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Head Shaving during Ireland’s War of Independence
By Conor Heffernan Troops storm into the house and forcibly evicting those inside. Screams of terror emanate from the house, growing louder and louder with each moment. Soon the house will be set on fire. In the melee that ensues, troops single out a woman known for collaborating with the enemy. Held down at gunpoint,…
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Significant anniversaries in 2016: the Contagious Diseases Act of 1866?
By Carys Brown @HistoryCarys 2016 is to be a year of historical anniversaries: 950 years since the Battle of Hastings; 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare; 350 years since the Great Fire of London; 100 years since the Battle of the Somme. The list could go on. Marking anniversaries is a long established tradition…
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‘I got drunk – fie upon it’ – A look back at early modern alcohol consumption and guilt
By Alex Wakelam @A_Wakelam With the passing of the first month of the year many people across the country will be able to return to their vendor of choice and dispel their sobriety as Dry January ends. As a modern practice Dry January has its detractors but most agree that it’s a sensible idea to take a…
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The Black Cantabs Project – Uncovering Cambridge University’s diverse past
By Louise Moschetta @LouiseMoschetta As I began jotting down some ideas for this blog post in a background of clinks and clatter of a coffee shop in Cambridge, I overheard a conversation from two individuals talking at the table behind me. They were referring to what I believed to be a white, wealthy, male individual, with…
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Heritage in Austerity Britain
By James Dowsett – @jdowsea James in an MPhil Student in Modern British History at Cambridge. His research focusses on plebeian constitutionalism in the long eighteenth-century. March will be the final month the Queen Street and Helmshore Mill Museums are open to the public. These beleaguered monuments, the last working examples of the Lancashire cotton spinning…
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