973
Arthur Wellesley watches on as one of his soldiers is rescued from a watery grave.
Arthur Wellesley (not yet the Duke of Wellington) spent the years 1797 to 1804 in India, confronting the Maratha Empire that threatened Indian princes and the British alike. Wisely, he learnt to make war as the Maratha did, and acquired a proper respect for the elephant.
Picture: © T. R. Shankar Raman, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted February 24 2018
974
That infernal nonsense ‘Pinafore’ took America by storm.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘HMS Pinafore’ (1878) was surprisingly slow to get going in England, picking up speed only after Hamilton Clarke arranged some numbers for orchestra and military band at the Proms in Covent Garden. In America, however, it was a smash hit right from the start, though some people tired of it sooner than others.
Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 23 2018
975
The East India Company’s top agent in India was also the man who put Calcutta on the world map.
Calcutta (Kolkata) in West Bengal was the capital of British India from the start of the Raj in 1857 to 1911, when King George V announced a move to Delhi. Calcutta was not the first choice location for British commercial activity in Bengal, but it proved to be the best, and that was to the credit of one man, Job Charnock.
Picture: © Martin Jernberg, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 22 2018
976
William Cobbett makes a distinction between everyday business and the murky world of Westminster lobbyists and financial speculation.
William Cobbett, MP for Oldham, was sometimes accused of being anti-trade because he criticised the cosy arrangement between Government, big banks and big business. He replied with his customary vigour, distinguishing clearly between two kinds of commerce, the free trade that promotes liberty and the cronyism that endangers it.
Picture: © Alan Pennington, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 21 2018
977
A mother is determined to see that her disabled daughter gets the help she needs.
Fr George Skaramangás (1867-1944) was an energetic and popular figure on the Greek island of Paros, both as priest at the Ekatontapyliani (Church of the Hundred Doors) and as founder of the island’s Byzantine Museum. His adopted daughter married Spiros Mavris, a local hero of the Resistance. The following events took place in his time.
Picture: © Olaf Tausch, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted February 20 2018
978
An English sailor became the target of the first worldwide manhunt following an audacious act of piracy.
From 1688 to 1697, William III’s England and Louis XIV’s France were locked in the Nine Years’ War. Louis took the dispute to England’s colonies in North America, the Caribbean, and even India, but the French fleet was not the only peril upon the high seas.
Picture: © Kenneth Allen, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted February 19 2018