Cottage Capers

On this day in history….14th December 1650

On this day in history : 14th December 1650 – Domestic servant Anne Greene is hanged for infanticide after concealing a miscarriage…. The next day she is revived by physicians in the dissection room….

Woodcut from ‘Wonder of Wonders’ (1651) showing the hanging of Anne Greene – Public domain

Anne had been born around 1628 in Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire and as a young woman she worked as a scullery maid for Justice of the Peace Sir Thomas Read…. After being seduced by Read’s teenage grandson, Geoffrey, Anne became pregnant – although she was unaware of her ‘condition’…. Then, at around 17 weeks into her pregnancy, she was to suffer a miscarriage…. She made attempts to hide the remains of the foetus but was discovered…. Sir Thomas Read decided to prosecute her, under the Concealment of Birth of Bastards Act of 1624…. It was automatically assumed at the time that if a woman concealed the death of an illegitimate child then she had killed it herself….

Despite a midwife testifying that the foetus was too undeveloped to ever have survived Anne was found guilty at her trial…. She was hanged at Oxford Circus – and as was her wish, her friends pulled on her swinging body to speed up her death…. She was also struck several times by a sympathetic soldier, with the butt of his musket…. After half an hour she was pronounced dead, cut down and passed to physicians Thomas Willis and William Petty of Oxford University – ready for dissection….

William Petty - Public domain — William Petty – Public domain

Thomas Willis - Public domain — William Petty – Public domain

Only the following morning, on opening her coffin, they discovered Anne had a faint pulse and was breathing, albeit shallowly…. Willis and Petty quickly enlisted the help of two colleagues, Henry Clerkenwell and Ralph Bathurst – and between them they managed to fully revive her…. She recovered quickly – after 12 hours or so she was able to talk and after 4 days was able to eat…. She had no memory of her attempted execution….

From the book ‘Newes from the Dead’ – Image : Wellcome Collection CC BY 4.0

Anne was granted a pardon by the authorities – who believed the hand of God had intervened, proving her innocence…. Having died three days after her hanging Sir Thomas Read was not present to contest her pardon…. Anne went on to fully recover, moved to the country, eventually married and had three children…. She died in 1659….

On this day in history….13th December 1795

On this day in history : 13th December 1795 – A meteorite crashes on to the land of Captain Edward Topham, in Yorkshire…. He manages to retrieve and exhibit it….

Edward Topham by John Russell c.1795 – Public domain

As well as his army career Topham – who was born in 1751 – was also an author, poet, journalist, playwright and critic…. He was known throughout fashionable London for his impeccable manners and his unique personal dress-style…. His plays, comedies, epilogues and prologues were performed by leading actors of the day at venues such as Drury Lane and Covent Garden….

Topham also started his own newspaper – The World…. He regularly made his own contribution to its content with his feature The Schools – in which he would reminisce about his days at Eton and those he had met there….

After his retirement he moved with his three daughters to Wold Cottage, near to Thwing in the East Riding of Yorkshire…. ‘Cottage’ is perhaps a rather modest description of the property – as it was in fact a farm with hundreds of acres…. It was his intention to spend his days farming and writing….

It was around 3pm on Sunday the 13th of December 1795 that a meteoric stone unexpectedly fell two fields away from Wold Cottage…. As soon as it was reasonably safe to do so Topham had it dug up – apparently it was still warm and smoking…. It had buried itself in 12 inches of soil and 6 inches of solid chalk rock…. The meteorite weighed 3 stone 13lbs and measured 36 inches in length and 28 inches in breadth…. Part of it was exhibited in the Museum of James Sowerby in London – and it can now be seen in the Natural History Museum….

Wold Cottage Meteorite – Image credit : Chemical Engineer – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0

British History

On this day in history….12th December 1939

On this day in history : 12th December 1939 – HMS Duchess sinks after colliding with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland; 136 lives are lost….

HMS Duchess, a D-class destroyer, had been built in the 1930s…. In December 1939 she was ordered, along with her sister ships, HMS Delight, HMS Duncan and HMS Dainty, to escort HMS Barham back to the UK from Gibraltar…. Barham was a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship that had been built in the early 1910s…. She had served in World War One and then after a major refit in the 1920s was to serve in World War Two…. She had been part of the Mediterranean fleet but as of the 1st of December 1939 had become a private ship and so was heading to join the home fleet…. The convoy departed on the 6th of December….

The voyage went well but arrived off the coast of Scotland on the morning of the 12th of December in dense fog…. Nine miles west of the Mull of Kintyre HMS Barham accidentally rammed HMS Duchess due to the poor visibility…. Duchess capsized and her depth charges exploded…. 136 of her crew were lost, including her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Robert C.M. White – who was trapped in his cabin as his sliding door had jammed….

HMS Barham herself was to sink two years later, on the 25th of November 1941 – after being torpedoed…. At the time her sinking was censored from the news by the Board of Admiralty, in an effort to conceal the sinking from the Germans – but also to protect the British morale…. It was several weeks before the next of kin of the 862 crew who had died onboard Barham were informed…. Even then they were requested to keep it secret….

The sinking was officially announced on the 27th of January 1942…. The explanation for the delay was given as…. ‘It was clear at that time that the enemy did not know that she had been sunk, and it was important to make certain dispositions before the loss of this ship was made public’….

The sinking of Barham was caught on film by a cameraman from Pathe News who had been onboard HMS Valiant….

British History

On this day in history….11th December 1903

On this day in history : 11th December 1903 – The Society for the Preservation of Wild Fauna of the Empire is formed – and is the first wildlife preservation society in Britain….

Zebra in Kruger National Park – Image credit : Nithin bolar K – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0

The SPWFE was formed by a group of British and American statesmen in Africa, out of concern over the excess hunting of Africa’s large game animals, especially by trophy hunters…. Concerns were also raised about encroachment on natural habitats, it was recognised that intervention was needed to safeguard the future of these species….

Herd of Elephant in the Serengeti National Park – Image credit : Bjorn Christian Torrissen – own work CC BY-SA 3.0

The society worked with landowners, sports hunters and the government…. Doing so aided the passing of legislation controlling hunting in vast areas of East and South Africa…. This in turn made it possible for later National Parks to be formed, such as the Serengeti and the Kruger National Parks….

Group of lions in a tree on the Serengeti Prairies – Image credit : Prof. Chen Hualin – own work – CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1981 the society became known as the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society…. It is now a registered charity with its head office in Cambridge…. It has royal patronage, dating back to 1928, when Edward Price of Wales (later to become King Edward VIII) became its first Patron…. Queen Elizabeth II is its current Patron….

Logo for Fauna and Flora International – Fair use

British History

On this day in history….10th December 1868

On this day in history : 10th December 1868 – The world’s first traffic lights come into service outside of the Palace of Westminster, London…. They were not quite like those that we are used to today….

Image credit : Leonard Bentley via Flickr

The lights were placed at a busy and notoriously dangerous junction at the north-east corner of Parliament Square…. A traffic policeman had recently been killed – and two Members of Parliament had been badly injured….

Installation had been completed the previous day and there were high hopes that the new lights would alleviate the traffic problems…. They had been designed by railway engineer J.P.Knight from Nottingham, who had adapted his design for a railway signal…. The 22ft high contraption had three semaphore arms on a pillar, that had to be operated by a police constable using a lever at the base…. The arms would extend horizontally to tell drivers to stop; arms lowered to 45 degrees meant proceed with caution…. At night gas lamps on the arms were lit – red for stop, green for proceed with caution….

Initially it was a partial success – but there were those who were sceptical…. Punch Magazine described it as a ‘Scary Apparition, beaming through the fog’…. Many drivers found the semaphore arms too confusing….

Then on the 2nd of January 1869 leaking gas from one of the supply cables under the pavement exploded – and the contraption blew up, seriously injuring the policeman who was operating it at the time…. The lights were repaired and were used for a few more months – but they kept on going wrong and so were removed by the end of the year…. Electric lights were eventually installed in 1926 with the first at Piccadilly, London….