Alex Wakelam

Excerpt of a 1916 report into labour shortages in Bradford, identifying that women left weaving jobs to work on the Trams and would not return

Bradford Chamber of Commerce learned in 1916 what many of us knew already: women love trams.

Extract from my book Credit and Debt in Eighteenth-Century England (2020) on the debate around loss of trial by jury for small debts

In the 18th century jury trial was eroded for poor debtors, instead being dealt with by magistrates (sounds familiar to me). Decisions were arbitrary and the poor suffered. MPs, intellectuals, and even local tradesman spoke out in defence of the ‘the ancient and valuable privilege of trial by Jury’

19th Century Folder with "OBSOLETE BYELAWS" typed across it

Just found in the Department for Education archives the perfect band name and album cover for starting the hottest indie band of 2007

Segment from a letter from 1877 sent by the Education Department which inexplicably leaves the results of their determination blank

'that they have now determined to ... to' WHAT DID YOU DETERMINE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME WHAT YOU DETERMINED

I’m at the national archives and just walked past somebody carrying a bundle of documents with massive “TOP SECRET” stamps all over it and a date mark of 1944. Is it bad form to sit next to them and read over their shoulder?

This happend with a long time very close "friend" in my social circle. The only thing that worked was we sat down as a group and agreed to cut him out. Even those hesitant at the time committed long term out of social awkwardness. Only regret was not including more secondary people at that meeting

The data always had a login due to copyright requirements of the transcription. Unfortunately the aspect of UKDA’s website which enabled the publicly available aggregate data was discontinued. We haven’t found an alternative that won’t require ongoing funding but that doesn’t mean we’ve given up

I’m imagining Paul Bettany as the only human and everyone else as muppets. Fozzy Bear will make an excellent villain

“And Tiny Tim, who did not die” clearly implies that either Tiny Tim is still alive in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty five or that he regenerates like the doctor either of which fills me with abject terror.

“And Tiny Tim, who did not die” clearly implies that either Tiny Tim is still alive in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty five or that he regenerates like the doctor either of which fills me with abject terror.

It should do as the census counted pews I beleive. The returns also included Sunday School attendance which definitely didn't descriminate by age as in areas where adults attended (such as in Wales) the number of attendees massively outnumbered the population under 15

Oh all recipes should be shared and readily. I have saved in my notes app my strong recommends and will send the out after people come over for dinner. Macaroni is my only red line

Mac and cheese recipes, if done well, should be kept to yourself. I sometimes worry my wife only married me for my macaroni cheese (she brought it up twice in her wedding speech as did her best woman) and so I daren’t tell anyone my hidden truths.

Birmingham, my home city, is a fantastic city, with fantastic people- a success story. It has its problems, like anywhere. But the obsession the online right has with it is as transparent as it gets.

Zebulon Swingewood (imprisoned debtor in 1769) has been living rent free in my head for almost the last decade

A letter from the middle of the nineteenth century. Rather than using another sheet of paper, the writer has turned the page 90 degrees and written over what they had already written.

Ah the Victorian period, when it was more important to save a few pennies on a second sheet of paper than for the recipient of your letter to be able to read what you’d written

Loving all the various “this is what causes low birth rates” posts tonight when we still haven’t fully worked out what caused them to start declining IN 1850 (when kids were still very much at work and there was no easy contraception)

Surely we can at least go from the act of union as formation of Britain? A healthy diet of boiled potatoes (none of that modern frying) and gin is all I need

The title page of a 19th Century book published in Bradford inexplicably called "The Retort Courteous; or, The Descent of Mr Baines, From the Pinnacle to the Pickle Pot"

Begging 19th Century writers to just be normal for five minutes was apparently a fools errand.

I'm several pages in and none the wiser at what should be a mild complaint about an aspect of Bradford society c.1820: 'Tweedle, Tweedle, Tweedle, Some Catgut to my Feedle' (??)

Seeing a lot of critical responses from medievalists about this BBC 1066 thing. As an early modernist, just to say that I'm happy to confirm that medieval people were indeed covered in dirt all the time and did all sound like they were in the Wurzels.

I remember discovering in shock as an undergraduate that Eric Hobsbawm was still alive only for him to die the next day

There is no better feeling when travelling abroad than your phone magically picking up Eduroam

Measuring worth (again now a little out of date) but slightly more detailed / recent than TNA

www.measuringworth.com

I maintain that early modern historians remain the most whimsical historians

Abstract Early modern London’s population explosion was reliant upon the constant arrival of migrants, predominantly from the provinces but joined by a variety of those born overseas. After re-admittance during the Commonwealth in 1656, Jews made up an increasingly large proportion of immigrants. However, centuries of antisemitic distrust did not disappear, and London’s Jews faced unique obstacles to integration in the city, not least in their ability to engage in the credit market that underpinned commerce. Using surviving debt imprisonment records, this article analyses the extent to which Jews were able to overcome sustained prejudice and integrate broadly in London’s commercial environment. It suggests Jews were, by the second half of the century, just as likely to be imprisoned for debts as to imprison others, while the sums owed, the occupational structure, and residential geography of Jewish Londoners suggest that integration was frequently dependent on wealth and class.

Followed by 'Jewish Credit, Debt, and Economic Integration in Eighteenth-Century London', by @awakelam.bsky.social: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.....

Populations Past atlas

If you want to play around with the visualisation of the data and see fertility decline (particularly marital fertility) can’t recommend the Populations Past website enough

www.populationspast.org

This is 19th century UK focussed by the way. There is no single global pattern of fertility decline and we don’t yet understand what really caused it in any setting but we are good at working out what didn’t cause it.

Oh they were absolutely still having sex. Pre-contraception, couples were much better at coitus interuptus than you’d expect. Ultimately it comes down to whether women are able to negotiate it - wage earning women have fewer children.

Unfortunately that’s not the answer. It would be delightful
If it was that simple. The major fertility transition in Britain had already occurred by 1911, average children per family falling from 6 to 2 1851-1911 without contraception.