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History - British — page 3
831 public-domain history - british books, summarised. Page 3 of 18.
Haunted London
Walter Thornbury
London is not a city of ghosts, but a city of memories, where every street corner and crumbling stone holds the weight of centuries. It is a vast, living tapestry of biographical stories and ancient traditions.
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1: Compiled from the Original Records
Francis Duncan
This rigorous chronicle documents the evolution of the British Royal Artillery, charting its journey from ad-hoc medieval trains to a sophisticated, global military institution by 1815. It functions as both a formal administrative history and a tribute to the professional identity of the men who manned the guns.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 1 of 6, complete: England, geography and early history to 1066
Raphael Holinshed
Centuries of English landscape, custom, and bloodline collide in a sweeping Elizabethan attempt to chart the island's physical contours and recount every reign from antiquity to the Norman Conquest.
Chaucer and His England
G. G. (George Gordon) Coulton
A medieval poet navigates courtly diplomacy, financial insecurity, and a changing social order while transforming the gritty realities of fourteenth-century English life into lasting art.
Yachting, Vol. 2
Dufferin and Ava, Frederick Temple Blackwood, Marquis of
A late-Victorian tour of the world’s waters, where naval history, regatta strategy, and the mechanics of sail converge in a celebration of seamanship.
History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name
Alexander Mackenzie
Across centuries of Highland history, a single powerful name reshapes the Scottish North, untangling its heritage from mythical foreign roots to trace an authentic Celtic legacy through blood, battle, and shifting political fortunes.
The English Language
R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
An exotic import to its own soil, the speech of England grew by crowding out older tongues, carrying inside its grammar the quiet memory of continental migrations and forgotten tribal borders.
The World Crisis, Volume 1 (of 6)
Winston Churchill
Behind the immense machinery of empire and war lies a shadow world of calculated risks, where the choice between a swift ship and a heavily armored one dictates the fate of nations.
The Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England from 1642 to 1684
Unknown
A fierce, verse-driven chronicle of civil war, religious schism, and fragile restoration reveals how ordinary citizens and partisans voiced the raw anxieties of seventeenth-century England.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 10
Unknown
Between the fall of Calais and the clearing of the Canadian wilderness, the world transforms as old empires crack and new horizons open.
Warships and their story
R. A. Fletcher
From primitive, lash-bound war canoes to the massive ironclad leviathans and oil-fueled destroyers of the early twentieth century, the evolution of the warship reflects humanity’s relentless drive for naval supremacy.
The Holyhead Road: The Mail-coach Road to Dublin. Vol. 1
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
An excursion along Britain's great north-western thoroughfare uncovers the layered history, ghost stories, and ruined inns left behind as steam power replaced horse-drawn travel.
Bygone Punishments
William Andrews
Centuries of English penal history reveal how societies enforce order through public spectacle, physical torment, and community humiliation.
All about Battersea
Henry S. Simmonds
A topographically exhaustive, deeply affectionate portrait of a London parish in the crucible of Victorian industrialization, recording every boundary, brick, and burial ground before the quiet village vanishes forever.
The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3): or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times
William Hone
A year unfolds through forgotten country customs, eccentric town characters, ancient Roman rites, and the quiet rhythms of the English countryside.
Elizabethan England: From 'A Description of England,' by William Harrison
William Harrison
A quiet country parson leaves his library behind to build a sprawling, vibrant portrait of sixteenth-century English life from the ground up.
The History of the Indian Revolt and of the Expeditions to Persia, China and Japan, 1856-7-8
George Dodd
In the mid-nineteenth century, an explosion of military mutiny threatens to shatter a global empire. A sweeping narrative traces the chaotic violence, the desperate sieges, and the political upheaval that ultimately rewrote the destiny of the Indian subcontinent.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "English History": Volume 9, Slice 5
Various
Centuries of faction, conquest, and parliamentary maneuver reveal a nation continuously reshaping its crown to preserve its domestic peace.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol. I., Part C.: From Henry VII. to Mary
David Hume
A monarch’s authority rests not on abstract rights, but on the cold mechanics of power, money, and religious control.
A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 1 (of 6)
Leopold von Ranke
A foreign scholar examines the religious and political collisions that forged seventeenth-century Britain, tracing how medieval traditions, monarchical ambitions, and parliamentary forces collided to shape modern constitutional government.
Highways and Byways in the Border: Illustrated
Andrew Lang
Rolling across heather-clad hills and troubled riverbanks, this travelogue traverses the Scottish Border, tracing ancient defensive earthworks, blood-soaked feudal skirmishes, and the enduring echoes of ancient song across a changing landscape.
An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland
Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae
Centuries before the Norman Conquest, bloodthirsty maritime raiders laid the enduring cultural, legal, and economic foundations of the modern British Isles.
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John: With an Historical Introduction
William Sharp McKechnie
Before 1215, English kings ruled through absolute precedent and flexible power; Magna Carta forced a despotic monarchy to submit to written law.
Nooks and Corners of Lancashire and Cheshire.: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive
James Croston
A journey through northern English borderlands uncovers centuries of forgotten legends, ancient manor houses, and the quiet human dramas that shaped two historic counties.
A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times, Volume 3
François Guizot
A country tears itself apart from within while fending off foreign conquest, saved only by fragile alliances, tactical cunning, and individual acts of tragic heroism.
The Commonwealth of Oceana
James Harrington
A vision of an ideal republic balances ownership and political power, grounding human freedom in the soil and the secret ballot.
Henry VIII
A. F. (Albert Frederick) Pollard
A young prince steps into a glittering, volatile court, setting off a transformation that will tear England from Rome and rewrite the limits of royal power.
Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain: Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time
William Andrews
When severe cold bound Great Britain's waterways, entire communities transformed treacherous ice into bustling towns of commerce, revelry, and social survival.
Battles of English History
H. B. (Hereford Brooke) George
This work examines the evolution of English warfare, moving beyond mere dates to analyze the tactical, topographical, and logistical realities that decided the fate of nations.
The Social History of Smoking
George Latimer Apperson
Tobacco is a mirror reflecting the evolving manners of English society. From early seventeenth-century pipes to modern cigarettes, this history tracks how a simple leaf shaped customs, class distinctions, and social boundaries.
In Darkest England, and the Way Out
William Booth
This urgent manifesto outlines a comprehensive plan to rescue Britain’s "submerged tenth"—the millions living in destitution—through a structured system of social and economic regeneration. It provides a blueprint for systemic change, moving beyond mere charity to offer a path toward self-reliance.
The Discovery of Witches
Matthew Hopkins
This historical document serves as a chilling, first-hand defense of a self-appointed authority justifying his role in the systematic identification and execution of supposed witches in seventeenth-century England. It functions as a legalistic manual, stripping away the thin veneer of religious zeal to reveal the…
Cambridge
M. A. R. (Mildred Anna Rosalie) Tuker
A storied landscape of cloisters and colleges, this account traces the evolution of an ancient university from its medieval monastic roots to its emergence as a modern center of intellectual and social change.
The Story of the British Army
Charles Cooper King
This chronicle traces the evolution of the British military from its medieval, feudal roots to the global, professional force of the Victorian era. It is a work of structural history that balances the broad sweep of geopolitical shifts against the gritty, often brutal realities of the infantryman’s life.
The White Slaves of England
John C. Cobden
The suffering of the nineteenth-century English working class is exposed through this searing indictment of an industrial system that commodified human life. It serves as a grim mirror for a society claiming moral superiority while enslaving its own poor.
Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton College
Ralph Nevill
Eton College is more than a school; it is a sprawling, rowdy, and venerable institution defined by its defiance, its rigid hierarchies, and its peculiar, enduring traditions. This collection of memories invites the reader into the heart of a world where ancient rituals once balanced precariously against the…
The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon: The Story as Told by the Imperial Ambassadors Resident at the Court of Henry VIII
James Anthony Froude
The rupture between Henry VIII and Rome was not merely a royal whim, but a seismic shift in the foundations of the English nation. This account strips away the myth to reveal the political machinery of the Tudor era.
British Popular Customs, Present and Past: Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People. Arranged According to the Calendar of the Year
T. F. (Thomas Firminger) Thiselton-Dyer
This compendium serves as a vast, year-long treasury of the vanishing rituals, superstitions, and domestic traditions that once defined the rhythm of life across the British Isles.
Vanishing England
P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
This is a poignant, meticulously detailed survey of the architectural and cultural heritage of England as it stood on the brink of profound modernization at the start of the twentieth century. It serves as an elegiac catalog of all that was rapidly fading from the landscape.
A History of the Four Georges, Volume I
Justin McCarthy
This sweeping historical narrative chronicles the transition of the British crown and the evolution of parliamentary power during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It offers an intimate look at the figures who shaped a nation, from the corridors of St. James’s to the shifting landscapes of the Highlands.
Old English libraries
Ernest Albert Savage
This study illuminates the vanished world of medieval English book culture, tracing how manuscripts were written, collected, and circulated long before the age of the printing press.
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day
Jean F. (Jean Finlay) Terry
Northumberland is a land of Roman ruins, medieval fortresses, and industrial rivers, where history is written in stone and song. This guidebook captures the essence of the northern county, tracing its evolution from ancient battleground to modern hub.
Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies: or Man of Pleasure's Kalendar for the Year, 1788
Anonymous
This guide serves as a candid, irreverent directory of London’s eighteenth-century demimonde, cataloging the city’s working women with a blend of tactical appraisal, anatomical detail, and poetic flourish.
The Rivers of Great Britain, Descriptive, Historical, Pictorial: Rivers of the East Coast
Various
The rivers of Great Britain are the arteries of its history, and this sweeping survey maps the life—both pastoral and industrial—that thrives along the banks of its most storied eastern waterways.
England in the Days of Old
William Andrews
History reveals itself not in grand political maneuvers, but in the intimate, often peculiar habits of daily life that define a nation’s character. These pages offer a vibrant, episodic survey of the customs, superstitions, and social rituals that shaped the English experience across the centuries.
The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion)
Unknown
The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry chronicles the formative years, rigorous training, and harrowing combat service of a battalion composed of volunteers from Glasgow’s business community. This record transforms the raw chronology of a regiment into a testament of civic duty, endurance, and profound collective…
Montreal, 1535-1914. Vol. 2. Under British Rule, 1760-1914
William H. (William Henry) Atherton
A dual civilization carved a metropolis out of a frontier garrison, balancing two languages and two faiths beneath a single flag.
A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson
Watkin Tench
This account chronicles the grueling, precarious early years of the British penal colony at Port Jackson, offering an intimate, ground-level perspective on the struggles of convicts, soldiers, and the Indigenous people they encountered.