Author: cottagecapers

Hi, I'm Hazel.... I write purely for pleasure; I love to delve in history, customs, traditions and nature....or whatever else grabs my attention at the time.... I am in no way an expert on what I choose to write about - I simply love to find out about things.... Whilst I always endeavour to get the facts right - occasionally I may get things wrong.... I guess you could call this my disclaimer.... I hope you enjoy reading my blog posts.... If so please give me a follow on Twitter or sign up via email for future posts.... If you are on Facebook Cottage Capers has a page with lots of ‘mini blogs’ and snippets.... It’s where we ‘like-minded’ folk can interact.... Hope to meet you again soon....

British History

On this day in history….19th July 1919

On this day in history : 19th July 1919 – The Luton Peace Day Riots begin – when ex-servicemen, unhappy about the unemployment situation following the end of World War One, burn down the town hall….

The Town Hall in 1897 – Image : Gazman7 CC BY-SA 3.0

Many servicemen, who had fought in the Great War, were angry about the vast amount of money that had been spent on the London Peace Parade to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the War…. They felt the money would have been better spent on helping servicemen find jobs and settle back into normal life….

Across Britain Peace Day had been declared a pubic holiday, in order to allow people to participate in the celebrations – but there were certainly plenty who did not feel like celebrating….

The riot in Luton began after council members read out the King’s proclamation of peace – many in the crowd voiced their disapproval…. To add to the unrest veterans had been refused permission to hold a service…. On the 7th of July 1919 the Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Association had asked to hold a drumhead mass in Wardown Park – but this had been rejected by the Tolls and Municipal Buildings Committee….

The unrest erupted into violence…. Protesters broke through the police line and stormed into the town hall…. Clashes followed and many more of the crowd surged into the hall…. Rioting was now in full force and in the furore the town hall was set a blaze….

Firemen were unable to put out the fire and by the next day the town hall was so severely damaged that the remains had to be demolished….

The Luton Peace Riots – bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk – Public domain

As for the rioting…. By midnight things had calmed down but this was only to be a temporary reprieve, as the next day violence flared up again…. The protests were to last for three days…. Many were arrested and those convicted faced tough sentences, such as hard labour….

On this day in history….18th July 1872

On this day in history : 18th July 1872 – The Ballot Act is passed by Parliament – meaning that parliamentary and local government elections are no longer to be public but will be held by secret ballot….

‘The Polling’ from The Humours of an Election series, 1755 by William Hogarth – Public domain

The first secret ballot was held three weeks later, on the 15th of August 1872, in the by-election of Pontefract, West Yorkshire – where newly elected MP for Pontefract, Hugh Childers, needed to win in order to be able to serve….

The Pontefract by-election was a very different affair to what people were used to…. Up until that point voters – men only of course – declared openly to which candidate they were backing, either by a show of hands, calling out their choice or marking their paper for all to see…. Onlookers would jeer or cheer…. With it being public knowledge who voted for who the proceedings were open to bribery, coercion and intimidation….men could lose their jobs and homes if they did not vote the way their employers and landlords wanted them to…. Voters would often be bullied, with mobs brought in to persuade peoples’ opinions – sometimes full-blown fights would break out….

Other times it could be like a drunken party…. Candidates were known to ply voters with large quantities of alcohol, or even lay on lavish feasts, suppers and parties, to sway the vote their way….

‘An Election Entertainment’ from The Humours of an Election series, 1755 by William Hogarth – Public domain

With corruption so rife politicians realised a change was needed…. The Ballot Act of 1872 gave a right to privacy…. “The Act which establishes the Ballot will assist to secure alike the independence of the voter and the tranquility and purity of elections for members to serve in Parliament”….

The first voting boxes were made specially for the occasion – with a seal of wax to make sure it could not be tampered with…. The seal, which depicted a castle and an owl, was made with a liquorice stamp from the local Pontefract Cake factory…. The first box can be seen in the Pontefract Museum, complete with its wax seal….

The Ballot Box at Pontefract Museum – Image credit : ReptOn1x – CC BY-SA 3.0

The first new secret ballot was a very sober affair…. People complained the life and soul and all the fun had gone out of voting…. The Ballot Act – which also gained the name ‘The Australian Ballot’, as the system had first been used in Australia in 1856 – failed to completely erase bribery and corruption – candidates still spent liberally to attract votes…. Gladstone’s government tackled this by setting up a royal commission to look into the system which led to the ‘Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, 1883’ – which clarified what candidates could legitimately spend election expenses on…. It criminalised attempts to bribe voters, including with food and drink….

‘Canvassing For Votes’ from The Humours of an Election series 1755, by William Hogarth – Public domain

British History

On this day in history….17th July 1917

On this day in history : 17th July 1917 – The Royal family adopts the name ‘Windsor’ in a proclamation by King George V, in place of the official name ‘Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’….

The proclamation stated that the name of the Royal House and all British descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert via the male line were to bear the name Windsor – women who married into other families would take that name….

“Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor”….

In 1901 the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had succeeded the House of Hanover in the British Monarchy, with King Edward VII, son of Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, coming to the throne…. Because of anti-German feelings during World War One it was felt necessary to change the name of the Royal family…. ‘Windsor’ was chosen because of the family association with Windsor Castle and the town of Windsor…. George V’s German cousin, Emperor Wilhelm II joked that he was going to the theatre to see the play ‘The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’ in reference to Shakespeare’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’….

‘A Good Riddance’ – cartoon from ‘Punch’, June 1917 – Public domain

British History

On this day in history….16th July 1955

On this day in history : 16th July 1955 – Racing driver Stirling Moss wins the British Grand Prix – it is the first time an Englishman triumphs in the race….

Stirling Moss – Image credit : SAS Scandinavian Airlines CC0

The Formula Once motor race was held at Aintree, Liverpool and was race number 6 of 7 in the 1955 World Championship…. The weather was clear and hot and a crowd of over 100,000 watched the race…. 25-year-old, London born Stirling Moss was driving his Mercedes-Benz and he and team mate, World Champion, Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, shared the lead throughout the 90 lap race…. For the first 9 laps Maserati driver, Jean Behra, was out there with them but had to retire due to a broken oil pipe…. British driver Mike Hawthorn finished in sixth place….

Stirling Moss at Goodwood 2014 in his Mercedes-Benz W196 – Image credit : Iain A Wanless via Flickr

Stirling had scraped enough money together to buy his first racing car – a Cooper – at the age of 18, by selling many of his possessions…. He won 11 of his first 15 races in this car and then quickly progressed through Formulas Three and Two and started competing in Formula One…. He had always driven for British teams but in 1954 had accepted a place on the German team…. Despite his many victories he was never to become World Champion, having to settle for runner up instead, five times – 1955-1960….

His racing career was brought to an abrupt halt on the 23rd of April 1962, following a serious accident whilst racing in the Glover Trophy at Goodwood, in his Lotus…. Stirling was in a coma for a month and suffered partial paralysis for the next six months…. He recovered but retired from professional racing….

Stirling Moss (left) at the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix – Image credit : Dutch National Archives CC0

British History

On this day in history….15th July 1912

On this day in history : 15th July 1912 – The beginning of National Insurance payments in Britain, after the introduction of the National Insurance Act 1911, by the Government….

1914-15 National Insurance card – Public domain

The Act was one of the first steps towards the creation of the Welfare State – the aim being to provide a benefit scheme funded by contributions from employed persons and their employers…. It had first been proposed in 1908 in David Lloyd George’s ‘The People Budget’…. At the time the proposal was to fund the scheme through general taxation – with a reform to income tax and plans for old age pensions….

All workers between 16 and 70 were obliged to pay 4d per week, employers paid 3d per employee and the State contributed a further 2d…. In return employees got free medical care and advice and were entitled to an unemployment ‘dole’ benefit of 7 shillings per week up to 15 weeks of the year…. Special stamps would be bought from the Post Office and affixed to contribution cards, providing proof of entitlement to benefits…. Thus originates the saying to be ‘given your cards’ when facing dismissal from a job….

In the early days the scheme was run by voluntary friendly societies – approved and underwritten by the Government and was regulated by four insurance commissions…. In 1919 power was passed to the new Ministry of Health and the system was nationalised in 1945 with the creation of the Ministry for National Insurance….