Sketch for a painting by William Hogarth of the committee that investigated malpractice in the Fleet prison in 1729, chaired by James Oglethorpe. The Committee’s report led to the release of...
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An engraving by caricaturist George Cruikshank showing the supposed effect of giving women the vote. Sir Charles Darling, the attractive ’ladies candidate’, is receiving all of the attention; the...
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Sir George Hayter’s painting of the proceedings on the bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline in the House of Lords in 1820, the method used to secure a divorce between her and King...
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A French engraving published in 1719 supposedly showing Parliament in session, with Queen Anne presiding, in the early eighteenth century. The topographical detail is entirely inaccurate.
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This picture by the Austrian painter Karl Anton Hickel shows Prime Minister William Pitt speaking to the House in 1793, close to the outbreak of the French revolutionary wars. The chamber is the...
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Front block researchv2
Click here to access the published text of the HOP series on the House of Commons: 1386-1421, 1509-58, 1558-1603, 1660-90, 1690-1715, 1715-54, 1754-90, 1790-1820.
Front block explore v2
Click here to discover more about the major events in the history of the British Parliament and to read newly written articles on a wide range of important related topics.
Front block discover v2
Click here to see a gallery of all the historical illustrations on the History of Parliament website, and to view larger versions and find out further information about each picture.
Using the History of Parliament
Featured Articles
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Professor Chris Kyle, from Syracuse University, explains how close people could get to Parliament in the seventeenth century.
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Fast sermons were preached to Parliament by prominent clergymen on pre-arranged occasions. They provided opportunities to promote unity, galvanise Members into action and steer them towards particular policies. Usually published by request and with official authority, they also reflected...
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In the 1760s the mock election at Garrat, which had originated in the late seventeenth century, changed from being a harmless carnival to being a theatre of radical politics. Thereafter, the mock election mimicked national politics, with the issues of the day being raised and the most popular...
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The order of the Royal Oak (or knight of the Royal Oak) was a new order of knighthood planned during the early part of Charles II’s reign as a reward to royalist supporters, but it was never actually instituted. Knowledge of the proposal derives from a list of 675 gentry who were to be members or...
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The duke of Cambridge was the English title bestowed in 1706 on George Augustus, the electoral prince of Hanover (and future British king, George II). Although the prince did not actually set foot on British soil until his arrival with his father in September 1714, his name was frequently at...
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The History of Parliament Trust's Henry Miller examines the huge growth in petitions to Parliament from members of the public in the nineteenth century, and how the House of Commons had to change its procedures to avoid public business collapsing from the strain.
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Featured Member Biographies
"The rise of ’interests’ and classes can be traced through the personnel of the House of Commons, the forms of English gregarious existence can be studied, the social structure of England is reflected in it, the presence or decay of independent political life in boroughs and counties can be watched in the representation"
Lewis Namier is generally seen as the strongest intellectual influence on the History of Parliament. He was editor of the first volumes of the History to be published, in 1964, although they appeared shortly after his death.
"The man who steps into the English Parliament takes his place in a pageant that has ever been filing by since the birth of English History"
The origins of the History of Parliament
The History of Parliament was originally conceived by Josiah Wedgwood (1872-1942), MP for Newcastle-Under-Lyme in Staffordshire from 1906, and a Minister in the Ramsay Macdonald Government of 1924.
