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.
Operation Pied Piper: British Evacuees
As war loomed, in September 1939 more than a million British civilians, mostly children, were evacuated out of the cities and into the countryside for their protection from anticipated bombing raids. This was Operation Pied Piper…
Samuel Plimsoll and the Plimsoll Line
Philanthropist, inventor and reformer, MP Samuel Plimsoll is best remembered for his vigorous campaign for load lines to be painted on the side of ships to prevent them being overloaded and sinking, thereby saving many lives at sea.
King James I – First Royal Submariner?
The alleged voyage of King James I in a submarine under the River Thames remains one of the most intriguing mysteries of 17th-century England…
Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat
Winston Churchill called him “the most beautiful man who ever cut a throat”. Brigadier Simon ‘Shimi’ Fraser, 17th Lord Lovat, DSO, MC, TD, JP, DL was a charismatic leader of commandos in World War Two, famously accompanied by his ‘mad piper’, Bill Millin…
Being Blind in Victorian England
“Poor blind man! He has better clothes and more money than you or me; it’s all done to excite pity!” This remark was made of…
The History of the Bloody Code
The “Bloody Code” was the series of laws in the 18th and early 19th century which imposed the death penalty for over 200 offences, many of which seem surprisingly trivial, including pickpocketing, stealing from a shipwreck and destroying a fishpond…
Pubs And The Metropolis
Metropolitan London has around 7,000 public houses – an average of 25 pubs per square mile! Some of these iconic watering holes are associated with important events in history…
Boston Tea Party
“No taxation without representation”. The anger of the American colonists against the 1773 Tea Act passed by the British Parliament led to the event known as the Boston Tea Party. This act of colonial defiance against British rule was a critical moment in the history of the American Revolution.
The Whigs
From the original political parties the Tories and the Whigs, evolved two of the three main protaganists of the modern era, the Conservatives and the Liberals. But what happened to the Whigs you may ask…and who were they?
Dressed for War: Love Letters from Britain
Chief Warrant Officer James A. Pool, 29th Naval Construction Battalion (known as CBs or “Seabees”), US Navy, was stationed in Britain in the run-up to D-Day. Throughout this time, he wrote regular letters to his wife, in which he described his experiences of Britain and preparations for the D-Day landings. His daughter Suzanne shares some of these in the article below.