All articles in History
4th January, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, History
Thomas Cromwell and the ‘Catholic faith’
Thomas Cromwell’s last words and moments on 28 July 1540 continue to cause quite a lot of discussion, and the following article is offered to try and clarify some points. In Tudor times, condemned traitors were supposed to confess, abjectly and utterly, to the crimes of which the…
4th January, 2016 in Biography & Memoir, History
Thomas Cromwell and the fall of Anne Boleyn
Truth is stranger than fiction, as the saying goes. But telling the two apart is not always easy, especially in a subject as fraught as the fall of Anne Boleyn. According to most biographies or other supposedly ‘factual’ accounts, with notable exceptions like George Bernard’s, An…
21st December, 2015 in History, Society & Culture, True Crime
The year of the Ripper
Capitalism is in crisis. Riots sweep through London and protesters occupy famous public spaces. An Old Etonian prime minster struggles to steer the country through an economic depression while vast sums are spent for the Jubilee celebrations of an elderly queen. There are concern…
18th December, 2015 in History, Local & Family History
Vintage London: 1910 to 1960
The past is almost always seen in black and white. Various factors have conspired together to ensure that the public perception of colour photography is that it is a relatively recent invention, certainly within the last half century or so. It is not always appreciated that colou…
18th December, 2015 in History
A beginner’s guide to the Babington Plot
The Babington Plot, Mary Queen of Scots’ final conspiracy against Elizabeth I, is so convoluted that even today it is impossible to understand quite fully who was tricking who, who was on what side, and so on and so forth. Separate plots to assassinate Elizabeth and free Mary wer…
18th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History, Women in History
Margaret Douglas: The other Tudor princess
Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII’s once beloved niece, is a somewhat shadowy and mysterious character in Tudor history who ended up taking stage in the bitter struggle for power during Henry’s reign. She was born in a state of emergency in a Border keep where rain dripped from…
18th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
The final days of Henry VIII
As the power brokers of the next reign span their webs and hovered solicitously in the background, Henry VIII’s ailing body had deteriorated steadily throughout January 1547. Some thirty-eight years earlier, he had ascended the throne of England, the epitome of health and vitalit…
18th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
Do we know the real Henry VIII?
For far too long now, the full scale of Henry VIII’s misdeeds and miscalculations has been largely hidden from public view – mainly, it seems, beneath the copious skirts of his six wives, all of whom, both individually and collectively, have received far more than their fair shar…
18th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
The Woodvilles: Were they as bad as history states?
From 1437, when Richard Woodville, a mere knight, made a shocking match to the widowed Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, to 1492, when Queen Elizabeth Woodville breathed her last at Bermondsey Abbey, the Woodvilles trod the boards of the great theatre of fifteenth-century history. T…
17th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
Why was Isaac Newton such a giant?
Most people associate Isaac Newton with gravity. Of all the forces of nature, gravity is the one whose effects are most obvious to us, and have been since prehistoric times. Everyone knows that an apple falls vertically downwards, as if drawn towards the centre of the Earth. Anyo…
16th December, 2015 in Archaeology, History, Local & Family History
House histories: Paramour Grange
Paramour Grange in Ash, Kent, may appear to be like any other country house, but behind the front door is an incredible collection of original historic detailing rarely seen elsewhere. It features a rare example of a Jacobean painted room, an original Tudor staircase and inglenoo…
16th December, 2015 in History, Society & Culture
Happy and Glorious, the Revolution of 1688
Changing the constitution – so what’s new? We’ve been here before! In 1688/89 King James II was pushed off the throne by William of Orange and his wife Mary. As a result of this ‘Glorious Revolution’ the powers of our monarchs were restricted and Parliament was given a much great…