Tim Hitchcock
@timhitchcock.bsky.social
Historian of 18th century London; Professor Emeritus of Digital History at the University of Sussex. Just coughing in the ink to the end of time.
The crime ridden hell-hole that is London on a Thursday afternoon.
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
The crime ridden hell-hole that is London on a Thursday afternoon.
I wonder if anyone on here can help? Attached is a section from a 1706 volume, with shorthand annotations that look like Brachygraphy to me. The assumption has to be that they represent the biblical passages in the nearby text, but I can't make the shorthand agree with the texts being referenced.
November 6, 2025 at 10:08 AM
I wonder if anyone on here can help? Attached is a section from a 1706 volume, with shorthand annotations that look like Brachygraphy to me. The assumption has to be that they represent the biblical passages in the nearby text, but I can't make the shorthand agree with the texts being referenced.
/4 The site still gives users access to 240,000 pages of manuscript and printed sources for London history, reflecting the lives of working Londoners, including people like parish orphan Charlotte Dionis.
November 5, 2025 at 11:29 AM
/4 The site still gives users access to 240,000 pages of manuscript and printed sources for London history, reflecting the lives of working Londoners, including people like parish orphan Charlotte Dionis.
/3 We have also fully redesigned the 'browse by' functions to make navigation a lot more intuitive.
November 5, 2025 at 11:27 AM
/3 We have also fully redesigned the 'browse by' functions to make navigation a lot more intuitive.
/2 Among the new features is a Macroscope visualisation that displays the context for all results.
November 5, 2025 at 11:26 AM
/2 Among the new features is a Macroscope visualisation that displays the context for all results.
Just listening to @richardjansell.bsky.social talking eloquently about servants and their journals on the grand tour @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
October 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Just listening to @richardjansell.bsky.social talking eloquently about servants and their journals on the grand tour @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
Just about to take off from London to San Francisco. It is pretty clear Trumps policies are working and US tourism is truly fucked.
August 27, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Just about to take off from London to San Francisco. It is pretty clear Trumps policies are working and US tourism is truly fucked.
@simonbriercliffe.bsky.social gave a great start on the collection and thinking behind the Black Country Living Museum. @socialhistsoc.bsky.social annual conference
July 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
@simonbriercliffe.bsky.social gave a great start on the collection and thinking behind the Black Country Living Museum. @socialhistsoc.bsky.social annual conference
Just getting stuck into what promises to be an excellent round table on material culture @socialhistsoc.bsky.social annual conference
July 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Just getting stuck into what promises to be an excellent round table on material culture @socialhistsoc.bsky.social annual conference
Just sitting down to a lecture Joycelyn London as part of the ten year anniversary of the Sussex Humanities Lab
June 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Just sitting down to a lecture Joycelyn London as part of the ten year anniversary of the Sussex Humanities Lab
Very much enjoying John Coffey talking about the heroic new edition of William Wilberforce's journals. @long18thsem.bsky.social on the road at the University of Northampton.
June 11, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Very much enjoying John Coffey talking about the heroic new edition of William Wilberforce's journals. @long18thsem.bsky.social on the road at the University of Northampton.
Just enjoying Annebelle Gilmore's great paper on the Black history and the Beckford collection @long18thsem.bsky.social
May 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Just enjoying Annebelle Gilmore's great paper on the Black history and the Beckford collection @long18thsem.bsky.social
Rebbecca Earle just getting stuck into a great talk on thee role of 18th c. notaries as cultural interlocutors. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
March 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Rebbecca Earle just getting stuck into a great talk on thee role of 18th c. notaries as cultural interlocutors. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
Kevin Siena, giving a great talk on disease and race in 18th century medicine. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
February 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Kevin Siena, giving a great talk on disease and race in 18th century medicine. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social
Just getting stuck into a paper by Margaret Hunt on emotions in late seventeenth century Swedish sailor's letters. Fantastic materials and a great paper. @ihrlibrary.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social
January 22, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Just getting stuck into a paper by Margaret Hunt on emotions in late seventeenth century Swedish sailor's letters. Fantastic materials and a great paper. @ihrlibrary.bsky.social @long18thsem.bsky.social
Just about to go in after a long day. Cold but beautful. Muswell Hill. I am really just putting off listening to the news.
January 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Just about to go in after a long day. Cold but beautful. Muswell Hill. I am really just putting off listening to the news.
Had a great evening last week at the London Museum's new site at Smithfield. The space is remarkable - with a lovely vibe. I haven't done any screen printing for 40 years, so really enjoyed helping to print a commemorative bag.
December 19, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Had a great evening last week at the London Museum's new site at Smithfield. The space is remarkable - with a lovely vibe. I haven't done any screen printing for 40 years, so really enjoyed helping to print a commemorative bag.
Just becauase I like it, and because even the new Billingsgate (the only one I know) is about to go. Billingsgate in 1850, by John Wikeman Archer. Part of the British Museum collection.
December 17, 2024 at 3:01 PM
Just becauase I like it, and because even the new Billingsgate (the only one I know) is about to go. Billingsgate in 1850, by John Wikeman Archer. Part of the British Museum collection.
Wow. I just received an email from CUP asking me to sign up to a changed licensing agreement - to allow my work to be used for AI training. This is an extract from the text. I am genuinely bemused. I have spent a career making text available free of charge to anyone, and am in at least two minds.
December 11, 2024 at 2:52 PM
Wow. I just received an email from CUP asking me to sign up to a changed licensing agreement - to allow my work to be used for AI training. This is an extract from the text. I am genuinely bemused. I have spent a career making text available free of charge to anyone, and am in at least two minds.
Please excuse the self-promotion, but www.Oldbaileyonline.org was recently awarded the Mary L.Dudziak Digital History Prize by ASLH, and Bob Shoemaker and I just received the certificate. We were really honoured, but having no wall space to speak of, I thought it could usefully go here.
December 10, 2024 at 10:59 AM
Please excuse the self-promotion, but www.Oldbaileyonline.org was recently awarded the Mary L.Dudziak Digital History Prize by ASLH, and Bob Shoemaker and I just received the certificate. We were really honoured, but having no wall space to speak of, I thought it could usefully go here.
...allowing it to be searched and used as the basis for statistics. The first two lines look like this in XML
December 5, 2024 at 10:44 AM
...allowing it to be searched and used as the basis for statistics. The first two lines look like this in XML
A great paper by Francis Boorman on the surprising history of arbitration in 18th c. Britain - with implications for the histories of manliness, Englishness and the legal system
December 4, 2024 at 5:59 PM
A great paper by Francis Boorman on the surprising history of arbitration in 18th c. Britain - with implications for the histories of manliness, Englishness and the legal system
Paul Sandby, c. 1759, Cryes of London, a fishmonger. Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art.
December 2, 2024 at 4:22 PM
Paul Sandby, c. 1759, Cryes of London, a fishmonger. Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art.
Paul Sandby, c.1759 - Old Chairs to Mend. London Museum.
December 2, 2024 at 9:29 AM
Paul Sandby, c.1759 - Old Chairs to Mend. London Museum.
And for variety's sake. Paul Sandby's Cries of London, 1759: A Muffin Man. Yale Centre for British Art.
November 30, 2024 at 4:29 PM
And for variety's sake. Paul Sandby's Cries of London, 1759: A Muffin Man. Yale Centre for British Art.