691
In 655, the future of England as a Christian nation hung by the slenderest of threads.
Following the conversion of Ethelbert, King of Kent, in 597, one after another the Kings of England’s kingdoms were baptised; Sigeberht of the East Angles even resigned his crown to his brother Anna, in order to become a monk. But Cenwalh of Wessex remained unmoved, as did his brother-in-law Penda, mighty lord of Mercia.
Picture: © Philip Halling, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted October 13 2019
692
Sir Charles Lucas looked back at the role of the Government, the military and private enterprise during three centuries of British adventure overseas.
To end the six-volume ‘Oxford Survey of the British Empire’, Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas looked back over the history of England’s overseas adventures from time of Queen Elizabeth I to the end of the Victorian Age. He concluded that there had been three quite distinct eras, and began by looking at the character of our enterprise during the upheavals of the seventeenth century.
Picture: Hastings County Archives, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted October 8 2019
693
Sir Charles Lucas argued that the Industrial Revolution happened at just the right time for everyone in the British Empire.
From the 1850s, railways, steamships and the electric telegraph allowed Britain and the scattered nations of her Empire to increase cooperation. Even better, said colonial administrator and historian Sir Charles Lucas, such innovations came too late for politicians in London to use them to tighten their control.
Picture: © Biswarup Ganguly, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted October 8 2019
694
An attempt to pay down the National Debt provoked a frenzy of financial speculation.
In 1711, a new joint stock company called the South Sea Company was announced, akin to the successful East India Company (1600) and Hudson’s Bay Company (1670). In 1719, it was awarded the job of paying off the national debt, promising investors eye-catching returns for upwards of £1000 per share, and sparking a frenzied optimism among investors that copycat companies were happy to share in.
Picture: © Sage Ross, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted October 6 2019
695
A good knowledge of history is essential if we are to understand how words such as liberty and democracy are understood.
In his introduction to a series of studies on world history, John Buchan (1875-1940) recalled that the great historian Lord Acton had uncovered as many as two hundred definitions of ‘liberty.’ A study of history, said Buchan, is the only way to untangle these various definitions — as it is for other catchwords of our own day such as ‘democracy’ and ‘populism.’
Picture: Allen &co. (1902), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted October 5 2019
696
Charles II was thinking about handing Bombay back to the Portuguese, when an Indian rebel stepped in.
The great cities of Madras and Calcutta sprang up from the energy and enterprise of British merchants, but Bombay’s history was different. It was a gift from the Portuguese, and for some years it looked as if the beneficiary, Charles II, would be only too pleased to give it back.
Picture: © Chinmaya Panda, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted September 30 2019