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Doing history: Manorial Court Records
Historian feature
Manorial records are often associated with the medieval period, and while they are a valuable resource for medieval historians, they actually span from the twelfth to the twentieth century. Sarah Pettyfer sheds light on these often-overlooked records, helping family and local historians explore them with confidence...
Doing history: Manorial Court Records
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The Historian 164: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 164: Ancient Worlds
A couple of generations ago an edition of a history publication on the theme of ancient worlds would probably just have included features on the Greeks and the Romans. It is now widely accepted that ancient history should have a broader focus, embracing developments in...
The Historian 164: Out now
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Doing history: Remembering the Wars of the Roses
Historian feature
This article examines how the Wars of the Roses have been remembered through memorials and presents the Battlefields Trust’s Wars of the Roses Memorial Database Project, launched in 2023. The open-access, crowd-sourced database maps monuments, plaques, battlefield markers and local commemorations linked to the conflicts. David Grummitt shows that remembrance...
Doing history: Remembering the Wars of the Roses
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Doing history: Contemporary narratives and the legacy of the Dagenham Ford Factory Strike of 1968
Historian feature
In this article, Zubin Burley looks at how a visit to the local archive can transform our understanding of an important event in British social history...
Doing history: Contemporary narratives and the legacy of the Dagenham Ford Factory Strike of 1968
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The Origins of the Local Government Service
Historian article
The concept ‘local government’ dates only from the middle of the nineteenth century. ‘Local government service’ emerged later still. In 1903 Redlich and Hirst1 wrote of ‘municipal officers’, while in 1922 Robson2 preferred ‘the municipal civil service’. ‘Local government service’ perhaps derives its pedigree from its use in the final...
The Origins of the Local Government Service
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From our branches: The Bristol Branch
Historian feature
It is always fascinating to find out about some of the many varied activities being undertaken by local branches of the Historical Association. Here Mary Feerick and Rob Pritchard relate the successes of the Bristol branch, which was only restarted in 2017. The branch has managed to engage local people...
From our branches: The Bristol Branch
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Local Authority Record Offices: Our Heritage at Risk
Article
Rosemary Dunhill fears the review of local government structures might lead to damaging cuts in the archive service. The lives of archivists in record offices run by local authorities have been dominated in the last few years by the review of local government. The Government wished to simplify local government...
Local Authority Record Offices: Our Heritage at Risk
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My Favourite History Place - Cambridge City Cemetary
Historian feature
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains memorials to our war dead in large and small numbers in cemeteries across the world, and here Glenn Hearnden presents us with a detailed and informative case-study of Cambridge City Cemetery.
Like many large towns and cities across the UK, there is a cemetery in...
My Favourite History Place - Cambridge City Cemetary
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Out and About: Locating the Local Lockup
Historian feature
If you are arrested for a crime today, you will very likely be taken to a police station and locked in a cell while officers decide if they have enough evidence to charge you. But have you ever wondered what happened to criminals and other disorderly folk – roughs, drunks...
Out and About: Locating the Local Lockup
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Women and the Politics of the Parish in England
Historian article
Petticoat Politicians: Women and the Politics of the Parish in England
The history of women voting in Britain is familiar to many. 2013 marked the centenary of the zenith of the militant female suffrage movement, culminating in the tragic death of Emily Wilding Davison, crushed by the King's horse at...
Women and the Politics of the Parish in England
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Opinion: History, anti-history, and historical fiction
Historian feature
As he gives a lecture to the Historical Association’s Virtual Branch, novelist, historian and BBC New Generation Thinker Oskar Jensen shares his thoughts on history, fantasy and the need to engage with the past on its own terms.
Opinion: History, anti-history, and historical fiction
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Nineteenth Century African chiefs in Nuneaton: A local mystery uncovered
Article
In Nuneaton’s St. Nicolas Churchyard lies a sizeable, though not elaborate, flat gravestone. It commemorates Canon Robert Savage, Vicar of the parish 1845-71, his wife Emma and many of their children. This tombstone, like so many in our graveyards, reveals a wide range of historical information, recording significant detail about...
Nineteenth Century African chiefs in Nuneaton: A local mystery uncovered
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My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
Historian feature
Steve Illingworth highlights the importance of a remote Lancashire ruin which might have changed the course of history.
Sawley Abbey in east Lancashire can appear to be an unassuming and insignificant place at first sight. Its main attraction appears to be aesthetic, with the Cistercian abbey being surrounded by fields and hills...
My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
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Twickenham as a Patriotic Town
Historian article
Twickenham from the 1890s onwards grew as a town with a special sense of history. Nobody in authority on the local council could quite forget the reputation which the district had acquired as a rural arcadia. The aristocrats and gentry who built villas in the parish in the late 17th...
Twickenham as a Patriotic Town
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My Favourite History Place: Mountfitchet Castle
Historian feature
In the first of an occasional series Alf Wilkinson, HA CPD Manager, explores Mountfitchet Castle, in Essex - his favourite history place.
As every schoolchild knows, William the Conqueror landed near Hastings in 1066, pursuing his claim to the throne of England. He was accompanied by the Pope's blessing, but...
My Favourite History Place: Mountfitchet Castle
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The Historian 156: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 156
The sadness that came with the death of our patron Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is tinged with our appreciation of her willingness many years ago to become our patron. Some of our older members will remember that she and the Duke of Edinburgh attended our...
The Historian 156: Out now
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Blurred Lines: the ever-decreasing distinction between fiction and nonfiction
Historian article
Everyone who studies history would love to visit the past. Few of us would like to stay for long, I suspect – if unfamiliar viruses did not finish us off within days, the superstitious locals might – but a visit would be nice. The ability to do so would settle a...
Blurred Lines: the ever-decreasing distinction between fiction and nonfiction
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Out and About: Kennington and the Elephant and Castle
Historian feature
The HA's very own Martin Hoare takes us on a tour of Kennington and Elephant and Castle, to some lesser-known gems that ought to be higher on the London tourist trail.
Over the years of working for the HA I’ve quite often used my lunch break to take walks around the areas...
Out and About: Kennington and the Elephant and Castle
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The initial impact of the Battle of Jutland on the people of Portsmouth
Historian article
This local study by Steve Doe draws together the human effects of what happened at the Battle of Jutland in June 1916 with accounts of how the families of those who fought in the battle and the wider local community dealt with the tragedy.
The initial impact of the Battle of Jutland on the people of Portsmouth
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My Favourite History Place - Sackville College, East Grinstead
Historian feature
Sackville College almshouse in East Grinstead, Sussex, was founded in 1609, by Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset, when he wrote his will. He died 17 days later without seeing one stone laid, yet the College still stands, providing affordable accommodation for local elderly people of limited means. It is...
My Favourite History Place - Sackville College, East Grinstead
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My Favourite History Place: Tivoli Theatre
Historian feature
The Tivoli Theatre opened on 24 August 1936 with Jean Adrienne in Father O’Flynn and Shirley Temple in Kid in Hollywood, with film star Jean Adrienne appearing in person. It was designed by Bournemouth-based architect E. de Wilde Holding. The front of the building was an existing Georgian-style building named Borough House. Inside the auditorium there...
My Favourite History Place: Tivoli Theatre
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The Historian 159: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 159: Branches
Welcome to this Branches edition of The Historian, a regular version of the magazine where many of the articles are based on talks and activities from Historical Association branches across the country. The last Branches edition came out in November 2021 and at that time...
The Historian 159: Out now
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Out and About in Runnymede
Historian feature
The Runnymede area is rich in historical associations. Nigel Saul looks at other places of interest near where King John gave his assent to the Charter in 1215.
The birthplace of our democratic heritage is a broad meadow on the banks of the lower Thames near the meeting-point between Surrey...
Out and About in Runnymede
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Recycling the Monastic building: The Dissolution in Southern England
Historian article
The dissolution of the monasteries was one of the most dramatic developments in English History. In 1536, the religious orders had owned about a fifth of the lands of England. Within four years the monasteries had been abolished and their possessions nationalised by Henry VIII. Within another ten years, most...
Recycling the Monastic building: The Dissolution in Southern England
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My Favourite History Place - Nuneaton's Old Grammar School
Historian article
Near the centre of the largest town in Warwickshire, an oasis of calm encompasses the area of Nuneaton parish church, vicarage and Old Grammar School. Of the three buildings, the Old Grammar School may be the least impressive but its history is just as eventful. Nuneaton’s Boys’ Free Grammar School,...
My Favourite History Place - Nuneaton's Old Grammar School
