Records of the British Parliament

Location of Parliamentary Debates Revised 12/97

Table of British Parliamentary Debates

PAPER
	Period	House	Short Title
	1066-1803	Both	Cobbett's Parliamentary History
	1542-1764	Both	Debates on America
	1660-1742	H.L.	Timberland's Debates
	1740-1743	Both	Johnson's Debates
	1774-1803	Both	Almon's Register
	1803-present	Both	Hansard
MICROFORM
	Period	House	Short Title
	1559-1601	Both	D'Ewes Journals
	1588-1601	Both	Townshend's Collections

"VALUE: Still the best single source for parliamentary debates. Particularly in the eighteenth century. It is not, however, a definitive collection, and it sometimes silently suppresses material to be found in its sources. There is a General Index for 1803-1830 (London, 1834). A projected Index to the Parliamentary History for the period before 1803 was never published.
OTHER SOURCES: Because of the long period covered, a list of other sources is not practicable. Cobbett relied chiefly on the Old Parliamentary History for the period before 1660. He adds some fresh material - notably Nicholas's Diary for the Parliament of 1621. Thereafter he used most of the items listed in this bibliography, if they were in print at the time that he did his work. He did not, however, ignore manuscript sources, though he is not always very informative about what he did use. Two partiuculaly valuable manuscript sources were incorporated. The first is the notes of Archbishop Seeker of the proceedings in the House of Lords from 1735 to 1743. The other is the parliamentary journal of Philip Yorke which covers the period from 1743 to 1745. Neither of these two very useful sources is in print elsewhere. The manuscripts are in the British Museum."(1)

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"It was intended to continue this collection to the year 1783.
VALUE: This is a careful compilation of what was said and done in British parliaments - Ireland and Scotland are included- with regard to America. It is based on both manuscripts and printed material. Where accounts differ, all are printed. The introductions contain valuable discussion of the sources."(2)

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"Second edition, 1693. The collection was published after D'Ewes' death and was not well edited for publication. D'Ewes' own manuscript in the British Museum is more satisfactory, Harl. Mss. 73, 74, 75 compiled in 1629-30.
VALUE: D'Ewes himself was not a member of any of these Parliaments. His compilation has been shown to be wrong at several points. " (3)

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"The title, Townshend's Historical Collections, is sanctioned by use and not by the facts. Townshend was responsible for only the remarkable diary of 1601, which is better printed here than in Debates: D'Ewes' Journals. There are many manuscripts of it. The other seven journals are very closely related to the work of D'Ewes.
VALUE: Townshend's diary for the Parliament of 1601 is extremely useful." (4)

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"7 volumes issues in 1742 and a supplementary one in 1743. Based principally on the periodical material which descibed and evaluated in Proceedings (iv): Periodicals." (5)

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"Reprinted from the Gentlemen's Magazine.
VALUE: Johnson did not attend the debates. A careful examination of the background of the Debates in the Senate of Lilliput is to be found in B. B. Hoover, Samuel Johnson's Parliamentary Reporting (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1953.)" (6)
These 'debates' are the last two volumes in "The Works of Samuel Johnson".

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"Published first by Almon, then by Debrett and Almon, then by Debrett, successor to Almon, and finally by Debrett alone. The first 17 volumes were reprinted by Stockdale in 1802. The last 3 volumes cover the same ground as the last four of Woodfall.
VALUE: Almon, as survivng letters in the British Musem show, received assistance from some Members. It is not easy to say which speeches were supplied by their authors or even how much those received were revised." (7)

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"The first title was Cobbett;s Parliamentary Debates, which themselves stemmed from Cobbett's Annual Register, (later the Political Register).
VALUE: It was not until 1909 that Hansard became a strictly verbatim report. The method of compiling the work for a considerable time was to choose what seemed to be the best newspaper report and to send it to the speakers for their corrections. If no corrections were forthcoming the report was printed as it stood. There is therefore no special authority attaching to Hansard until after 1909. Other sources may be profitably consulted. See P. Ford and G. Ford's A Guide to Parliamentary Papers (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1955.)" (8)

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1. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p.7,45 Back

2. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p. 8. Back

3. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p. 8. Back

4. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p. 8-9. Back

5. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p.9. Back

6. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p. 11. Back

7. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. pp.11-13 Back

8. A Bibliography of Parliamentary Debates of Great Britain, House of Commons Library Document No. 2. London: HMSO, 1956. p.14 Back