Sign in

Duncan Hamilton

@dnhamilton.bsky.social
956 followers 176 following 394 posts

University of Manchester PGR researching radical 19thC literature and politics | National Co-operative Archive volunteer | IHR History Lab+ ambassador (North West England)

PostsRepliesMedia
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Me most of the time: oh I'm from the North East, it's okay nobody knows it that well - haha not quite Newcastle but Haway the Lads and all that!! :) Me during the General Strike centenary: THAT'S D-U-R-H-A-M TO YOU - IS THAT A MIDLAND ACCENT I HEAR? YOU *RAT*, I WILL ONLY TALK TO THE WELSH
000
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Now to celebrate my triumph with a coffee stout and some BBC Archive footage of old branch lines.
110
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Making a pancake out of Yorkshire pudding batter and using it as a rudimentary tortilla for a Christmas Dinner Leftovers Burrito is both my greatest culinary invention and my greatest crime. However, I did look extremely smug walking into the living room holding a full Christmas dinner in one hand.
110
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Society for the Study of Labour History @sslh.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Twelve places in labour history sslh.org.uk/tag/place-in...
0125
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Responding to a threat to lock down my entirely sheep-based economy with "I'd rather die standing than live kneeling" Churchill wishes he was me
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Christmas Day 2025, also known as ground zero of Duncan's Catan phase
010
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Society for the Study of Labour History @sslh.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Concluding our series on places in labour history, Greg Billam takes us to St George's Plateau, Liverpool, where crowds have gathered for more than a century for key social, political, and cultural episodes in the city’s history sslh.org.uk/2025/12/24/s...
sslh.org.uk
St George’s Plateau, Liverpool: a place in labour history
Concluding our series on places in labour history, Greg Billam takes us to St George’s Plateau, where crowds have gathered for more than a century for key social, political, and cultural epis…
0155
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Christmas holiday reading off to an interesting start as I swing dramatically between Corinne Fowler and Tim Key.
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Is there anything as liminal as an intercity train at night? I have absolutely no idea where I am most of the time. This is probably what Purgatory looks like these days
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
So much easier to write this way! Where the blank Word document feels cold and hostile, there's almost something inviting and exciting about the blank notebook page. My go-to strategy for beating writers block is to ditch the laptop and pick up a pen!
030
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
John C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
The future of England is a Sunday roast with Yorkshire puddings and Jolof rice and that is not a force that can really be slowed
415613
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Society for the Study of Labour History @sslh.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
We have a new guide to archive sources for #co-operative #history on the website. You can download the 35-page PDF here sslh.org.uk/2025/12/07/s...
sslh.org.uk
Sources for Co-operative History in the UK
Click to download. The Society for the Study of Labour History has created a guide to sources for co-operative history in the UK. Compiled by the Society’s Archives and Resources Committee, the gui…
12823
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Society for the Study of Labour History @sslh.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement sslh.org.uk/2025/12/08/w...
sslh.org.uk
West Ham: a place in labour history
In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement. There is a good case for We…
0189
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Entered the pub and Liverpool were 2-0 up against Leeds. Wondered where the Liverpool I'd seen this season had gone? Five minutes pass and it's 2-2. Ah, there they are.
000
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Society for the Study of Labour History @sslh.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
The first three posts in our Places in Labour History series are now on our website. Duncan Hamilton on the County Hotel and Durham Miners’ Gala. Jane Donaldson on the 1938 co-operative movement pageant. Mark Crail on the burial place of Chartist writer Helen Macfarlane sslh.org.uk/tag/place-in...
053
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Great read, Mark. Always preferred Helen's hobgoblin to the more conventional spectre!
110
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Writing a bit about pubs in Chartism (Cooper advocates for them as meeting places in his novel but doesn't mention the whole, you know, drunkenness aspect). Having a fun moment getting to quote from the Chartist Circular's teetotal address that my 3x and 4x great-grandfathers both signed.
Stonehouse: James Hamilton, merchant. James Hamilton, junior, merchant.
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Many thanks, Mark - had a lot of fun writing it up!
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
As much as I'm a scholar of Chartism, I'm also a Durham lad. It was great, therefore, to have a chance to write about one of the first sites to inspire my interest in British labour history, situated at the heart of the Miners Gala.
1132
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
My Thomas Cooper library grows in size and splendour with an extremely rare first edition of Alderman Ralph. Only the first volume, alas, but there's plenty of indecipherable notes in the back to keep me busy until Volume 2 surfaces!
Old black book cover. The pattern, once ornate, is very worn.Title page to Alderman Ralph by Adam HornbrookPage of handwritten notes. The handwriting is indecipherable.Second page of handwritten notes. The handwriting is indecipherable.
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
My favourite ones are the ones that do posts about their busy research day and then two of the items on their checklist are "make reels" and "post tiktoks" Where is the "read book that literally makes you go insane" representation
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Aside from screaming it out of my system? I find changing out of work clothes helps sometimes, almost shifting persona in a way. Shirt and blazer me is often rather scholarly, loungewear/Oodie me has never had a thought in his life beyond Eat Pasta
000
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Alert
000
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Greatest game of all time. Old school cRPG about politics and Hegelianism with a Sea Power soundtrack? Banger
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
There's very little that gives me a rush like passing an 8% check in Disco Elysium
120
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
My grandfather emerged from the plains of Saskatchewan to become a professional ice hockey player in the 40s/50s and I will always defend the sport. It is completely insane. This is a great piece. Forget the shortform media content and watch people smash each other about on the ice as a replacement!
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Starmer has gone from a draconian head of the Crown Prosecution Service to a jewel thief in just over a decade. One of the most insane lateral moves of all time
041
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Bring back Chartist plays - not BBC Schools necessarily, just an absolute boatload of Chartist plays. A Director-General vote for Duncan is a vote for common sense
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Partner no doubt thrilled to be with someone who spends Saturday night gawping over fifty year old BBC documents
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Reading some old BBC Schools broadcasting notes because the incredible Thomas Cooper play (WRITTEN BY ALAN PLATER) is featured and - man, the Beeb used to be something, didn't it? Our Tom would have strongly approved of the educational angle.
120
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
William Morris's 'News From Nowhere' is actually a how-to guide on what we should do with cities
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
The main planning document for this section is a diagram of a Witangemot as imagined by Chartism in the main and a diagram of a Witangemot-type meeting as imagined by Thomas Cooper. I am essentially playing a ~4,000 word game of Spot the Difference and brother are there DIFFERENCES
000
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Another lovely day working on my thesis about radicalism in the 19th century - now to spend several hours writing about Anglo-Saxon Witangemots
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit and bow tie asks how did i get here
ALT: a man in a suit and bow tie asks how did i get here
110
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization. -William Morris
William Morris giving his “I’m disappointed” face
3474
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Last night I started David Olusoga's new Empire series (excellent and I hugely recommend it - David is a much better historian than he is a Faithful). Monday in the archive and the first pamphlet I open is a case of some good old Imperial Federationism from an ex-Chartist. Many, MANY such cases.
011
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Ariadne Griffin @ariadnereviews.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
all if forgiven, this show is perfect. #GameOfWool
54811
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Had a long-overdue haircut this week and made the decision to do a close shave afterwards. This proved to be a mistake but it has, at least, allowed me to complete the Carroll diagram of Duncan's Many Looks Yes, I look good with the scruff and the cropped hair, I'm not ashamed.
030
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Favourite development thus far is that because of the 1348 bubonic plague, all the clerks died. Ergo, there is nobody to work in the Stannary Courts and the local burgesses are forced to rely on the only courts with still-living bureaucrats - in London.
media.tenor.com
a cartoon of a man with red hair and the words trendisst on the bottom right
ALT: a cartoon of a man with red hair and the words trendisst on the bottom right
010
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
I am ~15 years into my Europa Universalis V game and I'm blown away. This is a simulation of the ENTIRE world for 500 years (1337-1821), yet still deep enough for me to lose myself in battling Devonian and Cornish tin merchants over their weird local legal system #SmashTheStannaryLaws #EUV
120
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.
261603623
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
K M Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
In Newport South Wales on November 4 1839 Chartists nearly succeeded in sparking a revolution. The crack regiment of the British Army shot 22 dead wp.me/p15p2Q-8NH
wp.me
Newport 4th November 1839: 22 Chartists demanding the vote shot dead by the army
Newport 4th November 1839: 22 Chartists demanding the vote shot dead by the army It is 186 years on 4th November since the Newport Rising in South Wales. The events of that day may have had a revol…
096
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
Journey Through Time Pod @throughtimepod.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Listen to Journey Through Time, available on all major podcast platforms 🎙️
1113
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Spending most of my time hiding in a crypt and playing dress up, as I usually do in heritage sites
020
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
After an extremely full-on week followed by an even more full-on weekend (don't do 8hrs of trains in one day, kids) I fully reserve the right to swan around Hexham in various high-quality items of wool clothing
120
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
You know what time of year it is
010
Reposted by Duncan Hamilton
🐈‍⬛🎃🔪 Adam Jay 🍁💀👻 @bullgooseparty.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
An order of chicken fingers is called a hand. “Gimme a hand of fingies,” you say. If you want dipping sauce you ask for them to “paint the nails.”
15733167
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
I have it on good authority that Lincolnshire is a fitting stand-in for Transylvania! However, it does pose further questions about his relationship with the Cross and with Chartism - we need someone to draft a screenplay for "Ernest Jones: Vampire Hunter"
110
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Do you know, I hadn't realised how appropriate it was for the day! Wishing I'd put it up in the window as a Hallowe'en decoration now...
110
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Three bloody years on this PhD and I still get jumpscared by the low-contrast Thomas Cooper
A low-brightness, low-contrast print of a man identified by caption as Thomas Cooper. The image is unsettling.
160
Duncan Hamilton @dnhamilton.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Armando Iannucci and Stewart Lee on the language of politics is perfect (and very distracting) background noise to write to
010