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As many as 15 people may have been killed, and a further 500 badly injured, during the 1819 riot in Manchester that came to be known as the 'Peterloo' Massacre. (Rischgitz/Getty Images)

16 August 1819: Militia massacres protesters at ‘Peterloo’

Mrs Frederica Bell, photographed with her children Freda, Roy and 'King' on the Pacific island of Raoul. (Photo courtesy of Lydia Syson/Mr Peacock's Possessions)

A real Swiss Family Robinson?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kill or cure? 10 medieval medical practices and their effectiveness

"Queen Victoria was more than just a token ruler of India. Passionately interested in its people and culture, she intervened frequently in Indian politics," says Miles Taylor. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The LibraryQueen Victoria’s Indians. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Guillaume de Jumieges, Cesta Normanorum, f° 116, letter with dropped initial, William the Conqueror receives the chronicler's manuscript, 11th century, France, Rouen, Bibliotheque Municipale.

William the Conqueror: hero or villain?

100 Women Who Changed the World results: what the experts say. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of King James I of Scotland. James was taken prisoner by the English in 1406, and it would be 18 years before he was freed to take the reins of power in his native nation. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

James I: Henry V’s Scottish protege. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Fountain of Arethusa on Ortygia, the historical heart of Syracuse, separated from the main city by a small channel. (Photo by Alamy)

General ancient history

My favourite place: Syracuse, Sicily

A New York opium den. Although US legislators cracked down on opiates in the early 20th century, organised crime networks continued to fuel the illegal trade in narcotics. (Photo by Getty Images)

Books interview with Lucy Inglis: “Opium has held mankind’s hand since the beginning”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Intellectuals, dieting businessmen, Indian students and fitness fanatics were among those to exhort the benefits of a meat-free diet in the 19th century, as shown in our illustration. (Illustration by Femke de Jong for BBC History Magazine)

Veggie Victorians: how Britain responded to the rise of the meat-free movement. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A c1750 watercolour shows workers "mixing the powder" at Woolwich Arsenal. "The institutions that made up the 18th-century British 'state' existed entirely to provide the resources for war," argues Priya Satia. (Photo by Bridgeman Art Library)

How war sparked the industrial revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis, shown here in 1969, was central to the story of jazz. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)

My history hero: Miles Davis (1926–91). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Australian PoWs in a camp at the Sumatran city of Pekanbaru, c1945. More than 80,000 forced labourers, including PoWs, died during the construction of Sumatran railway, most the victims of disease, starvation and maltreatment. (Photo by State Library of Victoria)

The Sumatran Railway: the forgotten death railway. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ‘Princes in the Tower’: Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, disappeared in mysterious circumstances following the death of their father, King Edward IV. (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 notorious unsolved crimes from history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British former field marshal Douglas Haig, inspects poppies before Armistice Day, October 1922. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Remembering the First World War: blood, poppies and poetry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Allied soldiers with captured prisoners of war after the battle of Amiens during the First World War, 1918. (Photo by Authenticated News/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Remembering the battle of Amiens. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Agincourt was one of the major battles of the Hundred Years' War.

Agincourt: medieval England's finest hour?

Portrait of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, 1536. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images)

Henry VIII's six wives in a different light. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of a crowd in Berlin celebrating Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany's proclamation of war against Great Britain, August 1914. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The Library1914: Countdown to catastrophe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryHow King Henry I made and blew a fortune. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Richard III, dated 15th century. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Treachery at Bosworth: what really brought down Richard III. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Members of the Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill LNER (London and North Eastern Railway) LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) dressed in their civilian clothes march along a platform passing a steam locomotive on 1 July 1940 in London. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Dad’s Army guide to defending Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving showing the story of the Three Living and the Three Dead

Inside the medieval mind. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A chocolate house in Georgian times. Coffee and chocolate houses were popular, and served as clubs and meeting places for business (© TopFoto)

The Georgian origins of our obsession with chocolate. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Coca cola bottles from the 1990s

From Velcro to Viagra: 10 products that were invented by accident. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A photograph of Nelson Mandela. Peter Hain told the History Extra podcast about the South African leader’s remarkable achievements in the face of tremendous adversity. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

Peter Hain on Nelson Mandela: “A symbol for good leadership in the world”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The blue-robed Henry VII pictured performing a variety of tasks at the Tower of London following his accession to the throne, in a contemporary illustration. (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Bosworth: the dawn of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nelson Mandela

Mandela: the 20th century’s greatest leader?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

While young ladies may have been daydreaming of handsome film stars such as Cary Grant, pictured here kissing the cheek of Ingrid Bergman in a publicity still for the 1946 film ‘Notorious’, agony aunts were keen to bring them back down to earth. (Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to be a man: tips from 1930s agony aunts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Campaign for Homosexual Equality rally held in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1974. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 helped pave the way for activism such as this in the 1970s, says Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite. (Corbis via Getty Images)

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: a landmark moment in the history of British homosexuality. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.