Conservative History Journal

This may come a little too late for some people but I did put up the information a few days ago. The Conservative History Group will be having a meeting today. Tuesday, 29th June at 6.30pmVenue: The Grimond Room, Portcullis HouseOur speaker will be Dr Tim Bale of Sussex University, whose book The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron was published earlier this year. With Mr Cameron now in Downing Street, it is an opportune moment to consider the recent history of the Party, and we will be joined in doing so by our Chairman,...

The forgotten war, as it is known, especially in Britain, began on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. Astonishingly enough, it was the UN that mobilized forces to support South Korea but then the USSR was temporarily exercising an empty seat policy. Undoubtedly, it would have stopped any UN action, otherwise. According to recent books on the subject of Soviet espionage in the United States, Soviet penetration of the Manhattan...

The death has been announced of Lord Walker who, as Peter Walker, held a number of important ministerial positions in both the Heath and the Thatcher governments. Tory Historian may find the notion of a "one-nation Conservative" a little odd but at times like this, all one can do is rememb...

Tory Historian has finished reading Earl Stanhope's Conversations with Wellington (mentioned here and here) and, having recently read John Charmley's biography of Princess Lieven (here and here) could not help spending some time in meditation about the Duke of Wellington's role as politician. TH's history teaching at school was far superior than that given to children these days but was a descendant of the Whig theory of history and assumed...

It was not so long ago that I discussed with a regular contributor to the Conservative History Journal the paucity of Robert Peel biographies. Well, sometimes you wait for ages and then several come at once.In 2007 we had Douglas Hurd's Sir Robert Peel: A Biography and today the postman delivered Richard Gaunt's new book that I have mentioned in a previous posting. More about it as I read it but as a taster, here is a quotation from Richard Gaunt's musings about Peel's reputation: At the start of the twenty-first century, we...

The Battle of Waterloo - the final battle of the long Napoleonic wars that engulfed Europe taking over from the Revolutionary wars before that. It resulted in a comprehensive defeat for Napoleon who left the battle field knowing (whatever he may have dreamed later) that he would now have to go into real exile and stay there....

The Daily Telegraph (prototype of Peter Simple's Feudal Times and Reactionary Herald - those were the days) has published what was undoubtedly the most exciting news of the day: the bones of the female skeleton found in a grave near Magdeburg two years ago do appear to be those of Queen Eadgyth, grand-daughter of Alfred the Great, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and sister of King Athelstan "became the first official King of England...

The Conservative History Group, which has a new Director in the person of Nigel Fletcher, will be holding its first post-election meeting.Tuesday, 29th June at 6.30pmVenue: The Grimond Room, Portcullis HouseOur speaker will be Dr Tim Bale of Sussex University, whose book The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron was published earlier this year. With Mr Cameron now in Downing Street, it is an opportune moment to consider the recent history of the Party, and we will be joined in doing so by our Chairman, Keith Simpson MP,...

Tory Historian returned to the excellent National Portrait Gallery exhibition, The Indian Portrait. It is free and will not be closing till this coming Sunday. It is thoroughly to be recommended for the wonderful pictures as much as the explanation of various developments - enough to give one some idea of how matter stood in various princedoms, politically and artistically; of the Mughal influence; and of the British one - but not enough...

The famous quotation from Henry IV Part II (Act III, Scene 1, since you ask) refers both to the difficulties a ruler faces that his subjects know nothing about and, more specifically, to the difficulties a usurper faces. Both Henry IV and Henry V (particularly on the eve of the battle of Agincourt) are unhappily aware of the fact that the crown was acquired in a somewhat nefarious fashion.O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;Possess...

Whatever John Constable's political views might have been his vision of the country not only chimes in with conservative (small c) attitudes but is the one that is seen as reality by many outsiders. Constable's England is the England that is known to those who do not know the country. And yet it is not entirely wrong either as a visit to Suffolk or a view down the Thames or a walk in Hampstead Heath can prove. Tory Historian who loves Constable's...

Tory Historian spent a good deal of today within the Victorian sphere. First a visit to the newly reopened Leighton House Museum, once home of Frederic, Lord Leighton RA, the only artist to have been ennobled. Sadly, he did not have children so the title died with him. Leighton is not Tory Historian's favourite artists, being somewhat on the lush side of the Pre-Raphaelite movement but his drawings, watercolours and, even, portraits are...

The largest invasion force known in modern history sets o...

June 2, 1953 saw the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, a day most people imagine as rather glorious, though, apparently it rained steadily. Well, what do you expect in England in June?Here is an archival footage in which TV and film coverage are spliced as can be seen by the sudden appearance of colour about a third of the way throu...