1321
There was one form of power that self-taught engineering genius George Stephenson never harnessed.
Robert Peel, the Prime Minister, had to invite Stephenson to his private residence three times before the Tyneside engineer accepted, pleading that he was not suited to fancy company. His visit, when it finally took place, only confirmed something he had long suspected.
Posted June 20 2016
1322
In encouraging women into music, Alice Mary Smith thought promises of ‘greatness’ counterproductive.
‘Why are there no great female composers?’ asked the Victorians. But Alice Meadows White, née Smith (1839-1884), never afraid to voice a challenging opinion, believed that the excited demand for a ‘great’ female composer was actually discouraging a potential host of good ones.
Posted June 19 2016
1323
Loyal subjects of King James II continued to fight his corner after he, and any real hope of success, had gone.
The ‘Jacobites’ were loyal to King James II (who was also James VII of Scotland), the Roman Catholic king deposed by the English Parliament in 1688. James took refuge with Louis XIV in France, who saw restoring a grateful James to the English throne as a way to gain control of the world’s most powerful navy.
Posted June 14 2016
1324
No one is more dangerous than the man who thinks that it is his destiny to direct things for the common good.
The revolutionary Scottish philosopher Adam Smith did not like to hear politicians speaking of managing the national economy ‘for the common good’. Leaving ordinary people to manage their own affairs was, he said, far more beneficial to society at large, and much less of a temptation to susceptible politicians.
Posted June 13 2016
1325
Queen Victoria assured her subjects that there were no second-class citizens in her eyes.
After the Indian Mutiny in 1857, some Indians were concerned that Britain intended to force them to convert to Christianity. However, Victoria reassured them that (in contrast to some Indian religions and laws) forcible conversion and ‘second-class citizen’ are both concepts alien to the British constitution.
Posted June 12 2016
1326
Abdul Karim’s rapid rise in Victoria’s household made him enemies.
When Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) acquired a motherly affection for a lowly Indian clerk, her servants and her ministers were united in their resentment. But for a lonely widow weary of the flattery of courtiers and fascinated by the ‘jewel’ in Britain’s crown, Abdul Karim was a godsend.
Posted June 12 2016