On This Day, January 22nd, 1879, the attempt to extend British colonial influence into Zululand are met with fierce resistance as Zulu warriors rout British troops at Isandlwana, South Africa.

A brief introduction to schooling in Victorian Britain.

A brief history of food innovation in Victorian Britain.

Although usually portrayed as a failure, contemporary reports on the Crimean War ignored British successes. The treatment of Britain’s wounded soldiers, initially a scandal, was soon re-organised, a feat no other country achieved. Nurses such as Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole became national heroines.

Isabella Mary Beeton was an English journalist, editor and writer who is most associated with her first book, the 1861 work "Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management".

On This Day, February 26th in 1852, 450 perish as the troopship HMS Birkenhead sinks off the coast of South Africa. The soldiers' chivalry gave rise to the unofficial ‘women and children first’ code of conduct for abandoning ship. The ‘Birkenhead drill’ as it was termed in Rudyard Kipling's 1893 tribute to the Royal Marines, ‘Soldier an' Sailor Too’, would later come to describe courage in the face of hopeless circumstances.

On This Day, January 29th in 1856, the Victoria Cross was introduced by Royal Warrant.

On November 18th, 1910, three hundred female protesters marched to the Houses of Parliament as part of their campaign to secure voting rights for women. What happened next saw the women met with violence from the police and male bystanders. The shocking nature of the violence led to the day being christened "Black Friday".

Dispelling the myth that Victorian women frequently fainted just because they wore corsets.

In another first for Tastes Of History, we travelled to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight to support English Heritage's "Victorian Christmas" in 2019. Our aim was to provide a sampling menu of food and drink of the period for visitors to try. Here, then, are the recipes.