Napoleonic Archives - Aspects of History

Thomas Messel

The novelist discusses writing and his ancestor, Elizabeth Linley.

Thomas Messel, what first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? The focus of my study was a late eighteenth-century ancestor called Elizabeth Linley. I was aware that she eloped with and married the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, but initially, I...

Elizabeth Linley, 1754-1792

The story singer and the beacon of the Whig party.

Thomas Messel

Elizabeth Linley at the age of seventeen is England’s most celebrated singer. Her beauty and voice can captivate the King, or send an audience into a state of wild infectious hysteria, but suddenly and mysteriously she disappears during the night of March the 18th...

Thomas Messel

Thomas Messel has for forty years been a leading English furniture designer. He is also the author of two books. His non-fiction Oliver Messel in the Theatre of Design (Winner of the Speares Book Award 2012) was a comprehensive study of the life and work of his uncle, Oliver Messel. His current book, The Nightingale of Bath, is a historical fiction covering the life of his eighteenth-century ancestor, the singer and beacon of the Whig party, Elizabeth Linley.

Thomas Messel

Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on AmazonArticles Click on the links below to read the full article[dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" use_taxonomy_terms="on" multiple_taxonomies="name_of_author"...

2025 Summer Reads from Aspects of History

Our authors and contributors recommend books to take on summer holidays.

Summer Reads from Aspects of HistoryLucy Ashe Author of The Sleeping BeautiesThe Eights is Joanna Miller’s debut novel that combines fascinating historical research with the creation of four compelling female characters, The Eights is set at St Hugh’s College, Oxford,...

Nelson: Hero of the Seas, by Dominic Sandbrook

Dominic Sandbrook’s latest entry to his Adventures in Time series, aimed at younger readers, is perhaps his best yet.

Oliver Webb-Carter

Nelson: Hero of the Seas, by Dominic Sandbrook On 24 September 1805, Admiral Horatio Nelson was waiting for an audience with Lord Castlereagh, Secretary for War and the Colonies, at the Colonial Office. In the assembly room with him was Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had...

Holand Press

Holand Press is a new, independent publisher which is focused on fostering new talent. We believe in building brands and generating sales through an ongoing, long-term strategy.

Sharpe Books

Holand Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on AmazonFrom the Publisher Books matter. Readers matter. Writers matter. As such, there is always a demand for new stories and new authors. Holand Press has been founded to help...

Napoleon’s Brush With ‘Black Spartacus’

Napoleon Bonaparte and Toussaint Louverture, the great Haitian freedom fighter, were initially allies. Sudhir Hazareesingh, who has written a celebrated biography of Louverture, describes how the two men’s relationship subsequently soured.

Sudhir Hazareesingh

Napoleon’s Brush With ‘Black Spartacus’ The Haitian revolution was one of the defining episodes in modern global history. It began in 1791 with a mass uprising of the enslaved people of Saint-Domingue, France’s richest and most profitable colony. Drawing upon local...

Phil Craig

Phil Craig is a best selling author and multiple-award-winning film-maker, producer and TV network executive.A former RAF cadet pilot, Phil studied history at Cambridge University, was a BBC graduate trainee and built his career working for iconic British current affairs series World in Action and Panorama, where he became senior producer. Later he became joint head of programmes at the prestigious Brook Lapping production company, where he made a range of contemporary and historical films for the BBC, Channel Four, PBS in America, Discovery, Nat Geo and numerous other international clients. He went on to run departments at the Discovery Channel and at ABC Television in Australia, where he supervised the entire factual output of the national broadcaster including its high profile ANZAC centenary project in 2015.

Phil Craig

Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on Amazon Articles Click on the links below to read the full article [dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" multiple_cpt="post,short_stories" use_taxonomy_terms="on"...

Phil Craig

The bestselling historian discusses his history, influences and his latest book.

Phil Craig

What first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? I was a 60s child and brought up on Airfix models, the Air Training Corps and Victor comics, so the Second World War obsessed me, especially the Battle of Britain. When I was about 40 the BBC asked me to...

Books of 2024 From Aspects of History

Our authors and contributors recommend books they've enjoyed this year

Books of 2023 from Aspects of HistoryAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyIt’s been a great year for fiction and non-fiction, but these books are my first amongst equals. Every Spy a Traitor by Alex Gerlis follows Agent Archie, a Russian mole in MI6 across...