Voting and Not Voting in Early 18th-Century English Parliamentary Elections

This article uses data from 28 poll books to explore voter behaviour over time in early 18th-century English parliamentary elections (from 1710 to 1735). Voters in this period exhibited a high degree of partisan loyalty from one election to the next. But voters were also quite likely to drop out of the electorate between elections. As a case study of Sussex elections in 1734 shows, even among voters who made a definite promise to vote for a given candidate or set of candidates, there was a significant proportion who did not vote. While some non-voting can be explained as an attempt to avoid disobliging powerful patrons, this article argues that voters needed to be motivated to appear at the polls. The electoral culture of the early 18th century – treats, balls, public appearances by the candidates, etc. – should be understood as attempts to mobilise rather than to persuade potential voters.     

Oil and Water—18th-Century Whale and Basking-Shark Fisheries of Donegal Bay, Ireland

The whale fisheries of Scotland and England have long been the source of much attention in scholarly journals and statistical economic reports. The whale fisheries of Ireland—albeit of a miniscule scale in comparison—have generated little other than local interest. The whale and basking-shark fishery in Donegal Bay is unique. It was conducted by the inventor of the first swivel-gun harpoon, Thomas Nesbittt, who also built the first and only Irish whale-rendering plant at Port, Inver, Donegal Bay, where he undertook shore-based whaling at a time when other European whaling industries were based in the northern seas.
© 2007 The Author     

The 19th-Century Suspension Footbridges of Harpers of Aberdeen

Abstract

Harpers of Aberdeen, Scotland, developed a light suspension footbridge that had little connection with the 'blacksmith bridges' of the earlier part of the 19th century. Apart from scale, they differed in having a unique tensioning device together with an arched deck. Of perhaps 60 built, only a handful survive. They have not previously been described. These bridges provide a valuable insight into the affordable and adaptable engineering solutions, easily exported to all corners of the empire, which were adopted for small-scale projects during the course of the 19th century.     

An 18th-Century Mansion,a Fishpond,and Post-Medieval Finds from St. Neots,Huntingdonshire

Abstract

The remains of Hall Place, St. Neots, a late 17th- or early 18th-century house facing Church Street, were encountered during the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon settlement in 1961. Hall place had been built over the site of a large timber-lined cutting, perhaps a fishpond, which had been filled up with domestic rubbish and demolition debris during the course of the 16th century. The fishpond contained a large group of finds including both local and imported pottery, metalwork and leather objects. Pits, wells and other late and post-medieval structures and features were also found in the garden areas behind Hall Place and other Church Street houses.     

The Imaging of Samoa in Illustrated Magazines and Serial Encyclopaedias in the Early 20th-Century

Drawing on English language sources and material relating to the colonial administrations of Western Samoa (now Samoa) and American Samoa, this examination of photographically illustrated serial encyclopaedias and magazines proposes an alternative historical analysis of the colonial imaging of Samoa, the most extensively covered field in Oceanic photographic studies. Though photographs published between 1890s and World War II were often ‘recycled’, without acknowledging the fact that they were taken much earlier, and despite claims in the text of illustrated publications of an unchanged, enduring, archaic tradition in Samoa, the amazing variety of photographic content often offered contradictory evidence, depicting a modern, adaptive and progressive Samoa. Contrary to orthodox historical analysis, the images of Samoa in illustrated magazines and encyclopaedias were not limited to a small repetitive gallery of partially clothed women and costumed chiefs; and the ways in which readers understood Samoa from photographs and text raises questions still to be explored.     

Speakers in the 17th-Century Irish Parliament*

In Ireland in the 17th century before the Battle of the Boyne, there were only five parliaments held. For these parliaments there was a total of 16 different individuals who acted as Speaker or made an attempt to become Speaker in the Commons or the Lords. This article will attempt to consider the possible criteria that may have been important in assessing the suitability of the candidates and also to see how many of those 16 are found to be suitable according to these conditions. We can be assured that the vast majority of those appointed and selected were politically reliable and that other issues such as legal training and legal experience are also common among most. However, ethnicity, religion (including attitudes to others' religion), family and marriage contacts, and administrative experience show that the Speakers did not always share a common background. To a certain extent, it may be deduced that these differences may be reflective of the changing political scene in Ireland over the course of this short 17th century. The performance and attributes of those who failed to become Speaker can also be useful in a study that attempts to understand the qualifications deemed desirable in a Speaker in 17th-century Ireland.     

The Chapter-House of St Albans Abbey: Reconstructing its 15th-Century Vault

Before the 1978 excavation of the chapter-house site directed by Martin Biddle and the late Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, nothing was known about the 15th-century building, beyond the brief documentary references in the Register to its remodelling during the second half of the century in the time of abbots John of Wheathamstead and William Wallingford. However, the exceptional quantity of late Gothic masonry fragments uncovered during the excavation has made it possible to attempt to reconstruct features of its design, particularly the vaulting, and has transformed our knowledge of this important building. This article reviews the information derived from the study of the fragments of the vault, assesses its significance in the development of late Gothic vaulting, and speculates on the identity of its designer.     

Drawings of Six-course Transmigration in Monasteries

Outside the sutra reciting halls in Tibetan monasteries,paintings of the Four Deva Kings line both sides of the corridor and the six-course transmigration stands on the right, which is uniform in all monasteries.     

让丝绸之路“跃然纸上” 申遗文本图纸绘制回顾

<正>申遗材料的必选项按照《实施保护世界文化和自然遗产公约操作指南》要求,图纸是申遗材料中重要的必选项。《操作指南》中规定,图纸应清晰反映出申报遗产的区位、地理环境、构成要素、申报遗产区和缓冲区等内容,是申遗文本中"遗产辨认"一章中的重要组成内容。此外,图纸还是申遗文本重要的表达手段之一。申遗文本中都会采用大量示意插图,以更直观的方式补充说明     

敦煌写真邈真画稿研究--兼论敦煌画之写真肖像艺术

本文首先对Stein painting163、P．4522v、P．2002v三份人物写真白描画作了说明,然后就藏经洞绘画和敦煌石窟艺术中之写真肖像艺术展开讨论,表明在敦煌画资料中写真肖像艺术作品如同敦煌石窟艺术一样,在几千年的历史长河中得到不断发展,并形成了佛教石窟中有敦煌特色之人物肖像画。文中最终确定了三份白描画为人物写真邈真画稿的性质。     

Social Change in 19th-Century Rural Ireland and the Archaeology of the Narrow-Gauge Railway: The Case of Munster

Abstract

Railways are unusual archaeological entities. They lasted, in many cases, only for a short length of time, and in their locomotive-hauled form are of quite recent origin. There is a signifi cant amount of documentary information available, making it well-nigh impossible, as well as inadvisable, to rely solely on the extant material remains. The fact that later incarnations of some of these lines remain in existence today and are to a degree part of our lives means that we possess preconceived notions about rail travel. Railways have featured heavily in literature and art, as well as having infl uenced the development of communication networks, politics and social issues. All of these combined, aside from drawing our awareness to the magnitude of the importance of railways, make it difficult to look at them from an archaeological perspective, or to see what an archaeological perspective can bring to the study of railways. This paper examines what an archaeological study of the narrow-gauge railways of Munster (the south-west of Ireland) can contribute to an understanding of broader patterns of social change in 19th-century rural Ireland.