British History

On this day in history….20th April 1968

On this day in history : 20th April 1968 – Conservative MP Enoch Powell makes his controversial ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech – resulting in his dismissal from the shadow cabinet….

Enoch Powell – Image credit : Allan Warren – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0

“As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood”….

Powell made his speech, attacking the Labour Government’s immigration policy, at the general meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham…. He was MP for Wolverhampton South West…. He claimed Britain was “mad, literally mad” to allow 50,000 dependents of immigrants into the country each year….

“It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre”….

His estimation was that by the year 2000 one in ten of the population, up to 7 million people, would be of immigrant descent…. He called for an immediate reduction in immigration and a policy urgently encouraging those already in the UK to return to their native lands….

Enoch Powell had every intention of stirring things up – and he certainly succeeded….

Leading Conservative front bench MPS were outraged, with many threatening to resign if Powell was not sacked from his position as Shadow Defence Secretary…. When seeking advice from Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the Conservative Party Edward Heath, was told by her that she thought it best to “let things cool down rather than heighten the crisis”…. Nevertheless, that following Sunday evening Heath sacked Powell via a telephone call…. Edward Heath later said in public that Powell’s speech was “racist in tone and liable to exacerbate racial tensions”….

Any hopes Powell had for future postings within the Conservative Party were now dashed…. However, he received overwhelming support from the public…. Letters poured in, thousands of workers came out on strike and marches were organised by protesters – all to show support of his views…. A poll conducted showed 75% of the population were sympathetic to his views….

In February 1974 Powell left the Conservative Party as he disagreed with Edward Heath’s intention of joining the European Community…. Margaret Thatcher, as Prime Minister – and a long standing admirer of Powell – was forced to admit race relations in the country had gone “badly, badly wrong”….

The 2001 census showed there were 4.6 million people of ethnic minority in the United Kingdom…. A far cry from the 7 million Powell had predicted….

Image credit : Allan Warren – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….3rd February 1960

On this day in history : 3rd February 1960 – Prime Minister Harold MacMillan makes his famous ‘Wind of Change’ speech against apartheid, angering some South African politicians….

Harold MacMillan in 1959 – Public domain

MacMillan had been in South Africa for over a month visiting the then British colonies, including Ghana and Nigeria…. He chose to give his speech whilst addressing the South African Parliament in Cape Town, making it clear that South Africa was included in the views of the British government…. What he had to say did not come as a total surprise as he had hinted he was going to use the opportunity to voice his opinion about the situation in South Africa….

“The wind of change is blowing through this continent, whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it”….

MacMillan meeting Ghanaian leader Prempeh II – The National Archives UK – OGL v1.0

MacMillan’s speech was the first time a senior international representative had publicly voiced disapproval on South Africa’s racial segregation laws…. It made it clear the UK government was not going to prevent the independence of its own territories and recognised that the people had the right to claim the governing of their countries for themselves…. It was the responsibility of the British government to promote the equal rights of all the individuals concerned…. As this was something MacMillan envisaged for the whole of the Commonwealth he urged South Africa to move towards racial equality….

South African Prime Minister Hedrick Verwoerd thanked MacMillan for his speech but added that he disagreed, claiming it was white South Africans who had brought civilisation to the country….

“To do justice in Africa means not only being just to the black man of Africa, but also to the white man of Africa”….

The National Archives UK – no restrictions

It was the first time Britain had acknowledged the black nationalist movements in Africa…. Nationalist Party politicians were outraged by the speech…. However, it opened the way for international opposition to the apartheid system…. A month later the Sharpeville Massacre caused so much revulsion worldwide that South Africa faced exclusion and trade sanctions….

It took a further 30 years for South Africa to finally begin to disband its apartheid laws, under President de Klerk…. Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 and became President of South Africa in May 1994….

British History

On this day in history….20th February 1757

On this day in history : 20th February 1757 – The birth of John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller – Squire of the hamlet of Brightling, Sussex. An MP, philanthropist and builder of follies….

John Fuller, who was better known as ‘Mad Jack’ preferred to be called ‘Honest John’…. Was he mad? No, just eccentric….

Many associate Fuller with his follies – of which he built several which can be seen around the village of Brightling ~ ‘Folly: foolish and useless but expensive undertaking’….

Fuller’s Tower – some think built so he could oversee the restoration work of Bodiham Castle….

However, there was so much more to the man…. He was born in Stoneham, Hampshire – but his father, the Reverend Henry Fuller, died when the young Fuller was just 4-years-old…. After he had finished his education at Eton he embarked on a military career – by the age of 22 he was a captain of a light infantry company in the Sussex Militia. In 1776 he was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex – a post lasting a year…. 1798 saw him as a captain in the Sussex Gentlemen and Yeoman Company….

To discover how he came to be Squire of a hamlet in Sussex we need to wind back to when he was 20-years-old…. It was on the death of his uncle that he inherited the Rose Hill Estate (now Brightling Park) – along with a plantation in Jamaica…. Fuller was a staunch supporter of slavery – having slaves on his inherited plantation…. He notoriously once claimed ‘West Indian slaves lived in better conditions than many people in England’….

Fuller was elected to parliament at the age of 23 and served as MP for Southampton until 1784 and then for Sussex from 1801 to 1812 – when he retired from politics. Fuller was rather fond of his drink – leading to a series of incidents in Parliament – one in particular involving the Speaker….

But there was also a very generous and charitable side to him…. In 1822 he endowed to Eastbourne its first lifeboat and in 1828 financed the building of the first Belle Tout Lighthouse, off of Beachy Head (a temporary structure, replaced by a permanent granite building in the 1830s). Also in 1828, on the 18th of September, he purchased Bodiam Castle at auction for 3,000 guineas – to save it from destruction….

Among his other notable projects was the building of the Observatory of Brightling – designed by Robert Smirke….

Perhaps one of his most generous bequests was to the Royal Institution (founded in 1799 and devoted to scientific research and education) of which he was a supporter. Initially given as a loan – but later written off – he donated £1,000 – over £100,000 in today’s terms…. In 1828 he established the Fuller Medal of the Royal Institute and in 1833 founded the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry and later the Fullerian Professorship of Physiology….

Fuller never married, although at the age of 33 he did propose to Susannah Arabella Thrale, the daughter of politician Henry Thrale and authoress Hester Thrale – but his proposal was rejected…. He died on Friday the 11th of April 1834 at his London home – 36, Devonshire Place….and he was buried under one of his own follies…. He had built ‘The Pyramid’ in 1811 in the churchyard of St. Thomas à Becket Church in Brightling as a future mausoleum….