Discovery and Invention
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Discovery and Invention’
Sir William Hunter looks back over a Government committee’s plan to introduce tea cultivation to India in 1834.
The British drink almost 36 billion cups of tea each year, a trend set by King Charles II’s Portuguese wife, Queen Catherine. The tea itself came exclusively from China, which by the early Nineteenth Century had become a cause for concern. What if China were to close her ports to Europe, as neighbouring Japan had done? So the Government set up a Tea Committee.
The steering committee for the Great Exhibition of 1851 turned down all 245 designs submitted for the iconic venue.
Sir Joseph Paxton, a consultant to the Duke of Devonshire, was the man who designed the ‘Crystal Palace,’ the enormous cast iron and glass conservatory that housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 seen by over six million people. Not only was the design groundbreaking, but the way Paxton brought it to the attention of the Building Committee was decidedly modern too.
After Joseph Paxton won the competition to design the venue for the Great Exhibition of 1851, he recalled how his rival had helped him.
In 1851, the Great Exhibition opened in the groundbreaking Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton (1803-1865). The decision to run with Paxton’s innovative concept was taken at the last minute, and was a disappointment to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), who was hoping his Great Dome would become a London landmark. Paxton tells us Brunel behaved like a gentleman throughout.
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 editor of the country’s most famous newspaper had to use a little sleight-of-hand to bring journalism to the people.
The best kind of automation creates jobs and raises wages by increasing productivity. Unfortunately, when the Times introduced steam presses in 1814 many workers and activists still did not understand this, and it took daring and a little deception to help Progress on her way.