“I shall never forget Mr Boulton’s expression to me: ‘I sell here Sir, what all the world desires to have – POWER’,” wrote James Boswell of his visit to Soho Manufactory. Just a few miles from the centre of modern Birmingham, the diarist and author had come in […]
In 1807 an Act of Parliament abolished the trading of slaves in the British Empire. While not ending slavery itself (that would come in 1833 following further legislation), it was a remarkable achievement in bringing to a conclusion a shameful trade. Some estimate that between 1662 and 1807 […]
I’m drinking a well-brewed latte in a new plush London hotel. Not that much of a usual event given the number of such luxurious establishments in our capital you might say; from the Dorchester in Mayfair to the Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park they are stayed in and […]
William Blake’s reference to ‘dark satanic mills’ in his Jerusalem poem, conjures up negative connotations of the industrial revolution and the impact it had on the lives of ordinary people. Workers toiled away for long hours in dirty factories, with little time for leisure, contemporary commentators suggested. Machines […]
Past In The Present 