The writer F Scott Fitzgerald memorably once said that ‘There are no second acts in American life’. Thankfully Christopher Chataway was British and didn’t adhere one iota to that maxim. Mirroring the standard structure of a theatrical play his …
Guest post by Dr Amy Galvin It feels like an awfully long time ago since I wrote a blog post detailing the experiences of my first year as a collaborative PhD student with the Parliamentary Archives and I am not …
‘We all have a book in us’ as the saying goes. There are some long-forgotten manuscripts in our collections written by various individuals that unfortunately never had the glory of going to print. A red-ribboned bundle titled In the House …
Content warning: This article contains historic language some may find offensive. The language has been included in the blog to accurately reflect the content of the records. Today, the county of Lancashire is associated with hotpot, Blackpool Tower Ballroom, and the …
This blog explores several petitions from early 1621 which tell the story of accusations, evading arrest warrants, eventual arrests, and imprisonment in the infamous Fleet Prison. The two main characters of this tale are Jeffrey Passmore, a wax chandler, otherwise …
What is… Longer than the length of three football fields? 200 years old? And made of animal skin? It's the Longest Act! To give it its proper title, it's the Land Tax Commissioners' Act 1821, which at 348 metres is …
An influx of rookie MPs entered the House of Commons after the post-war 1945 General Election. One of the new intakes was the celebrated playwright, Benn Levy who’d won the Eton & Slough seat for the victorious Labour Party. …
This blog article was written by Ann Moghaddami to mark UK Disability History Month (UKDM). The blog looks at how the records held in the Parliamentary Archives reflect changing legislative and societal attitudes to disability, family life and sex, one …
This year marks the centenary of the Royal British Legion. This blog written by Katherine Emery, Assistant Archives Officer, will be looking at the early years of the Legion, especially the support towards disabled ex-servicemen. The Legion was originally founded …
This article was written by Miriam Gibson, Archives Assistant (Graduate Trainee). Content warning: This article uses contemporary quotes which contain offensive language and details of the transatlantic slave trade, which some readers may find upsetting. “The storm is fast gathering; every instant …
