The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace. The Elizabeth Tower of the palace, nicknamed Big Ben, is a landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
Emily Wilding Davison was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a militant fighter for her cause, she was arrested on nine occasions, went on hunger strike seven times and was force-fed on forty-nine occasions. She died after being hit by King George V's horse Anmer at the 1913 Derby when she walked onto the track during the race.
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The 2nd Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.
Peter Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler, is a British politician who served as a member of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major's ministries during the 1980s and 1990s. He held the office of Lord Speaker from 1 September 2016 to 30 April 2021.
The Parliamentary Estate is the land and buildings used by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Palace of Westminster, the medieval royal palace used as the home of the British parliament, was largely destroyed by fire on 16 October 1834. The blaze was caused by the burning of small wooden tally sticks which had been used as part of the accounting procedures of the Exchequer until 1826. The sticks were disposed of carelessly in the two furnaces under the House of Lords, which caused a chimney fire in the two flues that ran under the floor of the Lords' chamber and up through the walls.
BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC, which showcases parliamentary content from across the UK. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the London Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Senedd.
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey.
John Richard Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee, styled Viscount Prestwood between 1967 and 1991, is a British Conservative Party peer and member of the House of Lords. He is the grandson of Clement Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister, who was the first Earl Attlee.
A royal peculiar is a Church of England parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese and the province in which it lies, and subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch or, in Cornwall, of the Duke of Cornwall.
St Etheldreda's Church is a Roman Catholic church in Ely Place, off Charterhouse Street in Holborn, London. The building is one of only two surviving in London from the reign of Edward I, and dates from between 1250 and 1290. It is dedicated to Æthelthryth, or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673. It was the chapel of the London residence of the Bishops of Ely.
St Stephen's Chapel, sometimes called the Royal Chapel of St Stephen, was a chapel completed around 1297 in the old Palace of Westminster which served as the chamber of the House of Commons of England and that of Great Britain from 1547 to 1834. It was largely destroyed in the fire of 1834, but the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the crypt survived.
In the United Kingdom state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs. The most recent was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.
Sergeant William Cole AM was a London police officer who was awarded the Albert Medal for helping to contain a bomb attack on 24 January 1885.
On 8 April 2013, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87. On 17 April, she was honoured with a ceremonial funeral. Due to polarised opinions about her achievements and legacy, the reaction to her death was mixed across the UK, including contrasting praise, criticism, and celebration of her life and death.
The Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, also known as the Speaker's Chaplain, is a Church of England priest who officiates at services held at the Palace of Westminster and its associated chapel, St Mary Undercroft. The Chaplain also acts as chaplain to the Speaker and Members of Parliament. The first Speaker's Chaplain was appointed in 1660. The current officeholder is Patricia Hillas.
Speaker's House is the official residence of the Speaker of the House of Commons, the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is located in the Palace of Westminster in London. It was originally located next to St Stephen's Chapel and was rebuilt and enlarged by James Wyatt in the early 19th century. After the burning of Parliament in 1834 it was rebuilt by Charles Barry as part of the new Palace of Westminster in the Perpendicular Gothic Revival style. It is located at the northeast corner of the palace and is used for official functions and meetings. Each day, prior to the sitting of the House of Commons, the Speaker and other officials walk in procession from the apartments to the House of Commons Chamber.
On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place outside the Palace of Westminster in London, seat of the British Parliament. Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old Briton, drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally. He then crashed the car into the perimeter fence of the palace grounds and ran into New Palace Yard, where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. He was then shot by an armed police officer, and died at the scene.
Keith David Palmer was a British police officer who was posthumously awarded the George Medal, the second-highest award for gallantry "not in the face of the enemy". Though unarmed, he stopped Khalid Masood, a knife-wielding terrorist from entering the Palace of Westminster during the 2017 Westminster attack; he was fatally wounded in the attack. He had worked for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for 16 years, and had joined the force's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Group in April 2016.
The statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, honours the British suffragist leader and social campaigner Dame Millicent Fawcett. It was made in 2018 by Gillian Wearing. Following a campaign and petition by the activist Caroline Criado Perez, the statue's creation was endorsed by both the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The statue, Parliament Square's first monument to a woman and also its first sculpture by a woman, was funded through the government's Centenary Fund, which marks 100 years since some women won the right to vote. The memorial was unveiled on 24 April 2018.
