Political

Old Sarum

A classic example of the pre-Reform Act ‘pocket borough’, L.W. Cowie describes how the uninhabited Salisbury town of Old Sarum did not lose its Parliamentary privileges until 1832.

More’s House in Chelsea

Thomas More and his family moved into his ‘Great House’ in Chelsea in 1518. L.W. Cowie describes their life there, until More's arrest in 1534.

Horatio Gates, George Washington’s Rival

Horatio Gates, the victor of Saratoga, had military designs that went unfulfilled, writes Max M. Mintz; both to invade Canada and displace Washington as Continental Commander. 

Horace Greeley, 1811-1872

Louis C. Kleber profiles the Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1872; a self-made man who combined lofty ideals with many eccentric prejudices.

Gilbert Burnet: Bishop and Historian

The author of the History of My Own Time was both a keen churchman and a compulsive writer. Mary Delorme describes how Burnet's style, whether graphic, humorous or pompous, was usually as free and expansive as the historian himself.

George Smith of Coalville

During the Victorian Age, writes Courtney Dainton, when many social reformers came from the upper classes, Smith was a philanthropist who had himself experienced the hardships of the very poor.