Conservative History Journal

A fascinating sale of duplicates (as I understand it) of some of the best, most talented and ... that terrible word .... iconic posters commissioned and used by London Underground and London Transport in the past will be held on October 4 at Christie's in South Kensington and the pre-sale exhibition will be held there from September 28 to October 3. A number of the best graphic artists were given their first outlet or made successful...

We have just had Open House week-end in London and Tory Historian tried to visit a new place or two. Only one new place was managed: the fascinating and gorgeous Apothecaries' Hall. Time was short so the second visit was to the Guildhall and the Roman Amphitheatre beneath the Art Gallery, both thoroughly recommended. Naturally, there was a good deal of explanation of what the amphitheatre was used for and how it fitted in with Roman British life. Interestingly, the actual amphitheatres across the Roman empire were built out...

Browsing through the internet Tory Historian came across this site: British History Online and found the London page of especial interest. The links read to a large selection of primary sourc...

The US Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 17, 1787 and ratified by Conventions of eleven States. The first ten Amendments, otherwise known as the Bill of Rights (shades of the earlier English Bills) were adopted in 17...

There was a time when every school boy and girl knew the name of the first railway casualty. William Huskisson, MP for Liverpool and former Cabinet Minister was attending the opening of the Manchester-Liverpool railway on September 15, 1830. He got out of his carriage and went to another one to speak to the Duke of Wellington (yes, yes, him again). As he climbed in he slipped and fell into the path of the Rocket, Stephenson's great engine, which ran over his leg and caused severe bleeding of which he died though he was immediately...

160 years ago, on September 14, 1852 died the 1st Duke of Wellington, one of this country's great military commanders and no mean politician. In fact, he is one of the few exceptions to the rule that military commanders do not make good politicians even though as they rise to the top they have to play at politics more and more. His was the last heraldic state funeral held in Brita...

For a number of reasons, not unconnected with recent events, Tory Historian decided to look up the comment, ascribed to General Sir Charles Napier in William Napier's History of Sir Charles Napier's Administration of Scinde, published in 1851, on the subject of sati or suttee or, in plain words, the habit of burning of widows on their husbands' funeral pyre (prohibited by Sikhism, incidentally). This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang...

There is a strong possibility (though at present no more than that) that the archaeological dig in Leicester has, apart from making all sorts of other interesting discoveries, may have uncovered the body or, rather the skeleton of Richard III. The University of Leicester has made a statement about it in which they explain: We have exhumed one fully articulated skeleton and one set of disarticulated human remains. The disarticulated set of human remains was found in what is believed to be the Presbytery of the lost Church...

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I have been reading a book by S. K.Romanyuk, called Russian London (Русский Лондон), the only guide to the London various Russians lived in. It goes through various themes: first contacts, the royals, the church, emigrés, ambassadors and so on. Mr Romanyuk is the complete Anglophile. To him there can be nothing wrong with Britain and if there is a dispute he takes the British side, even attempting to exonerate the British authorities...

Tory Historian remains convinced that this is the most exciting news story of the last few weeks: archaeologists are close to finding the body of Richard III in Leicester, where he was buried after the Battle of Bosworth Field. The dig to recover the body of the king, who was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth by Henry Tudor in 1485, has already unearthed the long-lost Franciscan Friary where he was buried. The church, which is also called Grey Friars, was known to be where Richard III was buried but its exact whereabouts...

As a matter of fact, quite a few detective novels hide interesting ideas, particularly political ones with those that display them for all to see being the least readable ones. I was alerted to a little known writer of the thirties, R. C. Woodthorpe, by Martin Edwards, who is considerably better known as a writer and a critic. The particular book he mentioned was Silence of a Purple Shirt or, as it is known in the United States, Death...