The BBC Radio 4 Programme ‘More or Less’ last week celebrated the 1909 introduction of Old Age Pensions (the podcast from 1 May is still online). I’d had contact with the programme about predicting longevity and they asked if they could interview me in the House of Lords Archives. The original letters and papers of Lloyd George, the parliamentary debates and the original vellum (that’s goatskin) Acts of 1909 and 1911 are all held in the wonderful parliamentary archives housed in the Victoria Tower, see my photo, left. Jenny the archivist took Paul Vickers the interviewer and me up to see this extraordinary archive, where all the parchment and vellum original scrolls of acts are kept in 8 floors of specially designed floors of fire-proof shelving created in the new Houses of Parliament after the great fire of 1834 burnt down the old parliament buildings. (The documents in the Lords escaped the flames because they used to be kept in the Jewel Tower across the road, photo right). The long ancient scrolls look like film reels end on, but astonishing clearly written. We even saw the earliest acts there, signed personally by Henry VII in 1499. The programme used a tiny bit of our interview in the archives…it is always the way but it was worth it to see this fabulous collection, much used of course by students and researchers. And what a fantastic view from the top of the Victoria Tower
Is there a reason why the earliest acts there are 1499? I know that vellum rolls exist from the earliest parliaments – they have been consulted for the termination (or mistaken terminations as some might suggest) of certain abeyant peerages.
Croft, I am not sure why these are the earliest. There are earlier documents in the Public Record Office, whose marvellous website (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) is totally addictive, but I wonder if we don’t have the earlier ones because parliament was not separated into two chambers until the 14th century and various changes were made in the 15th century. There is a good overview of the foundations of parliamentary history on the parliamentary website at http://www.parliament.uk/parliament/guide/parliament.htm#sdemonfo. Records get lost over the years of course and damaged by poor conservation.
My own research in the House of Lords archives never extended to those lovely treasures, but it’s a wonderful place to explore with many fascinating papers and documents in the collection. (And I agree that the view is marvellous.)
I am feeling jealous… I live 2140 km away, so it’s a bit hard for me to get a taste of those excellent views without photographs. And although the coverage of the Palace of Westminster is now better than it has ever been, and there is much great material in the Parliament’s Flickr photostream, that is not necessarily a good thing, because it has only managed to stimulate my appetite for more! (I do have a special interest for that building.)