Palace of Westminster

The lavishly illustrated “Palace of Westminster Official Guide” by the Houses of Parliament arrived on my desk this week. It is a very informative book on the Palace, full of interesting facts and illustrations.


The history of Parliament is a fascinating one and I liked the quote on the back cover

“We may be proud that England is the ancient country of Parliaments. With scarcely any intervening period, Parliaments have met constantly for 600 years, and there was something of a Parliament before the Conquest. England is the mother of Parliaments.” John Bright, British politician and orator, 1865.

The book describes many interesting historical facts about Parliament, from the beginning of parliament, when Hansard was formally established, to what is Hansard, to the Suffragette/suffragists period, gunpowder plot and much, much more.

One particular fact jumped out at me, it was the assignation of Spencer Perceval. I didn’t realise that at 5.15 pm on 11th May 1812 the Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was fatally shot as he entered the House of Commons Lobby.

The assassin was John Bellingham, who was a merchant and felt he was entitled to compensation by the British Government for being wrongly imprisoned in Russia. He was hanged for murder the following week.

There is a very interesting timeline at the back of the book, which compares the Palace of Westminster to British parliamentary and constitutional history to major events.  I noticed that in the timeline the trial of Warren Hastings in 1788 is mentioned. The trial started the year before the start of the French Revolution.
It’s a fascinating book full of information and gorgeous illustrations.

Bygone Britain

I was dealing with an enquiry yesterday and I came across these seven fascinating books from the Central Office of Information. They are entitled Bygone Britain 1900-1970, and each concentrate on one topic: in the news, at play, at home, on the move, on holiday, childhood and at work.
These books have a preface by Sir Harry Secombe and contain a mixture of illustrations and articles from newspapers and magazines. They explore the vast changes that took place through the first 70 years of the 20th Century, through the serious, and the trivial stories of that period.
In the In the News book, there are wonderful photographs and articles. There is a picture of Dr Crippen as he walks down the gangway of the Montrose with his mistress Ethel Le Neve (she had been travelling disguised as a boy). After a five day trial at the Old Bailey, Crippen was found guilty and hanged on 8 October 1910.
There are pictures of Captain Scott and his ship (Terra Nova), and Mr Meares and Captain Oates cooking food for the dogs in May 1911. From the Daily Mirror 1913 there is an article with the tape message which told London the terrible news of the disaster to the Scott expedition.
There are photographs, cartoons and newspaper articles of Suffragettes. There are articles about the war years, an article from the Daily Herald 1953 when Everest was conquered and loads more.
These books are fascinating to look at to see what was happening in the various decades.
More information about the NLS mountaineering and polar collections here.

Peer review

It’s surprising to learn that full sets of the House of Lords sessional papers are quite rare things; our collection is in fact only around 90% complete. A bit of history first: Lords records date from 1497, though these weren’t methodically filed until the 17th century. Printed Lords papers weren’t produced until the 18th century (though the Journal began its printed life in 1767). The disastrous fire of 1834 destroyed the Palace of Westminster, and with it a number of Lords records, though a major part of these were saved by a quick-thinking clerk throwing bundles of them out of a window into the courtyard below!

In the early 70s a project involving the British Museum (now the British Library), Board of Trade, the House of Lords Library, the Treasury, Home Office, Bodleian Library and NLS assembled as many sets of Lords papers as possible. The British Library and the House of Lords Library have complete sets; NLS has around 90%.

It is often assumed that there is little (if anything) in the Lords papers that isn’t in the Commons papers – this is not so. Some material does not feature at all in the Commons papers; for example, peers have always been able to introduce a Bill in the Lords – even if rejected, these records give an interesting insight into the concerns and influences of peers through the years. Commons and Lords can set up separate committees to examine the same subject – the evidence gathered and sources used by each may be quite different. Also, sometimes fuller versions of Commons committees may be published in the Lords papers rather than in the Commons. [1]

So, the moral of this story is, of course, don’t forget about the Lords papers! They are a huge resource, and can help to complete your research.


[1] Mallaber, Kenneth A. The House of Lords sessional papers.