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History - British — page 16
986 public-domain history - british books, summarised. Page 16 of 21.

History of the War in Afghanistan, Vol. 2 (of 3): Third Edition
Kaye, John William, Sir
An empire overreaches, a puppet king falters, and a retreating army perishes in the icy mountain passes. Sir John William Kaye’s masterly chronicle captures the full, horrifying trajectory of Britain’s disastrous intervention in nineteenth-century Afghanistan.

Historical Record of the Eighteenth, or the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1684, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1848
Richard Cannon
A sprawling, meticulous chronicle traces the 164-year evolution of a legendary British infantry unit through royal successions, bloody European sieges, and colonial conflicts across the globe.

Historical Record of the Twelfth, or the Prince of Wales's Royal Regiment of Lancers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1715, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1848
Richard Cannon
A centuries-long march through European warfare brings standard military history to life, transforming routine troop movements, shifts in uniform colors, and battlefield charges into a grand, continuous chronicle of British imperial power.

Old Sports and Sportsmen
John Randall
Deep in the ancient royal forests of Shropshire, generations of woodsmen, squires, and eccentric clergymen turned the chase into a way of life, forging a local culture defined by wilderness, hound, and horn.

The New Forest
Elizabeth Godfrey
Over eight centuries of royal protection created an English sanctuary where medieval timber rights, wild ponies, and ancient oaks survive modern suburbia.

Harold's Town and its vicinity
Freeman Bunting
This guidebook captures the spirit of Waltham Abbey and Cheshunt, two historically rich English towns just beyond the reach of London’s urban sprawl. It serves as an essential companion for the Victorian-era traveler seeking antiquity, architectural beauty, and rural tranquility.

Historical Record of the Thirteenth Regiment of Light Dragoons: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1715, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1842
Richard Cannon
This administrative history chronicles over a century of British military service, transforming a tactical roster into a formal record of institutional loyalty, discipline, and endurance. It captures the methodical evolution of a single regiment from the battlefield to the parade ground.

Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 3 of 6, slice 6 of 9: England, 1483-1485, Richard III
Raphael Holinshed
A definitive historical account of the rise and fall of Richard III, this narrative chronicles a reign defined by fratricide, usurped authority, and the swift, violent arrival of the Tudor dynasty.

Present Irish Questions
William O'Connor Morris
William O’Connor Morris provides a rigorous legal and historical critique of British administration in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century. He examines the failures of land reform and the complexities of governing a divided nation.

The Court of Cacus
Alexander Leighton
A grim dissection of the infamous Burke and Hare murders, this narrative explores the dark intersection of human depravity, scientific ambition, and the relentless machinery of justice in nineteenth-century Edinburgh.

Irish History and the Irish Question
Goldwin Smith
Goldwin Smith’s survey of Irish history offers a sober, analytical examination of the centuries-long friction between the English state and the Irish people, seeking to disentangle the deep-seated origins of the "Irish Question.

A Popular History of England, From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Queen Victoria
François Guizot
England’s seventeenth century is a landscape of profound upheaval, where the collision between divine right and parliamentary authority shatters the established order. This narrative traces the tumultuous path from the death of Elizabeth I to the flight of James II.

Sweated industry and the minimum wage
Clementina Black
Poverty is often dismissed as a mere superstition of the sentimental, yet for the laborer, it is a relentless, crushing fact of daily existence. This study exposes the mechanics of that struggle.

Historical record of the Eighty-seventh Regiment, or the Royal Irish Fusiliers
Richard Cannon
The record of a storied British regiment chronicles the shifting tides of empire and the evolution of infantry tactics from the late seventeenth century through the Napoleonic wars and beyond. It serves as a formal, meticulous testament to the service, discipline, and hard-won honors of those who served under the…

Sir Ian Hamilton's Despatches from the Dardanelles, etc
Ian Hamilton
These dispatches offer a stark, unvarnished look at the early months of the Gallipoli campaign, documenting the brutal realities of amphibious warfare as experienced by the men on the ground.

A Merchant Fleet at War
Archibald Hurd
Behind the fame of the British Royal Navy lay the vulnerable, indispensable merchant fleet. This account chronicles how one shipping company transformed its civilian vessels into a vital lifeline for a nation at war.

The Last of the Bushrangers: An Account of the Capture of the Kelly Gang
Francis Augustus Hare
The hunt for Australia’s most infamous outlaws unfolds through the eyes of a police superintendent tasked with dismantling a syndicate that held an entire region in thrall.

The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
Richard Hakluyt
These accounts record the arduous, often perilous journeys of early European travelers into the heart of the vast, formidable Mongol Empire.

Gibraltar and Its Sieges, with a Description of Its Natural Features
Frederic George Stephens
The Rock of Gibraltar stands as a silent, formidable sentinel at the gates of the Mediterranean, a place where history has been written in blood, iron, and stone. It is a testament to the endurance of those who hold the key to the sea.

Historical Record of the Tenth, or the North Lincolnshire, Regiment of Foot,: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of its Subsequent Services to 1847
Richard Cannon
This account chronicles the nearly two-century evolution of a British infantry unit, tracing its transformation from a modest garrison force into a seasoned instrument of imperial service across global theaters of war.

The case of Oscar Slater
Arthur Conan Doyle
A meticulous, impassioned critique of a high-stakes Scottish murder trial, arguing that a flawed conviction was secured through systemic prejudice and unreliable eyewitness testimony.

The Victorian Age: The Rede Lecture for 1922
William Ralph Inge
The nineteenth century stands as a towering epoch of unprecedented human progress, yet it remains haunted by the inevitable, turbulent consequences of its own rapid industrial and social evolution.

Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, Anno Dom. 1757
Watts, William, active 1737-1758
A concise account of imperial ambition and political intrigue, this treatise documents the overthrow of Suraja Dowlat and the rapid consolidation of British power in mid-eighteenth-century Bengal.

A Short History of England, Ireland and Scotland
Mary Platt Parmele
An sweeping survey traces the legislative, religious, and economic forces that forged Great Britain from three distinct island nations into a singular global empire.

English Coast Defences: From Roman Times to the Early Years of the Nineteenth Century
George Clinch
An intricate coastline leaves a nation uniquely vulnerable, requiring millennia of architectural and tactical ingenuity to secure its shores against constant invasion.

Historical Record of the Fifth, or Princess Charlotte of Wales's Regiment of Dragoon Guards: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685
Richard Cannon
A single British cavalry regiment rides across one hundred and fifty years of European conflicts, changing its weapons and names while forging an unbroken record of discipline, sacrifice, and tactical triumph.

The Church of England cleared from the charge of Schism: Upon Testimonies of Councils and Fathers of the first six centuries
T. W. (Thomas William) Allies
A rigorous historical defense demonstrates that the early Church operated as an episcopal college, free from absolute papal monarchy.

The great fraud of Ulster
T. M. (Timothy Michael) Healy
A meticulous exposure of legal maneuvering, this historical investigation lays bare how seventeenth-century administrators dismantled Irish land ownership through manufactured titles, forged patents, and judicial complicity.

Boscobel
Thomas Blount
A fugitive monarch slips through his own shattered kingdom, sheltered not by armies or courtiers, but by rustic laborers, secret Catholics, and the quiet shadow of an oak.

The Holyhead Road: The Mail-coach Road to Dublin. Vol. 2
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
A vivid, historical journey through industrial heartlands and rugged Welsh mountain passes follows the iconic mail-coach route connecting the heart of England to the Irish ferries.

Early History of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
Maria Leach
People love to be shocked, and few publications mastered the art of provocation quite like Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. This history chronicles the rise of a periodical that transformed the literary landscape of 19th-century Scotland through audacity and wit.

The Scottish History of James the Fourth: 1598
Robert Greene
HOOK A King’s reckless obsession with a new love nearly destroys his kingdom, his honor, and his virtuous wife. This classic drama explores the thin line between a ruler’s duty and his dangerous, unchecked desires.

An Impartial Narrative of the Most Important Engagements Which Took Place Between His Majesty's Forces and the Rebels, During the Irish Rebellion, 1798
Jones, John, of Dublin
This collection of firsthand accounts and reports documents the violent clashes of the 1798 Irish Rebellion from the perspective of the forces loyal to the British Crown. It serves as a stark, partisan chronicle of a defining and bloody epoch in Irish history.

A Proclamation Declaring His Maiesties Pleasure Concerning the Dissoluing of the Present Conuention of Parliament
King of England James I
The struggle for authority between a sovereign and his representatives is laid bare in this formal declaration, which serves as both a political defense and a final decree of dismissal.

Days and Nights in London
J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
This account of 1880s London explores the city’s shadowed corners, where the frantic pace of industrial expansion and extreme poverty collide in the daily lives of the forgotten and the desperate.

The Fleets Behind the Fleet: The Work of the Merchant Seamen and Fishermen in the War
W. MacNeile (William MacNeile) Dixon
The merchant sailor is the unsung architect of victory, a figure whose courage in the face of invisible peril quietly sustains the very existence of a nation under siege.

The Tourist's Guide through the Country of Caernarvon: containing a short sketch of its History, Antiquities, &c
P. B. (Peter Bailey) Williams
This volume serves as a dedicated companion for the nineteenth-century traveler, blending practical road-side observations with the rich, often somber historical tapestry of Caernarvonshire. It offers a grounded, scholarly look at the landscape, architecture, and local traditions of North Wales as they stood in 1821.

An Historical Narrative of the Great and Terrible Fire of London, Sept. 2nd 1666
Gideon Harvey
A detailed chronicle of the 1666 conflagration that leveled London, capturing the terror of the flames and the remarkable speed with which the city rebuilt its identity from the ashes.

Historical record of the 71st Regiment Highland Light Infantry
Henry John Thoroton Hildyard
This chronicle tracks a century of service for one of Scotland's most storied regiments, documenting its evolution from a clan-based unit to a professional light infantry force. It offers a sober look at the reach of the British Empire across global conflicts.

Three Accounts of Peterloo by Eyewitnesses: Bishop Stanley, Lord Hylton, John Benjamin Smith
Edward Stanley
Three distinct perspectives converge on a single, bloody afternoon in 1819, capturing the traumatic collision between a peaceful reform protest and the heavy-handed military crackdown known as the Peterloo Massacre.

King Arthur in Cornwall
W. Howship (William Howship) Dickinson
This investigation into the landscape of Cornwall seeks to separate the historical reality of a British chieftain from the layers of medieval romance that have obscured his life for centuries. By anchoring the study in local topography and archaeological remains, the inquiry attempts to reclaim a tangible Arthur…

Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front
E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
This account serves as a testament to the quiet, vital labor of those who sustained the spirits of soldiers on the Western Front, finding grace in the mundane service of cocoa, books, and conversation.

A Peep into Toorkisthan
Rollo Gillespie Burslem
A nineteenth-century officer’s account of traversing the rugged, contested landscapes of Afghanistan, capturing a fleeting moment of British colonial presence before the unraveling of a fragile regional order.
![Cover of The Cambrian Tourist, or, Post-Chaise Companion through Wales [1834]: Containing cursory sketches of the Welsh territories, and a description of the manners, customs, and games of the natives](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-cambrian-tourist-or-post-chaise-companion-through-wales-1834.webp)
The Cambrian Tourist, or, Post-Chaise Companion through Wales [1834]: Containing cursory sketches of the Welsh territories, and a description of the manners, customs, and games of the natives
Anonymous
A traveler’s companion to the Welsh landscape, blending practical observation with the romantic sensibility of a bygone era.

The English Lakes
A. G. (Arthur Granville) Bradley
The English Lake District is a landscape of profound beauty, where the rugged mountains and storied valleys have long served as a sanctuary for poets, dreamers, and those seeking respite from the modern world.

The English Prison System
Ruggles-Brise, Evelyn, Sir
Modern penal reform pivots on the transition from a purely punitive, abstract system to one that emphasizes the individual, the scientific diagnosis of mental state, and the reclamation of the young. This account documents the structural evolution of the English prison system from the rigid, disciplinary mechanisms…

The Growth of the English Constitution from the Earliest Times
Edward A. (Edward Augustus) Freeman
The English Constitution is not a static document locked in a vault, but a living, breathing creature that has evolved—often silently—from the assemblies of ancient Teutonic tribes to the modern Parliament. It is a story of continuity, proving that the roots of today’s liberties were firmly planted in the soil of…

The Reformation and the Renaissance (1485-1547): Second Edition
Unknown
This curated collection of historical documents offers a direct, unvarnished look at the political and spiritual upheavals of the early Tudor era. It provides a raw, primary-source window into the defining conflicts of the sixteenth century.