Gillian Wright
banner
gwrightbham.bsky.social
Gillian Wright
@gwrightbham.bsky.social
Professor of English and Irish Literature, University of Birmingham. Editing, Aphra Behn, contemporary and early modern Irish literature.
Reposted by Gillian Wright
#TheCompleteBritten #1

Oh That I Had Ne'er Been Married (1922)

To mark 50 years since Benjamin Britten's death in 1976, in 2026 I'm listening to all Britten's music in the order he composed it. My journey starts with his first surviving song, written when he was just 9, a setting of Robert Burns.
Beware!: Oh That I Had Ne'er Been Married
YouTube video by Malcolm Martineau - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 4, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
Exciting news - a new portrait of Lucy Hutchinson has surfaced.
December 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
Really pleased to have had the chance to write for BBC History Magazine for the first time - and to receive prominent billing on the cover! Available from your local newsagent soon.
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
I wonder if any Irish historians on here can help me identify any of the people in this picture? Early 1900s probably in Dublin, it's Tom Clarke in the middle and I think I know who it is on the left of the image. Any of the others though?
November 25, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
#OTD 1696, a bill was passed that would result in the execution of Sir John Fenwick for treason.

Dr Paul Seaward explores the reasonings behind his beheading and how a bill of attainder sentenced Fenwick to death without the provision of two witnesses:
historyofparliament.com/2025/11/25/t...
The passing of the bill of attainder against the Jacobite Sir John Fenwick - The History of Parliament
after a bitter series of debates, finally passed a bill that would result in the execution of the Northumbrian baronet Sir John Fenwick, for treason
historyofparliament.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
#OTD in 1459 marked the opening of the Coventry Parliament.

Although this Parliament only met briefly between November and December 1459, it would have a lasting impact in the Wars of the Roses:
A turning-point in the Wars of the Roses: the attainders of the Coventry Parliament - The History of Parliament
As significant, however, as this Parliament was in the history of the Wars of the Roses, it had as least as great a longer-term significance. It saw the
historyofparliament.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
Died #OTD 1737, Queen Caroline of Ansbach, wife of George II

As Dr Robin Eagles explores, not only were her last few weeks agonizing, but her death reflected her wider importance to the Hanoverian regime:
historyofparliament.com/2021/12/02/c...
Death of a Queen: the tragic end of Caroline of Ansbach - The History of Parliament
In the latest post for the Georgian Lords, Dr Robin Eagles, considers the grisly end of Queen Caroline of Ansbach, the botched efforts of her physicians to
historyofparliament.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Hope for pufflings. BBC News - Puffin comeback 'proves restoration works'
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Isle of Muck puffin comeback 'proves restoration works'
Puffins have been seen on the Isle of Muck off Antrim for the first time in at least 25 years
www.bbc.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
Today marks 111 years since the first Member of Parliament was killed in action during the First World War.

Head to the #HistParl website to read our short biography of Captain Arthur O'Neill, MP for Mid Antrim.
‘The first M.P. to fall’: the Hon. Arthur Edward Bruce O’Neill (1876-1914) - The History of Parliament
Over the next four years, we'll be blogging short biographies of the MPs who died fighting in the First World War. Dr Kathryn Rix, of the Victorian Commons,
historyofparliament.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
New on the blog today, I've written about ten excellent novellas I highly recommend.

Featuring books by Anita Brookner, William Trevor. Muriel Spark and many more! #BookSky #Novellas #NovNov 💙📚

jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...
Ten excellent novellas I highly recommend
There’s something very satisfying about reading a whole book in one or two sittings on the same day, especially when time is tight. I’ve always been fond of novellas, which often offer the best of …
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
ARCHIVAL FUNDING: Ann Ball Bodley Visiting Fellowship in Women’s History, to use Bodleian Libraries collections to advance scholarship in women’s history, of any geographical area and historical period. Deadline 28th Nov. www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowsh...
Bodleian Visiting Fellowships in Special Collections
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 28, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
This @fotoole.bsky.social piece is one of the best things I have ever read in a newspaper.

observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Seamus Heaney’s poems for a darkening age | The Observer
Collected in a landmark new edition, the late Irish writer’s work is attuned to wonder, replete with humanity and rooted in the tragedies of history
observer.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Gillian Wright
Died #OTD 1687, Edmund Waller.

Serving as an MP since 1624, in 1643 Waller was involved in a royalist conspiracy to capture London known as ‘Waller’s Plot’. Although other conspirators were hanged, Waller bought his own stay of execution for £10,000.

buff.ly/CwKftHR
October 21, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Wow!
October 7, 2025 at 10:45 AM