history – Page 2 – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….10th January 1863

On this day in history : 10th January 1863 – The World’s first underground railway line – ‘The Metropolitan Railway’ – opens in London….

The line opened between Paddington (then called Bishop’s Road) and Farringdon Street and served 6 intermediate stations…. Nowadays there are 270 stations on 11 lines….employing over 27,000 people….

London Underground Map (1908) Image credit : Roger W via Flickr

Metropolitan was a private company who financed the venture themselves….the Underground was completely funded by private companies until the 1930s….

Five more underground lines were authorised by Parliament between 1891 and 1893 – but Waterloo & City was the only other line to be built before 1900…. It took 21 years (1863 – 1884) to finally complete the inner circle of lines in central London – and by 1884 over 800 trains were travelling around it every day….

Baker Street & Waterloo Railway in its first week of opening – The Graphic 1906

Much of the network was completed in the first 50 years…. The total length of the network is 400.7km….the longest tunnel, between East Finchley and Morden is 27.7km…. The longest distance between stops is 6.3km – between Chesham and Chalfont & Latimer on the Metropolitan line…. The shortest distance is 260m – between Leicester Square and Covent Garden – the journey takes just 20 seconds…. Only 45% of the Underground network is actually in tunnels….

Construction of Tube at Mile End – Circa 1946 Image credit : The National Archives UK via Flickr

Less than 10% of the stations are located south of the River Thames…. The District line has the most stations, with 60 – whilst Waterloo & City line has the fewest…. In central London the deepest station below street level is ‘Bank’, at 41.4m deep….in outer London it is Hampstead, at 58.5m…. Baker Street has the most platforms – with 10 – (4 of which are overground)….

The original trains to operate were steam – the network did not become fully electrified until 1961.. The first deep-level electric line was installed in 1890…. In 1903 the Central line became the first railway in Britain to be entirely worked by multiple-unit trains ~ meaning trains no longer had to be turned around upon reaching the end of the line…. By 1905 all tube lines were operating them….

On the first ever day of service some 40,000 passengers were carried…. In 1918 there were 70% more passengers than there had been in 1914…. Nowadays it is more like 1,107 million per year using the Underground network….

The ‘Tube’ became the affectionate name for the Underground in the early 1900s – when the Central London Railway (Central line) became nicknamed ‘The Twopenny Tube’ – a phrase coined by the Daily Mail….

Postcard for the Central London Railway – via Wikimedia

In Cockney rhyming slang it is known as ‘the Oxo’ (Oxo cube)…. The ‘Underground’ name first appeared in 1908 – and the Tube’s logo is called the ’roundel’…. In the early days the carriages – which were very claustrophobic – became known as ‘padded cells’….

It was in September 1940 that underground stations were first used as air-raid shelters against the bombing attacks of World War 2…. During the War years a section was closed between Holborn – Aldwych and was used to store treasures from the British Museum…. The Central line was converted into a factory to produce fighter aircraft….and was complete with its own railway system…. This remained an official secret right up until the 1980s…. Over 200,000 children were evacuated from the Capital using the Underground….

The first baby to be born on the Underground was in 1924…. Marie Cordery came into the World on board a train at Elephant & Castle on the Bakerloo line…. Another baby to be born was American talk-show host Jerry Springer – his mother gave birth during a WW2 air-raid at East Finchley Station….

And here are a few more random facts for you :-

The original recording of “Mind the gap” was made in 1968 and features the voice of Peter Lodge – who was a sound recordist…. Many stations still use it today….

Manually operated doors were phased out in 1929 – to be replaced by air operated ones….

Aldgate Station, on the Circle & Metropolitan line, is built on a huge plague pit – containing 1,000 bodies….

The tunnels beneath the City curve because they follow the old Medieval street plan….

Queen Elizabeth II was the first Monarch to travel on the Underground – In May 1939 (when she was 13-years-old) she travelled on the Victoria line from Green Park – along with Princess Margaret and governess Marion Crawford….

The Jubilee line was named to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 – but did not actually open until 1979….

The most commonly used film location on the Underground is Aldwych – which is a disused station….

Busking has been licensed since 2003…. It is rumoured that Sting and Paul McCartney have both busked in disguise….

The fictional ‘Walford East’ of the soap Eastenders is supposed to be on the District Line….

Over 47 million litres of water are pumped from the Underground each day….enough to fill an average sized swimming pool every 15 minutes….

Half a million mice live on the Underground….

British History

On this day in history….9th January 1799

On this day in history : 9th January 1799 – Income Tax is introduced to Britain by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger…. It is established to raise money for the Napoleonic Wars and is meant to be a temporary measure….

Believe it or not, it is still a ‘temporary’ measure….expiring each year on the 5th of April and having to be renewed as a provision in the annual Finance Bill….

Income Tax was implemented by Pitt the Younger in his December 1798 budget – to pay for weapons and equipment for the forth-coming war with France…. It was a complicated taxation system, taking into consideration property owned, land, profession and finally income…. It was based on a flat rate but varied depending on whether the Country was at war or not…. On its introduction incomes over £60 per annum were levied at 2 old pence in the pound – whereas incomes over £200 were required to pay 2 shillings in the pound (or 10%)…. The government had hoped to raise £10 million but in fact only realised £6 million….

Henry Addington abolished the tax in 1801 – during the ‘Peace of Amiens’ – but it was to be short-lived, as it was reintroduced again in 1803 when hostilities with France flared up once more…. It was also at this time that Addington introduced deduction at source….

Income Tax was repealed in 1816, a year after the Battle of Waterloo – and for a while Britain enjoyed an Income Tax free period…. However, in 1842 Sir Robert Peel, faced with an enormous public deficit of 63% as a result of the Crimea Conflict, reintroduced it…. Admittedly it was only for the wealthy, those earning more than £150 per annum – and was only 3d in the £1 (3%) – and it remained this way for many years….

At the beginning of the 20th Century there were less than a million tax payers in Britain…. In 1907 Herbert Asquith introduced a whole new range of taxes….by 1909 Income Tax had raised to 8% and a new ‘Super Tax’ or ‘Surtax’ was introduced for the wealthy…. (This was to stay in place until 1973 – when it was replaced by the Higher Rate of Income Tax)….

World War 1 saw an increase in the rate to over 50%….but by 1918 it had settled back down to 30% – but more people were having to pay…. By 1930 ten million people had become eligible for Income Tax….and by the start of World War 2 that number had risen to twelve million….

In 1944 Pay As You Earn (PAYE) was introduced (previously tax would be paid every 6 months – or even annually)…. Along with PAYE came the P45 – and tax codes, to tell employers what percentage to deduct…. A basic rate of 33% remained in place after the war – and it wasn’t until Margaret Thatcher came to power that we saw a reduction….when it was lowered to 25% – and the Higher Rate from 83% to 40%…. It was lowered again to 22% and Gordon Brown then reduced it even further to 20%…. But of course, they always get us in other ways!

British History

On this day in history….8th January 1921

On this day in history : 8th January 1921 – David Lloyd George becomes the first Prime Minister to reside in Chequers – the 16th Century Manor House in Buckinghamshire….which was given to the Nation by Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham….

Chequers – or Chequers Court to give its full title, is located 41 miles from Downing Street, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills – near to the village of Ellesborough, just outside Great Missenden….

William Hawtrey – High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire – had the current house built circa 1565…. Possibly it may have been constructed around an earlier building already there – as it is thought a house has been on the site since Roman times….

In the 19th Century it underwent alterations to give it a Gothic style…. The Tudor windows and panelling were replaced with battlements and pinnacles….but by the end of the 19th Century it had passed to the Astley family….and Bertram Astley had the house restored back to its Elizabethan origins….

Shortly after it had been built and become the residence of William Hawtrey it also became a place of confinement – for the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII…. Lady Mary Grey was banished from Court by Queen Elizabeth I – for marrying without the Monarch’s consent…. Her room at Chequers is still kept today exactly as it was when she occupied it between 1565 and 1567….

In 1715 the owner at the time married Oliver Cromwell’s grandson, John Russell…. There is a large collection of Cromwell memorabilia to be found at Chequers….

It became the home of Arthur Lee and his American heiress wife in 1901….and they allowed it to be used as a hospital and then a convalescent home for officers during World War 1…. After the war it became the Lees’ private house once again….

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The Lees did not have any children – so no future inheritances to consider…. By now they had become Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham – and it was their wish to do something for the Nation…. They came up with an idea….

Before WW1 Britain’s Prime Ministers generally came from aristocratic backgrounds and had their own country estates where they could entertain foreign dignitaries…. Or indeed, retreat away from the stresses of daily life….and relax. After the War it was to become a new breed of politician – politics had become more accessible to all the classes…. Of course, not many ordinary folk have large country houses at their disposal…. So, after much negotiation with David Lloyd George and his government Chequers was given to the Nation, under the ‘Chequers Estate Act 1917’ – for the use of the serving Prime Minister….

Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham left Chequers on the 8th of January 1921 – but before they departed they had commissioned a stained glass window – which is to be found in the long gallery…. It bears the inscription….

“This house of peace and ancient memories was given to England as a thank-offering for her deliverance in the Great War of 1914-1918 as a place of rest and recreation for her Prime Ministers for ever”….

The name ‘Chequers’ has a couple of possibilities as to its origin…. An early owner of the Manor House that stood there in the 12th Century was Elias Ostiarius (or de Scaccario)…. “Ostiarius” meaning “Usher of the Court of the Exchequer”….”Scaccario” has the meaning of “chessboard” in Italian…. Elias Ostiarius had a chequerboard feature within his coat of arms – so maybe the estate was named for him….

Another theory is that it was named after the Wild Service trees (Sorbus torminalis) or ‘Chequers’ – which grow in the grounds….

The Wild Service tree is native to Britain but rarely seen – to come across one often indicates ancient woodland…. The fruits are known a ‘Chequers’ – and were given to children as a sweet treat as they are said to taste like dates…. They can also be made into an alcoholic drink – which may explain why so many public houses are called ‘The Chequers’….

Image credit : Hornbeam Arts via Flickr

Chequers Court may not be massive in terms of a stately home – it only has ten bedrooms….but it does sit in 1,500 acres of land….

It is grade 1 listed and houses a huge art collection – of some 190 pieces dating from the early 16th Century…. There is even a 1937 piece by Winston Churchill….

Cabinet meeting at Chequers – Image credit : Number 10 via Flickr

It has hosted many World leaders and public figures ~ Richard Nixon, Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin, Robert Mugabe, Xi Jinping, Angela Merkel to name but a few….

Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Edward Heath joined by US President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon during the Nixons’ visit to the UK in 1970…. Image credit : White House photo by Ollie Atkins

Margaret Thatcher said of it ~ “I do not think anyone has stayed long at Chequers without falling in love with it”….

Norma Major (wife of former Prime Minister John Major) loved it so much she wrote a book entitled “Chequers : The Prime Minister’s Country House and Its History”….

British History

On this day in history….4th January 1813

On this day in British history : 4th January 1813 – The birth of Sir Isaac Pitman – who developed the first major shorthand system…. At one time, Pitman shorthand was the most used system in the entire English-speaking world….

Image credit: The Pitman Collection, University of Bath

Nowadays Teeline is the most commonly used system – taking just a few months to learn as opposed to the typical year that Pitman takes…. There are those who believe that shorthand is becoming obsolete – there has been a steady decline in numbers of people taking shorthand courses over the last decade – in this digital age audio memos are cited as being one of the main reasons for its decline. However, others argue that shorthand still has its place; it is an invaluable tool in business and for students when taking notes, it is also still used in the Courtroom and among journalists….

Pitman popularised shorthand at a time when the Press and business were advancing at a rate that made it a commercial necessity….

Pitman Shorthand – Image : Public domain

Sir Isaac Pitman’s motto in life was “time saved is life gained’…. Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire he was educated at the local grammar school. After a spell as a clerk in a textile mill he became an English teacher – and started teaching in Lincolnshire….

In 1835 he married Mary, a widow and twenty years his senior – and they moved to Gloucestershire. Pitman was dismissed by the authorities from the public education system when he became a Swedenborgian – a religious movement based upon the writings of scientist, theologist and Swedish Lutheran, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)…. In 1837 Pitman became teetotal and a vegetarian in 1838….two practices he attributed for his excellent health throughout life – and his ability to work exceptionally long hours…. The Pitmans moved to Bath in 1839 and he opened a small private school….

Pitman was a great advocate of ‘the spelling reform for the English language’…. Modern spelling started to develop from about AD 1350 onwards – and so many influences meant many variations in spelling. The aim of the reform being to create more consistency….

At around the same time Pitman learned Samuel Taylor’s shorthand system – and became interested in creating his own system, using sound. In his phonetic system symbols do not represent letters but sounds – resulting in a quick way to write down information. He published his first pamphlet ‘Sound-Hand’ in 1837….

Pitman Shorthand Consonants – Image credit Xanthoxyl – own work CC BY-SA-3.0

By 1843 his publishing business had become successful enough for him to give up teaching. In 1844 he published ‘Phonotypy’ – which was to become his major publication on the spelling reform….and in 1845 the first version of the ‘English Phonotypic Alphabet’ was published….

Pitman’s wife died in 1857 but he remarried in 1861, this time to a woman eight years younger than himself, Isabella Masters…. Then in 1886 he went into partnership with his sons, Alfred and Ernest and together they formed Isaac Pitman & Sons…. It was to become one of the World’s leading educational publishers – having offices in London, Bath, New York, Toronto, Melbourne, Tokyo and Johannesburg….

Sir Isaac Pitman received his knighthood in 1894….he died in 1897….

British History

On this day in history….1st January 1839

On this day in history : 1st January 1839 – The death of John Pounds – shoemaker, altruistic teacher – and the man originally responsible for the concept of the ‘Ragged Schools’….

John Pounds was born on the 17th of June 1766 and when he was 12-years-old his father arranged for him to enter into an apprenticeship as a shipwright at the Portsmouth Dockyard…. It was when he was 15 that Pounds was to have a life changing accident – he fell into a dry dock injuring his thigh and leaving him severely crippled…. Unable to continue working at the dockyard he became a shoemaker and was able to open a small shop on St Mary Street, Portsmouth – where he was to become known as ‘the Crippled Cobbler”….

It was in 1818 that he began to teach the poverty stricken children of Portsmouth – it is thought this may have come about after he had begun to educate his young disabled nephew out of concern for his welfare…. Pounds would scour the streets and quays of Portsmouth looking for homeless children – he would often take with him food, such as baked potatoes, to entice them…. He would then take them back to his shop where he would teach them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic…. He gave them religious instruction and lessons in skills such as carpentry, shoe making, cooking, clothes mending and toy making…. All for no fee – and sometimes there were up to forty children in his class at one time….

The inspiration behind the concept of Ragged Schools is often credited to the Reverend Thomas Guthrie. He had first come across the idea whilst acting as Parish Minister for St. John’s Church in Edinburgh in 1841 – when he had seen a picture of John Pounds in Fife…. He was inspired by Pounds’ work with the children. In his publication “Plea for Ragged Schools”, which he wrote to raise awareness and enlist public support for the cause in March 1847, he proclaimed John Pounds as the originator of the idea…. He wrote….

….”My first interest in the cause of Ragged Schools was awakened by a picture I saw in Anstruther, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, It represented a cobbler’s room; he was there himself, spectacles on nose, old shoe between his knees, the massive forehead and firm mouth indicating great determination of character; and Fromm between his bushy eyebrows benevolence gleamed out on a group of poor children, some sitting, some standing, but all at their lessons around him”…. (Quoted in Montague 1904)….

Guthrie opened his own ‘Edinburgh Original Ragged School’ in April 1847 – he is considered a core leader of the Ragged School Movement – although he was not the first to open such a school in Scotland….

The Reverend Thomas Guthrie – early 1870s

In 1841 Sheriff Watson became frustrated by the amount of youngsters being brought before him in his Aberdeen Court Room for petty crimes…. Rather than keep sending them to prison he decided to make it compulsory for them to attend school. Initially he tried to incorporate them into ordinary day schools but teachers objected, not wanting these dirty, ragged, poor children in their classrooms…. Sheriff Watson established a school especially for these children; three meals a day were provided and lessons given in reading, writing, arithmetic and geology…. Children were taught trades such as shoe making and printing….with the hope of giving them a future…. At first the school was just for boys – but in 1843 a girls’ school was set up and in 1845 the two schools integrated…. It did not take long for the idea to spread to Dundee and to other parts of Scotland….

Around the same time, in 1841, a Ragged School began in Clerkenwell, London…. It has to be said that various organisations lay claim to having been first to offer free education…. Indeed back in the 1780s Sunday Schools began to emerge….often Christian but not always, they were to provide education for children who were otherwise working during the week….Thomas Cranfield, a tailor and former soldier, had gained his own education at a Sunday School in Hackney…. In 1798 Cranfield established a day school close to London Bridge, giving free education to London’s poor children…. By the time of his death in 1838 nineteen such schools had been set up across London, providing educations days, evenings and on Sundays….

The term ‘Ragged School’ seems to have been first used by the London City Mission in 1840…. The Mission had been set up in 1835 to help the poor in London…. It ran soup kitchens, penny banks, helped provide clothing and education – using paid missionaries and agents…. Ragged School became the name commonly given to any independent school set up on a charitable basis…. By 1844 the London City Mission was responsible to looking after at least twenty Ragged Schools…. It became apparent a way was needed to bring together and organise all of the independent free schools that had been established….

In April 1844 a committee was formed….to look at welfare needs in the community….and most importantly, educational needs of the children. The committee comprised of Mr Locke – a woollen draper, Mr Moulton – who dealt in second hand tools, Mr Morrison – a City missionary and a Mr Starey…. On the 11th of April 1844 the Ragged Schools Union was formed….

At this gathering they resolved “to give performance regularity, and vigour to existing Ragged Schools, and to promote the formation of new ones throughout the metropolis, it is advisable to call a meeting of superintendents, teachers and others interested in these schools for this purpose”….

There was much support for the cause; from the wealthy, who could contribute financially (it became quite ‘fashionable’ to do so)….to famous names who helped promote it…. Charles Dickens was one such….he had visited the Field Lane Ragged School in London – it is said to be one of his inspirations for ‘A Christmas Carol’….

Later the Ragged Schools Union became known as the Shaftesbury Society…. The 7th Earl ofShaftesbury became chairman of the RSU and remained so for nearly forty years….in this time some 300,000 children benefitted from free education…. In 1844 the RSU began with 200 teachers….by 1851 it had 1600…. By 1867 there were 226 Sunday Ragged Schools, 204 day schools and 207 evening schools….providing free education for approximately 26,000 children….

In 1870 the Education Act was passed….over the next few coming years some 350 of the schools established by the Ragged Schools Union were absorbed into the new Board schools….