick Little
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And Robin Eagles
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Ringside seat? Women's modes of entry to the early 19th‐century parliament In 1788, women were explicitly excluded as visitors to the house of commons. From the 1810s, small numbers sought to return to the ventilator, a cramped attic above the chamber used by women to view ...

Doctoral student @chloechallender.bsky.social has delivered an impressive study of how women experienced accessing Parliaments which were hostile to their very presence in the nineteenth century.

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@samoxey.bsky.social’s winning entry of our 2024 essay prize provides brilliant insights and analysis into the 1945 Motherwell by-election, in which the SNP won their first Westminster seat.

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‘Constitutional Alienation’ and the Unionist Party during the Ulster Crisis, 1911–1914 This article argues for the importance of the Unionists’ constitutional philosophy in the party's opposition to the third Irish Home Rule Bill. In the aftermath of the 1911 Parliament Act, which remo...

Ben Sayle has re-centred Unionist constitutional philosophy in analysing the opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill in 1911-14.

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