Category Archives: history

Parliamentary Documents on Slavery and the Slave Trade

In the course of researching ‘slave codes’ in the British empire, I came across mention of a five volume set named ‘Parliamentary Documents on Slavery and the Slave Trade.’ It was digitized by the University of Georgia, U.S.A., sometime around … Continue reading

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Making the TCP texts accessible, part 3: An Index

I have previously posted about the vast collection of early printed texts released by the Text Creation Partnership. To recap: the TCP have released vast numbers of early modern, eighteenth century texts. But they are not easily discoverable or downloadable. … Continue reading

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Making the TCP texts accessible, part 2 [Updated]

Nearly five years ago, I uploaded over two thousand eighteenth century works in plain text from ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collection Online) to the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Datahub. Unfortunately, in a recent server migration, the texts disappeared from that repository; I … Continue reading

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The United Suffragists’ Women’s Club in Borough Road, 1915.

For International Women’s Day, my second post on the radical history of Southwark is on the United Suffragists’ Women’s Club during the First World War. The United Suffragists were formed in early 1914 by those disenchanted with the direction of … Continue reading

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The Austrian Butcher visits Southwark

In preparation for leading a history walk round Southwark sometime later this year, centred on my work on debtors’ prisons and sanctuaries, I have been assembling material on other aspects of the Borough’s radical history. As well as walking these … Continue reading

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Records and Music

A piece of urban history recently uncovered by the remorseless redevelopment of Dalston is this old shop hoarding, ‘Records and Music.’ A search on Google Books for 52 Stoke Newington Road reveals it was the headquarters of Sci Fi promoter … Continue reading

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Radical Hackney after World War One

Spurred on by the great Radical Hackney History blog, I’ve dug out some digital press clippings on radical movements in my home borough after the first world war. The first covers an early instance of squatting, when unemployed workers unoccupied … Continue reading

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Stella and Fanny

Following the unveiling of the plaque to Herzen (see it on open plaques) in Judd Street last month, the Marchmont Association have just installed another round the corner in Wakefield Street, commemorating the Victorian cross-dressers Boulton and Park, a.k.a. Stella … Continue reading

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Gorilla in the Roses: The Collages of Halliwell and Orton

“On the frontispiece a picture of a monkey’s head had been pasted in the middle of a rose.” “On the front, where there should be pictures of eminent persons, there are the faces of cats and a bird has been … Continue reading

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The Clerkenwell House of Detention

The recent Clerkenwell Design Week offered a rare chance to visit the vaults of the Clerkenwell House Of Detention, opened up to host an exhibition. These cellars are all that remain of the 1847 prison, demolished at the end of … Continue reading

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