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History of government

Organisations: The National Archives, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street

The Macmillan Diaries

Dr Peter Catterall, 11 December 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers, Prime Ministers and No. 10

Harold Mcmillan

The most detailed and literary diaries of all the occupants of 10 Downing Street were those kept by Harold Macmillan and William Gladstone. There are, however, two significant differences between these prime ministerial diaries. Gladstone kept a diary throughout his …

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Sir Edward Grey: a fitting tribute

Dr Richard Smith, 7 December 2015 — Foreign affairs and diplomacy, Foreign Office Historians

Edward Grey

For almost 80 years the distinguished profile of Sir Edward Grey has looked on as the great and the good have made their way in and out of the ‘Ambassador’s Entrance’ of the Foreign Office. But how did this memorial …

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What’s the context? 1 December 1925: signing the Locarno Treaties

Tara Finn and Dr Luke Gibbon, 1 December 2015 — Foreign affairs and diplomacy, What's the context? series

Left to right: Gustav Stresemann, Austen Chamberlain and Aristide Briand at the Locarno negotiations.
(Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R03618 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons)

1 December 2015 marks the 90th anniversary of the formal signing of the Locarno Treaties at the Foreign Office in London. Named after the town in Switzerland where the treaties had been negotiated a few months earlier, their aim was …

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Frederick John Robinson

Professor Arthur Burns, 12 November 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers

Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich

Frederick John Robinson was the younger son of the 2nd Baron Grantham, and was raised mainly by his mother, the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, after his father died when he was three years old. He was educated …

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Spencer Perceval

Professor Arthur Burns, 28 October 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers, Prime Ministers and No. 10

Spencer Perceval

Spencer Perceval was born in Audley Square, London on 1 November 1762, the second son of the second marriage of the second Earl of Egmont (and so a man of comparatively slender means). He attended Harrow School and then Trinity …

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William Wyndham Grenville (Whig, 1806-1807)

Professor Arthur Burns, 14 October 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers

Image of William Wyndham Grenville Source: Government Art Collection

William Wyndham Grenville was born on 24 October 1759 in Buckinghamshire, the youngest son of an earlier Prime Minister, George Grenville, and cousin of a future one, William Pitt. He studied at Eton, Christ Church Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn, but …

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What’s the context? 12 October 2015: The execution of Edith Cavell

Gill Bennett, 12 October 2015 — First World War, Foreign Office Historians, What's the context? series

Advertisement in Moving Picture World, March 1919 for The Cavell Case

In the early hours of Tuesday, 12 October 1915, Edith Cavell, a British nurse who had been working in Belgium, was executed by the Germans after being found guilty of helping over 200 Allied servicemen escape to England. At her …

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Harold Wilson opens the Post Office Tower

Mark Dunton, 8 October 2015 — Communications, Home affairs, The National Archives

The Post Office Tower, The National Archives, CM 22/195 (40)

When the Post Office Tower was officially opened on 8 October 1965 by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, it was Britain’s tallest building. It was also seen as a symbolising a new, exciting technological revolution and a new spirit of optimism, …

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Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth

Professor Arthur Burns, 1 October 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers, Prime Ministers and No. 10

Henry Addington, 1st Viscount of Sidmouth

Henry Addington, born on 30 May 1757, was eldest son of a successful London physician, Dr Anthony Addington. He passed through Winchester College and other schools on his path to Brasenose College, Oxford, and then Lincoln’s Inn, becoming a barrister …

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William Pitt the Younger (Whig/Tory 1783-1801, 1804-1806)

Professor Arthur Burns, 16 September 2015 — No 10 guest historian series, Past prime ministers

William Pitt (the younger), Government Art Collection

William Pitt (the younger) was born on 28 May 1759 at Hayes Place, Kent, the second son of William Pitt (the elder), later 1st Earl of Chatham and himself Prime Minister. He matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge at the age …

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History of government

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