Many of London's Victorian buildings are built of coarse-textured yellow bricks. These are 'London stocks', produced in very large quantities all through the nineteenth century and notable for their ability to withstand the airborne pollutants of the Victorian city. Whether visible or, as is sometimes the case, hidden behind stonework or underground, they form a major part of the fabric of the capital. Until now, little has been written about how and where they were made and the people who...

Ealing, once known as the ‘Queen of the Suburbs’, has had a long and varied history. Once a country town in Middlesex, the area became part of the City of London in 1965 and celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as a London borough in 2015. This is the first book to chart the history of Ealing from earliest times to the dawn of the twenty-first century. It draws on many sources, including contemporary diaries, newspapers, parish and borough archives. The reader will learn about the many chan...

The skyline of Victorian London was dominated by sinister mounds of rubbish, graphically described in Dickens's novel Our Mutual Friend. Surprisingly these dust mounds were where hundreds of so called running or flying dustmen made a meager living. Working in the open air in all weathers, amid the dust and smell, they separated out the refuse, selling much of it on, in an early form of recycling. They turned a profit from mere rubbish - the 'Alchemy of Dust'. In time the fear of cholera an...

'An extraordinary history' - Peter Ackroyd, The Times'A lively account of (Bazalgette's) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated' - Hermione Hobhouse'Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated' - Ruth Rendell...

In 1931 domestic service remained the largest female occupation in Britain. We view it today as an undesirable job, owing to the class divide it has come to represent, and this is reflected in the portrayals of mistresses and servants in books and on the screen. However, it was seen as the perfect way to equip young women with the skills necessary to become good wives and mothers, and continues to be a career taken up by many today. But what do we really know about how girls felt when taki...

From the author of ‘Britain BC’, ‘Britain AD’ and ‘Britain in the Middle Ages’ comes the fourth and final part in a critically acclaimed series on Britain's hidden past.The relevance of archaeology to the study of the ancient world is indisputable. But, when exploring our recent past, does it have any role to play? In ‘The Birth of Modern Britain’ Francis Pryor highlights archaeology’s continued importance to the world around us.The pioneers of the Industrial Revolution wer...

"The debate about Dr Richard Beeching will rage until the Second Coming – and probably beyond. But in Charles Loft's careful examination of the Beeching Report, we have as fine a study as we are going to possess in the meantime." – Peter Hennessy"Loft's great strength is his judiciousness. He understands the political processes and assesses them fair-mindedly. And his verdict will, I suspect, hold up better than any of Beeching's judgements." – Mat...

During the reign of Queen Victoria, industrialisation changed every aspect of rural life. Industrial diversification led to a decline in agriculture and mass migration from country to town and city – in 1851 half the population lived in the countryside, but by 1901 only a quarter did so. This book outlines the changes and why they occurred. It paints a picture of country life as it was when Victoria came to the throne and shows how a recognisably modern version of the British countryside h...

'The world was at the beginning of a new era, the era of machinery and scientific discovery. Values and conditions of life were changing everywhere. Even to simple country people the change was apparent - But side by side with these changes, the old country civilization lingered. Traditions and customs which had lasted for centuries did not die out in a moment.' - Lark Rise to Candleford, Flora Thompson. The Real Lark Rise to Candleford demonstrates how deeply the labouring classes in rura...

With world markets upset and economies in recession, the 1920s and 30s were not an easy time for farmers, who required great resilience to survive.Jonathan Brown here examines the challenges that farmers faced and the ways in which they responded. Some turned to new crops, with new markets emerging for sugar beet, eggs, milk and pork. Some used tractors and other machines to increase productivity, and the motor car and lorry opened up new possibilities for bringing...

In 1918, as the First World War was drawing to a close, the eminent liberal industrial Lord Leverhulme bought - lock, stock and barrel - the Hebridean island of Lewis. His intention was to revolutionise the lives and environments of its 30,000 people, and those of neighbouring Harris, which he shortly added to his estate. For the next five years a state of conflict reigned in the Hebrides. Island seamen and servicemen returned from the war to discover a new landlord whose declared aim was ...

In the early evening of 16 October 1834, to the horror of bystanders, a huge ball of fire exploded through the roof of the Houses of Parliament, creating a blaze so enormous that it could be seen by the King and Queen at Windsor, and from stagecoaches on top of the South Downs. In front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses the great conflagration destroyed Parliament's glorious old buildings and their contents. No one who witnessed the disaster would ever forget it.The events of that Octo...