British History – Page 34

On this day in history….5th October 1930

On this day in history : 5th October 1930 – A British airship crashes on a hillside near Beauvais, Northern France, killing 46 of the 54 people onboard immediately – a further 2 die in hospital later….

The R101 had departed Cardington in Bedfordshire on the evening of October the 4th, bound for Karachi…. The planned route was to take it over London, Paris and Toulouse, before crossing the coast near to Narbonne, in Southern France…. Among the passengers onboard were several dignitaries including:- Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air – Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation – and Squadron Leader William Palstra, RAAF Air Liaison Officer to the British Air Ministry….

R101 in flight – Victor A. Chapman c1929 – from a collection owned by SkyeWaye CC BY-SA 3.0

The R101 was an experimental government funded project, controlled by the Air Ministry – an attempt to compete with the German Graf Zeppelin…. Despite being in design and development stage political powers insisted it should serve as a commercial vessel from the onset; teething and design problems were never fixed – too much valuable test-flight time was sacrificed to give VIPs pleasure trips instead…. The flight to India was insufficiently prepared for; the fabric covering of the airship was deteriorating and needed replacing…. Too much fuel was onboard (despite a planned re-fuelling stop on the way) and there was too much cargo…. Lord Thomson himself was taking several crates of silverware, china and Champagne – and even a carpet….

R101 under construction – no restrictions

On the day of departure the weather forecast had been generally favourable, predicting winds of up to 30mph over Northern France but improving further south…. Early into the journey the duty engineer reported an oil pressure problem – after a discussion with the chief engineer it was decided nothing was wrong with the engine, a faulty gauge was likely to blame – so it was accordingly replaced and the journey continued…. By now the weather had deteriorated; it was raining heavily and a revised weather forecast now predicted winds over Northern and Central France to reach 50mph…. A new course was set, sending the R101 over Orly – but the estimated wind speed and direction was inaccurate and sent the airship east of its intended course….

The R101 went into a steep dive – emergency ballast was released and slowly the airship recovered…. A second dive prompted orders for speed to be reduced – the airship was flying at full speed on all engines, something it had never done before…. But before the engineer could respond the R101 hit the ground, at the edge of a wood near to Allone, a village south west of Beauvais….The impact speed was relatively low, approximately 13mph – and would have been survivable had the airship not been inflated with hydrogen – a highly flammable gas…. The R101 caught alight immediately – the resulting fire was an inferno…. Britain never operated a rigid airship again….

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On this day in history….4th October 1911

On this day in history : 4th October 1911 – The first escalators to be installed on London Underground are unveiled to the public at Earls Court Station….

Supplied by the Otis Elevator Company, the pair of moving staircases connected the Piccadilly Line and District/Circle lines…. One escalator was only able to carry passengers upwards, whereas the second was capable of being put into reverse, in case the other broke down….

Apparently London Underground hired a one-legged man to ride up and down the escalators all the first day – to show the public how safe they were…. However, in the first week 9 dresses were torn, 1 finger was pinched and a man fell off his crutches…. But with the addition of a guard rail the safely issues were quickly resolved….

Initially the moving staircases were on a month’s trial but proved to be so popular that they were kept…. So successful were they in fact, that between 1911 and 1915 a further 22 escalators were installed on London’s underground system…. Nowadays there are over 400 of them….

London Underground Escalator – Image credit : Stockholm Transport Museum via Flickr

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On this day in history….3rd October 1283

On this day in history : 3rd October 1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, is the first nobleman in Britain to be hanged, drawn and quartered….

The execution of Dafydd ap Gruffydd – image via Facebook

As the last independent Welsh Kingdom falls and the English gain control of the country, Dafydd is the first person known to be tried on the charge of ‘high treason’…. The orders of King Edward I were that the death was to be slow and agonising….

Dafydd was dragged through the streets of Shrewsbury, attached to a horse’s tail…. He was then hanged, cut down and revived….disembowelled – his entrails burned before him and finally his body was cut into quarters….

Geoffrey of Shrewsbury was the executioner – for which he was paid 20 shillings….

Arms of Dafydd ap Gruffydd – Sodacan CC BY-SA 3.0

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On this day in history….2nd October 1452

On this day in history : 2nd October 1452 – The birth, at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, of King Richard III – the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenets….

Late 16th Century portrait of Richard III – Public domain

Richard was the twelfth of thirteen children – his older brother was to become King Edward IV – to whom Richard remained loyal until Edward’s death in 1483 – unlike their middle brother, George, who plotted against Edward….

However, Richard was not without controversy himself…. Upon Edward’s death his 12-year-old son succeeded him to the throne…. Richard was named as Lord Protector and the young Edward and his brother were taken to live within the palace at the Tower of London – which was then a royal residence….

In the June of 1483 the marriage of the two young princes’ parents was declared illegal and therefore invalid – which made the boys illegitimate…. This meant young Edward was no longer the rightful heir to the throne and instead it passed to his uncle and protector, Richard….

Earliest surviving portrait of Richard III C1520 – Public domain

Richard wasted no time in securing his position as King, he was quickly crowned on the 26th of June…. Shortly after, the two princes disappeared, never to be seen again…. Many believe Richard had them murdered….

Richard himself was killed at Bosworth Field on the 23rd of August 1485 – he was the last English King to die in battle…. Henry Tudor succeeded him, as King Henry VII….

An 18th Century illustration of the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field – Thomas Pennant – Public domain

Richard’s body was taken to a monastery in Leicester and buried beneath a fine alabaster tomb…. But after King Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries the Franciscan friary disappeared and along with it all traces of Richard’s tomb….

In September 2012 archaeologists discovered a skeleton under a car park in Leicester and it was believed to be the remains of Richard….

The skeleton as it was discovered – Photo credit : Richard Buckley, Mathew Morris, Jo Appleby, Turi King, Dierdre O’Sullivan, Lin Foxhall – CC BY SA 4.0

Using DNA and bone analysis, radio carbon dating and radiological evidence this was indeed proven…. King Richard III was finally reinterred at Leicester Cathedral in March 2015….

Tomb of Richard III – Photo credit : Isananni CC BY SA 3.0

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On this day in history….1st October 1861

On this day in history : 1st October 1861 – Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (also known as Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book) is published….

Title page of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management – Public domain

Initially it had appeared as a series of 24 instalments in ‘The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine’ – a publication owned by her husband, the ambitious publisher and magazine editor Samuel Orchart Beeton….

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, September 1861 – Beeton & Co – Public domain

Isabella Beeton (nee Mayson) had started writing for her husband’s magazine when she was just 21-years-old, less than a year after they were married…. In the beginning she translated French fiction and wrote the cookery column – often using recipes sent in by readers…. In 1859 the husband and wife team launched the series of household management articles in the form of 48 page supplements – and then eventually bringing them all together in book form, which was published by Samuel’s Company S.O. Beeton…. In the first year it sold in excess of 60,000 copies….

Tragically Isabella died of puerperal fever in February 1865, she was just 28-years-old…. At the time she had been working on a new version of her book – which was to have been titled ‘The Dictionary of Every Day Cookery’….

NPG D69; Samuel Orchart Beeton by Julian Portch — Samuel Orchart Beeton by Julian Portch, photograph of crayon drawing, (circa 1853) – Public domain

In 1866, a year after his wife’s death, Samuel hit hard times after a bad business deal – and sold the rights to the Book of Household Management to Ward, Lock & Tyler (who later became Ward, Lock & Co)…. For marketing purposes it wasn’t broadly publicised that Isabella had died – in a business sense it was important to keep the ‘Beeton’ name alive…. With each new edition the book continued to grow in size; by 1907 it had reached 74 chapters with over 2,000 pages…. In 1868 it sold over two million copies….it was arguably the most consulted cookbook of the late 1800s/early 1900s….