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Caroline Shenton

archivist, historian and writer

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Parliamentary History

Just Arrived

27 June 2012 By Caroline Shenton

Just Arrived

As a friend who is a special collections librarian commented, “First edition, first issue in first state dust-jacket”.

Filed Under: Old Palace of Westminster, Parliamentary History, Publishing the Book, The 1834 Fire

Dickens and Parliament

15 June 2012 By Caroline Shenton

Earlier this week I gave a micro-lecture at an event to celebrate Dickens’ connections with Parliament, and I reproduce some of it here. Having had an indifferent education up to 12 and then famously being put to work in a boot-blacking factory by his feckless and Micawber-like father, Dickens joined a solicitor’s office at the […]

Filed Under: Historic Westminster, Old Palace of Westminster, Parliamentary History, The 1834 Fire

16 October 1834 in a Word Cloud

2 June 2012 By Caroline Shenton

This is what happened when I put the whole text of The Day Parliament Burned Down into Wordle!  Click to enlarge…

Filed Under: Parliamentary History, Publicising the Book, The 1834 Fire

A Follow-up to Spencer Perceval’s Death-Table

26 May 2012 By Caroline Shenton

My blogpost of 11 May 2012, which sparked a lot of interest, needs an update – especially in relation to my speculation that it may have been the Commons Chamber table between 1730-1800. In thinking about the comments to that posting, I had forgotten that Phillis M. Rogers, Curator of Works of Art at the […]

Filed Under: Old Palace of Westminster, Parliamentary History

The Table Spencer Perceval Didn’t Die On

11 May 2012 By Caroline Shenton

The Table Spencer Perceval Didn’t Die On

Today is the 200th anniversary of the day when the British Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons. He was shot at 5.15pm at point blank range on 11 May 1812, by John Bellingham, a deranged shipping agent driven mad by his attempts to get the government to […]

Filed Under: Old Palace of Westminster, Parliamentary History, The 1834 Fire

Parliament and the Portcullis

3 May 2012 By Caroline Shenton

Parliament and the Portcullis

The use of the Portcullis as a specifically Parliamentary symbol is not a particularly ancient one.  In fact it dates from the building of the new Palace of Westminster the 19th century.  The genius of Charles Barry’s design for the west front of the Palace (below right) was – among other things – to match it to […]

Filed Under: Historic Westminster, Parliamentary History

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About Caroline

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. Read More…

Recent Posts

  • The Silence of the Bells
  • Petitions against the new Houses of Parliament
  • A Westminster Boy Made Good
  • Rebuilding Parliament: Victorian Lessons Learned
  • Publication Day!

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