British History – Page 19

On this day in history….15th December 1785

On this day in history : 15th December 1785 – The Prince of Wales (the future King George IV) secretly marries Maria Fitzherbert – a marriage not only secret but also illegal….

NPG 5389; King George IV by Richard Cosway — Miniature by Richard Cosway, watercolour on ivory, 1792 – Public domain

Maria was born Maria Smythe – and was raised in the Catholic faith…. She had already been widowed twice when she met a 22-year-old George at the opera one evening…. Maria was a few years older than the Prince….

George had always liked the ladies and was prone to falling in love easily – when he met Maria he was instantly smitten…. He asked her to become his mistress – an invitation she demurely declined…. Unthwarted, George proposed marriage….but once again Maria refused…. It is said George then threatened to kill himself if she did not become his wife….

Maria Fitzherbert – by Joshua Reynolds – Public domain

George and Maria were married in a ceremony conducted by Robert Burt – who was paid £500 to keep quiet…. The Royal Marriage Act of 1772 required members of the royal family to seek the permission of the Sovereign to marry…. King George III would never have allowed his son to marry Maria….the Act of Settlement 1701 forbade Roman Catholics from sitting upon the throne….

For nearly ten years George and Maria lived together at Brighton Pavilion, as husband and wife…. George liked to live an extravagant lifestyle and managed to get into considerable debt – (equating to more than £65 million in today’s terms)…. He could never have hoped to pay this kind of sum back – and so he approached the government for help…. Parliament agreed to increase his allowance….but there was a condition…. In exchange he had to give up his life with Maria and marry a Protestant of their choice – Caroline of Brunswick…. He had little alternative….

Caroline was also his first cousin, although the pair had never met…. By all accounts Caroline was quite disgusting – she was ugly, lacked discretion, rarely changed her underwear and hardly ever washed…. She didn’t fancy George much either – saying he looked “nothing like as handsome as his portrait”….

Caroline of Brunswick – by James Lonsdale – Public domain

Nevertheless, the reluctant couple married on the 8th of April 1795….nine months later they had a daughter, Charlotte Augusta…. After the birth George distanced himself from his wife….and a year later took their daughter away to be brought up by a governess….

Charlotte had a lonely, loveless childhood – eventually she rebelled and ran away to be with her mother…. George managed to persuade his daughter to return to Windsor – but was always worried his estranged wife would coax her away again…. So he made Caroline an offer she could not refuse….an allowance of £35,000 per year if she left Britain for good….

Sadly Charlotte died in childbirth in 1817…. George tried to rekindle his relationship with Maria after his separation from Caroline…. In 1800 they did indeed reunite – but things became strained between them, especially when George began to take mistresses…. In 1811 she decided enough was enough and leaving him a farewell letter departed for good….

George became King in 1821…. Caroline, demanding her position as Queen, returned to British shores – even turning up at Westminster Abbey on the day of the Coronation….but to no avail…. Ironically, she died three weeks later….

Coronation of George IV – James Stephanoff – Public domain

King George IV died in 1830….his brother King William IV succeeded the throne…. Eager to make amends to Maria he offered her Brighton Pavilion as a home….where she lived until her death in 1837….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….14th December 1959

On this day in history : 14th December 1959 – The shortest murder trial in British legal history takes place at Winchester Assizes….the proceedings take just 30 seconds….

Brian Cawley pleaded and was found guilty of the murder of Rupert Poole Steed – he was later sentenced to life imprisonment….

Cawley, a 30-year-old council worker lived, along with his wife and three children, rent free in a house owned by Rupert Steed, in New Road, Basingstoke…. Steed, a 43-year-old retired grocer’s manager and batchelor, had befriended the family – helping them out financially and buying them presents….

However, Cawley started to drink and as a consequence lost his job…. His wife left him, taking the children with her…. One night Cawley returned home….and for no explicable reason beat Steed to death…. After pleading guilty – at his 30 second trial – he began his life sentence….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….13th December 1914

On this day in history : 13th December 1914 – Lieutenant Otto Koehn – known as ‘the German jack-in-a-box’ – is discovered concealed in a packing crate at Tilbury Docks….attempting to escape to Hamburg….

Otto was a German prisoner of war…. He had been captured from a German freight ship travelling from the USA to Germany….and he had been taken to Poundbury Prisoner of War Camp in Dorchester…. Otto began to plan his escape soon after arriving….

Poundbury Prisoner of War Camp – fair use

Prisoners of war at Poundbury (perhaps Otto is one of them)…. Photo credit : Wessex Branch Western Front Association wessexwfa.org.uk – fair use

His opportunity came when some of the older prisoners were due to be repatriated back to Germany…. When the day came for their departure, there was an extra packing crate amongst their luggage….a crate measuring just 3ft x 2ft x 2ft…. Inside was Otto – which must have been quite a squeeze, as he was over 6ft tall! He had along with him a dozen bananas, some malt extract and three Champagne bottles full of water….

On arrival at Tilbury Docks the SS Batavian was waiting to take the prisoners for repatriation to Hamburg…. Dockers decided the best way to load the crate Otto was secluded in was by rolling it down the ramp to the ship…. So shaken and jolted was Otto inside he could stand it no more…. He burst out of the crate head first….and surrendered….

SS Batavier – unknown photographer – public domain

Otto was returned back to Dorchester….and earned the new name ….’Jack-in-a-box’….

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On this day in history….12th December 1901

On this day in history : 12th December 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and radio pioneer, successfully sends the first wireless transmission 2,000 miles across the Atlantic….

Guglielmo Marconi – Pach Brothers, Public Domain

The simple message, consisting of the morse-code signal ‘…’ for the letter ‘S’ was sent from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada….

Marconi had studied physics in his home country of Italy and had become interested in radio wave transmission after learning of the experiments of Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist…. Marconi began his own experiments in 1894 and managed to send a signal for a distance of 1.5 miles…. But his work was unappreciated and he received little encouragement – and so in 1896 he decided to relocate to England….

British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi’s radio equipment, 13th May 1897 – during a demonstration on Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel – Cardiff Council Flat Holm Project CC BY 3.0

Marconi set up a wireless telegraph company and continued to develop his ideas; before long he was regularly sending transmissions over distances of more than 10 miles…. In 1899 he succeeded in sending a transmission across the English Channel…. Also in the same year he gained international recognition when he enabled the results of the America’s Cup yacht race to be transmitted to a New York newspaper from the deck of a ship….

Marconi built transmitting stations at Poldhu, Cornwall and South Wellfleet, Cape Cod…. He later moved the latter to Signal Hill, St. John’s, Newfoundland (which is closer to England) after estimating signals would not reach the distance to Cape Cod…. Many experts did not believe radio signals could be sent any further than 200 miles; the theory being the curvature of Earth would not allow it – and instead of following the natural curvature the signal would carry on out into Space….

On the 12th of December 1901 Marconi and his assistant, George Kemp, set up their equipment – a telephone receiver and a wire antenna attached to a kite…. An attempt two days previously had been unsuccessful – but this time at 12.30 pm a faint but distinct ‘pip pip pip’ was heard…. Marconi claimed “I knew then that all my anticipations had been justified…. The electric waves sent out into Space from Poldhu had traversed the Atlantic”…. Marconi believed the signal had been unimpeded by the curvature of Earth…. However, although his experiment had been successful he was wrong to believe the signal had traversed along the Earth’s curvature – in fact the experts were correct…. The signal had carried on out into Space….but then had hit an atmospheric layer of ions – which deflected it back down towards Newfoundland…. But his experiment can only be described as a groundbreaking milestone into the research of radio waves….

Marconi watches associates raise a kite used to lift the antenna at St. John’s, Newfoundland, December 1901 – James M Vey – Public domain

Marconi continued to play a leading role into radio development – and in 1909 he was awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in physics….along with German radio innovator, Ferdinand Braun….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….11th December 1967

On this day in history : 11th December 1967 – Concorde is rolled out of its hangar for its first public appearance….

Prototype Concorde 001 was revealed in Toulouse amid much pomp and ceremony, in front of some 1,100 guests from organisations such as the British Aircraft Corporation, Sud-Aviation, representatives of airlines who had already placed orders for the aircraft and ministers of state….

Concorde 001 first flight, 1969 – Andre Cros CC BY-SA 4.0

Concorde’s first test flight was on the 2nd of March 1969…. Applause and cheers broke out from those watching as the Anglo-French supersonic airliner took off from Toulouse, at around 3.30pm, for the first time – piloted by test pilot Andre Turcat…. During the test flight the speed did not exceed 300 mph – and it stayed at a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet…. During commercial flights it would reach speeds of 1,350 mph – twice the speed of conventional aircraft – and would fly at a height of 60,000 feet….

British Airways Concorde, 1986 – Eduard Marmet CC BY-SA 3.0

The first flight of the British prototype was made from Filton Airfield, near to Bristol – to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire on the 9th of April 1969 and was piloted by Brian Trubshaw…. It was also in 1969 – on the 10th of October – that Concorde completed its first supersonic flight….

Landing at Farnborough, September 1974 – Steve Fitzgerald GFDL 1.2

On the 21st of January 1976 Britain and France began their first regularly scheduled Concorde flights – with British Airways operating between London and Bahrain and Air France between Paris and Rio de Janeiro…. The London to New York service began on the 22nd of November 1977…. Concorde set itself a record on the 16th of December 1979 by completing the flight between New York and London in less than three hours….

It was on the 25th of July 2000 that Air France flight 4590 took off from Riossy Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris….bound for New York…. Two minutes later it crashed – killing all 109 passengers and crew on board and 4 people on the ground…. As Concorde had reached take off speed it had struck a piece of metal debris on the runway – that had fallen from a plane that had taken off five minutes previously…. The metal strip caused one of Concorde’s tyres to burst….fragments of tyre hit the aircraft’s wing with such force that the fuel tank punctured…. Gases from the engines ignited the leaking fuel, causing a massive fire…. Concorde crashed into the Hotelissimo Les Relais Bleus Hotel, close to the airport….

France Concorde Crash — Flight 4590 during takeoff – Toshihiko Sato – Fair use

This was the first crash in Concorde’s 31 year history….it was considered to be among the safest of planes…. As a result of the crash all Concordes, both French and British, were grounded pending further investigations…. Commercial services were resumed in November 2001, after £71m being spent on safety improvements….

Parade flight at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, June 2002 – Bleiglass CC BY-SA 3.0

However, on the 10th of April 2003 British Airways and Air France announced the retirement of their Concorde fleets…. Higher maintenance and running costs – combined with lower passenger numbers, after loss of confidence following the 2000 crash – were blamed…. The final Air France flight took place on the 27th of June – whilst British Airways put on a farewell tour…. The last flight was made on the 24th of October 2003….