This year, 2023, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks in Essex on 22 June 1948. The ship brought around 500 people from Jamaica and Trinidad to the UK. Many of the new arrivals were employed in state services such as the NHS and public transport filling post-war employmentContinue reading “The Windrush Generation, Seventy-five Years on – 1948-2023: Caribbean Immigrants to Britain; Policy, Music & Culture”
Category Archives: tobacco
What is the ‘Juneteenth’ Celebration? – A Briefing for Students & Teachers of Black (African-American) History.
Ten Key Questions: Why was Juneteenth celebrated? Where did most slaves work before the Civil War? Between 1865 and 1954, how were the lives of black people in the South different from those in the North? Why was Dr King so important in the fight for civil rights? How was Martin Luther King killed inContinue reading “What is the ‘Juneteenth’ Celebration? – A Briefing for Students & Teachers of Black (African-American) History.”
The Civil Wars and Local Communities in England, 1642-47: Documents, Debates and Case Studies from Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Wiltshire.
National, Regional & Local Narratives: Local history has provided one of the most fruitful areas of study for historians researching the English Civil Wars in recent decades. Whereas earlier historians had tended to concentrate on presenting a chronological narrative of military events in the locality, more recent authors, stimulated by the wealth of source materialContinue reading “The Civil Wars and Local Communities in England, 1642-47: Documents, Debates and Case Studies from Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Wiltshire.”
Four Hundred Years Ago: The Birth of a ‘New England’ – Trans-Atlantic Separatists & the Language of Dissent.
‘The Ship they called the Mayflower‘: The 16th September 2020 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the departure of the ship, Mayflower, from Plymouth Sound in Devon, England. The ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ were drawn from the Puritan separatists who had set up illegal churches in Lincolnshire and other parts of East Anglia. Threatened with fines and/orContinue reading “Four Hundred Years Ago: The Birth of a ‘New England’ – Trans-Atlantic Separatists & the Language of Dissent.”
Imperial Islands, Caribbean Englishes & Atlantic Economies, circa 1630-1980
‘Little England’ & ‘Pidgin’ English: Some interpretations of Britain’s imperial past have charged the ‘White British’ with using the Caribbean islands in general and Barbados in particular as a ‘dumping ground’ for Black slaves. In fact, the first settlers there were White Catholics, according to the Jesuit priest who met them in 1634, both IrishContinue reading “Imperial Islands, Caribbean Englishes & Atlantic Economies, circa 1630-1980”
375 Years Ago: The Civil War in the West, July-September 1645 – From the Battle of Langport to the Fall of Bristol.
Lanes to Langport: While the King camped out at Raglan Castle at the beginning of July, to the north of the main ongoing conflict, Royalist troops under Lord Byron were attempting to hold their own at Chester, and in the south-west Lord Goring, continuing to command the King’s army there, was attempting to fight hisContinue reading “375 Years Ago: The Civil War in the West, July-September 1645 – From the Battle of Langport to the Fall of Bristol.”
Empire, Slavery & Reform; 1783-1858: Black Lives & ‘White’ Colonies.
Britain in the World of 1783 – The Economic Advantages of Empire: In the course of the eighteenth century, Britain became the most prosperous trading nation in the world. Her most serious commercial rival was France. At the beginning of the century both countries held possessions in North America, the West Indies and controlled tradingContinue reading “Empire, Slavery & Reform; 1783-1858: Black Lives & ‘White’ Colonies.”
Bristol, Colston and Colonial Trade, 1580-1780
Foreground: The ‘Drowning’ of Edward Colston, 2020 The heart-breaking, public and blatant murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020 has fuelled a storm of protests across the world. ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests have broken out across Britain and other European countries, where the reckoning has reopened questions about the legacies ofContinue reading “Bristol, Colston and Colonial Trade, 1580-1780”
Andrew James 