Linton and District History Society Where History Comes To Life Newspaper Articles 2019
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2019 Newspaper Articles The Big Four - page 1 The Hartley Colliery Disaster - page 4 The First Film Studio - page 5 Don’t Knock the Kaiser - page 7 Famine in Russia - page 8 The First Typewriter - page 14 The Marriage of Figaro - page 20 The Great Exhibition - page 26 A Change of Fortunes - page 27 Russia Surrenders - page 28 Marianne North - page 31 Economical with the Truth - page 34 John Nash - page 36 A tax on income - page 38 The first action of D-Day - page 39 Gertrude Bell - page 40 The Railway and Broadway visit - page 41 The Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1837 - page 42 Mallard - page 47 Lady Jane Grey - page 48 Little Malvern Court - page 49 Apollo 11 - page 50 Leonard Cheshire - page 51 The First Boy Scout Camp - page 52 The Month of August - page 56 Smallpox outbreak in the UK - page 57 George 1st arrives in Great Britain - page 58 The battle of Stamford Bridge - page 59 The Mitford Sisters - page 60 Napoleon’s last campaign - page 61 The Roman Origins of Our Christmas and its Customs - page 62 The Falkland Islands - page 63 The Marie Celeste - page 64 The abdication of Edward VIII - page 65 The Lutine Bell - page 66 Christmas customs and myths - page 67 Linton and District History Society Where History Comes To Life
The Big Four
Following the Railways Act of 1921, on the 1st January, 1923 numerous independent railway companies were gathered together into four large companies being the “Great Western”, the only company to retain its original name, the “London, Midland and Scottish”, the “London and North Eastern” and the “Southern” who became known as the “Big Four”. The areas served by these companies were approximately four parts of the British Isles, thus the Southern Railway served the south eastern sector being Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire; whilst the “Great Western” that part to the west namely Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Wales. The division was not however strictly on a county basis, but tended to follow the territory covered by the former railway companies. Examples of the grouping are that the “Great Western” absorbed the “Cambrian Railways”, “Taff Vale Railway”, “Barry Railway”, “Rhymney Railway”, “Cardiff Railway”, “Alexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks and Railway” plus obviously the “Great Western” original company. Of these companies the original “Great Western” had the greatest length of line being 3,005 miles, whilst “Cambrian Railways” had 295 miles of permanent way. The amalgamation also included the ships and docks of the former companies which were extensive from the pleasure steamers of the “Caledonian”, the “London & South Western” and the “London, Brighton and South Coast”, to cross channel ferries of the “Great Eastern” and transatlantic liners of the “London & North Western” to mention jest a few. There were also various joint companies which included amongst others the “Cheshire Lines Committee” and the “Midland and Great Northern Joint”, these had been operated by two or more railway companies as a joint venture, often for over 60 years, and these were mostly divided between two or more of the “Big Four” according to their geographical locations. In some instances parts of these joint operations were only partly absorbed by one or more of the “Big Four”, thus the “Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Committee” was split between the “Metropolitan” and the “LNER” or “London & North Eastern”. There was an element of jealousy that God’s Wonderful Railway (GWR) had been able to retain its original name, whilst the LNER was blamed for trying to resurrect the glory days of the L&NWR (London & North Western Railway, originally the “London & Birmingham Railway” one of the first). Similar to the wits who dubbed the “Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway” (later to become the “Great Central”, and then part
LNER Silver Jubilee on the East Coast Main Line south of Hatfield in 1935.
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The Big Four
of the LMS) Money Sunk and Lost, so in the 1930’s the LNER was known as the Late and Never Early Railway. Not all railways were included in the 1921 legislation, for example the “London Electric Railway”, the “District Railway” and the “City and South London Railway” in London, the “Mersey Railway” and the “Liverpool Overhead Railway” in the Liverpool area, and various smaller railways including the “Bishops Castle Railway” in Shropshire, the “Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway” and the “Ffestiniog Railway” to name just a few. Even before the “grouping” of companies into the “Big Four” the heavier and more powerful “Pacific” locomotives were replacing the “Atlantic” for fast passenger services, and there had been “named” trains, for example the “Great Northern” “Hertford Flyer” and from 1862 the “Flying Scotsman” on the East Coast route whilst the “Great Western” operated the “Flying Dutchman” between Paddington and St. David’s, Exeter from 1849, and the “Cornish Riviera Express” from 1904. The “LNER” Flying Scotsman hauled by A1 Pacific No. 4472 and also named “Flying Scotsman” and displayed at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 and 1925 established the first nonstop run from Kings Cross (London) to Waverley (Edinburgh) on 1st May, 1928. LMS Coronation Scott in 1937 . After the years of the Great Depression the Silver Jubilee of 1935 was celebrated by the “LNER” with a train named “Silver Jubilee” painted entirely silver she was hauled by an A4 Pacific and consisted of seven coaches whilst the Coronation of 1937 gave rise to the “LMS” “Coronation Scott” named train. This era saw the birth of streamlined locomotives in tune with the glamour of speed so typical of the 1930’s, and on the 15th May, 1929 the “Southern Railway’s” Golden Arrow service enabled passengers to leave Victoria Station (London) and arrive at the Gare du Nord (Paris) the same
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The Big Four
day. However, and also operated jointly with the “Chemins de Fer du Nord” an overnight service commenced on the 5th October, 1936 employing specially constructed train ferries where passengers could go to sleep in London and wake up in Paris the following morning. This arrangement remained intact until the “Big Four” were nationalised in 1948 to become “British Railways”.
Southern Railway train ferry MV Twickenham in 1934 showing the two portals where railway carriages were shunted into the ship. LMS Coronation Scott in 1937 .
BR poster of 1953 for the Night Train Ferrry
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Chimes OnLine - https://www.thechimes.org.uk/historical-blog
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The Hartley Colliery Disaster
At 10.30 am on the 16th January, 1862, as the back shift were taking over from the fore shift at the coal face one of the beams of the pumping engine fractured and it fell into the lift shaft trapping the men in a descending cage whilst eight men fell out into the shaft. The lift cage was put out of action and pumping of water to prevent flooding ceased. The earliest records of Hartley Old Mine in Northumberland, as it was called, date from 1291, but being close to the sea it suffered from flooding, which an atmospheric engine did not solve so the mine was closed in 1844. Installation of a steam pumping engine in 1846 enabled the mine to be re-opened now called the New Hartley Colliery, but flooding remained a problem. A single shaft was dug 12 feet in diameter at a cost of £3,600.00 which was the only route in and out of the mine and also carried the water and fire damp extraction pipes and fresh air pipe. This was one of the better mines to be employed in at the time; women and children were not employed underground and miners usually returned after work to a warm, clean and comfortable home and a substantial meal. The disaster led to the deaths of 204 men. Her Majesty sent a message of condolence followed by a personal letter, and the Hartley Relief Fund raised £83,000, more than enough to provide for the widows and orphans of the disaster. Following an inquest on 7th August, 1862 an Act to Amend the Law Relating to Coal Mines of 1862 received the Royal Assent which required Mine Owners to install a second shaft before the end of 1864, which doubtless avoided similar disasters in the future, though other accidents would continue to occur.
The casualties being brought to the surface at the Hartley Colliery after the accident on 16th January,
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The First Film Studio
On the 1st February, 1893 the construction of the Black Maria Cinematographic theatre being the first film production studio was completed for Thomas A. Edison at West Orange in the State of New Jersey in the United States of America. Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan in the State of Ohio in 1847 and was self educated. Although he is probably mostly remembered for the electric light bulb and the wireless transmission of sound these are only two of many inventions and/ or successful developments of the early pioneering work of others. A successful business man he married twice and fathered six children, dying in 1931 of diabetes complications. A prolific inventor he held 1,093 US Patents in his own name and collaborated with Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company, Harvey Firestone and many other well known men of business at Black Maria Cinematographic theatre that time. In early May 1893 Thomas Edison conducted the first public showing of a Kinetoscope (film) made at the Black Maria Cinematographic theatre at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. The film showed three men pretending to be blacksmiths. The first films rather than demonstration only films were of vaudeville performances, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, boxing matches, cock fights and scantily clad women. After 1895 the majority of films were shot on location and included passing trains, firemen and police. However these could, at the time, only be viewed individually at the kinetoscope viewing machine located in amusement arcades. The Holland Brothers opened the first Kinetoscope Parlour at 1155, Broadway in New York City on the 14th April, 1894 in their amusement arcade where patrons paid 25c for admission. The Black Maria film studio closed in January, 1901 when Thomas Edison had a glass enclosed roof top movie studio constructed in New York City and was demolished in 1903. In 1901 the first public screening of a film was at the Oberin in Ohio starting the transition from Kinetoscope to cinema screen Kinetoscope we know today. The Edison Film Studios made close to 1,200 films, and before the advent of the “talkies” with the sound track printed onto the film, sound was available using a cylinder recordings mechanically synchronised with the film. In 1908Thomas Edison founded the Motion Picture Company merging nine major film studios.
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The First Film Studio
This company would make many films, but his favourite was “The Birth of a Nation” made in 1915, and his favourite actresses Clara Bow and Mary Pickford. He disliked the “talkies” believing that they devalued the acting as the audience concentrated on the speech and ignored the acting performance.
Thomas A. Edison demonstrating a film projector
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Chimes OnLine - https://www.thechimes.org.uk/historical-blog
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Don’t knock the Kaiser
Very few people outside of Norway today will know of the devastating fire with consumed a major part of the Norwegian coastal town of Alesund on the 23rd January, 1904. Situated 147 miles north of Bergen on the North Sea coast on the Hjorund and Geiranger Fjords, at the time of the fire the population of the town was 11,777, it has now grown to 47,199. The fire started at about 2am in Aalesund Preserving Company’s factory in Alesund and it is believed that a cow kicked a torch over causing the destruction of 850 houses leaving only 230 undamaged. All the buildings at that time were of timber construction, and whilst there was only one fatality, an old woman who went back for her purse, winter in Norway for the previous inhabitants of the destroyed houses was no joke. 10,000 people were forced to seek shelter elsewhere, some by boat but most fled on foot with whatever they could carry whilst the old and sick were loaded into wagons and carts. It was Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany who came to the rescue personally ordering the despatch of four ships loaded with personnel, food, medicine, equipment and materials for the construction of shelters Ålesund c. 1895 The town was reconstructed in the Jugendstil style (Art Nouveau) which has proved most beneficial being now a Norwegian Centre for Art Nouveau architecture. The 23rd January, 1920 is also the anniversary of the Dutch Government’s refusal to surrender the Kaiser to the Allies. He and the Kaiserine had been granted sanctuary in November 1918 and were resident at “Dorne” in the Netherlands.
Tassel House, Brussels
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Famiine in Russia
On the 30th January, 1930 the Politburo, the tyrant Joseph Stalin’s instrument of power decreed the extermination of all independent farmers in the Soviet Union. When serfdom was abolished in Holy Russia by Czar Alexander II in 1861 a portion of all the land of the great serf owning estates was given to the now ex-serfs or peasants to establish smallholdings or small independent farms. As is the way with people, some wasted their freedom on vodka and sold their land to the more enterprising and hard working. The great socialist inflicted misery that was the revolution of 1917 having failed to improve the quality of life, embarked on a regime of centralised control including prices of food. When the controlled price fell below production costs there was no point in producing food to sell. The Bolsheviks reaction was to introduce a “Five Year Plan”, part of their desire to control all aspects of life, and they embarked on a policy of collectivisation in 1929 a euphemism for the confiscation of all land. Before 1917 the peasant farmers had supplied 50% of all grain, but now any family owning more than two cows or 5 to 6 acres of land could be automatically decreed a kulak or class enemy to be P. Yakov Yakovlev, People’s Com- exterminated. Yakov Yakovlev was appointed the Peoples’ Commissar missar for Agriculture. USSR 1929 for Agriculture to oversee this forced transfer from family farms to large scale collective farms which proved grossly inefficient despite the soviet propaganda attempts to promote the opposite view. The resultant failure led to massive food shortages with empty state controlled shops and the famine led to massive and wholesale starvation. It is estimated that between one and six million peasant farmers were murdered as a result, plus countless others in the south of the Soviet Union who literally died in the streets of starvation. It was at this time that Barbara Anne Holodomor or famine, Kharkiv, 1932 Betts, (now better known as Barbara Castle) visited the Soviet Union as a guest of the Government and was lavishly entertainment by Uncle Jo, and shown film of the Soviet success with happy smiling workers enjoying the rewards of loyalty to the Party. She returned to Great Britain with glowing reports of soviet successful achievements; whereas Gareth Jones, the journalist originally from Barry, near Cardiff actually travelled across the Ukraine and witnessed the misery and piles of dead from starvation created
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by the central planning between 1929 and 1933. On his return his account of the disaster was published in the London Evening Standard of 31st March, 1933. Malcolm Muggeridge also visited southern Russia at this time and also criticised the Soviet Socialist Government for the massive starvation known also as the Holodomor. There was no attempt at any form of justice so inevitably old grievances, prejudices and jealousies were played out to the full, when anyone seen to have more than his neighbour was automatically labelled a class enemy and either murdered or sent to a concentration camp, a gulag. Managers were appointed at a local level usually as a reward for Party loyalty which included the murder Staved peasants in Kharkiv, 1933 of perceived enemies of the revolution who had little or no experience of farm management, and certainly none of managing a large collective where everyone was supposed to work willingly regardless of the reward for the glorious socialist republic. Failure is thus hardly surprising. Estimates of the deaths vary greatly, mainly because few records were kept. The Soviet Union’s official estimate at the time is in the order of 300,000 to 400,000, and the result of the 1937 census were not published, and remained secret to support the Soviet denial. However the population of the YCLers seizing kulaks’ grain in the Ukraine 1932 region declined by some 25% to 40%, and it seems likely that total deaths from starvation commitment to the gulag labour camps and murder (summary execution) amounted to between 4.5 million and 10 million people. The law of the 7th August, 1932 prohibiting the gleaning of fields for any leftover grain on the grounds that it was Government property helped to exacerbate the disaster as did resultant prosecutions. The introduction on the 27th December, 1932 of Soviet Internal Passports or Identity Cards tied the population to the village as these “passports” were required for internal travel and were retained by the Administration of the Collective Farm. Permission had to be obtained to travel even to the next village, and P. Gareth Jones, November, 1933 the penalty for disobedience was commitment to a gulag. This law was retained until 1974.
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Evening Standard, 31st March, 1933
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Famine in URSS, 1932-3. Worst affected 12 and 18
M. Holomodor - South Russia, 1929-33
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Soviet famine
Soviet propaganda, 1932
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Strengthen working discipline in collective farms, Uzbek, Tashkent, 1933
Soviet propaganda
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The First Typewriter
Production of the first commercially viable typewriter commenced at the factory of E. Remington & Sons at Ilion in New York on 1st March, 1873. Far better known, if only now from countless “Hollywood” Westerns, for the manufacture of firearms, the business was started by Eliphalet Remington who forged his first rifle barrel in 1816 when he was a young blacksmith. He proceeded to make rifle barrels to meet the growing demand for flintlock rifles in the Mohawk Valley, and with the completion of the Erie Cannel between Buffalo and Albany demand increased still further and in 1828 the forge and foundry was moved to a 100 acre site abutting the Mohawk River at Morgan’s Landing, now known as Ilion in New York State. At this time the elder Eliphalet Remington died and the business passed to his eldest son, another Eliphalet Remington. In 1839 Eliphalet was joined by his son Philo Remington and the business changed to the partnership of E. Remington and Son and in 1845 another son, Samuel, joined the partnership and the name Eliphalet Remington was changed to E. Remington and Sons. In due course another son, Eliphalet, joined the firm in 1845. At this time the partnership concentrated on gun barrels bearing the distinctive “REMINGTON” stamp but they soon progressed to manufacturing brass gun furniture, trigger guards, butt plates, patch boxes and, imported from manufactures in Birmingham, Warwickshire, percussion locks. After 1846 first the martial longarm and then revolvers dominated the production at Morgan’s Landing. Two years later, in 1848 gun making machinery was purchased from Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee in Massachusetts and commenced supplying breech-loading percussion caps for the United States Navy, together with the first breech-loading rifles for the US Navy and rifles for the war with Mexico of 1846 to 1848, remember the Alamo. Further expansion led to the manufacture of agricultural implements and from 1870 to 1894, sewing machines. The first commercially viable “Type-Writer” was developed by John Pratt’s Pterotype 1867 Christopher Scholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule to whom a patent was granted by the U.S. Government on 23rd June, 1868, the first machine capable of producing eligible reading matter faster than by hand writing. The patent and manufacturing rights were acquired by “Remington” via “Densmore and Yost” for US$12,000 for the Scholes and Glidden Type-Writer which incorporated the “Qwerty” type face layout which included a shift key so that both upper and lower case letters could be produced without interruption which had been designed by Christopher Scholes, and was adopted
Christopher Latham Scholes
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for all subsequent typewriters including the successful Remington No. 2 of 1878. Both sewing machines and typewriters were displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia of 1876.
Scholes Typewriter 1873
E. Remington and Sons were major suppliers of arms to the Federal Government during the war with the Confederacy of 1861 to 1865, but 1886 the family sold the typewriter business to the Standard Typewriter Company Incorporated including the right to use the name “Remington”. The Scholes & Glidden. First production typewriter, 1873 buyers were all former employees of E. Remington & Sons. “Standard Typewriter” changed its name to Remington Typewriter Company in 1902, and in 1927 merged with Rand Kardex Bureau to form “Remington Rand” and continued to manufacture office equipment and later electric razors. In 1955 they acquired Sperry Corporation and became “Sperry Rand”, later shortened to “Sperry”. With the merger with Burroughs in 1986 the name changed again to “Unisys”. Control of the remainder of the business passed from the Remington family on 7th March, 1888 when it was sold to Messrs Hartley and Graham of New York and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Connecticut at which time the name was changed to the Remington Arms Company. Between 1867 and 1900 the Remington Rolling Block rifle was supplied to Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Mexico, Norway, the Papal States, and Sweden. The typewriter was of great advantage to offices, no longer were clerks required to copy letters and other documents “in a big round hand” as portrayed by Sir Joseph Porter the first lord of the Admiralty or the “Ruler of the Queen’s Navy” in Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta “HMS Pinafore”. The typewriter produced letters etc quicker with a carbon copy if required. It also provided employment opportunities for young ladies of slender means whose previous prospects were usually limited to either marriage, a lottery at Dr. Samuel Johnson noticed in the previous
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century, or employment as a governess or nanny. This was an early example of technology rendering one class of employees redundant whilst providing better opportunities for another group. This was an opportunity too good to be missed and in the years after 1873 the buyers choice was gradually expanded by such names as “Smith Corona” of the U.S.A. in 1886, “Halda” of Sweden, 1890, “Underwood” of the U.S.A. in 1895, “Adler” from Frankfurt am Main in 1898, “Royal” of the U.S.A., 1904, “Olivetti” in Italy, 1908 and “Imperial” of Leicester, 1911. In the 1950’s one could still sometimes find typewriters in commercial offices similar to the Remington 1892 model illustrated, but many had more enclosed cases though no lighter to carry. “IBM” launched an electric typewriter in 1961, the selectric model, and in 1971 the first golf ball typewriter as illustrated (IBM Selectric II) with the advantage that the “golf ball” could be easily changed thus the type face could be changed rather than the typewriter itself. Formerly the options were pica (normal), elite (smaller) typed letters with either short carriage (normal) or long carriage typewriter versions. With the introduction in 1984 of the IBM wheelwriter with daisy wheel rather than golf ball a correcting ribbon was included thus avoiding the use of tipex or typists rubber. None of these incorporated the option of justified margins now available using a Personal Underwood Portable 1930 Computer or “PC” in general use from the 1990’s to produce script only formally available from printers of books, pamphlets and newspapers.
Underwood longcarriage pre-1939
Underwood 255, 1977
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IBM Selectric typewriter, 1961
IBM Selectric II, golf ball typewriter, 1971
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Golf Ball of IBM Selectric
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IBM Wheelwriter 15 Series II, 1984
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Chimes OnLine - https://www.thechimes.org.uk/historical-blog
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The Marriage of Figaro
Maintaining our pattern of describing an event which occurred on the first day of the current month, this month your scribe describes the very first performance of really a quite subversive for the time, well known classical opera. I was first taken when I was a rather awkward and reluctant thirteen year old by Father, together with Mother and my younger Brother, to Sadlers Wells Theatre in London to see “The Marriage of Figaro”. Having entered the theatre, if not exactly under protest at least with little enthusiasm, once the performance commenced I was absolutely captivated. This was my introduction to the world of Eighteenth Century Music and all its charm, sophistication and elegance. It was not till years later that I came to understand the rebellious theme within the plot. The opera is a musical adaptation of the play by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais “la folle journee, ou le Marriage de Figaro” (the Mad Day or the Marriage of Figaro) written in 1778 and accepted for Nattier, Jean-Marc - Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais production by the Comedie Francaise of Paris in 1781, but three years elapsed before it was performed for public audience in 1784. This play is the second in the Figaro trilogy, preceded by “The Barber of Seville” and followed by “The Guilty Mother”. Initially the text was approved, with minor changes, by the Official Censor, but at a private reading before the French court the play so shocked King Louis XVI that he forbade its public presentation. Pierre de Beaumarchais revised the text, moving the action from France to Spain, and after further scrutiny by the Censor the piece was played to an audience including members of the Royal Family in September 1783. The Censor still refused to license the play for public performance, but the king personally authorised its production and thus it was first performed publically in 1784. Thanks to the great popularity of its predecessor, The Marriage of Figaro opened to enormous success; it was said to have grossed 100,000 francs in the first twenty showings, and the theatre was so packed that three people were reportedly crushed to death in the opening-night crowd.
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The play was translated into English by Thomas Holcroft, and under the title of The Follies of a Day – or the Marriage of Figaro” it was produced at the Theatre Royal in London in late 1784 and early 1795. The Theatre Royal was built in 1734 for the production of plays, but was destroyed by fire in 1808 and again in 1856. During the 19th Century, with increasing performances of Ballet and Opera the name was changed to the Royal Opera House, and is commonly referred to as Covent Garden. In France the play has held its place in the repertory, and leading companies have played it in the original language to audiences in Europe and America. In 1960 a Comédie Française production was filmed, under the direction of Jean Mayer, with Jean Piat as Figaro. In the twentieth century the play continued to be staged in translation by foreign companies. In 1927 Constantin Stanislavski staged the work at the Moscow Art Theatre; in 1974 the British National Theatre company presented a version by John Wells, directed by Jonathan Miller. Beaumarchais’ comedy was adapted into One Mad Day! a “screwball comedy” in Three Acts by William James Lorenzo da Ponte Royce. The play premiered at the Norton Clapp Theatre on 24 October 2008. In 1984 BBC Radio 3 broadcast a production of Beaumarchais’ play in John Wells’s translation; in December 2010 the same station transmitted a new version, adapted and directed by David Timson.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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The opening night of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s ever popular opera at the Burgtheatre in Vienna, illustrated below, on the 1st May, 1786 witnessed the composer himself conducting the theatre orchestra, the custom of the day, whilst seated at a pianoforte. It tells the story of Susanna, the maid of the Countess of Almaviva who is to marry the Count’s valet, Figaro. However the Count of Almaviva wishes to exercise his hereditary right to sample the bride on the day of her marriage himself as was the custom for the counts of Almaviva. It is the continuation of the story of “The Barber of Seville” several years later and recounts a single day of madness in the palace of the Count of Almaviva near Seville in Spain. Rosina is now the Countess, Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself and the Count of Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of the Barber of Seville into a scheming, bullying, maiden chasing baritone. Having gratefully granted Figaro the post of head of the servants, he is now persistently trying to exert his droit de seigneur – his right to bed a servant girl on her wedding night including Susanna, Figaro’s bride to be who, as mentioned above, is Rosina’s maid. He keeps finding reasons to delay the wedding of his two servants which has been arranged for this day. However, all is not well, as not only Susanna tries to avoid the Count, but he faces objections from his Countess and Figaro. The Countess, Figaro and Susanna all conspire to embarrass the Count by exposing his scheming. He retaliates by trying to compel Figaro to marry a woman old enough to be his Mother, but at the last minute it is discovered that she actually is his Mother. The opera concludes with Figaro’s and Susanna’s clever manipulations finally restoring the Count’s love for his Countess and tranquillity returns to Almaviva, near Aguas-Frescas three leagues from Seville. In the years before the catastrophe in Paris of 1789 there was widespread politically subversive activity of which the creation of an Encyclopaedia in France is perhaps the most significant example, and plays ridiculing the established order attained both popularity and notoriety. It is greatly to the credit of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that he managed to secure the approval of the Imperial Censor for his operatic version of Pierre Beaumarchais’ play which only two years earlier had met with severe disapproval, Kaiser Joseph II declaring that “since the piece contains much that is objectionable, I therefore expect that the Censor shall either reject it altogether, or at any rate have such alterations made in it that he shall be responsible for the performance of this play and the impression it may make”. Therefore the Austrian Censor duly prohibited performances of the German version of the play. However Mozart’s librettist succeeded in obtaining approval for the operatic version. This was the first of three operas produced with the collaboration of Lorenzo da Ponte, and was composed in six weeks with Lorenzo da Ponte writing the songs in poetic Italian whilst removing the original political references. From our standpoint some 233 years later it is easy to see the undercurrent of political and social change which was gathering momentum and would wreak such havoc on most of the countries of Europe three years later. The other two operas produced by the collaboration of Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart are “Don Giovanni” and “Cosi fan tutte”. It is a further example both of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s and Lorenzo da Ponte’s great success that as the Kaiser controlled the Burgtheatre that Kaiser Joseph II agreed to the opera being performed there. The musical version of Pierre Beaumarchais’ play was immensely popular from the beginning. The City of Prague, then the capital of Bohemia and part of the Austrian Empire commissioned its production in the city in 1787, and the Prager Oberpostamtszeitung declared the opera a “masterpiece” and that “no piece has ever caused such a sensation”.
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W. Hickel, Joseph - Kaiser Joseph II. W. King Louis XVI, 1775.
Figaro-1807.
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Marriage-of-Figaro
Golf Ball of IBM Selectric
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Figaro flyer
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Chimes OnLine - https://www.thechimes.org.uk/historical-blog
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Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition on 1st May 1851
As the clocks struck noon Queen Victoria and Prince Albert entered the Crystal Palace to enthusiastic cheers. After the national anthem the Prince Consort read out the report of the Royal Commission that had devised the exhibition, “By God’s blessing,” Queen Victoria replied, “this undertaking may conduce to the welfare of my people, and to the common interests of the human race, by encouraging the arts of peace and industry, by strengthening the bonds of union among the nations of the earth.” The Great Exhibition embodied Prince Albert’s vision to display the wonders of industry around the world, while at the same time demonstrating Britain’s role as industrial leader. Members of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce assisted Prince Albert in the organisation of this event. It took place in Hyde Park in the magnificent Crystal Palace, which was made of glass and taller than the surrounding trees. The exhibition was a great triumph. People came in their thousands.
Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition
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A Change of Fortunes
On 8th May 1429 the English troops retreated from the siege of Orléans, suffering a significant defeat in the 100 year war with France at the hands of the French troops led by the French commander La Hire and Joan of Arc. Joan was the daughter of a tenant farmer, a religious visionary, who felt herself to be guided by the voices of saints. Although she succeeded in achieving the coronation of the dauphin Charles as King Charles VII of France, thus defeating the Lancastrian English King Henry VI’s claim to the French throne, and achieving further victories that strengthened the King’s position she was outflanked and captured while trying to lift the siege of Compiègne and handed over to the English. She was eventually put on trial as a heretic and burnt at the stake. Over time she became one of the greatest heroes in French history, know as the maid of Orléans. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, after which the French parliament declared the second Sunday in May an annual national festival in her honour.
Joan of Arc
Battles of Orleans Article by Ernst Zillekens. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Russia Surrenders
Completely contrary to all expectations at the time, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the then upstart little oriental county the land of the rising sun, Japan in 1905. Praised at the time in European Capitals, on the 8th February, 1904 the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a motor torpedo boat attack on the Imperial Russian Warships riding at anchor in Port Arthur three hours before the declaration of war was delivered to the Russian Government in Petersburg. The Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Liaodong Peninsular of Southern Manchuria and laid siege to the important ice free city port of Port Arthur. The Russo Japanese war lasted until the war formally ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth signed on the 5th September, 1905 in Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in Hampshire. However it was on the 2nd January, 1905 that the officer commanding the Port Arthur garrison Major General Anatoly Stesssel surrendered the fortress port and city to the Japanese Commanding Officer. The Japanese were not the backward bunch of natives the Russian believed, and since the country had “opened its doors” to the outside world some 40 years earlier had adopted much European expertise. The first and many more warships were supplied from British ship yards which helped in their near Battlefields in the Russo Japanese War annihilation of the Russian Baltic Fleet, posted to the war zone, at the Battle of Tsushima on the 27-28, May, 1905. During the siege of Port Arthur the Russians suffered disproportionate losses, which the British manufactured 11 inch “Armstrong” Howitzers supplied to Japan inflicted on the defenders. The surrender of Port Arthur surprised both the Russian High Command and the Japanese, and after the war Major General Stessel was condemned to death for incompetent defence and disobeying orders, although he was pardoned before the death sentence was carried out.
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Japanese fleet bombard Port Arthur causing oil depot fire
Retreat of the Russian Army after the Battle of Mukden
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Negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The life and artistic success of Marianne North
On Wednesday 27th March the Society were pleased to welcome Geoff North of whom Marianne North the prolific English biologist and botanical artist is an ancestor. Marianne North was born on 24th October, 1830 in Hastings and was the eldest daughter of a prosperous land owning family descended from the Hon. Roger North, younger son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North. Her father was Frederick North, deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk, JP and Whig (Liberal) MP for Hastings. Her mother, Janet, was the daughter of Sir John Marjoribanks MP, 1st Baronet of Lees in the County of Berwick. She was the eldest of three children. Geoff North’s talk covered three important areas providing a brief outline of her family and explaining her background and fierce independence, her extensive travels and her paintings. Marianne studied as a vocalist under Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby, but as her interest in singing diminished she devoted her time to painting flowers. After the death of her mother in 1855 she constantly travelled with her father and on his demise in 1869 she decided to pursue her early ambition of painting flora and fauna in distant countries visiting, amongst other countries, Australasia, Borneo, Brazil, Canada, India, Jamaica, Marianne North, aged 24 Japan, South Africa, the U.S.A. Marianne presented much of her collection of botanical paintings to the Nation and financed the construction of a gallery at Kew Gardens, a purpose built detached building in the Royal Botanical Gardens, which can be visited for no extra charge. Marianne passed away at her home at Alderley in Gloucestershire on 30th August, 1890.
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Marianne North gallery at Kew
Marianne North gallery interior
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Marianne North - Benares, India - Nov. 1878
Marianne North - Wisteria, Mt Fuji
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Economical with the Truth
Today is the anniversary of two very significant treaties, which although signed 241 years ago effect much of present day politics and economics. They have been largely forgotten here in Great Britain and which seemingly the United States prefer to forget. Seeking revenge for our capture during the Seven Years War of Quebec, various Caribbean Islands and possessions in India the French Government were more than willing to support the rebellious American Colonists. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance with France was signed in 1778 at the Hotel de Coislin on the Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde) by the Second Continental Congress lead by Benjamin Franklin. By these treaties France recognised the United States, entered into trading relations and provided for mutual defence against us. It also invited other Nations to join in, which Spain did later.
Couder, Auguste - Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown in 1781
For France, in addition to revenge they gained an ally on the eastern frontier of their Louisiana Territory along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers which previously their overextended front had been vulnerable to British attack. The rebellious Colonists gained an ally without which their rebellion would not have succeeded. Only about half of the Colonists were in rebellion, the others remained loyal to King George III, and who were to flee to Canada after the surrender atY orktown. France supplied money, an army, uniforms a fleet of war ships and experienced generals. It is no coincidence that the uniforms of the Continental Army are so similar to French uniforms of the same period.
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Before 1778 George Washington suffered numerous defeats, but was successful only with French support. There were 29 French warships and 10,800 French troops at the siege of Yorktown, the conclusive engagement of the war. But the Americans prefer to believe that a few lightly armed citizens alone defeated the tyrannical might of a foreign king – dream on dear Yankees, the world believes you.
Dunsmore, John Ward - Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge
Zveg, V - Battle of Chesapeake
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from Ross Gazette
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John Nash, architect in Herefordshire
Last Wednesday evening, the 27th February David Whitehead provided a detailed and illustrated description of the famous architect John Nash who was born in Wales 1752 to a well-connected Carmarthenshire family and to lived to 1835. He is rightly regarded as one of our greatest architects. He re-built the West End of London in the Regency era and scattered country houses, large and small, across the length and breadth of the British Isles. After a false start as a London developer, which led to his bankruptcy, he restarted his career in the late 1780’s in Wales and the borderland. David Whitehead explored this period of John Nash’s career when he re-established his reputation by designing and building gaols and bridges. He also found some influential patrons in Sir Uvedale Price, Bt. of Foxley in Yazor, Herefordshire, the author of the influential “Essay on Castle House, Aberystwyth the Picturesque, as Compared with the Sublime and the Beautiful” of 1794, who taught him how to style picturesque buildings, beginning with the Castle House at Aberystwyth in 1792. In 1793 he was commissioned by Edward Foley, second son of Thomas Lord Foley to re-design the interior of Stoke Edith House, just south of the Hereford to Ledbury Road (A438), which was sadly destroyed by fire in 1927. John Nash was introduced to the landscape gardener, Humphrey Repton who in turn introduced him to the Prince Regent and this led to the metropolitan improvement including Regent Street and the “Nash” terraces surrounding part of Regent’s Park, the Brighton Pavilion, the East Front of Buckingham Palace and moving the Marble Arch to its present location. David Whitehead is the author of an article on John Nash in the “Woolhope Transactions” (1992) and is a contributor to Geoffrey Tyack’s book “John Nash, Architect of the Picturesque”, 2013.
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TR. G.W.R.
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A tax on income
This form of taxation is not quite as new as you may think. For Great Britain it is generally accepted that it was first introduced by William Pitt the Younger on the 9th January, 1799 to help pay for the costly war with the French Revolutionaries which had started in 1793. However this event was not quite the first. As early as about 500 BC the Egyptian Pharaohs introduced a tax of 1% which could rise to 3% in wartime on all personal wealth including land, buildings, slaves and animals. In China in 10 AD Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty instigated a 10% tax on the profits of professionals and skilled labour. The Dynasty was overthrown in 23 AD and the restored Han Dynasty abolished the tax. Our King Henry II established a Saladin Tithe in 1188 of 10% of the personal income and moveable property of all lay persons of England and Wales to pay for the Third Crusade. The Budget or Finance Act of December, 1798 introduced a form of Income Tax to commence on the 9th January, 1799 at the rate of Two Pence in the Pound, a little less than 1p in present day money on incomes in excess of £60.00 per annum (approximately £5,800 at 2016 values) rising to a maximum of Two Shillings in the Pound or 10% on incomes up to £200.00 per annum. It was hoped to raise £10 million by this means but for 1799 tax receipts were only £6 million. The tax was abolished in 1802 following the Treaty of Amiens, but reintroduced in 1803 after commencement of hostilities, and then withdrawn in 1816 one year after the Victory at Waterloo. Sir Robert Peel, better known for his establishment of the Metropolitan Police, hence “Peelers”, reluctantly reintroduced the tax with the Income Tax Act of 1842, and a progressive income tax has remained with us. Based on the earlier model the 1842 act imposed a tax on annual incomes of £150 or more (equivalent to £12,959 at 2016 values). Intended to be temporary it has become permanent, and was extended to become a progressive tax by William Gladstone to help pay the costs of the Crimean War (1854-55).
Pitt’s Income Tax Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The first action of D-Day
The first meeting of the Society in 2019 was held on the 6th February when Members and isitorsV listened attentively to Lt. Col. Ian Gumm’s authoritive description of the capture intact of the bridge across the River Orne and the bridge spanning the Caen Canal. Code named Pegasus Bridge otherwise the Benouville Bridge across the River and Horsa, the bridge at Ranville across the Canal with the overall code name of Operation Tonga. Six Horsa gliders in total were deployed each carrying approximately 90 officers and men were towed across the English Channel from airfields west of London by Handley Page Halifax bombers. They crossed the French coast just before midnight on the 5th June and according to Major John Howard’s plan they should have landed, three near each bridge, at no more than 80 mph. Various factors including wind force and direction caused them to strike ground at over 90 mph, a very rough landing for the paratroopers of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at between 0005 and 0016 hours on the 6th June, 1944. By 0021 hours both bridges had been captured for the loss of only one killed, Lt. Herbert Denham Brotheridge the Commanding Officer and two NCO’s wounded. The bridges were successfully held thus preventing the Wehrmacht forces grouped to the east from reinforcing the defenders at the invasion beech area. Lt. Col is both a commissioned officer of the South Wales Borderers and together with Mrs Gumm, as “In the footsteps” provide escorted and descriptive tours of battlefields worldwide for small personalised parties.
Horsa gliders landed and damaged
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The influential Gertrude Bell
On Wednesday 6th March, our “Founder’s Lecture”, was delivered by Dr. Richard Long on this remarkable English lady who travelled extensively through Arabia and the Near East, first visiting Persia in 1892 where her uncle Sir Frank Lascelles was the British Minister. She read History at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and in two years attained a first Gertrude Bell class honours degree by the age of 19. In the Near East she befriended the tribes and was fluent in eight languages. Also a gifted archaeologist, photographer and cartographer she was instrumental in assisting defining the separate countries following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Already a fearless mountaineer and traveller she worked with T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) during the Great War at the Arab Bureau in Cairo under the command of General Gilbert Clayton where she was of great assistance. In 1921 she attended the Cairo Conference where she influenced the coronation of the Emir Faisal as King of Iraq the same year. Gertrude Bell died in Baghdad in 1926 just before her 58th birthday, and was granted a state funeral where H.M. King George V said “the nation shall mourn her passing”. In 1927 two volumes of collected correspondence were published by her step Mother Dame Florence Bell, and since then there have been several books and the film “Desert Queen” staring Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell. Both Jan Long, who was originally to give the lecture and Dr. Richard Long have extensive knowledge of Gertrude Bell. Dr. Long served at our Embassies in Baghdad, Ankara, Tehran and others, Director of the International Office and of Middle Eastern Studies at Newcastle University and Author of Tawfiq al-Hakim, 1979 and many other serious historical works on the Near East.
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The Railway and Broadway visit
On Wednesday 15th May the Members and guests of the Linton & District History Society enjoyed a day, superbly organised by Lee Hines, to the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway (G&WSR) and the village of Broadway. The Group travelled in one of “Grindles” luxury coaches from the Wilton Car Park in Ross and also the Lewall Street Car Park in Newent to Cheltenham Race Course Railway Station of the “G&WSR” to join the 1055 hrs. departure for Toddington behind a Great Western Pannier Tank No. 4270. Passing en route the goods yard and station at Gotherington and passing through the Greet Tunnel being 693 yards in length to arrive at Winchcombe where there is a Travelling Post Office (TPO) converted for model railway display inside, distinctive “GWR” Brake Vans and a Gunpowder Van. Arriving at Toddington at 1155 hrs. the Group had time to visit the various attractions including a small though packed fascinating Gertrude Bell exhibition coach relating to the “GWR” and the life and times when the railway was at its zenith. During the journey from Cheltenham to Toddington the Group benefited from the special attention and expertise of David Brick and Eddie Bestwick both of the “G&WSR” whose immaculate uniforms reminded us of the heyday of railways, sadly missing today on our mainlines. The intention had been to travel by the railway also over the recently restored section of the line to Broadway and its re-built station which is as close architecturally to the original as current building regulation allow. Unfortunately, as a small section of decorative masonry had fallen away from the Stanway Viaduct the line beyond Toddington was temporarily closed and thus the Group re- joined the coach leaving at 1225 hrs. for Broadway where we arrived at 1255 hrs. The Group then had one and a half hours to explore Broadway where some visited the Gordon Russell Gallery, the numerous shops, cafes, restaurants including the excellent Tisanes Tearooms. A throughly enjoyable outing was much appreciated by the whole party, and we expressed our grateful thanks to both the coach driver and Lee Hines our organiser of the outing. This was the first of three outings organised for this summer.
Article by Dorian Osborne - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1837
The first of this month, July, is the anniversary of the date on which the Parliamentary Act establishing the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages came into effect. This was the first time in Great Britain that a central registry had been established, and the legislation also provided for civil or non religious marriage, thus marriage between parties outside the Church of England could obtain legitimacy. The Reform Act of 1832 which had abolished so called Rotten and Pocket Boroughs and also had increased the number of Members of Parliament representing recently enlarged towns such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester had enabled the Whig Party to regain control of the Government from 1834 when the coalition established by Sir Robert Peel collapsed. Although William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, the former Home Secretary, was the Premier of the Whig Government which followed he was dismissed from office by King William IV, the last Prime minister to be removed by our Monarch, but re- Coronation of Queen Victoria instated six months later. His Wife was the somewhat notorious Lady Caroline Lamb who embarked on an unsuccessful affair with Lord Byron. Today the 2nd Viscount is likely to be remembered as the young Queen Victoria’s first Prime minster and also for the capital city of the Australian State of Victoria named in his honour. He is less likely to be remembered for the vicious, slanderous, false and malicious gossip accusing his Wife, Lady Caroline Lamb, having herself served naked on a meat platter at a dinner at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire nor for the successful passage through Parliament of a Bill dated 17th February, 1836 to establish a General Register of all Births, Deaths and Marriages in England and the appointment of a Register General to operate under the direction of one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State. It is important to remember that before 1st July, 1837, when the Bill took effect as the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1837 there was no central register, only Parish Records which even today make investigating one’s ancestry rather time consuming.
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
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Prior to 1836 there was increasing concern that the poor registration of baptisms, marriages and burials undermined property rights, by making it difficult to establish lines of descent, coupled with the complaints of Nonconformists, which led to the establishment in 1833 of a parliamentary Select Committee on Parochial Registration. This took evidence on the state of the parochial system of registration, and made proposals that were eventually incorporated into the 1836 Registration and Marriage Acts. In addition, the government wanted to survey matters such as infant mortality, fertility and literacy to bring about improvements in health and social welfare. The medical establishment advocated this because a rapidly growing population in the northern industrial towns at that time had created severe overcrowding, and the links between poor living conditions and short life expectancy were now known.
Shee, Sir Martin Archer - Prince William, 1800
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Wilkie, Sir David - King William IV, 1837.
Winterhalter, Franz Xaver - Queen Victoria, 1843
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The following is the beginning of the Bill of 17th February, 1836. 17 February 1836.— 6 Will. IV. A BILL For Registering Births, Deaths and Marriages in England. Whereas it is expedient to provide the means for a complete Register of the Births, Deaths and Marriages of His Majesty’s Subjects in England: And whereas an Act passed in the fifty-second year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Third, intituled, “An Act for the better regulating Parish and other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in England,” and also an Act passed in the fourth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled, “An Act for amending the Laws respecting the Solemnization of Marriages in England,” are insufficient for the purpose aforesaid: Be it therefore Enacted by The KING’s most Excellent Majesty,. by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, THAT after the Thirty-first day of December in this year so much of the said Acts as relates to the Registration of Marriages, Marriages shall be Repealed. And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for His Majesty to provide a proper Office in London or Westminster, to be called “The General Register Office,” for keeping a Register of all Births, Deaths and Marriages of His Majesty’s Subjects in England. And be it Enacted, That the keeping of the said Register, and the control of the Officers, Clerks and Servants employed about the same, shall be given to the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales for the time being, and as often as there shall be no such Commissioners, shall be given to the Registrar General hereinafter mentioned, under the direction of one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State. And be it. Enacted, That it shall be lawful for His Majesty to appoint for the said Office a Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages; and the Poor Law Commissioners, or, as often as there shall be no such Commissioners, the Registrar General, shall appoint a pleasure of His Majesty, and the Clerks, Officers and Servants of the said Register Office shall hold their Offices during the pleasure of the Poor Law Commissioners, or of the Registrar General, as often as there are no such Commissioners. And be it Enacted, That any one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, or the Poor Law Commissioners, with the approbation direction of such Principal Secretary, from time to time may make regulations for the management of the said Register Office, and the duties of the Registrar General, Clerks, Officers and Servants of the said Office, and of the Registrars, Deputy Registrars and Superintendent Registrars hereinafter mentioned, in the execution of this Act, so that they be not contrary to the provisions herein contained; and the regulations so made shall be binding on the said Registrar General, Clerks, Officers and Servants, and on the Registrars, Deputy Registrars and Superintendent Registrars.
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Thus on the 1st July, 1837 at the very beginning of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s reign a central registry was established that, although amended by subsequent legislation, we all rather take for granted today for family records, that is, evidence of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Until the late 1950’s, except for short periods, these records were stored in the north wing of Somerset House on the Strand in London. Only ten days after her accession this Act has proved one of the most significant features of her reign, which can be seen as heralding the greatest period of innovation, discovery and endeavour in history without which aeroplanes, cruise ships and the internet would not be possible today.
Article by Dorian Osborne - reprinted from The Chimes OnLine
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Mallard
On Sunday 3rd. July 1938, the Mallard Locomotive No. 4468, set the record of 125.88mph on a stretch of the East Coast Line track near Grantham. She travelled for 2 miles between 123 and 126 mph. During this ground breaking trial, Mallard pulled 7 carriages weighing 240 tons, the train carrying many officials and engineering equipment. In the cab was driver Joseph Duddington from Doncaster, known for putting his engines through their paces. Had more careful preparation taken place to replace worn valves, Mallard might have travelled even faster. Later that afternoon, engineers could smell the machinery as it overheated leading to Mallard needing an overhaul after the trials. The iconic A4 Pacific Class locomotive had been designed by Sir Nigel Gresley and was one of 35 built to haul the prestigious Silver Jubilee train from King’s Cross to Newcastle. Mallard was built at the Doncaster railway works of the London and North Eastern Railway in England only 4 months before she broke the speed record. The streamlined design was not only aerodynamic, but was also aesthetically beautiful and a good example of the Art Deco styling which was to be found in other locomotive designs in Europe and America. Mallard was retired in 1963 after travelling 1.5million miles and is now in the National Railway Museum in York. In the late 1930s, locomotives in USA and Germany were probably able to travel as fast, but they did not, and so the record remains as a glorious reminder of fine British engineering.
Mallard LNER
Article by Fiona Morison - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Lady Jane Grey
In the history of Britain, there are tragic queens, but few can be as sad as Lady Jane Grey. At the age of 16 she became Queen on 10th July 1553, her reign only lasting 9 days. She was put to death 7 months later. The 1550s were a religiously turbulent time in English history. The Protestant Reformation was strongly supported by the young king Edward VI. However, it became clear in the spring of 1553 that Edward was dying. Edward did not want his Protestant legacy to be destroyed by his Roman Catholic half sister Mary Tudor. Consequently, in his will he named his first cousin once removed, Lady Jane Grey as his successor. The great granddaughter of Henry VII, Jane was intelligent, well educated, pious and a committed Protestant. In May 1553 she married Lord Guildford Dudley, the younger son of Edward’s chief minister John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland and Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, were men of ambition, eager to prevent Catholic Mary Tudor from becoming Queen even though she was the next in line to the throne. They believed that they could weald great power through their son and daughter to benefit their own political and religious ambitions. After Edward died on 6th. July 1553 Jane was proclaimed Queen 4 days later. But confident and active support for Mary Tudor grew quickly and Jane found herself abandoned by her own father, the Privy Council and many who had previously supported her. The Privy Council proclaimed Mary as Queen on 19th. July 1553, deposing Jane, arresting and executing the Duke of Northumberland. Mary then imprisoned Jane, Lord Guildford Dudley and the Duke of Suffolk in the Tower. Jane was tried for high treason and executed on The Streatham portrait, discovered at the beginning of the 21st 12th. February 1554. century and believed to be a copy of a contemporaneous portrait of Lady Jane Grey It is hard not to think of Jane as a susceptible pawn in the hands of powerful men. .As is so often the case, the vulnerable victim had to pay the highest price.
Article by Fiona Morison - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Little Malvern Court
Members of the Linton & District History Society enjoyed a visit to Little Malvern Court (LMC) in Worcestershire on Thursday 4th July. “LMC” nestles on the east facing slopes of the Malvern Hills near Malvern Wells and was originally a Benedictine Priory believed to have been founded by Jocelin and Edred in 1127 as a daughter church of Worcester Cathedral and Monastery. Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530’s the property was acquired by John Russell who proceeded to convert the monastery into a private house, and so it has remained, albeit due to female inheritance in the 18th century the family name changed when the last heiress married Thomas Berington. In 1831 the young Princess Victoria visited the Court with her Mother Victoria, Duchess of Kent, and the lime tree she played under can be seen in the extensive gardens which contain five lakes originally created by the monks for fishing. These gardens are quite charming and enchanting to wander through in the pleasant summer sunshine, and there is much to enjoy. The Court incorporates the original Great Hall, part of Bishop Alcock’s restoration from 1480, and contains many items of interest including a late 19th century wedding dress, a painting of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, and a late 15th century Reredos of finely carved wood from Antwerp. The fine roof timbers are set in five bays with trefoil openings in the apex of the roof, all pinned with wooden pegs.
Little Malvern Court Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Apollo 11 Splashdown 45 Years Ago on July 24, 1969
A safe conclusion to the first Moon Landing Mission by NASA. A few days before 24th July 1969, more than a billion people across the world had been transfixed by the picture ofApollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon. His words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” have become part of the literary landscape. On the 16th. July 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins had been successfully launched into space on the massive Saturn V from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The crew arrived in lunar orbit 3 days later on 19th. July inside the docked Apollo 11 command/service and lunar modules. The next day, the lunar module Eagle, landed Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon’s surface at the Sea of Tranquility. The Moon landing was problematic because of a computer overload. Commander Armstrong was to later state that he had been very apprehensive about this part of his mission. Altogether, Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours on the Moon’s surface, setting up scientific experiments, collecting moon samples and taking photographs. They departed leaving a plaque stating, “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969A. D. We came in peace for all mankind.” The triumphant Apollo 11 crew returned to Earth on 24th. July. Whilst still seated inside the Command Module, they splashed down 900 miles southwest of Hawaii. The men were picked up from the ocean by a helicopter from the USS Hornet recovery ship. Once on board they were congratulated by president Richard Nixon. The astronauts had to wear biological isolation garments in case they carried any previously unknown diseases. As an extra precaution, they were held in quarantine for 21 days after a mission lasting just under 9 days – days when the world watched in awe. Later, in a post flight conference, Armstrong called the Moon landing a, “beginning of a new age,” whilst Collins talked about future missions to Mars. Gene Cernan, the commander of the last Apollo Mission in 1972 finally left the lunar surface with the words: “ eW leave as we came, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
Article by Fiona Morison - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Leonard Cheshire 1917-1992
On 31st July 1992, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO and two bars, DFC died. He was a brave and highly decorated RAF pilot in World War Two, but was also the founder of a remarkable charity. In 1990, Leonard Cheshire gave a televised interview in which he said in response to his own survival in the face of 55 million dead, “I have a kind of duty to those who did not survive (World War Two) … and somehow get involved in the struggle to help build.. A better peace. A better world.” Born into a wealthy middle- class family from Chester on 7th. September 1917, he went to study at Oxford. There he joined the RAF and trained as a pilot. However he was assigned to bomber command, becoming a squadron leader in 1942. He was a modest but natural leader, giving confidence to less experienced crew and taking the trouble to ensure as far as possible the safety of his men. Never one to avoid situations of great danger he completed 102 missions in 4 years of flying. For this he was awarded the VC, the citation stressing his sustained courage and outstanding effort. Cheshire flew right to the end of the war, bombing V2 and V3 rocket sites and acting as the official British observer for the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki. Initially intending to help injured war veterans, Cheshire started his charity in 1948 with residential home for disabled ex-servicemen at Le Court, a large country house in Hampshire. By 1955 there were 6 Cheshire homes in Britain. By 1992 there were 270 homes in 49 countries. The Leonard Cheshire charity supports people to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability. Experienced staff try to give disabled people the opportunity and the support necessary to empower people to live as freely and fully as possible. The charity today pioneers research to work towards a fair and inclusive society. Thousands of people in the UK and worldwide, have benefitted from the compassion of a modest and able man who saw it as his social responsibility to help people in the face of his own good fortune.
Article by Fiona Morison - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The First Boy Scout Camp
The First of August is the anniversary of the first Boy Scout Camp which was held on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in 1907. The movement itself arose from Robert Baden- Powell’s book “Aids to Scouting” first published in 1899. However it is unlikely that the International movement we now know as the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides would have come into being without the advent on the 11th October, 1899 of the South African War, alternatively known as the Second Boer War, when the Boers of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal laid siege to the townships of Kimberley, Ladysmith and Mafeking. Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, as he then was, recognised the contribution made by the Mafeking Cadet Corps during the siege when non native boys between the age of 12 and 15, that is below fighting age, stood guard, carried messages and assisted in hospitals thus freeing grown men to fight. Colonel Baden-Powell did not form the Cadet Corps himself, although he was sufficiently Robert Baden-Powell in South Africa,1896 impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them in “Aids to Scouting” which later formed the first chapter of “Scouting for Boys” published in 1908. On the 16th May, 1900 the siege was lifted and Colonel Baden-Powell was promoted to Major General and became a national hero. Robert Baden-Powell had also published a number of popular books on military scouting including “Aids to Scouting for NCOs and Men”, published in 1899. Though written for non-commissioned officers it became a best-seller and was used by teachers and youth organisations. The advent of the Needle Gun, a breech loaded rifle, the invention of the German gunsmith Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse, adopted by Prussia in 1848, together with the gradual development
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of smokeless gunpowder led to the adoption of less colourful uniforms and later camouflage, field grey in Germany and khaki for the British Army. It was largely the use by Prussia of these developments that led to the defeat of Austria at the Battle of Königgrätz in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The traditional method of recognisance using a cavalry screen, light cavalry (hussars, lancers or light dragoons) to protect one’s own forces and report of enemy positions became increasingly hazardous as troops blended into the country with camouflage and without gun smoke to reveal their whereabouts. Thus the relevance of scouting parties trained and equipped to be less conspicuous gradually replaced the cavalry screen. It is against this background that we should view the relevance and military popularity of “Aids to Scouting for NCOs and Men”. In the years after the South African War Major General Robert Baden-Powell broached the idea of a new youth organisation with a number of people, including William Alexander Smith, founder of the Boys’ Brigade, with whom he discussed setting up a Boys Lady Olave Baden-Powell, GBE Brigade Scouting achievement. The Brownsea Island Scout camp of 1907 was a boys’ camping event on Brownsea Island in Southern England, organised by Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, now promoted to Lieutenant General as an experimental camp to test his ideas for the book “Scouting for Boys”. It was designed for boys of different social backgrounds to participate from the 1st to the 8th ofAugust, 1907 in various activities including camping, observation, woodcraft, chivalry, lifesaving and patriotism. He invited his lifelong friend, Major Kenneth McLaren, to attend the camp as an assistant. The event is now recognised as the world’s first Scout camp and is regarded as the origin of the worldwide Scout movement.
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The Boy Scouts provided invaluable auxiliary service in a variety of national emergencies following their establishment including during the Great War as one of the illustrations shows. In 1921 Robert Baden-Powell was awarded a baronetcy and on 17th September, 1929 he was created 1st Baron of Gilwell in the County of Essex, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre. After receiving the honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself “Baden- Powell of Gilwell”. Until the early 1930s, camping by Boy Scouts continued on Brownsea Island and in 1963, a formal 50-acre Scout campsite was opened by Lady Olave Baden-Powell, GBE, widow of Robert Baden-Powel when the island became a nature conservation area owned by the National Trust. In 1973, a Scout Jamboree was held on the island with 600 Scouts. The worldwide centenary of Scouting was celebrated on the 1st August, 2007 at the Brownsea Island Scout camp to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the first encampment. Named after the island in Poole Harbour there is a Brownsea Island in the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia, USA, a training, Scouting, and adventure centre.
Bacon, John Henry Frederick - The Relief of Ladysmith
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Brownsea Island Scout Camp. Boy scouts marching
Article by Dorian Osborne. Reprinted from The Chimes OnLine - https://www.thechimes.org.uk/historical-blog
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Los Angeles is founded
On this day in 1781, 44 Mexican / Spanish settlers and four soldiers officially founded a new settlement on behalf of the Spanish Empire, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels). Now known to us as simply Los Angeles, it is the second largest city in the USA, and the largest city in California with a population of nearly four million people. Southern California was originally settled by tribes of “pueblo” or village-dwelling First Peoples, as opposed to the nomadic tribes of the plains. Spain started out by conquering and claiming central America, and in 1542, a military mapping expedition claimed the coast of California, but did little in the way of colonisation. The first settlements centred around Christian missions, and the founding fathers of Los Angeles were Franciscan friars. To this day, it is the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the USA. One of its suburbs has become synonymous with glitz and glamour : Hollywood. It merged into the city in 1910, when there were already 10 movie companies operating, and by 1921, more than 80% of the world’s film industry was situated in the area. Happy birthday LA, city of dreams.
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Smallpox outbreak in the UK
It is now nearly forty years since the World Health Organisation declared that smallpox had been eradicated. In 1798, Gloucestershire doctor Edward Jenner discovered that vaccination could prevent smallpox, and before 1986 most people were vaccinated in childhood. The last cases of smallpox in the world occurred in Birmingham in 1978. A medical photographer, Janet Parker, who worked at the University of Birmingham Medical School contracted the disease in August. At first it was thought to be a relatively minor illness, but she rapidly became seriously ill, and smallpox was diagnosed. She was transferred to an isolation hospital in Solihull, and 260 people who had been in contact with her were quarantined immediately. Janet died on 11 September, six days after her father, who had a heart attack whilst in quarantine. Her mother also contracted the disease, but in a milder form, and survived. The tragedy did not end there. The scientist responsible for smallpox research at the university killed himself, blaming himself for the spread of the virus from his laboratory to the floor above where Janet worked. As a direct result of this outbreak, research on smallpox was restricted to only two laboratories worldwide, and all other stocks of the virus were destroyed.
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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George 1st arrives in Great Britain
Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch, died on 1st August 1714, leaving no heir despite 17 pregnancies. She had miscarried or given birth to stillborn children at least twelve times. Of her five liveborn children, four died before reaching the age of two, and the last survived until the age of eleven. The English Parliament had agreed that the monarchy should pass to her cousin Sophia. There were several nearer relatives, but they were Catholics, and barred from the throne. Anne’s own father, James II had effectively been deposed in a wave of anti-Catholic feeling. As Sophia had already died, her son George, Elector of Hanover, inherited the Crown. The possible Catholic claimants, including Anne’s half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, were ignored. George arrived in England on 18th September 1714, and was crowned the following month. But ignoring the Catholic Stuarts’ rights to the succession was to lead to two major Jacobite rebellions, the first in 1715, and then “Bonnie Prince Charlie’s” invasion of 1745. Also on this day, another King arrived in England, Harald Hardrada of Norway. The year was 1066, and his arrival, with an army, was to have a decisive effect on history – more about that next week.
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The battle of Stamford Bridge
In September 1066, Harold Godwinson, King of England since the death of Edward the Confessor, faced an unprecedented threat. He feared invasion from Normandy, and with good reason – Duke William had already forced him to swear an oath supporting the Norman’s claim to the English throne. But in mid-September came word that a Viking army led by the King of Norway, Harald Hardrada, and Godwinson’s own brother, Tostig, had landed in northern England. The King’s response was to rush his army (something like 12,000 troops) from London to Yorkshire in just four days - an outstanding feat. The Norwegian army, numbering about 9,000, was taken completely by surprise when the English army arrived. The battle was ferocious. The Norwegian position was defended by a narrow bridge across the River Derwent. Taking this bridge at heavy cost, the English pressed home their attack, in which both Hardrada and Tostig were killed. The Norwegians had arrived in 300 ships; only 24 were needed to take the survivors back after the surrender. But the success was short-lived. William of Normandy landed at Pevensey on 28th September. Harold and his depleted army returned south to meet defeat and death at Hastings – the Norman conquest had begun.
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Mitford Sisters - A Talk by Di Alexander
On Wednesday, 2nd October the Linton & District Society opened its new season of talks with a spirited, personal presentation of the Mitford sisters, who had aroused much public attention and in some cases gained notoriety in their time and who have continued to generate a wide degree of interest today. Di Alexander opened by explaining the root of the literary ability, which Nancy, the oldest born in 1909, Diana, born in 1910, Jessica, born in 1917 and Deborah, born in 1920 all demonstrated in different publications from the novel The Pursuit of Love by Nancy to the biography Wait For Me by Deborah , probably the most reliable account of the sisters’ early life. The literary gifts went back to both maternal and paternal grandfathers. Algernon Bertram Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, published a number of books drawing on his experience as a diplomat, while Tomas Gibson Bowels demonstrated his skills as a journalist and founder of ‘The Lady’ magazine. Strong political views were also a hallmark, in the case of Unity, an ardent admirer of Hitler, and also Diana, who married Oswald Mosley it was fascism, while Jessica was a committed communist. Pamela, born in 1907, quiet and shy, liked cooking and gardening. Her youngest sister, Debo was the easiest and most down to earth of the six girls who, as Duchess of Devonshire, turned Chatsworth into the highly effective estate of today.
Di Alexander Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Napoleon’s last campaign
On Wednesday 16th October, Dr. Rev. Michael Fass delivered a most interesting and entertaining talk on the ex Emperor’s final years on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena with the title of “Scrapbook from St. Helena – Napoleon’s last Campaign”. Following his defeat at Waterloo, his failed bid to recover the French Empire, he deliberately, and with some inconvenience, surrendered to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland of HMS Bellerophon at between 6 and 7 am on the 15th July, 1815 together with General Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, believing with some justification, that he would receive better treatment from us than his Continental enemies. At Plymouth the Great Disturber was transferred to the 74 gun HMS Northumberland and conveyed to our possession of Saint Helena from where escape proved to be impossible. This was not a harsh imprisonment from 10th December, 1815 although Longwood House where he was lodged was well guarded to prevent escape, he had the use of what the Governor described as a Plantation House with his own mini court behaving as though they still ruled the former French Empire including the Comte de Montholon to whom he dictated his Memoirs, later published in several languages. For an ex master of most of the Continent this must have been rather claustrophobic. The manufactory of Josiah Wedgewood produced a tea and dinner service for the ex Emperor decorated with dark green ivy leaves on the creamy white field. He died on the 5th May, 1821 and was buried at night on the island in a very deep grave which was filled with rocks over the coffin to ensure he stayed buried. The French claimed he was murdered with repeated low dosages of arsenic whereas the actual cause of death was a stomach cancer, and the arsenic arose from the green wall paper at Longwood House. Arsenic was used to produce green dye until the mid 1800’s. Following King Louis Phillippe’s request Napoleon’s body Napoleon the gardener, St Helena was transferred to St. Jerome’s Chapel in Paris on 15th December, 1840 where it remained until entombed in Les Invalides in 1861 in a specially designed stone sarcophagus.
Article by Dorian Osborne - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Roman Origins of Our Christmas and its Customs
On 6th November 2019 Dr Mark Lewis delivered an inspiring, well-researched talk on the above topic. He focused particularly on the Roman feast of ’saturnalia’, a seven-day celebration from 17th to 25th December in the Julian calendar. Saturn, the God in whose honour these celebrations were held, was portrayed as a bearded old man, not unlike the Father Christmas of a later age, but also as he was the god of harvest and portrayed holding a scythe not unlike the grim reaper, who came to harvest men According to ancient mythology Saturn had settled in Latium and ruled over a lost golden age that was characterised by peace and good will to all men. Part of the celebrations consisted of play-acting scenes from a golden age. Its main message was freedom and equality and it celebrated the birth of the unconquerable sun. Masters waited on servants in a role reversal demonstrating for the day that the least shall be first. He also discussed ‘missing’ Christmases until the first recorded Christmas in AD 336 in the Filocalian Calendar and thereafter, for example, the cancellation of Christmas by Oliver Cromwell. The 25th December was not favoured as the birth date of Christ in the early church, in Egypt it was 20th May elsewhere the 20th April, the vernal equinox or 26th April, what came to be celebrated as the date of the immaculate conception.
Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Falkland Islands
On Wednesday, 20th November 2019 the Society met to listen to Peter Reynolds talking about the history of the Falkland Islands up to the Falklands War in 1982 from direct military and diplomatic experience. He traced a history of the islands from its earliest occupation to when it passed into British hands and was then marred by poor communications and political inertia in the 20th century. A complex chain of developments emerged that resulted in Falklands War in 1982. Argentina first made a claim to the islands under President Juan Peron. In 1964 a light aircraft landed on the racecourse in Port Stanley and the Argentinian crew planted an Argentinian flag and handed over a letter claiming the islands as an Argentinian colony. Argentina’s approach to the islanders was combative and did nothing to win them over, encouraged by negotiations with the Wilson government that headed towards abandoning any moral obligation towards the islanders. The newly formed Foreign and Commonwealth Office in secret negotiations, signalled a readiness to abandon British sovereignty to Argentina. Ways in which Argentina threatened the islanders and developments in Argentina itself were played down by the Heath and Thatcher governments as they failed to take the Argentina’s military juntas need for a military success to divert attention from the increasingly disastrous economic situation seriously. This resulted in the Argentinian government embarking on a military invasion of the island, confident that no retaliation was to be feared. But that proved to be a serious miscalculation.
The Falkland Islands
Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Marie Celeste
On 4th December 1872, a Canadian cargo ship, the Dei Gratia encountered a ship adrift in the Atlantic between the Azores and the Portuguese coast. She had some sails set, but appeared not to be under control. The crew of the Dei Gratia investigated, finding no-one on board and the lifeboat missing. Although the ship was in poor condition, she was in no imminent danger of foundering; the last entry in her log was 9 days previously, and no reason for her abandonment could be discerned. The ship was the Mary (not Marie) Celeste. The crew of the Dei Gratia sailed her into Gibraltar, where a Salvage Court was convened. It came to no conclusion as to what had actually happened, but rumour and conspiracy theories have abounded ever since. Everything from mutiny and murder, to conspiracy to wreck the ship and claim the insurance, to abduction by space aliens has been proposed as a solution to the mystery. The ship herself had a sad fate. Passed from owner to owner, regarded as an unlucky ship, she was finally deliberately destroyed off the coast of Haiti as an insurance fraud on January 3rd 1885.
Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
The Falkland Islands
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The abdication of Edward VIII
It is the evening of 11th December 1936. After days of discussions and mounting tension, the nation waits to hear a broadcast from Windsor Castle. Lord Reith, Chairman of the BBC, introduces “His Royal Highness Prince Edward”. The shock this gave listeners was considerable. Edward, known to his family as David, had reigned for less than 11 months. Politicians and church leaders had known since mid- November that he wished to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee still (at that point) legally married to her second husband, Ernest Simpson. Gossip about their relationship was rife outside Britain; when she initiated divorce proceedings against Simpson in Ipswich, one unrestrained American publication headlined the event as “King’s Moll Reno’d in Wolsey’s Home Town”. The story did not break in British newspapers until early December. Public opinion was divided; working class people thought the King should marry whoever he pleased, but his family, the Church, many politicians, the governments of the Dominions, and much of the British press were against the marriage. By December 5th, it had become clear that his idea of a morganatic marriage had no support, so the King decided to abdicate. Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Mrs. Simpson’s Pinched Our King, ran the parody of the carol, as 1936, the Year of Three Kings, drew to its uneasy close.
Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
The Falkland Islands
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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The Lutine Bell
In December 1793, the Royal Navy captured several French naval ships as prizes, one of which, “Lutine” was commissioned as HMS Lutine on 18th December of that year. Lutine’s career as a Navy ship was short-lived, with a tragic ending; she sank off the West Frisian Islands on 9th October 1799, with terrible loss of life. She was carrying gold and silver bullion and coin of great value, and was insured with Lloyds of London. The claim for the cargo, paid in full, was in the region of £115 million in present-day values, and Lloyds then claimed anything that could be salvaged from the wreck. Attempts to do this began immediately, but with only limited success because of the primitive equipment available, not to mention the difficulties inherent in the shifting sandbank on which the wreck lay. Eventually, in 1858, the ship’s bell was recovered, and was hung in the Rostrum of the Underwriting Room at Lloyds. It was traditionally rung once for the loss of a ship, and twice for the safe arrival of an overdue vessel. In more recent times it is only rung for ceremonial purposes, and to mark the beginning and end of the Two Minutes’ Silence for Armistice.
Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
The Falkland Islands
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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Christmas customs and myths
Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree to Britain, and Santa is depicted wearing a red robe because of an advertising campaign for a brand of soft drink. Two of the myths of Christmas! In fact, evergreens had been part of Christmas decorations for centuries, and had been part of the Roman feast of Saturnalia before the birth of Christ. The first known example of a royal Christmas tree was put up at Windsor Castle in 1800, by Queen Charlotte. Like Albert, Charlotte came from Germany, and when she married George III in 1761 she brought with her the custom of decorating a yew branch. In 1800, she decided that a whole tree should be potted up, brought in and decorated, and this was such a success that fashionable members of society quickly copied the idea. To Albert Royal Tree belongs the honour of popularising the decorated tree; the press in the 1840s and 1850s were encouraged to show Victoria and Albert as paragons of domesticity, and newspapers and magazines carried drawings and descriptions of their Christmas trees which spread the custom. As for Santa, he is a mixture of all sorts, partly depictions of the Article by Ernst Zillekens - reprinted from The Ross Gazette Roman god Saturn, to whose feast in December, Saturnalia, we owe many of our traditions, and partly Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. In Holland and Belgium, Nicholas’ feast day (6th December) is marked by gifts to children, whose patron saint he is. Dutch immigrants to America took their celebration of Sinterklaas with them, where the magazine Harper’s Weekly published engravings of Santa Claus showing him in a familiar outfit. These ran from 1863 onwards, and the magazine also popularised the idea of “writing to Santa”. It was indeed a soft drink company that first produced adverts in colour showing Santa’s robes as red, the colour worn by bishops, but it was White Rock Beverages, whose adverts went into colour in 1923, some eight years before a well-known rival brand The Falkland Islands introduced similar depictions. Wishing you a Happy Christmas.
Article by Jonquil Dodd - reprinted from The Ross Gazette
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