British Archives

How Florence Nightingale David saved lives during the Blitz – with statistics

by History Guild | Dec 9, 2024 | Military History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
In 1939, Florence Nightingale David was living in the village of Bledlow in Buckinghamshire, alongside a number of her female academic colleagues at University College London (UCL). This included Eileen Evans, a phonetics lecturer, Elizabeth Bigg-Wither, a lecturer in Italian, and Joyce Townsend, research assistant, secretary, and illustrator to the zoologist DMS Watson. Born in Herefordshire in 1909, David’s parents had been friends with the Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale, who she was named after. She would complete her degree in Mathematics at Bedford College for Women in 1931, and joined UCL as a research assistant in statistics, before completing her doctorate in 1938 and continued her work at the college until 1939.

The Worst Predictions Throughout History

by History Guild | Nov 27, 2024 | Political and Economic History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 9 minutes
It’s often said that predicting the future is like betting against God.

Despite this, humans have always loved to try and predict the future -whether it’s dismissing new technology or predicting the end of the world, throughout history there have been some interesting predictions made.

Some have been correct. Most have not.

And then there are those predictions that are so spectacularly wrong they make you laugh. Collating some of the worst predictions throughout history, here’s the most interesting, the most incorrect, and the most ironic.

The First World War continues: Britain’s dash for Mosul, Iraq, November 1918

by History Guild | Nov 25, 2024 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
After the armistice of 1918, why did the British occupy Mosul, Iraq? Dr John Slight looks at the continued hostilities in the Middle East after the guns fell silent on the Western Front.

The enduring lessons of the Iraq War

by History Guild | Nov 18, 2024 | Military History, Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
The US-led overthrow of the government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq marked the beginning of a series of events that reshaped the strategic environment of the Middle East. It also had enduring consequences for Iraqi society, and for Arab societies and Arab governments beyond its borders. There was no reason to doubt that the military defeat of Iraq could be achieved. But there were larger questions involved—including what a successor regime should look like; whether such a regime, initially established and maintained under US protection, would prove sustainable; and if not, what the consequences would be.

They Shall Not Grow Old poignantly illuminates the human face of the Great War.

by Michael Vecchio | Nov 7, 2024 | Military History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
Although these feelings of remembrance are now used to commemorate the fallen of all global conflict, it was the First World War (1914-1918), or “The War to End all Wars” , that inspired these heartbreakingly eloquent words and forever enshrined the memory of a lost generation for all time; with this spirit of remembrance and in further recognition of the 1918 Armistice comes director Peter Jackson’s, They Shall Not Grow Old, a striking, immersive and emotionally powerful documentary feature unlike anything ever seen before.

Why we don’t hear about the 10,000 French deaths at Gallipoli

by History Guild | Nov 6, 2024 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
With almost the same number of soldiers as the Anzacs – 79,000 – and similar death rates – close on 10,000 – French participation in the Gallipoli campaign could not occupy a more different place in national memory. What became a foundation myth in Australia as it also did in the Turkish Republic after 1923 was eventually forgotten in France.

The Hiberno-Scottish Missions and the Roots of the Early Christian Church

by Michael Vecchio | Nov 4, 2024 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
A series of missions that spanned the 6th to 8th centuries would emerge as one of the most crucial periods for early Christianity in establishing its footing in the British Isles.

What is the History of Diwali?

by History Guild | Oct 21, 2024 | Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 4 minutes
Diwali is a festival of lights and celebrates the triumph of light over darkness – but where does this stem from? Suzanne Newcombe looks at the religious festival’s origins in this article.

Australian pilots in the fight for control over the Mediterranean

by History Guild | Oct 3, 2024 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 11 minutes
The Siege of Malta, a two-year ordeal of bombs, heat and dust, was one of the most important battles of the Mediterranean theatre in World War Two. Few of the victories in North Africa and Italy would have been possible had the island fallen to the Axis. In this article, we let Australian pilots who defended Malta tell their stories.

Where are All the Medals? Racial Bias in Military Bravery Awards

by History Guild | Sep 26, 2024 | Military History | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
For service or for gallantry, almost all modern militaries – especially Western militaries, have issued war medals for a very long time.
But who decides who gets these medals and awards, and how?

Recent examination has brought to light a distinct lack of minority soldiers within Western militaries winning bravery awards, across many different countries, all throughout the 20th century and beyond.

The legacy of Empire: The Bengal Famine

by History Guild | Sep 23, 2024 | Military History, Political and Economic History | 0

Reading time: 4 minutes
One of the motivations of The Things We Forgot To Remember is as an answer to the question “Why study history?” There are a lot of answers to this, but one important reason is that people are already talking about history, and sometimes, they have got it seriously wrong. One example of this is the widespread ignorance of the Bengal famine. For me, the ‘killer facts’ about the Bengal famine are straightforward. In 1941, when the Battle of the Atlantic was at its height, Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet considered the question of relative priority to give to imports of food, raw materials, and munitions.

The Origins of the Commons in Britain

by History Guild | Sep 19, 2024 | Political and Economic History, Social and Cultural History | 0

Reading time: 8 minutes
Walking around any British town or village today, it’s difficult to imagine that land might not once have been private. But this was not always the case – for centuries, landless people could access common lands and forests. There they could gather firewood, graze livestock, or grow small crops.

Tag: British