On this day in history – Page 50

On this day in history….20th July 1837

On this day in history : 20th July 1837 – Euston Station, London’s first intercity railway station is opened – having been built on what was mostly farmland at the edge of an ever expanding city….

Early print of Euston, showing the wrought iron roof of the original station – Public domain

The site had been chosen in 1831 and the station was named after Euston Hall in Suffolk, the ancestral home of the Duke of Grafton – who was the main landowner in the area….

The original station was designed by classically trained architect Philip Hardwick….and built by William Cubitt, who also constructed Covent Garden and Fishmongers’ Hall…. The station housed a 200ft (61m) long train shed and two 420ft (130m) long platforms – one for arrivals and one for departures…. The main entrance portico – ‘Euston Arch’ – was also designed by Hardwick….it was to symbolise the arrival of a major new transport system – a ‘gateway to the north’…. At 72ft (22m) high, with four 44ft 2in (13.46m) by 8ft 6in (2.59m) columns made from Bradley Fall stone it was the largest of its kind and at a cost of £35K (over £4m today)…. It was described as being “Mightier than the Pyramids of Egypt”….

In 1839 two hotels were added, again designed by Hardwick…. One stood at either side of the Arch – The Victoria with basic facilities and The Euston to cater for first class passengers….

The station expanded rapidly…. In 1838 it was handling some 2,700 parcels a month but by 1841 this had increased to over 52,000…. More and more staff had to be employed and more lines and platforms were added….

Plan of Euston Station from 1888 – Public domain

By the 1950s the station was considered ‘tired’ – it was old-fashioned and dirty from soot…. In 1953 a full redecoration and restoration program took place and modernised ticket machines were installed…. Then in 1959 British Rail announced a complete rebuild….to accommodate a fully electrified West Coast main line….

However, this was not without controversy…. In July 1961 it was announced that the Euston Arch and Great Hall were to be demolished…. On the 16th of October a demonstration including students and 75 architects took place in protest…. But to no avail – in the summer of 1962 work on the new station began….

The Euston Arch being demolished, February 1962 – Ben Brooksbank CC BY-SA 2.0

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….19th July 1941

On this day in history : 19th July 1941 – Winston Churchill adopts the ‘V for Victory’ hand sign – after referring to the Victory campaign, which had spread through Europe, with approval in a speech….

Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, giving a V sign in 1943 – British Government, public domain

On January the 14th 1941 Victor de Lavelaye, former Belgian Minister of Justice and director of the Belgian French-language broadcasts on the BBC (1940-44) suggested that Belgians adopt a ‘V’ for ‘Victoire’ – in an attempt to raise morale during World War 2…. In a BBC broadcast de Lavelaye claimed “the occupier, by seeing this sign, always the same, infinitely repeated, would understand that he is surrounded, encircled by an immense crowd of citizens eagerly waiting his first moment of weakness, watching for his first failure”…. Within weeks chalked ‘V’ signs were appearing on walls across Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands….

The BBC started a ‘V for Victory’ campaign….with assistant news editor Douglas Ritchie taking on the persona of ‘Colonel Britton’…. Ritchie suggested the BBC should use an audio ‘V’ – using the dot-dot-dot-dash Morse Code for the letter ‘V’…. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has the same rhythm – so this was used by the BBC as a call-sign for its foreign language broadcasts to occupied Europe for the rest of the War….

American V for Victory campaign – showing the dot-dot-dot-dash of Morse Code – public domain

Churchill – and other allied leaders too – adopted the ‘V’ sign hand signal…. Sometimes Churchill gestured with a cigar between his fingers…. In the beginning he used the sign with his palm facing towards him – and his Aides had to explain to him what this version meant! So, later he used it with his palm facing out…. However, one can’t help thinking that perhaps it was his misuse that made it so popular….

Churchill, initially unaware of the meaning of this particular gesture! – War Office official photographer, Horton (Capt.) – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….18th July 1817

On this day in history : 18th July 1817 – The death of English novelist Jane Austen, at the age of 41….who brought to us works such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility….

Jane, born in Steventon, Hampshire on the 16th of December 1775, appears to have been susceptible to infectious diseases throughout her life….she contracted typhus as a child – and as an adult she suffered with conjunctivitis so chronic that at times she was unable to write…. There is evidence that as early as January 1813 she was suffering immune deficiency and fatal lymphoma…. By early 1816 she was beginning to feel really unwell – but ignored the signs – putting it down to ‘a bit of bile – or rheumatism’…. By the middle of the year her health had really deteriorated….

Despite her illness Jane continued to write…. In January 1817 she had begun ‘The Brothers’….which when published posthumously in 1925 was entitled ‘Sanditon’…. As the illness progressed Jane had difficulty in walking and lacked energy….and by April 1817 she was confined to her bed….

Jane’s sister, Cassandra and brother, Henry took her to Winchester for treatment – by now she was in terrible pain and sadly on Wednesday the 18th of July she passed away…. Henry, with his clerical connections, arranged for her burial in the north aisle of the nave of Winchester Cathedral….

House in Winchester where Jane spent her final days and died – Photo credit: Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net) CC BY-SA 4.0

The cause of Jane’s death has usually been attributed to an illness such as Hodgkin’s disease, Addison’s disease or auto-immune disease Lupus…. However, there has also been speculation that she died from arsenic poisoning…. A sentence written in an old volume of Jane’s letters stated that she was feeling better and was recovering her looks a little, which had been ‘black and white and every wrong colour’…. The comments were discovered by an author who was researching Jane and having previously done extensive research on modern forensic techniques and poisons for crime novels, recognised the symptoms that could be attributed to arsenic poisoning…. Coincidently a lock of Jane’s hair, on display in an American museum, had been tested for arsenic and the result had come back positive…. It is possible the medicine she had been prescribed, possibly for her rheumatism, may have contained arsenic….

Watercolour of Jane, painted by her sister Cassandra – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….17th July 1717

On this day in history : 17th July 1717 – The premiere of Handel’s Water Music….written for an outdoor performance for King George I and is played on a barge whilst sailing up the River Thames….

George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner – Public domain

“On Wednesday evening at about 8, the King took water at Whitehall on an open barge….where in were 50 instruments of all sorts, who play’d….the finest symphonies compos’d express for the Occasion by Mr. Hendel, which his Majesty liked so well, that he caus’d it to be plaid over three times in going and returning”…

It is rumoured the King felt he was being over-shadowed by his son, the Prince of Wales – who was constantly throwing lavish dinners and parties – and was stealing all the limelight…. So, King George decided to do something about it….

George Frederick Handel liked to use musical influences from all over Europe….France, Italy, Germany….and mix them all up…. For an English flavour to his Water Music he included ‘Alla Hornpipe’ – the Hornpipe Dance being ‘very English’ – associated with sailors and involving a lot of jumping up and down…. This lively dance would have appealed to an exhibitionist King who liked to show-off his dancing skills….

King George and his party, which included Dukes, Duchesses and his two mistresses, boarded the royal barge at 8pm on a summer’s evening at Whitehall Palace and travelled up the Thames towards Chelsea…. They were accompanied by another barge with 50 musicians – an orchestra that comprised of flutes, recorders, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, horns, violins, basses – and French horns – which the British had never seen before…. People lined the river banks to see and hear….and many other boats joined the flotilla, wanting to enjoy the music….

Handel (left) and King George I on the River Thames – painting by Edouard Hamman – Public domain

At Chelsea the royal party left the barge but returned at 11pm for the return trip….and the music was played again…. In fact the King enjoyed it so much that the 3 suites of Handel’s Water Music were performed three or four times….each lasting for over an hour…. The only break the exhausted orchestra got all evening was the brief interlude when the royal party disembarked at Chelsea….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….16th July 1439

On this day in history : 16th July 1439 – King Henry VI bans kissing in England – in an attempt to stop the spread of the plague…. A ban that failed as people refused to co-operate….

Inspired by the Black Death, ‘The Dance of Death’ or, ‘Danse Macabre’ – a common painting motif in the late Medieval period – Public domain

People in the Middle Ages believed that disease was spread through tiny particles…. It was not understood that the plague was spread by black rats, which were everywhere; fleas would bite the rats and then humans, passing the disease on…. Symptoms would start with a high fever and a hacking cough…. Huge black boils, some the size of an egg, would then appear on the neck, in the armpits and groin area…. Most died within 2-7 days…. There was no medical help….only special ‘plague doctors’ who would beat sufferers with a rod to try and ‘purify’ them of whatever sin they had committed in order to receive such a terrible punishment….

Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel (Dr Beak), a plague doctor in 17th Century Rome, circa 1656 – Public domain

It is thought the disease arrived in Europe from Central Asia via the Silk Route – with rats coming in onboard merchants’ ships…. It is thought between 1347 and 1351 up to 200 million died across Eurasia; there are no exact figures but recent research believes between 45-50% of Europe’s population was wiped out…. It is estimated around 30% of England’s population died but some sources say it could have been as high as 50%…. Whole families perished….nobody was safe, from peasants to royalty…. The unhygienic environment of the time meant disease spread quickly….King Henry VI issued his decree – banning kissing until the plague had passed – as he believed ‘if the lips were kept chaste the small particles of plague could not be passed on’….

The Great Plague of London, in 1665, killed up to 100,000 people – Public domain

By the end of 1350 Black Death had more or less died out in Europe….but not so in England, the disease kept on recurring…. It peaked in 1665 with the Great Plague of London….and it was The Great Fire of London in 1666 that helped eradicate the disease by killing most of the black rats….and their fleas….