Summary: Mayor Eva Hartree had to face down a protest outside her house when Cambridge Borough Council voted to build a new bus terminal for the town. Some of you may have seen the news story on proposals from Stagecoach to double the size of Drummer Street Bus Station. Nearly a century ago, when proposals … More Drummer Street Bus Station 1925
Summary: Taking advantage of leaps and bounds in communications technologies as applied to the field of history to find and share more of our civic and social histories. (I’m scanning and uploading images of v old books and pamphlets I’m buying off various websites to https://archive.org/details/@antony_carpen&tab=uploads) Just over a decade ago, Margaret Thatcher was invited to … More Digitising and opening up the history of Cambridge (the town)
This article from the British Newspaper Archive here which I’ve transcribed below shows the assessment Alfred Waterhouse gave to Cambridge Borough Council on the designs submitted for the Cambridge Corn Exchange. The old Corn Exchange – which later became a garage, a club, a car park and now is where a corporate hotel built in the 1980s … More Alfred Waterhouse assesses the top two designs for a new Corn Exchange in Cambridge. 1870
Summary: General election time straight after the end of The Great War. Conservative candidate Sir Eric Geddes, parachuted into the seat standing for The National Coalition of Liberals and Conservatives against Rev T Rhonnda Williams standing for a Cambridge Labour Party still in its infancy. Sir Eric Geddes at the time of this speech in the … More Sir Eric Geddes threatens to hang The Kaiser – Cambridge Guildhall December 1918
Summary: Everyone knew war was coming, they just didn’t know when. But the rise of fascism cast a dark political cloud – even over Cambridge. It was a turbulent time for Labour. It took them over a decade to ban communists from affiliating to the Labour Party at a time when fascism was on the … More Hugh Dalton and Clara Rackham celebrate Cambridge Labour’s 25th birthday under political storm clouds of 1937
Summary: August is *silly season* for news organisations because many organisations wind down for the summer holidays, and Parliament shuts down for a couple of months. So the Cambridge Daily News invited its readers to suggest improvements to the town – in the most inappropriate way possible. Cue the music <– Click. Imagine a game show … More Residents of Cambridge in 1936 suggest improvements to the town…
Summary: One of the most influential men to live and work in Cambridge was the husband of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Prof Henry Fawcett. Despite being blinded in a shooting accident, he rose to achieve more in life time than many of us might care to achieve in three. Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister, University Professor amongst … More The funeral of Prof Henry Fawcett at Trumpington, Cambridge, 1884.
Summary: Part 3 of the Liberal council manifesto ideas includes calling for the municipalisation/nationalisation of water, simplifying the parliamentary procedure for local councils to take powers for public service delivery, and calling for a unitary council to serve Cambridge. Transcribed from this digitised copy from the British Newspaper Archive here. SUGGESTIONS FOR A LIBERAL … More Cambridge Liberals’ local council manifesto ideas – part 3: 1907
Summary: Part 2 – This article covers what functions the borough council at the time delivered, and also lists the schools then funded by borough council and thus the local rate payers. This differs to today where schools are funded primarily through general taxation at a national level rather than at a local council level. … More Cambridge Liberals’ local council manifesto ideas – part 2: 1907
Summary The first of three articles in the Cambridge Independent, making the case for a liberal manifesto for local government. This article is transcribed from the Cambridge Independent Press of 13 Sept 1907 – during the Liberal Government of the day and also when barrister Stanley Buckmaster KC was the Member of Parliament for Cambridge borough. … More Cambridge Liberals’ local council manifesto ideas – part 1: 1907
