187
After an accident at a level crossing, the bosses of the Leicester and Swannington Railway acknowledged that drivers needed more than lung power.
Engineer George Stephenson was the principal shareholder in the Leicester and Swannington Railway, which opened in June 1832, not yet seven years after Stephenson’s historic Stockton and Darlington line carried the public for the first time. The L&SR had been running for just under a year when there was an accident at a level crossing, and Mr Ashlen Bagster, manager of the line, had a brainwave.
Picture: © BazzaDaRambler, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 18 2022
188
As Rome’s grip on Gaul tightened, one man still dared to defy them.
In 55 BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar paid a brief and not altogether satisfying visit to Britain, and on his return to Gaul found everything in uproar there too. Slowly he restored order, but in 52 he was confronted with an especially stubborn rebel whom he named simply Vercingetorix, ‘the Commander’. That September, however, Caesar had the Gauls pinned down in Alesia, now Alise-Sainte-Reine.
Picture: By Henri-Paul Motte (1846–1922), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted December 18 2022
189
The British Empire may be said to have started when Elizabethan importers got into a fight with the Dutch over the price of pepper.
The English were more interested in war than trade in the days of Henry VIII, but in the reigns of Henry’s daughters Mary I (1553-1558) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603) English mariners began to imitate their Continental neighbours and reach out to the Far East. This did not greatly please their neighbours, who resented the competition.
Picture: © Nick Allen, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted November 22 2022
190
The Sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra welcomed his guests from Christian England with an unexpected gesture of friendship.
In 1601, Sir James Lancaster set out in four ships for India and the Far East, seeking trading partners for England on behalf Queen Elizabeth I and the newly-formed East India Company. He visited the Kingdom of Achin (Aceh) in the north of Sumatra the following year, where the Sultan was graciously pleased to receive this emissary from a backward, cold and infidel land far, far away.
Picture: By Johannes Vingboons (1616–1670), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 21 2022
191
The Despensers ensured that King Edward II never left their sight, but it was what Queen Isabella was doing that should have worried them.
Throughout his calamitous reign, Edward II relied on others to do his thinking for him. First there was Piers Gaveston, who thought seriously about very little. Then there was Hugh Despenser (here named Spencer) and his father, more intelligent but just as ambitious. As for entrusting the affairs of State to his beautiful, neglected wife Isabella, that never occurred to him; but it did occur to Isabella.
Picture: © Tilliebean, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted November 20 2022
192
Edward II hoped to outshine his famous father by bringing Scotland under the English crown, but Robert the Bruce was ready for him.
In June 1306, Robert I of Scotland was driven from his throne by Edward I of England. Edward’s persistence earned him the name ‘Hammer of the Scots’, but it was Robert’s persistence that told in the end. Tradition says he had learnt it from watching a gutsy spider; but Edward’s death on July 7th, 1307, must have played a part, for Edward II was nothing that his father had been.
Picture: From the Holkham Bible (?1320-?1330) via the British Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 18 2022