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Britain’s first qualified female doctor, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, had a message for the first women to study for London University’s degree in medicine.
On October 1st, 1877, Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson gave the Inaugural Address at the London School of Medicine for Women, which she had helped to establish three years earlier. Only the previous year, the UK Medical Act had allowed the country’s medical authorities to license women as doctors for the first time, and it is difficult to think of better advice to anyone hoping to bring about important social change.
Picture: Attributed to Reginald Grenville Eves (1876–1941), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. . Source.
Posted January 17 2022
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Only months after kidnapping the Duke of Ormond, Irish radical Thomas Blood was at it again, this time attempting to steal the Crown Jewels.
In December 1670, Thomas Blood, believed on all sides to be a dangerous republican revolutionary, tried to hang the Duke of Ormond like a common criminal on the gallows at Tyburn. His plan went awry, but once again Blood, his son-in-law Thomas Hunt and the rest of the gang eluded the authorities. Five months later, the Irishman was back in the capital, this time with a plan to steal the Crown Jewels.
Picture: © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted January 13 2022
327
Karl Philipp Moritz described three kinds of criminal in Georgian England, from the gentlemanly cutpurse to the deadly footpad.
On June 20th, 1782, German tourist Karl Philipp Moritz was excited to find himself taking his first ride in an English stagecoach. During the trip, he and his fellow-passengers were regaled with stories of daring crimes in the neighbourhoods through which they passed, prompting Moritz to reflect on the perils of walking abroad in Georgian England.
Picture: By Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1789–1856), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 10 2022
328
King Edmund Ironside’s courageous defence of his crown against the invading Danes was undermined by treachery at home.
When King Ethelred ‘the Unready’ (i.e. lack-counsel) died in 1016, his son Edmund inherited not only the English crown, but the threat of losing it to the warlike Cnut, King of Denmark. That legacy Edmund might have coped with, for he deserved the nickname ‘Ironside’ for his courage in battle. Unfortunately, he had also inherited his father’s advisers.
Picture: From the British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 5 2022
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The invading Danes fought so fiercely that Edmund Ironside, the young English king, threw all caution to the wind.
In 1016, Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, attempted to build a North Sea empire that encompassed the British Isles. In a bruising series of battles, Cnut had learnt that Edmund, the young English king, was a steely warrior worthy of respect, and that English nobleman Edric, who had defected to Edmund’s side, could not be trusted. Both lessons were confirmed on October 18th that year.
Picture: By Matthew Paris (1200-1259), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 4 2022
330
Edmund Ironside, King of England, and Cnut the Great, King of Denmark, fought hand-to-hand for one of European history’s richest purses.
In 1016, King Cnut of Denmark led a series of bruising attacks on King Edmund of England, hoping to add the English crown to the crowns of Denmark and Norway. Six times Edmund and Cnut had met in battle, and at the sixth attempt Cnut had captured the crown jewels. But whereas Edmund’s warrior-courage had earned Cnut’s abiding respect, the English nobles were anxious only to save their own skins.
Picture: © Jakub T. Jankiewicz, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted January 3 2022