Tests

Post 1754 Marriage Registers

Hardwicke's Marriage Act 1754

Post 1754 marriage registers following Hardwickes Act of the same year give a wealth of information for the family and local historian. Details of the bride and groom are obvious but who were the witnesses and what was their relationship to the couple?

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John Wilkinson Ironmaster

John Wilkinson
This entry is part [part not set] of 14 in the series Industrial Revolution

John Wilkinson was the ‘Ironmaster’ of the industrial revolution Iron  ran through the veins of John Wilkinson, who was fortunate enough to be born into the heart of the industrial revolution, both literally and figuratively. He was born in 1728, the son of Isaac Wilkinson. He worked in the iron industry at a blast furnace…

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George Duke of Clarence

Clarences had three children Edward Margaret and Richard
This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series House of York

George Duke of Clarence may have been the only legitimate heir in the House of York he married the Kingmaker’s daughter what happened to their children? Margaret of York, Edward Plantagenet and Richard of York were born to rank and privilege but how would their lives stand-up to the brutal times of the War of the Roses?

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Secrets of Great British Castles

Dover castle King John Rebel Wars Thomas Beckett and henry II
This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Great castles and Fortresses

Great British Castles kicks-off in Episode 1 narrated and presented by Dan Jones, there are some intriguing connections to explore but see the flyover video and you will see the series looks set to provide some insights to some impressive historic fortresses. Catch our links to Dover and its historical context but whatever you do don’t miss the series.

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Education Act 1902

education acts

The act that provided for the provision of LEA Local Education Authority system and was also a catlyst in encouraging the development of Higher Education.

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Appeasement as Pragmatic Policy

Appeasement Policy, why did it have any credibility in Neville Chamberlain’s eyes? Could he really believe Hitler wanted peace and when it did unravel was he really surprised and ill-prepared? Would Churchill have handled this period any better and with the position Britain found itself in at that particular point could Churchill really have fared any better by outright confrontation before 3rd Sept 1939?

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Neville Chamberlain Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain made an error of judgement it is offten argued in seeking a path of appeasement and in particular by seeking to sacrifice other smaller countries in negotiations with Hitler i order to seek to avoid entangling Britain in a further costly war both in human and economic terms that it was currently ill-equipped to fight whilst still recovering from WW1 and the difficult period between the wars that had been book-ended by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the Depression of the early 1930s. In this series we ask questions of wider Britain and its easy criticism of Chamberlain, who was damned for a short period of a career that had largely bee dedicated to public service. But was he individually to blame or part of a wider political history of Britain which wrongly and rashly seeks to attribute blame to a single man, even the Prime Minister. The outcome of war with Hitler may not have changed irrespective of Chamberlain’s actions but would we have been better prepared and avoided some of the early errors in WW2 when Britain as a nation was so ill-prepared for war?

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Parliament Act 1911

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Constitutional Crisis 1909-1911

The Barons finally give way to democracy and yield their right of veto against democratically approved laws voted on and approved in the House of Commons. An Act of Parliament settles a bitter dispute from the 1909 Peoples Budget and a vital principle that had taken hundreds of years to establish.

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Arthur James Balfour Prime Minister 1902-1905

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series British Prime Ministers

Arthur James Balfour was a Prime Minister cut from the old aristocratic mould, an intelligent man who perhaps lacked emotional intelligence to match. Educated at Eton and Cambridge, nephew of Lord Salisbury, his mother’s brother. He would serve in coalition during WWI alongside Lloyd George more than strange bed-fellows. It was then that his now infamous Balfour Declaration would be declared and continues to cited as the root cause of the troubles between the Arab and Zionist causes in Palestine. and modern Israel. Unsuccessful Prime Ministers can be even more important it would seem than those that succeed and the failures may also be greatest when they are no longer in the top job.

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