1.
English people
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The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
2.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
3.
Holmfirth
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Holmfirth is a small town on the A6024 Woodhead Road in the Holme Valley, within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Centred upon the confluence of the Holme and Ribble rivers, Holmfirth is 6 miles south of Huddersfield and 13 miles northeast of Glossop and it mostly consists of stone-built cottages nestled in the Pennine hills. The Peak District National Park around Holme Moss is 4 miles to the south of the town, historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Holmfirth was once a centre for pioneering film-making by Bamforth & Co. which later switched to the production of saucy seaside postcards. Between 1973 and 2010 both Holmfirth and the Holme Valley became well known as the location of the BBCs situation comedy Last of the Summer Wine. The town originally grew up around a mill and bridge in the 13th century. Three hundred years later Holmfirth expanded rapidly as the cloth trade grew. The present parish church was built in 1778 after the church built in 1476 was swept away in a flood the previous year, in 1850 Holmfirth railway station opened, on the branch line built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Local men who served and died in the First and Second World Wars are commemorated on the Holme Valley War Memorial found outside Holme Valley Memorial Hospital. Holmfirth was the home of Bamforth & Co Ltd, who were known for their cheeky seaside postcards – although around the time of the First World War. The printing works on Station Road has now converted into residential flats. Bamforths company were pioneers of film-making, before they abandoned the business in favour of postcards. There are a number of instances when flooding has occurred in the Holme Valley affecting Holmfirth, the earliest recorded Holmfirth flood was in 1738 and the most recent was 1944. The most severe flood occurred early on the morning of 5 February 1852, following a severe storm in 1777 the River Holme burst its banks, sweeping away people and property with the loss of three lives, the stone church built in 1476, was also swept away. A storm in 1821 again caused the river to burst its banks, the flooding on the night of 29 May 1944 was not nationally reported and it was then overshadowed by the D-Day landings the following week. Holmfirth is the setting for the BBCs long-running comedy Last of the Summer Wine, thousands of tourists flock to the area each year to enjoy scenery and locations familiar from the series. Filming of the TV Slaithwaite-based drama, Where the Heart Is, had taken place in. The former Lodges supermarket building had been sitting empty in the heart of the town since the Co-op moved to new premises in Crown Bottom, Lodges was built in the 1970s by the prominent local grocery company. It was opened by Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn and occupied a location over the River Holme beside the towns small bus station
4.
Chartism
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Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in Britain that existed from 1838 to 1857. Support for the movement was at its highest in 1839,1842, and 1848, the strategy employed was to use the scale of support which these petitions and the accompanying mass meetings demonstrated to put pressure on politicians to concede manhood suffrage. Chartism thus relied on constitutional methods to secure its aims, though there were some who became involved in activities, notably in south Wales. The Peoples Charter called for six reforms to make the system more democratic, A vote for every man twenty-one years of age, of sound mind. The secret ballot to protect the elector in the exercise of his vote, no property qualification for Members of Parliament in order to allow the constituencies to return the man of their choice. Payment of Members, enabling tradesmen, working men, or other persons of modest means to leave or interrupt their livelihood to attend to the interests of the nation. Equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the number of electors. This sense that the class had been betrayed by the middle class was strengthened by the actions of the Whig governments of the 1830s. Notably, the hated new Poor Law Amendment was passed in 1834, depriving working people of outdoor relief and driving the poor into workhouses, where families were separated. It was the wave of opposition to this measure in the north of England in the late 1830s that gave Chartism the numbers that made it a mass movement. In 1836 the London Working Mens Association was founded by William Lovett and Henry Hetherington, the origins of Chartism in Wales can be traced to the foundation in the autumn of 1836 of Carmarthen Working Mens Association. Both nationally and locally a Chartist press thrived in the form of periodicals, the Poor Mans Guardian in the 1830s, edited by Henry Hetherington, dealt with questions of class solidarity, manhood suffrage, property, and temperance, and condemned the Reform Act of 1832. The paper explored the rhetoric of violence versus non-violence, or what its writers referred to as moral versus physical force and it was succeeded as the voice of radicalism by an even more famous paper, the Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser. The Star was published between 1837 and 1852, and in 1839 was the provincial newspaper in Britain, with a circulation of 50,000 copies. Like other Chartist papers it was read aloud in coffee houses, workplaces. Other Chartist periodicals included the Northern Liberator, English Chartist Circular, the papers gave justifications for the demands of the Peoples Charter, accounts of local meetings, commentaries on education and temperance and a great deal of poetry. The papers also advertised upcoming meetings, typically organised by local grass roots branches, held either in public houses, readers also found denunciations of imperialism—the First Opium War was condemned—and of the arguments of free traders about the civilizing and pacifying influences of free trade. In 1837, six Members of Parliament and six working men, including William Lovett formed a committee and this set out the six main aims of the movement
5.
Huddersfield
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Huddersfield is a large market town in West Yorkshire, England. It is the 11th largest town in the United Kingdom, with a population of 162,949 at the 2011 census, halfway between Leeds and Manchester, it lies 190 miles north of London, and 10.3 miles south of Bradford. Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme, within the historic county boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is the largest urban area in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees and the administrative centre of the borough. The town is known for its role in the Industrial Revolution, and for being the birthplaces of rugby league, Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and the film star James Mason. Huddersfield is home to rugby league team Huddersfield Giants, founded in 1895, who play in the European Super League, and Championship football team Huddersfield Town F. C. founded in 1908. The town is home to the University of Huddersfield and the sixth form colleges Greenhead College, Kirklees College, Huddersfield railway station is a Grade I listed building described by John Betjeman as the most splendid station façade in England, second only to St Pancras, London. The station in St Georges Square was renovated at a cost of £4 million, there has been a settlement in the area for over 4,000 years. The remains of a Roman fort were unearthed in the mid 18th century at Slack near Outlane, Castle Hill, a major landmark, was the site of an Iron Age hill fort. Huddersfield was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Oderesfelt, Huddersfield has been a market town since Anglo-Saxon times. The market cross is on Market Place, the manor of Huddersfield was owned by the de Lacy family until 1322, at which it reverted to royal ownership. In 1599, William Ramsden bought the manor, and the Ramsden family continued to own the manor, Huddersfield was a centre of civil unrest during the Industrial Revolution. Luddites began destroying mills and machinery in response, one of the most notorious attacks was on Cartwright — a Huddersfield mill-owner, the government campaign that crushed the movement was provoked by a murder that took place in Huddersfield. William Horsfall, a mill-owner and a prosecutor of Luddites, was killed in 1812. Although the movement faded out, Parliament began to increase welfare provision for those out of work, Two Prime Ministers have spent part of their childhood in Huddersfield, Harold Wilson and Herbert Asquith. Wilson is commemorated by a statue in front of the railway station, Kirklees Council was the first in the UK to have a Green Party councillor, Nicholas Harvey who was instrumental in protesting against the intended closure of the Settle and Carlisle Railway line. The town has substantial Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats and UKIP presences, centre-right and rightist groups are also active. Huddersfield was incorporated as a borough in the ancient West Riding of Yorkshire in 1868. The borough comprised the parishes of Almondbury, Dalton, Huddersfield, Lindley-cum-Quarmby, when the West Riding County Council was formed in 1889, Huddersfield became a county borough, exempt from county council control
6.
Independent Labour Party
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The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, the organisations three parliamentary representatives defected to the Labour Party in 1947 and the organisation rejoined the Labour Party as Independent Labour Publications in 1975. As the 19th century came to a close, working-class representation in political office became a concern for many Britons. Many who sought the election of working men and their advocates to the Parliament of the United Kingdom saw the Liberal Party as the vehicle for achieving this aim. As early as 1869 a Labour Representation League had been established to register, many trade unions themselves became concerned with gaining parliamentary representation to advance their legislative aims. From the 1870s a series of working-class candidates financially supported by unions were accepted and supported by the Liberal Party. The federation of British unions, the Trades Union Congress, formed its own electoral committee in 1886 to further advance its electoral goals, within two years of its foundation in 1884 the gradualist Fabian Society officially committed itself to a policy of permeation of the Liberal Party. A number of so-called Lib-Lab candidates were subsequently elected Members of Parliament by this alliance of trade unions, the idea of working with the middle-class Liberal Party to achieve working-class representation in parliament was not universally accepted, however. The orthodox British Marxists established their own party, the Social Democratic Federation in 1881, working with SDF members such as Henry Hyde Champion and Tom Mann he was instrumental in the foundation of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888. In 1890 the United States imposed a tariff on foreign cloth which led to a cut in wages throughout the British textile industry. This initiative was replicated by others in Colne Valley, Slaithwaite, such developments showed that working-class support for separation from the Liberal Party was growing in strength. Further arguments for the formation of a new party were to be found in Robert Blatchfords newspaper The Clarion, founded in 1891, the latter collected some 3500 names of those in favour of creating a party of labour independent from the existing political organisations. Hardie owed nothing to the Liberal Party for his election, at a TUC meeting in September 1892 a call was issued for a meeting of advocates of independent labour organisation. An arrangements committee was established and a called for the following January. This conference was chaired by William Henry Drew and was held in Bradford 14–16 January 1893 and it proved to be the foundation conference of the Independent Labour Party and MP Keir Hardie was elected its first chairman. German Socialist leader Edward Bernstein was briefly permitted to address the gathering to pass along the best wishes for success from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the conference also established the basic organisational structure of the new party. Annual Conferences, composed of delegates from each unit of the organisation, were declared the supreme. A Secretary was to be elected, to serve under the control of a central body known as the National Administrative Committee
7.
Batley
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Batley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It lies 7 miles south-east of Bradford,7 miles south-west of Leeds and 1 mile north of Dewsbury, historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 its two wards had a combined population of 38,573. Other nearby towns include, Morley to the north-east, Ossett to the south-east, Batley is part of a special EU transformation zone. The name Batley is derived from Danish, meaning valley or homestead of bats, or more likely. It is recorded in the Domesday Book as Bateleia, after the Norman conquest, the manor was granted to Elbert de Lacy and in 1086 was within the wapentake of Morley. It subsequently passed into the ownership of the de Batleys, and their residence at Batley Hall was held directly from the Crown, at this time the district fell within the Duchy of Lancaster. The population at time was 30 to 40 people. By the late 14th century, the population has increased to around 100, there has been a church in Batley since the 11th century. Batley Parish Church was built in the reign of Henry VI, despite Batley being an ancient settlement, this is all that remains of any great antiquity. Howley Hall at Soothill was built during the 1580s by Sir John Savile, a member of the great Yorkshire landowners, the house was besieged during the English Civil War in 1643 before the Battle of Adwalton Moor but appears to have sustained no serious damage. It continued to be occupied during the 17th century but fell into disrepair, howley Hall was demolished in 1730. Many ruins exist including the cellars of its great hall, Batley Grammar School was founded in 1612 by the Rev. William Lee and is still in existence. Methodism came to Batley in the 1740s and took a hold in the town which continued into the 20th century. John Nelson from Birstall was a lay preacher in the early Methodist movement. Areas of the town, such as Mount Pleasant, were noted for their absence of due to the Methodist beliefs of the populations. During the late 18th century the main occupations in the town were farming and weaving, the Industrial Revolution reached Batley in 1796 with the arrival of its first water powered mills for carding and spinning. During the next century the population grew rapidly, from around 2,500 at the start of the 19th century to 9,308 at the 1851 census. The parish of Batley at this point included Morley, Churwell and Gildersome, a toll road built in 1832 between Gomersal and Dewsbury had a branch to Batley which allowed for the growing volumes of wool, cloth and coal to be transported
8.
United Kingdom general election, 1922
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The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party, the Conservatives had been in coalition with the National Liberals led by David Lloyd George until the previous month, at which point Andrew Bonar Law had formed a Conservative majority government. Most attention was focussed on the new and most recent Prime Ministers, asquiths daughter Violet Bonham-Carter, a prominent Liberal Party campaigner, likened the election to a contest between a man with sleeping sickness and a man with St Vitus Dance. Some Liberal candidates stood calling for a reunited Liberal Party whilst others appear to have backed both Asquith and Lloyd George, few sources are able to agree on exact numbers, and even in contemporary records held by the two groups, some MPs were claimed for both sides. It was the first election where Labour surpassed the strength of both Liberal parties in votes and seats. By one estimate, there were 29 seats where Liberals stood against one another. This is thought to have cost them at least 14 seats,10 of them to Labour, so in theory a reunited Liberal Party would have much closer to. However, in reality the two factions were on terms and Lloyd George was still hoping for a renewed coalition with the Conservatives. The Conservative party basically offered the continuation of the status quo with no new adventures, Bonar Laws Election Address stated, The crying need of the nation have this moment. The Labour Party proposed to nationalise the mines and railways, to impose a levy on financial capital and it promised a higher standard of living for workers, higher wages, and better housing. National Liberals were party formed by Lloyd Georges Coalition Liberals after leaving the government and their net seat change is compared with the Coalition Liberals number of seats after the 1918 election. All comparisons are with the 1918 election, in some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *, in other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1922. Such circumstances are marked with a † and it is impossible to compare seats in Northern Ireland because the number of seats there dropped so dramatically between the 1918 and 1922 elections. The Coalition Liberals of 1918 and National Liberals of 1922 are treated as a single party, W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts, 1832–1987 Jenkins, Roy. United Kingdom election results – summary results 1885–19791922 Conservative manifesto 1922 Labour manifesto 1922 Liberal manifesto
9.
United Kingdom general election, 1931
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The bulk of the National Governments support came from the Conservative Party, and the Conservatives won 470 seats. The Labour party suffered its greatest defeat, losing four out of five compared with the previous election. The Liberal Party, split into three factions, continued to shrink and the Liberal National faction never reunited, Ivor Bulmer-Thomas said the results were the most astonishing in the history of the British party system. It was the last election where one party received a majority of the votes cast. After battling with the Great Depression for two years, Ramsay MacDonalds Labour government had faced with a sudden budget crisis in August 1931. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden refused to consider deficit spending or tariffs as alternative solutions, when the government resigned, MacDonald was encouraged by King George V to form an all-party National Government to deal with the immediate crisis. However the Liberals were sceptical about an election and had to be persuaded, former Liberal leader David Lloyd George firmly opposed the decision to call an election and urged his colleagues to withdraw from the National Government. A main issue was the Conservatives wish to introduce protectionist trade policies, in order to preserve the Liberals within the National Government, the government itself did not endorse a policy but appealed for a Doctors Mandate to do whatever was necessary to rescue the economy. Individual Conservative candidates did support protective tariffs, Labour campaigned on opposition to public spending cuts, but found it difficult to defend the record of the partys former government and the fact that most of the cuts had been agreed before it fell. Historian Andrew Thorpe argues that Labour lost credibility by 1931 as unemployment soared, especially in coal, textiles, shipbuilding, the working class increasingly lost confidence in the ability of Labour to solve the most pressing problem. The 2.5 million Irish Catholics in England and Scotland were a factor in the Labour base in many industrial areas. The Catholic Church had previously tolerated the Labour Party, and denied that it represented true socialism, however, the bishops by 1930 had grown increasingly alarmed at Labours policies toward Communist Russia, toward birth control and especially toward funding Catholic schools. The Catholic shift against Labour and in favour of the National government played a role in Labours losses. In the event, the Labour vote fell sharply, and the National Government won a landslide majority, although the overwhelming majority of the Government MPs were Conservatives under the leadership of Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald remained Prime Minister in the new National government. The Liberals lacked the funds to contest the full range of seats, note, Seat changes are compared with the dissolution and are based on The Times House of Commons 1931 p. 134–6 with revisions from F. W. S. Craig. This differs from the above list in including seats where the incumbent was standing down, the aim is to provide a comparison with the previous election. In addition, it provides information about which party gained the seat, all comparisons are with the 1929 election. In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party, such circumstances are marked with a *
10.
American Federation of Labor
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The American Federation of Labor was a national federation of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers of the Cigar Makers International Union was elected president of the Federation at its convention and was reelected every year except one until his death in 1924. The American Federation of Labor organized as an association of trade unions in 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions also merged into what would become the American Federation of Labor. In January 1886, the Cigar Manufacturers Association of New York City attempted to flex its muscle by announcing a 20 percent wage cut in factories around the city. The Cigar Makers International Union refused to accept the cut and 6,000 of its members in 19 factories were locked out by the owners, a strike lasting four weeks ensued. The leadership of the CMIU was enraged and demanded that the New York District Assembly be investigated and punished by the officials of the Knights of Labor. The committee of investigation was controlled by individuals friendly to the New York District Assembly, however, the American Federation of Labor was thus originally formed as an alliance of craft unions outside the Knights of Labor as a means of defending themselves against this and similar incursions. The call stated that an element of the Knights of Labor was doing work and causing incalculable mischief by arousing antagonisms. Forty-three invitations were mailed, which drew the attendance of 20 delegates, the actions of the New York District Assembly of the K of L were upheld. Forty-two delegates representing 13 national unions and various local labor organizations responded to the call. Revenue for the new organization was to be raised on the basis of a tax of its member organizations. Governance of the organization was to be by annual conventions, with one delegate allocated for every 4,000 members of each affiliated union. Gompers would ultimately be re-elected to the position by annual conventions of the organization for every year one until his death nearly four decades later. Headway was made in the form of endorsement by various local labor bodies, the group from the outset concentrated upon the income and working conditions of its membership as its almost sole focus. The AFLs founding convention declaring higher wages and a shorter workday to be preliminary steps toward great, participation in partisan politics was avoided as inherently divisive, and the groups constitution was structured to prevent the admission of political parties as affiliates. The AFL faced its first major reversal when employers launched an open shop movement in 1903 designed to drive out of construction, mining, longshore. Ever the pragmatist, Gompers argued that labor should reward its friends, after 1908, the organizations tie to the Democratic party grew increasingly strong
11.
Pontefract
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Pontefract is a historic market town in West Yorkshire, England, near the A1 and the M62 motorway. Pontefracts motto is Post mortem patris pro filio, Latin for After the death of the father, support the son, at the end of the 11th century, the modern township of Pontefract consisted of two distinct and separate localities known as Tanshelf and Kirkby. Such a crossing point would have been important in the early days. Historians believe that, in all probability, it is this event which gives the township of Pontefract its modern name. The name Pontefract originates from the Latin for broken bridge, formed of the elements pons, Pontefract was not recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book, but it was noted as Pontefracto in 1090, four years after the Domesday survey. In 2007 a suspected extension of Ferrybridge Henge – a Neolithic henge – was discovered near Pontefract during a survey in preparation for the construction of a row of houses, once the survey was complete, the construction continued. The modern town is situated on an old Roman road, described as the Roman Ridge, the period of Yorkshires history between the demise of the Viking king Eric Bloodaxe in 954 and the arrival of the Normans in 1068 is known as the Anglo-Scandinavian age. The modern township of Pontefract consisted of two Anglo-Scandinavian settlements, known as Tanshelf and Kirkby, in Yorkshire, place-name locations often contain the distinctive Danish -by i. e. Kirkby. And even today, the streets in Pontefract are designated by the Danish word gate e. g. Bailygate. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle makes its first reference to Tanshelf in the year 947 when King Eadred of England met with the council of Northumbria to accept its submission. King Eadred did not enjoy Northumbrias support for long, and a year later the kingdom voted Eric Bloodaxe King of York, when the Doomsday Book was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086 Tanshelf was still a sizeable settlement for the period. The town had a priest,60 petty burgesses,16 cottagers,16 villagers and 8 smallholders, Tanshelf also had a church, a fishery and three mills. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the church on The Booths in Pontefract, off North Baileygate, the oldest grave dates from around 690. The church is likely to be at Tanshelf and may have similar to the church at Ledsham. The area which is now the market place was the original meeting place of the Osgoldcross wapentake. In the Anglo-Saxon period a part of the township of Pontefract was known by the Anglo-Scandinavian name of Kirkby. Pontefract Castle began as a motte and bailey castle, built before 1086. The de Lacys lived in the castle for more than two centuries and were holders of the castle and the Honour of Pontefract from 1067 until the death of Alice de Lacy in 1348, King Richard II was murdered at the castle in 1400
12.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
