Georgian

The Rise and Fall of the Private Bankers

Nicholas Lane documents how the big branch banks of today have their origins largely in the numerous private banking partnerships, founded in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Johan Zoffany and the King’s New Clothes

Kate Retford explains how the artist Johan Zoffany found ways to promote a fresh image of royalty that endeared him to George III and Queen Charlotte – a relationship he subsequently destroyed.

Newspapers and Politics in the 18th century

‘Have the authors of a two-penny weekly journal, a right to make a national inquiry'? 18th-century governments thought not and neither did the newspapers’ readers of the time.

Georgian Liverpool’s battle for the Big Society

In the late 18th century the merchants, manufacturers and traders of Liverpool founded one of the first chambers of commerce in Britain with the aim of promoting the local economy. Bob Bennett looks at early parallels with the Coalition government’s plans for local partnerships.

Georgian Ghosts: An Aristocratic Spectre

A series of violent attacks by pale shrouded figures on lone pedestrians, especially women, was widely reported in the early 19th century. Jacob Middleton uncovers the sham ghosts of Georgian London.