Parliamentary Papers are the most detailed primary source for 19th-century Britain, its colonies, and the wider world. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic, and foreign policy. They influenced public opinion and social and political philosophy, and provided a forum for the ideas of hundreds of thinkers, among them Jenner, Arnold, Trollope, Mill, Faraday, Babbage, Telford, and Brunel.
This comprehensive collection includes all of the papers issued by the House of Commons between 1801-1900 in all formats, including:
- Bills—e.g. abolition of slavery, electoral reform
- Reports of Royal Commissions—e.g. the poor, health, and sanitation
- Reports of Select Committees—e.g. mining and railway accidents
- Accounts and Papers—e.g. correspondence relative to the affairs of the British in North America
- Command Papers—(included within the Reports of Commissioners and Accounts and Papers)
All of the papers are full-text searchable with hit-term highlighting, and accompanied by the bibliographic data and subject indexing from Peter Cockton’s Subject Catalogue to the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1801-1900 (Ref DA530 .C64 1988). You can search and browse numerous fields, including:
- Paper title
- Subject (both alphabetical and hierarchical subjects)
- Chair/author
- Session
- Paper type
- Paper number
- Year
Initial results include brief bibliographic citations. After receiving them, you can view more detailed records, find related documents by clicking on hyperlinked subjects and related bills, mark specific documents for printing or downloading in PDF, and sort results by relevance or by date.
Coverage: 1801-1900