Palace of Westminster

Located in London, the Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the United Kingdom's Parliament. With more than 1000 years of history, the palace have been an important place for the political life of the English, Great Britain, the British Empire and the world, first as a residence for the monarchs and since the 13th century for the Parliament. The original building suffer damages on a fire in 1512, and was finally destroyed by a second fire on 1834 (except for some structures, including the Westminster Hall, which was added to the new building). After that the new Place was built between 1840 and 1870, and still exist nowadays.

 

Sources:

Riding, J. (2005). A palace for Parliament. All Change at the Palace of Westminster. BBC History.

UK Parliament Living Heritage. (2025). The Palace of Westminster. UK Parliament, website: The Palace of Westminster - UK Parliament

Image by Terry Ott used under a CCA 2.0 Generic License, image size was modified to fit better on the article.

Parent Map

The fluctuating value of people and individuals - HM

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.499329651621
Longitude: -0.124475955963

Timeline of Events Associated with Palace of Westminster

Date Event Manage
28 Aug 1833 to 1 Aug 1834

Slavery Abolition Act

After many years of discussion and social pressure on 1833, during the rule of Henry IV, the Slavery Abolition Act was introduced and assented by the king. After it came into force a year later, slavery were abolished in Great Britain, and most of the British empire.

This event is part of the Romanticism period and represents and important break point, because until then slaves (which were mostly from African ascendence), were considered by the government as little more than an livestock, making them to be valued by being a mean of production or a status' symbol, rather than as human individuals. After this, they could be valued as humans, and while there was some resilience and many people still considered the former slaves as less valuable than the white British people, the abolition of slavery was an important antecedent for future break points on how the former enslaved population and their descendants were valued by the British people.

Sources:

Henry, N. (2025). Slavery Abolition Act. Britannica, website: Slavery Abolition Act | History & Impact | Britannica

Image used for educational purposes, recovered from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 Slavery Abolition Act