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Celebrate International Women’s Day with historical heroine Elizabeth Garrett...
In honour of International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate one of the most inspirational women of the nineteenth century – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Elizabeth Garrett was born in Whitechapel in 1836,...
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How to get admitted to a Victorian Lunatic Asylum
With criteria like these, it looks the Victorians thought everyone was mad! But who decided if a person was mad or not? And just how did you end up in a Victorian asylum? The answer is – it depends...
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News: genealogy and gin
I have an article out in the June issue of Family Tree Magazine, all about eighteenth century hospital records, specifically maternity records, and how to use them in genealogy research. It’s a great...
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Heroes of History: Thomas Wakley
Have you ever gone to hospital for an operation and wondered whether your surgeon had any kind of training? Ever wondered whether your baby’s food is poisonous? Ever wondered whether coroners actually...
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Heroes of history: Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale, like Thomas Wakley, is a great medical hero, but not someone I’d invite to a dinner party. Florence Nightingale c1856 Nightingale was born into an upper-class family in 1820. Her...
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La Rentre: Ten books about the Victorians
We’re now well and truly into September, the nights are drawing in and it’s starting to feel a little autumnal. As the French would say, it’s la rentree – that time of year forever associated with...
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Archives and History News: October 2014
On Thursday 30th October you can come to the Natural History Museum and hear me give a talk on Piltdown man – the greatest scientific hoax in history! In 1912 scientists at the Natural History Museum...
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Sherlock Holmes at the Museum of London
Exhibitions at the Museum of London are always beautifully designed, and Sherlock Holmes: the man who never lived and will never die is no different. You sneak in through a secret door embedded into a...
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Happy Halloween: Should we bring back Victorian mourning rituals?
Funerals aren’t what they used to be. Twenty-first century funerals have sealed coffins, pop songs – Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ and Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ are two of the most popular – and a...
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Here’s another piece I wrote during my Arvon creative writing week for history writers. I’ve taken some old research and done something new with it. The aim of this piece was to be present in the text...
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