Through close examination of dozens of electoral contests in carefully chosen constituencies, the author demonstrates that the fundamental division separating the burgeoning liberal and conservative parties in England in the 1830s and 1840s was religion, and that this controversy was what created a perceptible two-party system in British politics.

“Almost every book on English research highlights the need to examine the wills of our ancestors. . . . [this book] gives us an easy to read detailed guide.” —FGS Forum What are wills, and how can they be used for family and local history research? How can you interpret them and get as much insight from them as possible? Wills are key documents for exploring the lives of our ancestors, their circumstances, and the world they knew. This practical handbook is the essential guide to understanding wills. Wills expert Stuart Raymond traces the history and purpose of probate records and guides readers through the many pitfalls and possibilities these fascinating documents present. He describes the process of probate, gives a detailed account of the content of the various different types of record, and advises readers on how they can be used to throw light into the past, offering factual evidence that no genealogist or local historian can afford to ignore. In a series of concise, fact-filled chapters, Raymond explains how wills came into being, who made them and how they were made, how the probate system operates, how wills and inventories can be found, and how much can be learned from them. In addition to covering probate records in England and Wales, he includes the Channel Islands, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. This introduction is aimed primarily at family historians who are interested in the wills of particular individuals who are seeking proof of descent and local historians who are interested in the wealth of local historical information that can be gathered from them.

The final installment of the most important modern reference work for Middle English studies

Designed to fill an overlooked gap, this book, originally published in 1972, provides a single unified introduction to bibliographical sources of British military history. Moreover it includes guidance in a number of fields in which no similar source is available at all, giving information on how to obtain acess to special collections and private archives, and links military history, especially during peacetime, with the development of science and technology.