Britain

Otto von Bismarck on a seesaw balancing global powers, by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler, 1886. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

Bismarck’s Britain

The German chancellor Otto von Bismarck saw himself as a puppet-master, engineering British politics from afar in his feud with Gladstone.

‘The Church Militant’, by John Collet, 1779. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. Public Domain.

‘The Crisis of Colonial Anglicanism’ by Martyn Percy review

The Crisis of Colonial Anglicanism: Empire, Slavery and Revolt in the Church of England by Martyn Percy takes the British Empire’s church militant to task. Is there a case to answer?

A stud merino ram, Boonoke, New South Wales, 1930s. State Library of New South Wales. Public Domain.

Wool Aliens of the British Empire

From imported plant species to water pollution, Britain’s 19th century wool trade transformed the world.

Stone head of a man wearing a cap or helmet, found in Yorkshire, c. 2nd-3rd century. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The Celts: A Modern History’ by Ian Stewart review

Historians may no longer talk of a single Celtic culture, but in The Celts: A Modern History Ian Stewart crafts a unified history of a changing idea.

King Lewanika wearing the Victorian ambassador’s court uniform he wore to Edward VII’s coronation, 1902. Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery & Museums Collection).

The African King at Edward VII’s Coronation

King Lewanika’s invitation to the coronation of Edward VII was intended to stabilise British relations with the Barotse nation. Instead, it exposed the cracks in the imperial veneer.

A hypnotist using the ‘animal magnetism’ method, engraving after Daniel Dodd, 1802. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Pain Management before Anaesthetics

Surgeons trying to eliminate pain eventually arrived at anaesthesia – but not before a contest with older, more unusual therapies. Why was mesmerism so magnetic?

A large-scale artwork by contemporary artists The Singh Twins paying homage to their father’s migration journey, from the Migration Museum’s All Our Stories exhibition. © Artwork: The Singh Twins.

‘This Land of Promise’ and ‘Multicultural Britain’ review

This Land of Promise: A History of Refugees and Exiles in Britain by Matthew Lockwood and Multicultural Britain: A People’s History by Kieran Connell foreground the castaways in our island story.