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.
Decimalisation in Britain
Prior to 1971, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. There were guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins. This old system of currency, known as pounds, shillings and pence or lsd, dated back to Roman times, when…
A Short History of Medicine
In Britain, medicine has drastically changed over the last thousand years, from folk remedies in the early medieval period to the formation of the NHS in the 20th century…
The First Anglo-Afghan War 1839-1842
Concerned that Russia was expanding its influence in the region, Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839. Initially successful, the campaign ended in disaster with an ignominious and bloody withdrawal from Kabul… one of the most shocking failures of modern British military history…
Elizabeth Fry
The “Angel of Prisons”. A Quaker minister, social reformer and mother of 11 children, Elizabeth Fry is perhaps best known for her work on behalf of the women and children in Newgate Prison in London. Some of the more specific requirements she concerned herself with after her numerous visits to the prison included ensuring that men and women would be separated, with female guards provided for the female inmates.
Battle of Talana, 1899
Take a pompous general who objects to fighting before breakfast, 200 cavalrymen who disappear into thick mist, Irishmen shooting at one another on opposite sides and British infantrymen shelled by their own artillery – and you have the tragicomic ingredients for the Battle of Talana…
General Charles Gordon: Chinese Gordon, Gordon of Khartoum
In the early hours of Monday, January 26th, 1885, Major-General Charles Gordon was killed by Mahdist forces overrunning Khartoum, Sudan. Also known as Chinese Gordon, he was one of the most admired heroes of Victorian England…
Lord Woolton: Feeding Wartime Britain
As Minister of Food during the Second World War, Lord Woolton kept Britain from starving. He was determined that Britain’s larder remained well-stocked, and that, despite rationing and poverty, everyone had something to put on the table. “We must all be fighting fit,” he declared.
Joseph Knight
The name ‘Joseph Knight’ is largely unknown, yet he played an important role in the history of Scotland, its laws and the abolition of slavery…
The Anonymous Peter Puget
In a small graveyard in a tiny English village lies the tomb of Rear-Admiral Peter Puget. Virtually unknown in his homeland, this fine sailor rose from midshipman to Rear Admiral and gave his name to Puget Sound, Seattle in the USA…
Gun Law
In the hot summer of 1901 the country mourned the death of Queen Victoria. However once the period of mourning was over, with the hot weather a new craze was born: cycling. Thousands of cyclists eager to escape the city spilled out into the countryside, taking with them the latest fashionable accessory, a product known as ‘The Cyclist’s Friend’; a scaled-down handgun…