British History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘British History’
An Albanian shepherd plans to expand into arable farming, but he needs water and the search is close to ruining him.
In 1913, Aubrey Herbert MP reluctantly agreed to take a message from Ismail Qemali to his rival as leader of Albania, Essad Pasha Toptani. Herbert’s company on the long journey to Durrës included a priest with a fondness for verses; a musician who played air-violin; a murderer; a diplomat who was a bit of a comedian; and a ‘shepherd-king.’
English explorer Major Edmund Lockyer tries to buy a puppy in Queensland, but ends up paying the owner to keep him.
In September 1825, Edmund Lockyer (1784-1860) led an expedition through the upper reaches of the Brisbane River in what is now Queensland, reporting back to Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales, on the possibilities for agriculture and mining. His contacts with the Aborigines were cordial, as this extract from his Journal confirms.
The Bluebell line in Sussex was the first failing British Railways line to be taken over by volunteers.
There are over a hundred and eighty ‘heritage’ railways and tramways in the United Kingdom, privately owned and run largely by volunteers. Many are routes closed by State-owned British Railways, which enthusiasts have turned into profitable companies in defiance of Authority. The first of these inspirational and quintessentially British adventures was the Bluebell Line in Sussex.
Seventeenth-century German craftsmen came seeking a land of opportunity, and found it in County Durham.
From the sixteenth century onwards, craftsmen and merchants from the European Continent began to settle in England, escaping the regulation, persecution and war that was a daily feature of our neighbours’ politics. By the reign of William and Mary (1688-1694), investors were lining up to help European craftsmen choose Britain as a place to do business.
The Founder of Singapore established his city on principles of free people and free trade.
Sir Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) is well-known to anyone who has visited Singapore, the city he founded in 1819. Still held in honour there, he is much less widely remembered back in his own country, but deserves better from us for his pioneering campaigns against slavery in the Far East and for being a champion of free trade in a world dominated by gunboat diplomacy.
Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java, urged London to bypass our European partners and trade directly with Japan.
On February 13, 1814, Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) in Java wrote to Lord Minto, former Governor-General of India, urging London to pursue a more vigorous trade policy with Japan. Previous trade links had employed Dutch agents, but Raffles believed that Britain would do better by trading directly rather than through European partners.