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History - British — page 13
762 public-domain history - british books, summarised. Page 13 of 16.
A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany-Bay
Watkin Tench
A British marine officer details the 1787 voyage of the First Fleet and the fragile establishment of the first European penal settlement in Australia.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 1 of 6, slice 7 of 9. England, early history
Raphael Holinshed
An ambitious chronicle traces the fragmentation and unification of early England, where pious kings, warring factions, and invading Danes fight for the island's future.
Index Expurgatorius Anglicanus
W. H. (William Henry) Hart
A record of condemned words reveals the boundary lines where English authority once crushed dangerous ideas, punished print, and enforced conformity.
Musketry (.303 and .22 cartridges): Elementary training, visual training, judging distance, fire discipline, range practices, field practices
Unknown
Mastering the service rifle requires a precise understanding of physics, rigorous discipline, and a shared language that transforms individual marksmen into a cohesive unit.
Old times
John Ashton
A meticulous assembly of newspaper extracts captures late-eighteenth-century English life through its everyday gossip, street crimes, political anxieties, and fleeting fashions.
Specimens of British Trench Orders
Army War College (U.S.)
Behind the cold mechanics of military administration lies a raw, meticulous portrait of human survival in the mud of the Western Front.
The Story of the Munsters at Etreux, Festubert, Rue du Bois and Hulloch
Jessie Louisa Moore Rickard
Four bloody engagements on the Western Front transform an eager Irish battalion into a decimated, enduring force, bound together by fierce devotion, shared faith, and tragic sacrifice.
The Curious Case of Lady Purbeck: A Scandal of the XVIIth Century
Thomas Longueville
Forced as a young girl into a loveless match by political ambition, an English noblewoman spends decades evading royal decrees, imprisonment, and accusations of sorcery to claim her own life.
Notes and Queries, Number 55, November 16, 1850
Various
An extraordinary mosaic of nineteenth-century curiosity, this single issue of an iconic antiquarian journal captures the British mind at work—arguing over Shakespearean verse, tracing ancient folklore, and debating the precise origin of forgotten regional slang.
Our Sailors: Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign
William Henry Giles Kingston
Bound to the sea by duty and daring, a nineteenth-century fleet carries its sailors into remote rivers, arctic icefields, and desert sands. They risk everything not for easy glory, but out of sheer habit of mind.
Celebrated naval and military trials
Peter Burke
When authority is pushed to its limits, the courtroom becomes a battleground where military discipline, personal ambition, and national honor collide.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442: Volume 17, New Series, June 19, 1852
Various
A vibrant cross-section of mid-nineteenth-century intellectual life, this weekly journal captures a culture eagerly measuring its physical world, recording its past, and debating its daily habits.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 08 of 12: England, 1216-1272, Henry III
Raphael Holinshed
A young boy inherits a realm torn by rebellion, initiating a fifty-six-year struggle between absolute royal privilege, papacy demands, and the rising power of English barons.
Selections from the Observator (1681-1687)
L'Estrange, Roger, Sir
When a nation fractures, words become weapons, and the printing press transforms into the primary battleground for the soul of the state.
The Great Revival of the Eighteenth Century: With a supplemental chapter on the revival in America
Edwin Paxton Hood
Eighteenth-century England sits frozen in moral decay, its churches dormant and its public life cynical, until a spontaneous spiritual lightning bolt strikes the nation from the field, the inn, and the university.
A Georgian Pageant
Frank Frankfort Moore
A vivid portrayal of 18th-century British society, blending biography, social history, and dramatic narratives of love, scandal, and intrigue.
Lives of Famous London Beggars: With Forty Portraits of the Most Remarkable
John Thomas Smith
Driven by an antiquarian’s sharp eye and an artist’s sketchpad, this chronicle walks the cobblestones of Regency London to document the vanishing subculture of street mendicants before parish workhouses and Parliamentary crackdowns sweep them away forever.
Mediæval London
William Benham
The grand, crowded evolution of a capital emerges through its stone fortresses, bustling trade markets, and solemn cathedral precincts.
Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land: With a Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration, and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America
W. C. (William Charles) Wentworth
A native son’s fiery blueprint for Australia’s future demands that Britain transform a brutal penal colony into a self-governing empire of free enterprise.
Voyages in Search of the North-West Passage
Richard Hakluyt
Desperate Elizabethan mariners confront treacherous polar ice, sudden sea storms, and unknown native encounters in their quest for a northern trade route to Asia.
London in 1731
Gonzales, Manoel, Don
A methodical walk through eighteenth-century London reveals a sprawling metropolis governed by precise civic rules, ancient institutions, and relentless commercial drive.
Pearse's Commercial Directory to Swansea and the Neighbourhood, for 1854
Ebenezer Pearse
A meticulous mid-nineteenth-century survey of a Welsh port, this volume captures the bustling commerce, infrastructure, and social organization of a town on the cusp of industrial expansion.
South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 8 (of 8): South Africa and Its Future
Unknown
This collection of expert perspectives serves as a strategic blueprint for the reconstruction of South Africa following the conclusion of the Boer War. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the political, economic, and social challenges facing the region at the dawn of the twentieth century.
The Story of the Guides
G. J. (George John) Younghusband
This history recounts the formation and legendary exploits of the Queen’s Own Corps of Guides, a unique frontier regiment defined by its independence, local expertise, and endurance in the face of impossible odds.
Afghanistan and the Anglo-Russian Dispute
Theophilus F. (Theophilus Francis) Rodenbough
The Great Game looms over the nineteenth century, as two empires collide in the rugged, unforgiving valleys of Central Asia. The shadow of a Russian advance creates a desperate, high-stakes countdown for British India.
History of Llangollen and Its Vicinity: Including a Circuit of About Seven Miles
W. T. (Wilfrid Tord) Simpson
This guide serves as a nostalgic and informative survey of a picturesque Welsh border town, blending local geography, historical lore, and personal observation into a compact travelogue. It offers an evocative portrait of Llangollen and its immediate surroundings for the curious traveler.
Native Races and the War
Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler
This work examines the roots of the South African War, arguing that the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and the persistence of slavery under Boer rule were the primary, ignored causes of the conflict.
The Celtic Magazine, Vol I, No. IV, February 1876: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and Material Interest of the Celt at Home and Abroad
Various
This periodical acts as a vital bridge between the past and present for the nineteenth-century Celt, documenting the fading traditions and shifting landscapes of a culture at a crossroads. It serves as an archive for a people navigating the tension between their ancestral heritage and the pressures of modern life.
The Trial of Henry Hetherington, on an Indictment for Blasphemy
H. (Henry) Hetherington
A determined bookseller stands before a special jury to defend his right to circulate radical ideas, turning a criminal trial for blasphemy into a public critique of state-enforced religious orthodoxy.
The Insurrection in Dublin
James Stephens
A civilian observer records the unfolding chaos of the 1916 Easter Rising, capturing the surreal tension of a city suddenly at war with itself.
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, Volume 2 (of 4)
Horace Walpole
The shifting loyalties and bitter political rivalries of the mid-eighteenth century define this sharp, insider account of a young king’s struggle to manage a volatile government and a rapidly expanding empire.
Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 1 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte
Hamilton, Anne, Lady
Behind the gilded facade of the British monarchy lies a dark narrative of political intrigue, systemic corruption, and the systematic destruction of a royal consort.
The Eton College hunt
Anthony Crommelin Crossley
HOOK This history captures the enduring camaraderie and physical discipline of the Eton College Hunt, tracking sixty-four years of beagle packs and the young huntsmen who led them across the fields of Dorney and Datchet.
The Irish at the Front
Michael MacDonagh
Thousands of Irish soldiers faced the crucible of the Great War, their courage documented in real-time through letters from the front and the accounts of those they served alongside. This account records the mobilization and sacrifice of these men, seeking to preserve the memory of their service in the early years…
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 09 of 12: England, 1272-1307, Edward I
Raphael Holinshed
This sweeping history chronicles the reign of Edward I, a monarch defined by unrelenting territorial ambition, institutional reform, and the brutal consolidation of the English state. It provides a foundational account of late thirteenth-century power, law, and conquest.
The Tryal of William Penn & William Mead for Causing a Tumult: at the Sessions Held at the Old Bailey in London the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 5th of September 1670
Unknown
A courtroom drama of conscience, this account captures the collision between a defiant defendant and a tyrannical bench, setting a foundational precedent for the independence of the jury.
Fields of Victory
Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
This historical account provides a firsthand, observational record of the Western Front immediately following the 1918 Armistice, grounding the monumental scale of the Great War in the strategic decisions and human endurance of those who saw it through.
Half hours on the quarter-deck: The Spanish Armada to Sir Cloudesley Shovel 1670
Anonymous
This collection of naval accounts chronicles the rise of British maritime power, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the late seventeenth century. It serves as a stirring testament to the endurance of England’s early sailors.
The Heroic Record of the British Navy: A Short History of the Naval War, 1914-1918
Bashford, H. H. (Henry Howarth), Sir
The British Navy emerges from the crucible of the Great War as the essential guardian of world progress, its resilience and evolving technology proving decisive in the preservation of the democratic order.
The Powers of Europe and Fall of Sebastopol
A British officer
A sweeping military history of the 19th century, this account traces the rise of Napoleon and the shifting alliances of Europe to explain the origins and brutal reality of the Crimean War.
England's effort
Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
This account serves as a stirring testament to the resilience of a nation, documenting how a society completely transformed its industrial and social fabric to sustain the colossal demands of the First World War.
Hertfordshire
Richard Lydekker
A quiet, scholarly portrait of an English county, this survey reveals the deep history etched into the soil and stone of the Hertfordshire landscape. It offers a meticulously observed look at a place caught between tradition and modernity.
History of the English People, Volume III: The Parliament, 1399-1461
John Richard Green
The crown pivots from the turbulence of medieval faction to the centralized machinery of the early modern state, tracing a transformation that forever altered the English landscape.
The Causes of the Rebellion in Ireland Disclosed: In an Address to the People of England, in Which It Is Proved by Incontrovertible Facts, That the System for Some Years Pursued in That Country, Has Driven It into Its Present Dreadful Situation
Anonymous
The political grievances of a nation are rarely born of sudden madness; they are the carefully cultivated harvest of years of systematic neglect and administrative arrogance. This impassioned address serves as a primary-source autopsy of the conditions that fractured Irish society at the close of the eighteenth…
A Popular History of England, From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Queen Victoria
François Guizot
The chronicle of a nation’s rise, this account traces the turbulent transformation of England from ancient tribal settlements through the sweeping, violent shifts of the medieval monarchy.
Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853
Richard Cannon
This chronicle maps the century-and-a-half trajectory of a storied infantry unit, tracing its evolution from eighteenth-century European conflicts to the rugged colonial frontiers of the nineteenth century.
Britain at Bay
Spenser Wilkinson
This is a stark, urgent call for the complete reorganization of the British state to meet the existential threat posed by a rising Germany. It argues that a nation that prioritizes party politics over national readiness is already halfway to defeat.
British Highways and Byways from a Motor Car: Being a Record of a Five Thousand Mile Tour in England, Wales and Scotland
Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler) Murphy
A five-thousand-mile motoring odyssey through Britain’s hidden corners captures the landscape of 1908, offering a vibrant, gas-lit glimpse of an era when the automobile was still a daring way to bridge the past and present.