Victorian

Henry Bashford traces the development of a key aspect of modern medicine.

Long excluded from public business, King Edward showed, when he came to the throne, a remarkable grasp of foreign affairs. He was, as A.P. Ryan says, “a good European and a lover of peace.”

M.G. Brock surveys the political landscape in Britain in 1837.

Gillian Tindall reflects on a recent discovery by a Dickens scholar, which offers new insights into the great writer’s early years.

William Huskisson was the first person to die in a railway accident.

In recent years the reputation of Mary Seacole as a pioneering nurse of the Crimean War has been elevated far beyond the bounds of her own ambition. Meanwhile that of Florence Nightingale has taken an undeserved knocking, as Lynn McDonald explains.

England has been conflated with Britain for so long that unravelling English history from that of its Celtic neighbours is a difficult task. Paul Lay considers recent histories of England and its people.

The wars of 1839-42 and 1856-60 are a perfect case study of the divergence of opinion that the British Empire continues to generate.

The pioneer of English travel writing was born on June 7th, 1662.