Time Period: 1859-1886
Lady Palmerston (Emily Mary Lamb), 1787-1869
Born on 21 April 1787 in the family’s Piccadilly home, Emily Mary Lamb was the 5th surviving child of Elisabeth Lamb née Milbanke, the wife of the first Viscount Melbourne, but the identity of her natural father is unclear. Emily’s brother, William, the second Viscount Melbourne, described their mother as an ‘excellent wife but not…
Gladstone, the Liberal Party and the impact of North American politics and war, 1855–85
A review of the impact of events outside the UK on Liberal governments
Sefton and Derby: Politics, principle and opportunity
Hugh Gault traces the political careers of two aristocratic neighbours in the late nineteenth century.
John Stuart Mill: A neo-Athenian republican
The influence of the republic of classical Athens on Mill’s thought.
The American Civil War and the British women’s movement
How British women anti-slavery campaigners reacted to the war.
Commerce, conscience and constitutions
An examination of the motives of two Liberals who supported the Confederacy.
‘An undoubted error, the most singular and palpable’
Gladstone and the American Civil War.
John Stuart Mill, moral outrage and the American Civil War
Mill’s contribution to developing Liberal support for the North.
‘The voice of reason’
John Bright and his relationship with the Union during the American Civil War.
Letting someone else have your way
The Palmerston Ministry’s foreign policy and the American Civil War.