The Prince of Wales's wish that children should be taught the history of this country in a chronological narrative that makes sense of people and events comes a step closer this week with the mailing of over one-and-a-half thousand free copies of H.E. Marshall's classic children's history book Our Island Story to primary schools.

Our Island Story by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall was first published in 1905. This children's history of Britain, from the time of the Romans to the death of Queen Victoria, became an instant classic. Beautifully written, with the narrative sweep of the best story-tellers, Our Island Story went through many editions and remained one of the most popular one-volume histories of Britain up until its final edition in 1953. Leading historians of the present day like Lady Antonia Fraser and Andrew Roberts have testified to the effect that this book had on them by igniting a passionate love of history in young minds through its thrilling narrative. The centenary edition has been published by London-based think-tank Civitas and leading school textbook publisher Galore Park Publishing.

From the time publication was announced, in June 2005, there has been a palpable sense of excitement about the project. The initial print run of 20,000 books sold out within a month, and a further 10,000 had to be printed to meet demand from bookshops and online booksellers. According to Robert Whelan, Deputy Director of Civitas:

'We have received many letters, emails and telephone calls from people who remember the original book and the pleasure they derived from Miss Marshall's wonderful tales of Alfred and the cakes, the Wars of the Roses, "Honi soit qui mal y pense", Walter Raleigh laying down his cloak, the Great Fire of London, the Charge of the Light Brigade and the drama of Elizabeth and Essex - "May God forgive you, I never can!" But there is also a serious underlying purpose to the book. Henrietta Marshall knew all about the importance of the institutions of a free society, and explains thoroughly why we need to make sure the state cannot imprison people without trial, or force them to worship God in a particular way, or extract taxes without allowing people a say in the running of the country. Now that the teaching of institutional and political history is so weak in many schools, Henrietta Marshall's message is of vital importance - and not just for the 7 to 11-year-olds the book is aimed at!

'One of the reasons for this enthusiastic response is that the new edition of Our Island Story represents a return to a way of teaching history that has been out of fashion amongst educationalists for a while. Narrative history, in which children are taught that things happened in a certain order, and that one thing grows out of another, has been largely abandoned for an approach to history that is best described as the mosaic method in which the big picture is broken down into lots of tiny segments. Individual themes like slavery or the status of women are presented without any chronological context. There is no sense of a chain of events that have brought us to where we are today. As a result, surveys have discovered that young people have little or no idea about such key events in our national story as Magna Carta, the Civil War or the Great Reform Bill. Earlier this year the Historical Association complained about flaws in the curriculum and examination system which, it claimed, encourage "excessively narrow content" with a "poor sense of chronological context". In the same month, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority complained of a "modular approach [which] may have fragmented the learning approach", and a "less thoughtful, less intellectual approach to history, which fails to provide strong foundations for undergraduate study".'

John Clare, Education Editor of the Daily Telegraph, saw Our Island Story as 'a marvellous antidote to the fractured, incoherent history most primary school children are taught today' and threw his support behind the original appeal to raise funds for the new edition. As a result Daily Telegraph readers contributed £25,000. Civitas supporters contributed another £10,000. This money has now been committed to providing 5,000 free copies of Our Island Story for UK primary schools.

Any UK primary school can request a free copy via the Civitas website and so far 1,629 schools have done so. These copies are now being posted.

'We are getting requests from all over the country, but demand is particularly heavy in London, Surrey and Kent', says Robert Whelan. 'We would like to hear from more schools in Northamptonshire, as the Sealed Knot Society has paid for 150 copies to go to schools in that area to raise awareness of its work in the development of the site of the Battle of Naseby.'

Click here if your primary school wishes to request a free copy of Our Island Story

Click here for more information about Our Island Story