193
Edward II was given the crown of England on condition that he had nothing more to do with Piers Gaveston, and he did not keep his word.
Edward II succeeded Edward I in 1307, and was nothing like his father. Edward ‘Longshanks’ had been a man of determination, firm in governance at home, single-minded in his campaign to bring Wales and Scotland to heel. His son, though ‘fair of body and great of strength’, could govern neither England nor himself.
Picture: By Marcus Stone (1840-1921), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 17 2022
194
The Victorian working man had John Bright’s respect and unwavering support, but he could expect no special favours.
On January 28th, 1875, John Bright MP gave a speech in Birmingham during which he regretted the pressure put on voters in manufacturing towns to elect working-class candidates. A Mr Joseph Hulme of Burslem (part of Stoke-on-Trent) wrote to express surprise at this seeming prejudice, drawing the following reply.
Picture: By John Thomson, via the LSE and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 13 2022
195
For George Stephenson, the motto of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was a code to live by.
However pure Science may be, a scientist’s head may be turned by ambition, politics or gain, resulting in great harm to social and economic progress. Happily, George Stephenson was not such a man, as Michael Longridge of Bedlington Iron Works testified in a letter (here abridged) to Edinburgh engineer George Buchanan in January 1832.
Picture: © Graham Hogg, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted November 10 2022
196
A dinner host enthralls his guests with an extraordinary scientific experiment.
HG Wells’s The Time Machine (1895) opens with ‘the Time Traveller’ holding forth over the dinner table on the subject of Time as the fourth dimension, and the possibility of time travel. His guests are reluctant to follow where he leads, so he runs to his workshop and returns with a tiny, intricate mechanism in brass and ivory.
Picture: By Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. . Source.
Posted November 9 2022
197
Richard Cobden questioned both the wisdom and the motives of politicians who intervene on foreign soil.
At the Vienna Congress in 1815, Napoleon’s former empire was shared out by Britain and other European Powers. A semi-autonomous Kingdom of Poland was allotted to Russia, which Russian troops occupied in response to the November Uprising of 1830-31. Calls grew loud for the British and Turkish Empires to restore ‘the balance of power’, but Richard Cobden heard only arrogant self-preservation.
Picture: © Hubert Śmietanka, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5.. Source.
Posted November 8 2022
198
A gentleman travelling home from London by train reached his destination carrying more than he set out with.
In 1830, the world’s first intercity passenger line began running steam-hauled trains between Liverpool and Manchester. Half a century later, Richard Pike compiled a collection of vignettes about life on the ever-growing railway network, some about engineers and locomotives, others about the surprising things that could happen in a railway carriage.
Picture: © Smiley.toerist, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted November 7 2022