History Commons^™

The British Conceptualization Of Belgium, 1914, Maci Reed

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The complicated political agendas surrounding the various nations’ decisions to enter World War I have led to an ongoing debate about the war’s actual cause. This research project will investigate the effect that Germany’s invasion of Belgium had on Great Britain’s decision to enter the war. I will use the Hansard transcripts of debates in the British Parliament to investigate the extent to which the defense of Belgian neutrality was involved in the pre-war deliberations. A comparison between the transcripts from 28 June to 3 August and those from 4 August will illustrate the change, if one exists, or the …

Duncan, Kate Northcott (Clagett), 1892-1983 (Mss 520), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 520. Correspondence, diaries, genealogical research, and Browning Club programs of Bowling Green, Kentucky native Kate (Clagett) Duncan. Includes her writings on the history of Bowling Green’s Presbyterian Church and some correspondence and papers of her husband, Carroll Allen Duncan.

Clagett, Marjorie Elizabeth, 1900-2000 (Mss 513), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 513. Correspondence and papers of Marjorie E. Clagett, a WKU faculty member who taught French from 1928-1964. Includes field notes and slides relating to her studies of flora in south central Kentucky, Great Britain and other habitats in the United States, and research materials relating to the history of the French in Kentucky. Includes correspondence, photographs and genealogical data of the Clagett, Northcott, Strange and associated families. Also includes notes (Click on "Additional Files" below) of a Northcott ancestor's encounter with Lost River Cave in Warren County during the Civil War.

Disraeli, Gladstone, And The Reform Act Of 1867, Justin Vossen

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This research project investigated the rivalry between William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, and how that rivalry resulted in the Reform Act of 1867. The competition between these two over expansion of the franchise led to a more radical reform than expected. Gladstone, a converted Liberal, encouraged moderate changes like a reduction in the householder qualification from ₤ten to ₤seven. Disraeli, a moderate Conservative, embraced more expansive reform for political advancement rather than as an extension of the suffrage. It was Disraeli’s hope that an enlarged electorate would vote Conservative as a reward for their new privilege. Although many historians give …

Popular Agitation And British Parliamentary Reform, 1866-1867, Michael D. Snell-Feikema

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper demonstrated that the force of public opinion as expressed by pro-reform agitations played a critical role in the attainment of working-class voting rights with the Reform Act of 1867. This Reform Act, which passed after more than a year of political disputes and public demands, gave most of the urban English working class the right to vote. In 1866 a modest reform bill sponsored by William Gladstone’s Liberal government had been defeated by a combination of Conservative and conservative Liberal opposition. After months of popular demonstrations, Benjamin Disraeli’s new Conservative government introduced another reform bill that initially was …

Nineteenth Century Views On Theater And Drama In English, Rebecca Unetic

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

With the passing of the Licensing Act of 1737 and until its repeal in 1969 the Lord Chamberlain’s office has been legally able to censor any drama to be performed at established theatres in England. However, the 1737 Act left inconsistencies in the definition of censorship and the role of censor. People who were involved in theatre believed the Lord Chamberlain’s office gained too much power from the Act. In the nineteenth century, actors, playwrights and members of Parliament agitated for the reform of the 1737 Licensing Act, which led to the establishment of three special parliamentary committees in 1822-1823, …

Chelf, Frank Leslie, 1907-1982 (Mss 492), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 492. Correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, audiotapes, film and miscellaneous material relating primarily to the political career of Democrat Frank L. Chelf, who represented Kentucky’s Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1944-1966. Includes Chelf’s voting record and bills, research and speeches related to his legislative interests.

Representations Of Rebellion: Slavery In Jamaica, 1823-1831, Paul Brown

All Theses

This thesis examines slavery in Jamaica between 1824 and 1831, primarily through the lens of rebellion and rebellious conspiracy. This study is largely based on legal documents, namely the criminal trials of slaves produced after the discovery of conspiracy plots to rebel in 1824 and the outbreak of a large-scale slave insurrection in 1831. While previous historians have provided rich analyses of the origins and causes of slave rebellions, this study attempts to disentangle the various representations and ideas of rebellion among slaves and slaveholders in Jamaica, and their larger implications for slavery in the British West Indies. I suggest …

The Role Of Agricultural And Land Policies In The Failure Of The British Mandate For Palestine, Beth Ann Lynk

History Theses & Dissertations

This study follows the thread of chronic land loss for small and subsistence Arab farmers in Palestine and the key solution repeatedly advocated by the British of intensive agriculture and how it routinely failed only to fuel increased tensions and violence between Arabs and Jews contributing to the reversal of the goal of a unified Palestine under the Mandate. A variety of primary and secondary sources were used to identify the main social patterns and laws during the Ottoman Empire which set up the dynamic of agricultural debt leading to land sales to Jewish immigrants. This pattern is then traced …

From Bread And Jam To Woolton Pie: Food Rationing And Improved Nutrition In Wwii Great Britain, Jennifer G. Joyner

History Undergraduate Theses

The practice of controlling food supplies has existed since ancient times—driven by urbanization, the controls were of a protective nature, as the commercialization of food production and retailing led to opportunities for graft and corruption. Authorities, motivated by the belief in a “moral economy” that held the public good in higher esteem than market forces, attempted to curb these abuses with various controls. However, in Great Britain in the eighteenth century, rapid industrialization led to a new economic and political approach to governance: that the public was best served by free trade.

This premise meant that market demands now superseded …

Hunter, Hugh B., 1922-2000 (Sc 1281), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1281. Diary kept by Hugh B. Hunter, a native of Jefferson County, Kentucky, during his service as a B-17 bomber pilot, 8th Air Force, during World War II. Stationed in Great Britain, the 8th Air Force conducted air raids into Germany and humanitarian missions into the Netherlands.

Jackson, Marjorie L., 1919-1998 (Sc 2801), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2801. Letter of Marjorie L. Jackson, serving with the Women’s Army Corps at Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky, to her fiance Henry J. Heusinkveld, serving on the U.S.S. Tuscaloosa. She comments on the world political situation, hopes for Japan’s surrender, and expresses her love for him. She also encloses an article about Louisiana marshlands located near her home.

Rent: Same-Sex Prostitution In Modern Britain, 1885-1957, Jonathan Coleman

Theses and Dissertations--History

Rent: Same-Sex Prostitution in Modern Britain, 1885-1957 chronicles the concept of “rent boys” and the men who purchased their services. This dissertation demonstrates how queer identity in Britain, until contemporary times, was largely regulated by class, in which middle-and-upper-class queer men often perceived of working-class bodies as fetishized consumer goods. The “rent boy” was an upper-class queer fantasy, and working-class men sometimes used this fantasy for their own agenda while others intentionally dismantled the “rent boy” trope, refusing to submit to upper-class expectations. This work also explains how the “rent boy” fantasy was eventually relegated to the periphery of queer …

James I And British Identity: The Development Of A British Identity From 1542-1689, Zachary A. Bates

DISCOVERY: Georgia State Honors College Undergraduate Research Journal

The development of a British identity was an ongoing process during the seventeenth century. In this paper, I argue that the ascension of James to the English throne in 1603 would be integral to the establishing of a British identity in both England and Scotland. James, from 1604 to 1607, tried to create a political union between the two kingdoms but would ultimately fail due to English concerns (primarily in Parliament) about the "imperfect union" and the absence of any tradition to sustain a new kingdom. James would continue to style himself "King of Great Britain," a styling he established …

The Surprising Role Of Legal Traditions In The Rise Of Abolitionism In Great Britain's Development, Robert Michael Buchsbaum Iii

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The abolition of British slavery in the 19th century raises the question of how the British achieved antislavery against colonial opposition. While historical theories have focused on economic, political and religious factors, no account of abolition is complete without a thorough investigation of the history of evolving British legal traditions. This thesis analyzed a number of British homeland court cases and antislavery laws. English legal traditions established principles of freedom long before abolition in Britain, and then upheld them in respect to blacks on British soil in the 18th century. On the other hand, these traditions exposed a void in …