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History - British — page 8
762 public-domain history - british books, summarised. Page 8 of 16.
Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century
James Peller Malcolm
A panoramic view of eighteenth-century London, this work archives the city’s chaotic evolution through the lens of its charitable institutions, public depravities, and the strange habits of its diverse inhabitants.
Old English Sports, Pastimes and Customs
P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield
This survey of ancestral merriment guides the reader through the cycle of the calendar, revealing the peculiar, forgotten, and often rugged ways that earlier generations of English villagers marked the passage of time.
A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages
Thomas Wright
The daily lives of our ancestors—from the warmth of a great hall fire to the gossip shared in a tavern—reveal the essential spirit of a civilization.
What to See in England: A Guide to Places of Historic Interest, Natural Beauty or Literary Association
Gordon Home
This practical guide offers a structured, transit-focused map of historic England and Wales, designed to turn aimless wanderings into purposeful journeys. It serves as a time capsule of early 20th-century travel, balancing architectural appreciation with the grit of local legend.
With our army in Flanders
Valentine Williams
A war correspondent embeds with the British Army in Flanders, offering a rare, censored window into the grim realities and resilient spirit of the front lines. This account captures the evolving nature of combat during the Great War’s first year.
Hong Kong
Gene Gleason
Poised at the edge of the mainland, Hong Kong exists as a resilient, high-stakes bridge between two clashing ideologies. It is an outpost of survival, where millions build a new life in the shadow of history.
Argentina from a British Point of View, and Notes on Argentine Life
Unknown
This collection offers an immersive, multifaceted look at Argentina in 1910, blending sober economic analysis with the lighthearted, often chaotic accounts of British expatriates living and working on remote rural estates.
The Crisis of the Naval War
John Rushworth Jellicoe
This professional retrospective examines the strategic shift from defensive patrol to the convoy system, revealing how the Royal Navy finally strangled the German U-boat threat during the final years of the Great War.
Border Raids and Reivers
Robert Borland
The Scottish Borderlands were once a land of perpetual fire and steel, where the only law was the swift, lethal justice of the sword and the reiver’s midnight raid.
Hyde Park from Domesday-book to Date
John Ashton
A chronicle of London’s most famous greenspace, tracing its transformation from a feudal manor to a stage for public spectacle and political unrest.
In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England
Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler) Murphy
This account of a seven-thousand-mile motor tour through Britain offers a spirited, observant portrait of the country’s less-trodden paths at the dawn of the automobile age.
The History of the Prince of Wales' Civil Service Rifles
Anonymous
This account documents the transformation of a volunteer civilian corps into a battle-hardened infantry regiment, serving as a solemn, granular record of service in the trenches of France and the deserts of Palestine.
The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the Times
James Godkin
Ireland’s long history of land disputes is not merely a political struggle, but a persistent, recurring sickness that defies conventional remedy. The nation’s path toward stability requires a radical departure from centuries of failed intervention.
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
Lysander Spooner
The true power of a jury lies not in its duty to obey the law, but in its absolute right to judge the justice of the law itself. A trial by jury is the only barrier between the individual and the unchecked tyranny of government.
English Lands, Letters and Kings, vol. 3: Queen Anne and the Georges
Donald Grant Mitchell
The march of English letters moves from the elegant polish of the Augustan age to the raw, romantic fervor of the poets who redefined the soul of nature.
History of the English People, Index
John Richard Green
A sweeping chronicle of a nation’s life, this work traces the soul of England from its earliest tribal roots to its emergence as a global imperial power.
A History of the Durham Miner's Association 1870-1904
John Wilson
How a fragile union of British coal miners transformed into a powerful industrial force through thirty-five years of patient organization, fierce strikes, and reasoned conciliation.
Old Church Lore
William Andrews
Long before parish life narrowed into modern quietude, the medieval church presided over legal sanctuary, festive Sunday sports, gruesome trials by touch, and civic spectacle.
Sketches of the Covenanters
J. C. (James Calvin) McFeeters
A devotion to divine liberty drives a persecuted people into the wilderness to defy the dictates of earthly kings.
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 2 (of 2)
Dr. (John) Doran
An intimate, sharply observed record of the Georgian court exposes how domestic friction, royal vanity, and political duty collided to shape the lives of Britain’s Hanoverian queens and their ill-fated households.
New Ideas in India During the Nineteenth Century: A Study of Social, Political, and Religious Developments
John Morrison
A long-standing belief holds that Indian life remains eternally unchanged, yet under the surface, new social, political, and religious ideas are actively reshaping the nation.
The Vagrancy Problem.: The Case for Measures of Restraint for Tramps, Loafers, and Unemployables: With a Study of Continental Detention Colonies and Labour Houses
William Harbutt Dawson
A rigorous Edwardian plea to replace casual workhouse charity with compulsory detention colonies, transforming the persistent vagrant into an industrious citizen.
Mary Queen of Scots in History
C. A. Campbell
Religious and political crosscurrents sealed the fate of a sovereign who fought for the unity of her realm, leaving a legacy shadowed by conspiracy, betrayal, and an unyielding commitment to her faith.
The battles of the British Army
Robert Melvin Blackwood
Men march across continents to expand and hold an empire, facing horrific fusillades, hand-to-hand combat, and crushing losses in a centuries-long succession of bloody campaigns that shaped Great Britain's global domain.
Westward with the Prince of Wales
W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas) Newton
An ocean liner slicing through grey Atlantic spray carries a press pack into the wake of a youthful royal icon. Across a vast, post-war continent, crowds swarm railway tracks and balconies just to catch a glimpse of the modern world’s most famous smile.
Ulster's Stand For Union
Ronald McNeill
When the British Parliament attempts to force Home Rule upon Ireland, the Protestant majority in the northern province of Ulster mounts a fierce, highly organized campaign to remain inside the United Kingdom.
Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. 2 of 6, slice 12 of 12: England, 1377-1399, Richard II
Raphael Holinshed
A young king's fragile reign falls apart under the weight of peasant rebellion, aristocratic feud, and his own flawed judgment, culminating in his quiet surrender of the crown to his ambitious cousin.
The Heart of Scotland
A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope) Moncrieff
A land of jagged glens, ancient feuds, and misty lakes reveals itself as the essential pulse of a nation’s history, culture, and enduring romantic imagination.
Guy Fawkes
Thomas Lathbury
Religious fanaticism and political intrigue collide in this sharp 1839 chronicle, which traces how a radicalized network of conspirators plotted to obliterate the English government and why their ideological legacy echoed across centuries.
Records of the Kirk of Scotland: containing the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies from 1638 downwards, as authenticated by the clerks of assembly
Church of Scotland. General Assembly
A nation's struggle to reclaim its religious self-determination unfolds through the rigorous, official record of its highest ecclesiastical court.
The History of Burke and Hare, and of the Resurrectionist Times: A Fragment from the Criminal Annals of Scotland
George Mac Gregor
Driven by the lucrative demands of early nineteenth-century medical schools, two men in Edinburgh turned from grave robbing to cold-blooded murder to supply dissecting tables with fresh human corpses.
England's Case Against Home Rule
A. V. (Albert Venn) Dicey
The United Kingdom faces a fundamental constitutional crisis as political sentiment shifts toward Irish autonomy. This rigorous analysis examines the severe risks posed by proposed legislative changes to the established union.
Half-hours with the Highwaymen - Vol 2: Picturesque Biographies and Traditions of the "Knights of the Road"
Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
The open road was once a stage for desperate men, where a pistol could rewrite a fortune or end a life in the blink of an eye.
The Seventh Manchesters: July 1916 to March 1919
S. J. Wilson
This record of the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, traces a grueling journey from the sands of Egypt to the mud of Northern France, capturing the quiet endurance of citizen-soldiers caught in the machinery of total war. It stands as a testament to the tactical evolution and personal resilience of a Territorial…
The Statute of Anne
Great Britain. Parliament
This foundational 1710 legal act established the concept of intellectual property, shifting the power to control printed works from monopolistic guilds to the authors who created them.
Survey of the High Roads of England and Wales. Part the First.: Comprising the counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. etc
Edward S. Mogg
This meticulous guide serves as an essential 1817 companion for the Regency-era traveler, mapping the estates and turnpikes of Southern England with a focus on the grand homes of the landed gentry.
The Fifth Battalion Highland Light Infantry in the War 1914-1918
Great Britain. Army. Highland Light Infantry. Battalion, 5th
The 5th Battalion Highland Light Infantry serves as an unflinching chronicle of a Territorial unit’s transformation from civilian volunteers into battle-hardened veterans. It captures the raw, granular reality of total war across two continents.
Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 1 of 3
Henry Hallam
The shifting boundary between the sovereign’s will and the people’s rights defines the struggle for England’s future. This narrative traces the slow, often contentious evolution of a constitution forged in the fires of shifting power.
Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine
Edwin Waugh
This account documents the quiet, harrowing endurance of Lancashire mill workers during the 1861–1864 cotton famine, capturing the dignity of a people pushed to the precipice of starvation by global economic collapse.
A history of tithes
Henry William Clarke
This history traces the transformation of church tithes from voluntary offerings into a compulsory legal burden. It serves as a rigorous, point-by-point rebuttal to the historical claims made by nineteenth-century defenders of the Church of England.
When William IV. Was King
John Ashton
The reign of William IV was a brief, turbulent bridge between the Georgian era and the Victorian age. This account captures the messy, transformative pulse of 1830s England, where steam power and social reform collided with ancient tradition.
The Relief of Mafeking: How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column
Filson Young
This account captures the raw, disorienting reality of the Boer War, moving beyond the headlines of 1900 to document the grit of soldiers and the haunting, silent landscapes of the South African veldt.
Canterbury
W. Teignmouth (William Teignmouth) Shore
Canterbury is an evocative portrait of a city where the weight of English history rests heavily upon its stones. It serves as both a meditative travelogue and a deep dive into the ecclesiastical past.
How the Poor Live
George R. (George Robert) Sims
A journalist ventures into the dark continent of London’s slums, documenting the harrowing daily survival of the city’s poorest residents to stir the conscience of a comfortable, indifferent public.
The Political Songs of England: From the Reign of John to That of Edward II
Unknown
These centuries-old verses reveal the visceral, unfiltered pulse of a nation grappling with the fragile boundary between royal power and the rights of its people. Through sharp satire and mournful ballad, the voices of the medieval English—from high-minded clerics to weary, overburdened husbandmen—come alive to…
Champions of the fleet
Edward Fraser
The history of the British Royal Navy is written in the timber of its most storied ships and the tenacity of the men who sailed them into the mouth of danger. This collection of naval accounts chronicles the evolution of British maritime power, from the early Cinque Ports defense to the decisive,…
The Jewel House: An Account of the Many Romances Connected with the Royal Regalia: Together with Sir Gilbert Talbot's Account of Colonel Blood's Plot
G. J. (George John) Younghusband
The Crown Jewels of England are not merely symbols of sovereign authority; they are physical relics bearing the scars of theft, war, and the peculiar ambitions of those tasked with their protection. This account explores the history, romance, and enduring security of the Regalia held within the Tower of London.
Walks near Edinburgh
Margaret Warrender
The past is a living presence in this survey of the Scottish landscape, where every turn in the road invites a ghost story or an echo of historical tragedy.