Thomas Cromwell was a human being, and like the rest of us he was caught somewhere between an ape and an angel. He was a man, and both the monster and the maven were a myth. He was devoted and ruthless, loyal and backstabbing, loving and heartless. To those whom he felt himself pledged he… Read more Cromwellian Complexity
Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman (who didn’t keep her gender a secret) to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon by having first crossed the English channel and becoming the first female doctor of medicine in France. She was also the first woman in the country to be elected to a… Read more Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Starting on 8 June 1783 and continuing on until until 7 February 1784, hell on earth came to Iceland. The Lakagígar (Craters of Laki), a a 25 km (15.5 mi) long volcanic fissure with 130 craters opened up on the side of Laki mountain, and over 8 months it spewed 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi)… Read more Síðueldur and Móðuharðindin – Hell Came to Iceland in 1783
On 4 June 1913 an ardent and militant suffragette by the name of Emily Davison was struck by King George V‘s horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby. The blow fractured her skull, and she died a few days later, having never regained consciousness. Eyewitnesses and historians dispute what she was trying to do on the… Read more Suffragette Suffering for Suffrage
On 3 June 1839 a Chinese patriot, moralist, and scholar-official of the Qing dynasty named Lin Tse-hsü (his name was also spelled Lin Zexu, and he additionally went by the courtesy name Yuanfu) ordered the destruction of approximately 1.2 million kg (2.6 million poiunds) of opium from British merchants in Guangdong Province. There was so… Read more The Beginning of the Opium Wars
One of the nicest things about camping at Chapel Farm House (aside from sponging off our Host Family) was the short, easy walk to the Church of St. Mary, which just happens to be a Grade II listed building dating back from the early 1400s, with additions in the 1600s and some restoration in 1883. … Read more The Church of St Mary, Craswall, Herefordshire