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History - British — page 10
762 public-domain history - british books, summarised. Page 10 of 16.
The Literary History of the Adelphi and Its Neighbourhood
Austin Brereton
Between the Strand and the River Thames lies a parcel of London ground whose physical architecture mirrors centuries of English artistic, political, and social transformation.
Social Life in England Through the Centuries
H. R. Wilton Hall
A silent, centuries-old hollow in the turf turns out to be an ancient hearth, revealing how the everyday physical spaces of the past shape the modern social landscape.
The Feeding of School Children
M. E. (Mildred Emily) Bulkley
The challenge of ensuring children are nourished enough to learn remains a quiet but urgent social struggle. This study traces the historical transition from indifferent charity to a recognized public responsibility.
The Harwich Naval Forces: Their Part in the Great War
E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight
Nightly sirens pierce the coastal air, driving officers from quiet drawing rooms to the violent, unpredictable waters of the North Sea.
Cornwall
G. E. (Geraldine Edith) Mitton
On the far southwestern tip of England, where battered granite cliffs drop away into the Atlantic, the land feels less like a county and more like the edge of the world.
The Heart of Wessex
Sidney Heath
Rolling chalk downs meet wild, sea-swept cliffs, while ancient Roman foundations lie buried just inches beneath modern pavement. Through quiet Dorset river valleys, history and literary romance merge into a vivid, timeless countryside.
Walpole and Chatham (1714-1760)
Unknown
Eighteenth-century Britain steps out of textbook abstraction and into the vivid, messy arena of contemporary accounts, where ministers scheme in Latin and public panics flare over everything from new taxes to cheap gin.
Mediæval London, Volume 2: Ecclesiastical
Walter Besant
A vast network of churches, monasteries, and religious rites forms the quiet backbone of medieval London's daily civic and spiritual life.
Nooks and Corners of Shropshire
H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill) Timmins
A lone wanderer traverses forgotten borderlands, mapping the quiet corners where ancient stone, timbered manors, and wild hills whisper the enduring secrets of Old England.
The artillerist's manual and British soldier's compendium
F. A. (Frederick Augustus) Griffiths
A comprehensive nineteenth-century military manual detailing artillery management, infantry formations, equipment logistics, and field geometry for Victorian military officers.
A translation of Glanville
Ranulf de Glanville
A sharp system of royal writs, sworn juries, and strict court procedures transforms local custom into the uniform law of an empire.
Explanatory Notes of a Pack of Cavalier Playing Cards, Temp. Charles II.: Forming a Complete Political Satire of the Commonwealth
Edmund Goldsmid
A forgotten deck of Restoration playing cards becomes a razor-sharp window into the bitter political satire of Interregnum England.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 08: Great Rulers
John Lord
A sweeping chronicle of statecraft and ambition, this volume examines how singular individuals have forged nations, reshaped borders, and redirected the flow of European history through sheer force of will.
Scenes and legends of the north of Scotland
Hugh Miller
A masterwork of local observation, these collected writings preserve the disappearing folklore and lived history of a Scottish coastal town. They bridge the gap between the ancient, myth-haunted past and a rapidly industrializing nineteenth-century world.
The Mother of Parliaments
Harry Graham
The history of England's Parliament is the history of the English people, a narrative of evolving governance that remains a source of never-failing interest to those who seek to understand the mechanics of democracy.
The Religious Life of London
J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
Religion is the great moving power of England, a constant force that shapes the habits, laws, and inner lives of its people.
Yorkshire Battles
Edward Lamplough
Yorkshire’s history is a long, blood-stained chronicle of invasion, betrayal, and civil strife. These pages chart the transformation of a northern province through the clash of steel and the shifting loyalties of kings.
A Description of Modern Birmingham: Whereunto Are Annexed Observations Made during an Excursion Round the Town, in the Summer of 1818, Including Warwick and Leamington
Charles Pye
A bustling portrait of a rapidly industrializing English city, this guide offers an intimate, topographical look at Birmingham and its surrounding villages as they stood at the dawn of the nineteenth century.
An Old English Home and Its Dependencies
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
This collection of essays offers a nostalgic, observant, and occasionally opinionated portrait of traditional English village life during the late 19th century. It captures the vanishing customs, architecture, and character of a rural world on the brink of profound transformation.
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution
James MacCaffrey
The religious landscape of the early modern era is a tapestry of shifting allegiances, state-sponsored upheaval, and the struggle for institutional survival. This detailed historical survey chronicles the Catholic Church’s confrontation with the Reformation and the subsequent political revolutions in Europe and the…
King Alfred of England: Makers of History
Jacob Abbott
A legendary monarch rises from the ashes of a war-torn kingdom, transforming from a reckless youth into a disciplined protector of his people. This classic biographical account explores the intersection of personal character, royal duty, and the foundations of a nation.
The British Army from Within
Evelyn Charles Vivian
The British Army stands as a vast, complex machine composed of individual men whose daily lives are defined by rigid discipline, technical mastery, and an enduring, often quiet, camaraderie.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 01 of 12: England, 1066-1087, William I
Raphael Holinshed
The story of a kingdom transformed, this chronicle captures the violent birth of a new era through the eyes of those who witnessed the shifting tides of power. It remains a foundational, if complex, monument of English historical record.
The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII from November MDXXIX, to December MDXXXII
Nicolas, Nicholas Harris, Sir
A king’s life is often recorded in grand monuments and treaties, but his true character reveals itself in the ledger. This meticulously preserved account book offers a rare, granular view of the daily habits, whims, and mounting costs of a monarch at the height of his power.
The Expansion of Europe
Ramsay Muir
This exploration of global history examines how Western political ideas—and the rival conceptions of empire—reshaped the modern world. It offers a structured analysis of the expansion of European powers from the age of discovery to the early twentieth century.
The Hastings Road and the "Happy Springs of Tunbridge"
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
This guide navigates the winding, hilly corridor from London to the Sussex coast, blending historical inquiry with the practical observations of a traveler. It transforms a familiar route into a vivid tapestry of English life and lore.
Source Book of London History, from the earliest times to 1800
Unknown
The story of London is not found in a single narrative, but in the layered documents of those who lived it. This collection offers an unfiltered look at the rise of a city from ancient times to the dawn of the nineteenth century.
What was the Gunpowder Plot? The Traditional Story Tested by Original Evidence
John Gerard
The official history of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot may be a carefully constructed fabrication, designed to secure political power rather than reveal the truth behind a failed conspiracy.
East London
Walter Besant
East London is a sprawling, soot-stained portrait of the Victorian capital’s most misunderstood district, capturing the relentless industry and quiet struggles of the people who powered the world’s greatest city.
The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1
W. (William) Finden
This collection serves as a visual and descriptive survey of the maritime infrastructure and coastal character of Victorian Britain, mapping a nation defined by its commerce, industry, and changing relationship with the sea.
Court Beauties of Old Whitehall: Historiettes of the Restoration
W. R. H. (William Rutherford Hayes) Trowbridge
The Restoration court was a theater of excess, where intrigue and romance defined the rise and fall of its most luminous figures. This collection of biographical sketches explores the lives of eight women whose beauty and ambition shaped the corridors of power at Whitehall.
Some Conditions of Child Life in England
Benjamin Waugh
This is a searing, foundational document from the Victorian era that exposes the systematic abuse of children in England and the institutional apathy that allowed such cruelty to flourish behind closed doors. It serves as both a moral indictment and a practical manifesto for the necessity of organized child protection.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume 10: European Leaders
John Lord
These biographical portraits examine the defining European leaders of the nineteenth century, tracing how their individual characters, ambitions, and political maneuvers shaped the modern continent through reform, unification, and imperial expansion.
Handbook to the Severn Valley Railway: Illustrative and Descriptive of Places along the Line from Worcester to Shrewsbury
John Randall
This guide captures the spirit of a journey by rail through the heart of England’s Severn Valley. It serves as an observant companion for those traveling between the historic cities of Worcester and Shrewsbury.
A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall
S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
This travelogue explores the rugged landscape and deep-rooted folklore of Cornwall, capturing a vanishing world where ancient saints, mining ghosts, and defiant local traditions still haunt the cliffs and moorlands.
Before the War
Haldane, R. B. Haldane (Richard Burdon Haldane), Viscount
The path to the First World War was paved with missed signals and the tragic failure of rational men to control the forces of militarism they themselves helped ignite.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
Various
This collection preserves the intellectual pulse of the mid-nineteenth century, capturing a restless, inquisitive era through a mosaic of travelogues, political polemics, and romantic fiction. It serves as a time capsule of British literary culture and global observation.
Lynton and Lynmouth: A Pageant of Cliff & Moorland
John Presland
This guide invites readers to explore the rugged beauty and deep history of North Devon, blending topographical observation with an evocative sense of the past. It offers a meditative journey through a landscape where ancient stones and modern paths converge.
Inns and Taverns of Old London
Henry C. (Henry Charles) Shelley
This exploration captures the lost heartbeat of London, where the city’s social, intellectual, and political life once flourished within the smoke-filled walls of its legendary taverns and coffee-houses.
The History of the Post Office, from Its Establishment Down to 1836
Herbert Joyce
Administrative machinery rarely inspires narrative drive, yet state-managed correspondence carries the quiet weight of human reliance and political power. Herbert Joyce traces the transformation of the British Post Office from an exclusive royal prerogative into a complex, nationwide public utility.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
Richard Hakluyt
This vast chronicle gathers the scattered accounts of early English adventurers, preserving their peril, their curiosity, and their expansive view of a world newly opening to European eyes.
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
Richard Hakluyt
A vast, sprawling assembly of accounts documenting the early English encounters with the wider world, this collection preserves the raw, adventurous spirit of explorers and travelers who charted the edges of the known map.
A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second
Charles James Fox
A sharp Whig autopsy of absolute power and compliance.
G. H. Q. (Montreuil-Sur-Mer) by "G.S.O."
Frank Fox
Behind the muddy, chaotic horrors of the Western Front stood a quiet French fortress town where a massive administrative engine orchestrated the survival and movement of millions.
Historical Record of the Twelfth, or the East Suffolk, Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1847
Richard Cannon
A single British infantry regiment marches across a century and a half of global history, transforming from a hastily raised force in 1685 into a globe-trotting backbone of the British Empire.
Sketches of the East Africa Campaign
Robert Valentine Dolbey
Men fight and fall under a equatorial sun, but the deadliest enemies in this remote theatre of the Great War are the microscopic organisms in the water and the relentless insects in the air.
Westminster
Walter Besant
Before London became a great metropolis, a marshy island in the Thames was already a thriving center of trade, royal power, and monastic life.
A short history of the Norman Conquest of England
Edward A. (Edward Augustus) Freeman
A sudden influx of foreign ambition transforms an isolated island nation, bending its native customs into the permanent framework of a unified medieval kingdom.