THEME Government, power and politics
Elizabeth Fry Reformer and Quaker
The work of Elizabeth Fry, Quaker and social reformer inspired others such as Florence Nightingale. Her courage and work was outstanding in a time when women were considered to have few roles outside of the family
Read MoreSuez Canal opened 1869
Suez Canal, crucial to Britain and the passage to India
Read MoreWorld Memory Project: US Holocaust Museum teams-up with the world
World Memory Project – teams-up with Ancestry so we can transcribe the records freely and faster, hear this video with Sol Finkelmen’s moving story just one of millions…If ever there was a compelling reason for family history research, this has to be it…
Read MoreState Intervention escalates in Victorian Britain
The industrial revolution brought immense benefits to Victorian society but it also brought huge problems to society. Government responded with intervention at every level and an explosion of civil servants and bureaucrats to cope with the fast unraveling problems.
Read MoreMarried Women’s Property Act 1870
Married Women’s Property Act 1870 was one of the most significant acts passed that changed how society and the courts perceived women.
Read MoreFlorence Nightingale and Women’s Suffrage
Florence Nightingale and Women’s Suffrage Florence had a vision that went beyond her incredible organisational and nursing abilities. Her attitudes made her capable of anticipating the dramatic events that would unfold for women in the late stages of the C19th and early C20th. She wrote ‘Till a woman can be in possession of her own…
Read MoreLeaders of the Enlightenment, in a nutshell
Who were the central thinkers and leaders of the period of the enlightenment…who together changed the way we and our societies and families that made those societies thought and organised our world. There would be backward steps but the genie of enlightenment was out of the box…
Read MoreConstitutional Monarchy established in England 1688-1689
When does the constitutional basis of England’s Monarchy become established..
Read More‘Lunatics’ and the Poor Law Act 1834
Asylums had been operating in Britain for hundreds of years, the first recorded was the Bethlem Royal Hospital established in the C15th and were run as private charitable institutions. The whole business was a haphazard affair until the Madhouse Act of 1774 which established licensing and yearly inspections of asylums. Still little provision was made…
Read MoreLord Shaftsbury built on John Pounds Ragged School idea…campaigned to improve the lot of working children
“The future hopes of a country must, under God, be laid in the character and condition of its children;…” Inspired by John Pounds and his own increasing religious conviction Lord Shaftsbury was a leader in social reform for children as the best way to improve society overall…
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