Power, Poverty and Pestilence: Exploring the Victorian Age (updated for 2020)
This updated 10-week evening course, run through Oxford University’s Continuing Education Department, will be starting in October 2020. Further information is below... Read More
John MacGregor (‘Rob Roy’): Explorer, Philanthropist and Sportsman (1825-1892)
Throughout the ages there have been pioneering individuals who have been prepared to risk life and limb to reach uncharted parts of... Read More
Out now: Updated (2017) version of Pleasure Boating
A new edition (reprint) of Pleasure Boating on the Thames is out now. Besides being a thicker tome, thanks to it being... Read More
The Great Exhibition of 1851
We live in an age when superlatives are often bandied about to describe almost anything, but if any event in the nineteenth... Read More
Did Queen Victoria save the monarchy?
Queen Victoria had such an immense impact on British history that we sometimes forget that she rose to the throne at a... Read More
Oxford, the Thames and leisure: updated thoughts (August 2016)
This month (August 2016) my doctoral thesis (‘Oxford, the Thames and Leisure: a History of Salter Bros, 1858 – 2010‘) is finally... Read More
The history of May Morning
There are many traditions associated with Oxford, but one of the best-known and much-loved annual events is May Morning. The festival occurs... Read More
Recommended online resources for Victorian history
You can learn a lot about Victorian history from the many online resources that are available. Below is a short list of... Read More
A Victorian Christmas: the history of festive traditions
Back in 2015, Queen Elizabeth described in her Christmas message how the Christmas tree had been popularised by her great-great-grandparents, Queen Victoria... Read More
Invented traditions of Oxford
E. J. Hobsbawm and T. O. Ranger popularised the term ‘invented tradition‘ to describe practices that are relatively recent and yet are... Read More