Britain

Byron’s love affair with bare-knuckle boxing was shared by many of his fellow Romantics, who celebrated this most brutal of sports in verse. John Strachan examines an unlikely match.

Richard Willis charts how order was brought to the medical profession by the foundation of the General Medical Council 150 years ago.

By positioning him firmly within the changing context of his times, Lucy Wooding sees coherence in Henry VIII’s religious policies.

Graham Goodlad assesses the conduct of British foreign policy in the era of the Congress system.

York Membery looks back to the crunch 1920s election which saw the party of Gladstone narrowly pushed into third place – a position from which it has never recovered.

Frances Borzello seeks to explain the rise of women’s clubs in London before the First World War – and their equally swift demise.

At the end of the First World War, the British monarchy sought to strengthen bonds across the English-speaking world. Frank Prochaska discusses the ambassadorial role played by Edward, Prince of Wales, in the United States.

Mark Bryant examines the wartime work of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, creator of the famous ‘Old Bill’ character.

Richard Wilkinson recreates the contest that marked, and marred, the British war effort in 1914-18.