The History of Britain Magazine
Welcome to the History of Britain! The home nations share a varied and shared history unlike anywhere else, so we thought it only right to create a section dedicated to our mutual heritage.
Gertrude Fenn – Nurses in the Frontline
During World War One, along with a small group of similarly strong-minded British nurses, Gertrude Fenn became one of the first British women to care for Indian soldiers, not on the Western Front but in the searing desert heat of Mesopotamia…
Vera Brittain and the Shell-Shocked Women of World War One
80,000 cases of shell shock – a forebear of modern Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – were reported by the British Army between 1914 and 1918. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, Jobe Close discusses the largely overlooked female experience of shell shock…
T. E. Lawrence of Arabia
Thomas Edward (T.E) Lawrence, more popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, was born at Tremadoc in North Wales …
Nurses at War: At and After Dunkirk
The story of the brave men rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk in May and June 1940 is well known, but less often told is the story of the nurses on the hospital ships that brought thousands of wounded servicemen back to the safety of England…
The Battle of Passchendaele
On 6th November 1917, after three months of fierce fighting, British and Canadian forces finally took control of the tiny village of Passchendaele in the West Flanders region of Belgium, so ending one of the bloodiest battles of World War One…
Scottish Piper War Heroes
A tale of two very brave Scottish pipers, Piper Daniel Laidlaw VC and Piper Bill Millin…
George IV
King George IV was an extraordinary figure, dubbed ‘The First Gentleman of Europe’ and yet also an object of contempt and ridicule, particularly with regard to his love life…
The Blitz Spirit
The ‘Blitz Spirit’: stoicism and determination, the ability to make the best of it and triumph over adversity. But was it really a true reflection of the mood during the London Blitz of 1940?