Foreword

A L A N M A R S H A L L

In the revised edition of British Politics in the Age of Anne (1987), Geoffrey Holmes notedthat ‘twenty years . . . [was] a long time in the bustling, hyper-professional world of late20th century scholarship’, and to produce a ‘revised edition’ of a work first published in1967 was, in many ways, to ‘attempt the impossible’.

Yet 2007 saw the 40th anniversary of the publication of British Politics in the Age ofAnne and stood 20 years on from the publication of the revised edition, whose brilliantintroduction belies the author’s comments. It seemed pertinent to find out how thismajor work of research had fared in the interim of an even more ‘bustling’ world ofhistorical scholarship.

With this in mind it was suggested that perhaps a gathering of scholars in a sympo-sium on the work (not excluding Geoffrey Holmes’s other major writings), would betimely. In addition, the private circulation by Ella Holmes of the ‘missing’, incompletevolume on the ‘Great Ministry’ of Robert Harley made it an opportune time to revisitthe era.

The results of this symposium (organised by myself and Clyve Jones), arising from itsdebates, papers, and discussions within the History of Parliament building on 8 Decem-ber 2007 are now placed before you.

The day proved to be illuminating and revealing. If the historical academic world hasmoved on very quickly and books in it, not to mention their ideas, are all too oftenephemeral, it was soon clear that here was work which had stood the test of time.Whatwas also clear throughout the day was that even after 40 years, Geoffrey Holmes’s ideasas a historian of the reign of Anne were still very much live ones and still providing afoundation for further research. Such lacunae as were noted were rare and the work ofHolmes stood up to scrutiny.

In this volume, therefore, are some aspects of the age of Anne seen through the eyesof some of the major scholars of the era in 2007; that their scholarship is also seen to bethrough the filter of what has come to be called ‘British Politics in the Age of Holmes’is perhaps a still more fitting tribute to a very remarkable historian.

Dr Jones and I would like to thank Ella Holmes for supplying the photograph ofGeoffrey and for allowing us to publish for the first time Geoffrey’s lecture on LordWharton. Our thanks are also due to Bath Spa University and the History of Parliamentfor financially supporting the symposium on which this volume is based, and particularlyto Professor Fiona Montgomery (head of the School of Historical and Cultural Studiesat Bath Spa University) and to Dr Paul Seaward (director of the History of Parliament)for their support of the project. Finally we would like to thank Alasdair Hawkyard forcompiling the index.