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1945 Election: A political awakening - The History of Parliament

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 10h

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...

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

The Duke of Albemarle’s will - The History of Parliament

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 2d

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...

Today, another post inspired by our recently-published volumes on the House of Lords. In this blog the editor, Dr Ruth Paley, discusses the hotly-contested

‘The hero legislator of Uxbridge’: the Hon. Charles Thomas Mills (1887-1915) - The History of Parliament

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 2d

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.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 2d

#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:

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.

‘You just become a tiny little speck of history’: First Impressions of the Palace of Westminster - The History of Parliament

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 4d

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...

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

Parliamentary Leadership: Denis Healey

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 5d

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-...

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.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 5d

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:

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…

www.youtube.com

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 6d

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':

‘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

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 7d

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

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.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 8d

#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:

TikTok - Make Your Day

www.tiktok.com

‘In a dirty ditch somewhere in France’: the Hon. Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes (1880-1915) - The History of Parliament

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 8d

#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:

For a detailed account of Agar-Robartes’ political career, see Paul Holden, ‘“A very English gentleman”. The Honourable Thomas Charles Reginald Agar-Robartes

www.historyofparliamentonline.org

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Reposted by History of Parliament

Lord Norton of Louth @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social · 9d

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

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 9d

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':

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 10d

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:

“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

The shipping and the railway interests: Whitby’s electoral politics, 1832-1868 - The History of Parliament

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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-...

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.

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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

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,

‘Virtually a fourth class of passenger carriage’: the parliamentary train

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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:

buff.ly/oi59KGd

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…

Getting to the polls: from carriages and horses to trains and motor cars

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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

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 …

From typhus to trains: the tragic deaths of 19th century MPs

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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

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 …

MP of the Month: Joseph Locke (1805-1860)

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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

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…

historyofparliamentonline.org

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 11d

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

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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 12d

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':

History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 12d

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.

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.

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Reposted by History of Parliament

The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · 13d

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...

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