Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1195

Ireland’s First Railway

The Dublin to Dun Laoghaire line opened in 1834, and proved a remarkable testimony to the speed of technological progress.

In 1825, the world’s first railway carrying fare-paying public passengers opened, triumphantly tackling the eight-mile stretch between Stockton and Darlington in three hours. Just nine years later, Ireland acquired its own first railway, from Dublin to Dun Laoghaire, and the six-mile journey was over in twenty minutes.

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Picture: © David Quinn, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1196

Ranji

A young Indian student from Cambridge was selected for England’s cricket team after public pressure.

In 1934, India inaugurated the Ranji Trophy, a first-class cricket tournament in honour of K.S. Ranjitsinhji (1872-1933), an Indian prince of the British Raj who played cricket for several years at the very highest level for England, a country he loved dearly and which loved him in return.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

1197

Cuthbert, the Bridle and the Book

One of England’s most precious artefacts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, was nearly lost at sea.

Just before the Danes sacked the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793, the monks smuggled out the body of St Cuthbert, carrying it on their shoulders all over Northumbria in the hope of finding a place free from violence. Eventually, their successors led by Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Eadred lost heart, and decided to take refuge in Ireland.

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Picture: © Mick Garratt, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1198

A Selfish Liberty

American anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass contrasts two kinds of ‘nationalist’.

American anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in 1845, and loved it. But in time he came to realise that there are two kinds of nationalist: those who want freedom everywhere, and those who want it only for themselves, and will enslave any other land or people in order to get it.

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Picture: © John Comloquoy, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1199

Well Out Of It

Anne Elliot is mortified to hear Frederick Wentworth’s opinion of her, but manages to find comfort in his words.

Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth meet again seven years after Anne rejected Frederick’s proposal of marriage, under pressure from a trusted friend. A chance remark by the Captain, repeated by Anne’s sister Mary, leads them both to convince themselves that love is dead – and that they are happier that way.

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Picture: © Celuici, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

1200

Max Woosnam

Max fully deserves his reputation as England’s greatest all-round sportsman.

Maxwell (Max) Woosnam was born in Liverpool, but brought up in Aberhafesp, Mid Wales. His father, a senior clergyman in the Church of England, sent him to the prestigious school Winchester College, where young Max embarked on an extraordinary sporting career.

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Picture: © John Sutton, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.