Cottage Capers

On this day in history….5th August 1860

On this day in history : 5th August 1860 – The birth of English artist Louis Wain – who is known to us mainly for his drawings of comical anthropomorphic cats….

Marketing – Image credit : Aussie mobs via Flickr

Wain was born in Clerkenwell, London, to a French mother, Felicia Marie and an English father, William Matthew Wain, a textile merchant…. Wain had a troubled childhood; having been born with a cleft lip on the advice of doctors he did not start school until he was ten years old…. Then, once he had started, he found it hard to settle and would often play truant – and took to wandering around London…. However, despite this he did manage to get into the London School of Art and after finishing his studies stayed on to teach for a while….

When Wain was aged 20 his father died and it fell on his shoulders to support his mother and five sisters…. He became a freelance artist, specialising in the countryside and animals…. He carried out work for ‘The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News’ and then in 1886 began working for ‘The Illustrated London News’….

Early work by Louis Wain – Public domain

At the age of 23 Wain married Emily Richardson, governess to his sisters and ten years older than him…. Shortly after Emily became ill with breast cancer – and it was during this time that Peter came into their lives…. Peter was a tiny black and white scrap of a kitten that they rescued – this was at a time when cats were seldom kept as pets….but the kitten brought so much comfort to Emily…. To amuse her and raise her spirits Wain would draw sketches of Peter….delighted Emily encouraged him to publish them…. Emily died in 1887, so did not live long enough to see him do this…. However, in the Autumn of 1886, Wain had been commissioned to illustrate ‘Madame Tabby’s Establishment’ by Caroline Hughes, under the pen name of Kari…. Emily would have loved seeing Peter depicted in the book….

Wain’s first anthropomorphised cats picture that was published appeared in a Christmas edition of ‘The Illustrated London News’ and was entitled ‘A Kittens Christmas Party’….

A Kittens Christmas Party from the Illustrated London News

At this stage his cats remained on all fours and had yet to gain the humanisation of his later drawings…. As time progressed his cats began to walk upright and have more human facial expressions – and indulged in human pursuits: playing golf, drinking tea, gong to the opera, smoking…. Humanising animals was a popular trait during Victorian times and continued into the Edwardian era…. For the following 30 years Wain was a prolific artist, producing over 600 illustrations a year…. His work appeared in journals and magazines, he illustrated over 100 children’s books and between 1901-1915 even had an annual of his own….

Despite his success Wain experienced continuous financial difficulties…. He was still supporting his mother and sisters, none of whom had married – and his youngest sister had been declared as mentally insane…. Not being a businessman Wain was easily persuaded to invest into non-starter money making schemes – he was easily taken in…. He would also invariably sell his work without retaining copyright….

Later in his life Wain began to display symptoms of mental illness himself…. His last job was producing a cartoon strip for the ‘New York Journal-American’ between 1907-1910…. By the beginning of WW1 his work had begun to become less popular and by the 1920s he found himself in poverty…. His mental health continued to deteriorate and sometimes his behaviour could be erratic or even violent…. In 1924 he was committed to the pauper ward of London’s Springfield Mental Hospital…. He still continued to draw cats but they became more and more abstract…. Some think this was on account of schizophrenia, or maybe dementia, or even Asperger’s Syndrome…. Little was understood about mental illness back then, the tendency being to commit to an asylum…. Of course, there is also always the possibility that Wain was simply experimenting with a new style of psychedelic work….

Wain spent the last 15 years of his life in institutions…. At first it was not common knowledge what had happened to him and then in 1925 it became widely publicised…. An appeal was launched to raise funds to help him – with personal interventions from Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and author H.G.Wells…. £2,300 was raised and Wain was moved to Bethlem Royal Hospital, which provided a much better quality of care…. Then in 1930 he was moved again, to Napsbury Hospital, St. Albans, Hertfordshire – which had gardens he could enjoy – and had a large family of cats….

Wain died on the 4th of July 1939 and was buried with his father at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensall Green, London….

H.G.Wells once said of him…. “He has made the cat his own…. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world…. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves”….

On this day in history….4th August 1996

On this day in history : 4th August 1996 – The death of English gardener, author and television host Geoff Hamilton – best known as presenter of the BBC’s ‘Gardener’s World’ during the 1980s and 1990s….

Bust of Geoff Hamilton at Barnsdale Gardens – Image credit : IXIA – Public domain

Geoff was the older, by just a few minutes, of twins born in Stepney, East London, on the 15th of August 1936…. The family moved to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire’s Lea Valley, when he and his brother Tony were two years old…. Geoff began to become interested in plants and gardening whilst helping in the family garden – and during his school holidays he worked at his local nursery….

On finishing his schooling Geoff went to the Writtle Agricultural College in Chelmsford and graduated in 1959 with a distinction…. He became a nurseryman and then a self-employed landscape gardener – before opening his own garden centre near to Kettering, Northamptonshire…. He transformed what was a dilapidated nursery into a thriving garden centre….

In 1970 Geoff began writing for the ‘Garden News’ and in 1975 took over as editor of ‘Practical Gardening Magazine’…. It was his personal crusade to promote the rewarding pleasure of gardening….

His television career started in 1970 when he began to present ‘Gardening Diary’ for Anglia TV…. This was to lead to guest appearances on BBC’s ‘Gardener’s World’…. Geoff was a natural in front of the camera and in 1979 he was to become the show’s regular presenter….

However, the original site for ‘Gardener’s World’ did not provide enough challenge and inspiration for him – or give him the ability to experiment…. In 1983 he found a Victorian farmhouse nearby which had 5 acres of land – and so he bought it and made it his family home…. Within 2 years ‘Gardener’s World’ had become established in Geoff’s own garden at Barnsdale in Rutland….

Geoff also created several other gardening series: ‘The Cottage Garden’, ‘The Paradise Garden’ and ‘The Ornamental Cottage Garden’…. He also wrote books to support his TV work…. He particularly advocated peat-free and chemical-free organic gardening – and was voted Gardener of the Millennium by readers of ‘Amateur Gardening Magazine’…. Geoff earned himself the reputation of being the ‘People’s Gardener’….

In 1995 he was to suffer a heart attack – and then in August 1996, whilst on a charity bicycle ride near to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, he suffered a further fatal heart attack…. He was buried in St. Peter of St. Paul Churchyard in Exton, Rutland….

A charity was set up in his memory, supporting students of his former college….and his garden at Barnsdale, over 8 acres of some 38 themed gardens, opened to the public…. Geoff had passed on his experience and knowledge to his three sons, Stephen, Nicolas and Christopher…. It was Nicolas who came to oversee his late father’s gardens….

British History

On this day in history….3rd August 1971

On this day in history : 3rd August 1971 – The oldest post office in the world, at Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, which has been in service since 1712, becomes a listed building….

The post office, which is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, pre-dates the second oldest in the world – located in Stockholm, Sweden – by 8 years…. It was first used by the aristocracy to deliver messages across the border between Scotland and England, by mail delivery riders on horseback…. Since that time it has been in continuous service and has had 16 postmasters and mistresses…. For much of the 20th century it was run by one family….

Nowadays, as well as providing an essential lifeline for the 2,000 or so local people of Sanquhar, it is a tourist attraction…. It is popular with stamp collectors who look to having their letters hand franked with the postmark of the post office….

British History

On this day in history….2nd August 1100

On this day in history : 2nd August 1100 – King William II of England is killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest – after supposedly being mistaken for a deer….

William was the third son of William the Conqueror and was often known as William Rufus on account of his ruddy complexion and red hair…. He was not a popular king; as well as levying heavy taxes on his subjects he was considered as a harsh, severe and ruthless monarch….a barbarian, with no respect for his people…. He wasn’t on particularly good terms with the Church either….

The story goes, according to Malmesbury in his circa 1128 book ‘Chronicle of the Kings of the English’, something like this…. William had an ominous dream, which filled him with trepidation…. But nevertheless, the following afternoon he went into the forest, near to Brockenhurst, on a hunting expedition…. Whilst most of the party went on the chase William remained, attended by Frenchman Walter Tyrrell, Lord of Poix…. As the sun began to go down a stag ran through the trees nearby – the King took up his bow and fired an arrow – but only managed to slightly wound the stag…. As the King stood, with his hand shielding his eyes against the sun to watch the stag run, Walter attempted a shot…. But the arrow struck William – and Walter jumped on his horse and fled….

Whilst it had always been widely accepted that William’s death was an accident there has also always been the niggling question as to whether he was actually assassinated…. Some believe Walter was acting on behalf of William’s younger brother, Henry, who had a wish to claim the throne….

Indeed, when looking at the story that emerges from what the historians have pieced together, it does seem to be a little more than simply a tragic accident…. The hunting party consisted of William Rufus, Walter Tyrrell, Gilbert and Roger de Clare and William’s younger brother Henry…. The party divided into two groups in order to chase the deer and wild boar…. Walter, who was the King’s best archer, paired with the King – and it does appear that he fired the fatal arrow…. Some accounts say he saw a movement in the trees and fired, thinking it to be a deer…. Others say he fired an arrow to finish off the stag that the King had wounded – only for it to hit an oak tree, bounce back and strike William in the chest, piercing his lung…. By breaking off the arrow William managed to speed up his own death…. Walter, fearing the consequences, fled to France never to return….

Death of William II – Lithograph 1895 – Public domain

Henry’s reaction was a little suspicious…. Instead of claiming his brother’s body he dashed off to the Treasury at Winchester to declare himself the new King of England…. The de Clares, being loyal supporters of Henry, were rewarded handsomely for their loyalty…. Nobody went after Walter…. William Rufus’s body was found by a charcoal burner – and it was he who carried the dead king back to Winchester….

In recent years there has been some doubt cast on the exact location of William’s death – some think it may have actually happened in the Beaulieu area…. But at the place where legend says it occurred stands the Rufus Stone….and inscribed upon it….

‘Here stood the oak tree, on which the arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced and struck King William the Second, surnamed Rufus, on the breast, of which he instantly died, on the second day of August, anno 1100’….

A mature oak tree stands alongside….not the original one of course – but perhaps from one of its acorns?

The Rufus Stone – Image credit : David Hunt – own work – Public domain

British History

On this day in history….1st August 1831

On this day in history : 1st August 1831 – King William IV opens the New London Bridge…. In 1968 it was sold, dismantled and then rebuilt in Arizona, USA….

London Bridge at Lake Havasu, Arizona – Image credit : LongLiveRock CC BY-SA 2.0

The Americans purchased the bridge for £1.78m…. Popular belief at the time was that the Americans thought they were buying the iconic Tower Bridge – though this has always been ardently denied by all those involved….

In 1799 a competition was held to design a replacement for the old medieval London Bridge…. Entrants included Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford, who proposed a single iron arch span…. However, a more conventional design, of five stone arches, by another Scottish civil engineer, John Rennie, was chosen instead….

The new bridge was built 100ft upstream of the old one, by Jolliffe and Banks, of Mertsham, Surrey…. The foundation stone was laid on the 15th of June 1825…. The old bridge was demolished after the opening of New London Bridge in 1831 by King William IV and Queen Adelaide – which involved a banquet laid on in a pavilion especially erected on the bridge…. The bridge, at 928ft (282m) long and 49ft (15m) wide had been constructed from Haytor granite….

Demolition of the Old London Bridge – Image credit : Stephencdickson – own work CC BY-SA 4.0

By 1896 it was the busiest point in London, with some 8,000 pedestrians and 900 vehicles per hour…. By the 1960s it was beginning to become deserved of the nursery rhyme that its predecessor had inspired : ‘London Bridge is falling down, falling down….London Bridge is falling down, my fair Lady’…. because it too was becoming very dilapidated….

In 1967 the Council of the City of London decided it was time to replace the bridge…. Ordinarily such a project would involve simply demolishing the defunct structure once a replacement was in situ…. However, the Council happened to have a particularly resourceful PR man in their midst – in the form of Ivan Luckin…. He suggested the bridge could be sold to America as a tourist attraction…. The idea was pooh-poohed at first – but eventually the Council agreed to put the bridge on the open market….

Luckin flew to New York to promote the idea and on the 18th of April 1968 Robert P. McCulloch, an entrepreneurial oil company owner, formally bought the bridge for $2,460,000 at London’s Guildhall….

At a cost of $7m the bridge was transported to the United States – each granite block numbered so it could be rebuilt at a resort that McCulloch owned on the shore of Lake Havasu in Arizona…. It is now the biggest tourist attraction in Arizona after the Grand Canyon….and McCulloch soon more than made his money back…. He knew exactly what he was doing….