Duncan Hamilton
@dnhamilton.bsky.social
University of Manchester PGR researching the literature of the Chartist Thomas Cooper | Elizabeth Gaskell's House volunteer | IHR History Lab+ ambassador (North West England)
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.
November 15, 2025 at 10:45 PM
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.
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.
Yes, I look good with the scruff and the cropped hair, I'm not ashamed.
November 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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.
Yes, I look good with the scruff and the cropped hair, I'm not ashamed.
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
November 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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
Spending most of my time hiding in a crypt and playing dress up, as I usually do in heritage sites
November 3, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Spending most of my time hiding in a crypt and playing dress up, as I usually do in heritage sites
You know what time of year it is
October 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
You know what time of year it is
Three bloody years on this PhD and I still get jumpscared by the low-contrast Thomas Cooper
October 31, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Three bloody years on this PhD and I still get jumpscared by the low-contrast Thomas Cooper
Is there anything more South Manchester than having a print of your favourite brunch place on the wall
October 25, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Is there anything more South Manchester than having a print of your favourite brunch place on the wall
Proud to pay my respects to KING DAVID HARTLEY OF CRAGG VALE and also this poet my partner likes I guess
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Proud to pay my respects to KING DAVID HARTLEY OF CRAGG VALE and also this poet my partner likes I guess
Uh, whose Wuthering Heights?
October 19, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Uh, whose Wuthering Heights?
Brilliant book but especially essential reading for anyone interested in the history of commons land management
October 18, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Brilliant book but especially essential reading for anyone interested in the history of commons land management
Big day - my parents inform me that it is finally the start of Long Dog Jumper Season
September 23, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Big day - my parents inform me that it is finally the start of Long Dog Jumper Season
I think there's another anti-immigration protest going on in my locale tomorrow, which makes it all the more appropriate to be spending this evening reading my grandfather's own immigration paperwork. Yes, his profession is listed as 'hockey player', he was the most Canadian man to ever live
September 20, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I think there's another anti-immigration protest going on in my locale tomorrow, which makes it all the more appropriate to be spending this evening reading my grandfather's own immigration paperwork. Yes, his profession is listed as 'hockey player', he was the most Canadian man to ever live
"We do not like the nomenclature of this novelist. It is too literally allegorical."
Finally, a literary critic with the pluck to call Cooper out on his bullshit character naming conventions (I'm still not over the gardener, Eli Grubroot, and doubt I ever will be).
Finally, a literary critic with the pluck to call Cooper out on his bullshit character naming conventions (I'm still not over the gardener, Eli Grubroot, and doubt I ever will be).
September 15, 2025 at 9:22 AM
"We do not like the nomenclature of this novelist. It is too literally allegorical."
Finally, a literary critic with the pluck to call Cooper out on his bullshit character naming conventions (I'm still not over the gardener, Eli Grubroot, and doubt I ever will be).
Finally, a literary critic with the pluck to call Cooper out on his bullshit character naming conventions (I'm still not over the gardener, Eli Grubroot, and doubt I ever will be).
Back in the home of Thomas Cooper for reasons that I will make clear tomorrow... I don't think he would approve of the vulgar gesture but I'm cooler than him, so.
September 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Back in the home of Thomas Cooper for reasons that I will make clear tomorrow... I don't think he would approve of the vulgar gesture but I'm cooler than him, so.
Views from the top of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct - built 1805, 126ft up
September 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Views from the top of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct - built 1805, 126ft up
The most Disco of Disco moments in Alix Holt's preface to the essays of Alexandra Kollontai
August 14, 2025 at 7:44 AM
The most Disco of Disco moments in Alix Holt's preface to the essays of Alexandra Kollontai
Close, but I don't think that's what George Binns's most well-known Chartist poem was called
(Yes, I'm reading Chartist poetry at 10.45pm on a Friday night. Party animal, me.)
(Yes, I'm reading Chartist poetry at 10.45pm on a Friday night. Party animal, me.)
August 1, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Close, but I don't think that's what George Binns's most well-known Chartist poem was called
(Yes, I'm reading Chartist poetry at 10.45pm on a Friday night. Party animal, me.)
(Yes, I'm reading Chartist poetry at 10.45pm on a Friday night. Party animal, me.)
#OTD 1847 was the first day of the General Election held in that year. It ran from 29 July to 26 August and is notable for the return of Feargus O'Connor, who won Nottingham's second seat on an explicitly Chartist platform.
(Photo of the Feargus O'Connor statue in the Nottingham Arboretum)
(Photo of the Feargus O'Connor statue in the Nottingham Arboretum)
July 29, 2025 at 11:03 AM
#OTD 1847 was the first day of the General Election held in that year. It ran from 29 July to 26 August and is notable for the return of Feargus O'Connor, who won Nottingham's second seat on an explicitly Chartist platform.
(Photo of the Feargus O'Connor statue in the Nottingham Arboretum)
(Photo of the Feargus O'Connor statue in the Nottingham Arboretum)
My brain whenever anyone asks me to explain what my PhD is about (it's not even that hard to explain)
July 27, 2025 at 7:28 PM
My brain whenever anyone asks me to explain what my PhD is about (it's not even that hard to explain)
This is promising - Lewes suggesting that Eliot was quite interested in encouraging Herbert Spencer towards a debate with Cooper, in the days following Cooper's reconversion to Christianity. Don't think Cooper ever took on challenge, sadly.
July 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
This is promising - Lewes suggesting that Eliot was quite interested in encouraging Herbert Spencer towards a debate with Cooper, in the days following Cooper's reconversion to Christianity. Don't think Cooper ever took on challenge, sadly.
Spending Sunday afternoon going through nine (thankfully digitised) volumes of George Eliot's letters looking for any connections between her and Thomas Cooper. Appreciated this quote from George Henry Lewes:
"My function in life is to be ornamental".
Mood, George, mood.
"My function in life is to be ornamental".
Mood, George, mood.
July 27, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Spending Sunday afternoon going through nine (thankfully digitised) volumes of George Eliot's letters looking for any connections between her and Thomas Cooper. Appreciated this quote from George Henry Lewes:
"My function in life is to be ornamental".
Mood, George, mood.
"My function in life is to be ornamental".
Mood, George, mood.
Dril tweet moment
July 27, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Dril tweet moment
Happy birthday Michael Foot - who was a reader of Chartist poetry! I own his old copy of The Poetical Works of Thomas Cooper, used as research for his study of Byron. Foot highlights Cooper's mention of Sardanapalus, which is in part a ref to Byron's 1821 tragedy.
July 23, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Happy birthday Michael Foot - who was a reader of Chartist poetry! I own his old copy of The Poetical Works of Thomas Cooper, used as research for his study of Byron. Foot highlights Cooper's mention of Sardanapalus, which is in part a ref to Byron's 1821 tragedy.