Tag: 18th century history

  • The Case of Betty John – gender ambiguity in a late eighteenth century small-claims court

    The Case of Betty John – gender ambiguity in a late eighteenth century small-claims court

    By Alex Wakelam – @A_Wakelam Alex is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of History. His thesis is entitled “Imprisonment for Debt and Women’s Financial Failure in the Long Eighteenth Century”. Before the eighteenth century, it was potentially possible to stand at the window of an English townhouse and gaze out across the milieu of different classes, ages, and ethnicities…

  • Editorial: DHP’s top historical novels

    Editorial: DHP’s top historical novels

    Summer may be decidedly over, but reading for pleasure doesn’t have to be confined to the beach. Here are some of the DHP team’s favourite historical novels to keep you going as the evenings draw in.

  • The Public House – the struggle to find privacy in the eighteenth century home

    The Public House – the struggle to find privacy in the eighteenth century home

    By Alex Wakelam – @A_Wakelam Around two o’clock in the morning of February 15th 1732, Robert Atkinson, a sadler, returned home drunk from the alehouse. His mother Ann Atkinson, having sent the maid to bed at midnight, had sat up to wait for him so that she could lock the door behind him (the symbolic ending of the…

  • History on Film: genre, fact, and resonance in Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite

    History on Film: genre, fact, and resonance in Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite

    By Laura Flannigan  (@LFlannigan17) Within the first month of 2019, historians were treated to not one but two blockbuster movies: The Favourite (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) and Mary Queen of Scots (dir. Josie Rourke). Both grossed millions of dollars in the short time since their worldwide release, reminding us that film is by far the most accessible form of…

  • 10. A Portrait of Dr Charles Russell 

    10. A Portrait of Dr Charles Russell 

    By Shea Hendry Prior to the American Revolution, Dr Charles Russell of Massachusetts owned a thriving medical practice in Charlestown and a sprawling country estate just south of Concord. Direct evidence of Dr Russell’s political leanings is fragmentary prior to the British Army’s ill-fated march into Lexington on April 19, 1775, though as his obituary…