A bearded man in a black Proud Of Us hoodie stops by an old red-brick mill wall beside a waterwheel at golden hour, leaning in to read a small sticker

About Us

It started with a sticker on a wall.

One person saw it, went to the archives, and started digging. What they found changed everything they thought they knew about where they came from.

A boy in a school blazer sits alone at the back of a classroom, head down, while classmates chat

Growing up ashamed.

London. Empire, colonialism, oppression. That was the part of British history I'd been taught. Painted as the oppressor before I'd done anything at all. My friends knew their cultures, their histories, their traditions. I was told we didn't really have one.

A young man leans in to read a small sticker on a brick wall beside a mill and waterwheel

A sticker on a wall.

Walking through Merton Abbey Mills, I passed a small sticker. It said: "Common law was written here."

The Sainsbury's where I'd had my first job sat on this ground. English common law, the foundation of fair justice across the world, was written here. And I'd never had the slightest clue.

I'm South London born and raised. This is my patch. Merton Priory once stood right here, and the Statute of Merton was agreed there in 1235. It's considered the very first English statute. I grew up around the corner and nobody ever told me.

Late at night a young man pores over old books at his kitchen table, his face lit with discovery

The rabbit hole.

I went home and started digging. The sticker was telling the truth. When I came back to find it again, no trace of it remained.

If I'd missed this, what else had I missed?

Tiny figures from British history rise out of an open book like an iceberg: miners, a Celtic warrior, an inventor, match girls, a jury and sailors

The tip of the iceberg.

Ancient Britons whose tin built the Bronze Age. Celts who held off the Roman Empire. The inventors who gave the world the telephone, the television, the computer, the jet engine. The sugar boycott. The Match Girls. Trial by jury, ordinary people standing between the accused and the state for nearly a thousand years. The petitions that broke records. The sailors who died stopping slave ships.

We didn't stop having a culture. We stopped telling our stories.

People of every age in a community hall watch a film together, faces lit with pride

Why this exists.

To put these stories where everyone can find them. To wake us up to what we're capable of when we work together. The powerful exploited the world. They exploited their own people first. And it was those people who dismantled the slave trade.

A group of ordinary people stand tall together on a hill at sunrise above their town

You belong here too.

If you've ever felt like something was missing, like your story was incomplete, you're not alone. Thousands of people are discovering this alongside me. And every one of them stands a little taller.

Educated about your heritage, you stand taller. You speak with conviction. You lead.

Ordinary people of every age and trade raise their right hands to swear an oath around a candlelit table

What comes next.

Knowing our story is the start. The next step is living it. So I'm bringing back the Tithing: a network of people across Britain who swear the same oath. Tell the truth, keep your word, back each other.

Find out about the Tithing →

Help bring our history back from the archives and into the hands of the people it belongs to.

Ember

£3/mo

Torch Bearer

£9/mo

Keeper

£20/mo

Not ready for monthly? Give once →

Our Mission

Learn. Realise. Unite.

Step One

Learn

They left the best parts out of the curriculum. Ancient civilisations that supplied Rome. British inventors who shaped the modern world. The end of slavery. The uprisings that made kings back down. We find them and bring them back.

Step Two

Realise

When you see what ordinary people on this island achieved, you understand something nobody bothered to teach you. Ordinary people have always been capable of extraordinary things.

Step Three

Unite

Knowing is just the start. We're building something together. Not fractured into parties. Not waiting for permission. Together.

Every story checked against the primary sources.

Every video free. Forever.

"I'm 45 years old and I've never been taught any of this. Why wasn't this in school?"

Left by viewers again and again

Sound familiar? You're not the only one who was never taught this. But now you know.

Truth Over Comfort

History isn't always pretty. We tell it like it happened: the triumphs and the tragedies, the heroes and the villains. No sugar-coating.

Sources Matter

Every story checked against the primary sources. When we miss something, the community helps us fix it. No hearsay, no myths, no exaggeration.

Free For Everyone

This history belongs to all of us. Every video free, forever. No paywalls, no subscriptions required to learn your own history.

Independent

No sponsors means no one can influence what stories we tell. Funded by the community, accountable to the community.

You Belong Here.

Long before the NHS, ordinary people pooled their pennies to look after each other. Friendly societies. Mutual aid. Community. That spirit built modern Britain. It lives on in people like you.

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