The History of Britain Magazine

Often referred to as the ‘Hungry Decade’, the 1840s was characterised by social unrest, military losses and economic hardship. The year 1842 in particular was fraught with problems, which led to it becoming known as the Terrible Year, arguably the worst of the 19th century.

General Charles Cornwallis is best known for his part in the British defeat at Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War. But there is much more to Cornwallis than this: his career then took him to India and later to Ireland…

In 1781, American and French forces under George Washington laid siege to the British army at Yorktown. This would become the most decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War…

A British Army intelligence officer, John André was hanged as a spy at Tappan, New York, on Oct. 2nd 1780 on the orders of George Washington..

The campaigns in Italy in 1943 and 1944 were tough and bloody ones, with some of the most brutal engagements of the Second World War. Yet somehow the sacrifice of the troops involved in the Italian campaign came to be overshadowed by the events of the better-known D-Day operation: the Normandy landings.

Kindertransport (Children’s Transport) was the name given to a series of evacuations between 1938 and 1940 to bring refugee children, mostly Jewish, from Germany and German occupied territories to the safety of Britain.

The daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire and goddaughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was also a dedicated campaigner for women’s rights.

V.E. Day celebrations in Scotland became a full two or three day extravaganza, with street parties, bonfires, and mass gatherings. Pubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh were drunk dry, people partied all day and into the night…