On this day in history – Page 54

On this day in history….30th June 1894

On this day in history : 30th June 1894 – Tower Bridge in London is officially opened by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and his wife, the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark….

It was a beautiful summer’s day with a cloudless sky….tens of thousands of people flocked to see one of the Victorian era’s greatest feats of engineering declared ‘open for traffic by land and water’…. It was a pageant full of pomp and splendour and after the ceremony the bascules were opened to allow a flotilla of ships and boats to sail down the Thames….

In 1876 the City of London Corporation launched a competition for the design of a much needed new river crossing…. In all 50 designs were submitted – but it wasn’t until 1884 that the design of Sir Horace Jones and Sir John Wolfe Barry was finally chosen….

Construction began in 1896 and took 8 years to build, with 5 major contractors employing 432 construction workers between them…. The total project cost being £1,184,000 which equates to over £132 million in today’s terms….

Two huge piers of over 70,000 tons of concrete were sunk into the river bed to support over 11,000 tons of steel, used to provide a framework for the towers and road and walkways…. This was then clad in Portland stone and Cornish granite, not only for appearance but also to protect the steelwork….

The combined bascule and suspension bridge, named for the nearby Tower of London, is a much-loved iconic symbol of the city…. It is 244m (800ft) long between two 65m (213ft) towers built on the concrete piers…. A central 61m (200ft) span splits into two bascules which can raise to an 83 degree angle to allow river traffic through….it takes just five minutes to perform this operation…. At first this was operated by coal burning steam engines….but in 1976 was replaced by electricity….

Image courtesy : http://www.all-free-photos.com

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….29th June 1905

On this day in history : 29th June 1905 – A group of disgruntled motorists set up The Automobile Association to warn drivers of speed traps after continuing police harassment….

In 1903 a speed limit of 20mph had been brought in – and the police set about enforcing this with much vigour….it could be argued to the point of persecution…. Three officers, two of whom were in plain clothes, would position themselves a furlong apart along a section of road…. They would usually hide in bushes but were in sight of one another…. The first officer would use a white handkerchief to signal an approaching car; the second would use a stopwatch to time the motorist over a furlong…. The third uniformed officer would then halt the motorist if an offence had been committed….which was just 2mph over the speed limited…. Fines were harsh, usually £5, which was an average month’s wage at the time – the alternative was four weeks in prison…. The teams of police officers earned the name ‘Hedge-hogs’ among early drivers….

London motor dealer Charles Jarrett decided enough was enough…. He began to organise patrols of cyclists, who were good at judging speed…. They would carry a red flag and patrolling the London to Brighton road would warn speeding motorists of police traps that lay ahead….

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — A former AA BSA patrol bike from 1951 – Public domain

In June 1905 Jarrett, along with fellow motorists Walter Gibbons, Ludwig Schlentheim and Alfred Harris formed ‘The Motorists’ Mutual Asscociation’ – to patrol the main roads near to London…. Scouts would seek out traps and flag down any motorists seen to be doing more than 20mph…. A motorcyclist and three pedal cyclists were engaged to cover the Brighton road as far as Crawley – and another group patrolled from Crawley to Purley….

Photo credit : Spudgun67 on Wikimedia Commons

Many of these first scouts were Fleet Street news boys, using their own bicycles…. As at first the patrols only operated at the weekends the young men, all being physically fit due to their jobs of delivering newspapers, viewed the venture as a bit of weekend fun….

A month later the Association changed its name to The Automobile Association….and it continued to grow…. By 1906 the AA had erected thousands of roadside signs warning of possible hazards….and by 1926 it had installed some 6,500 direction signs and 15,000 village name signs…. It did this until the early 1930s, when local authorities took over the responsibility….

The first AA handbook listing all nationwide agents and places to get vehicles repaired was issued in 1908….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….28th June 1830

On this day in history : 28th June 1830 – Constable Joseph Grantham is the first policeman in Britain to be murdered – when he goes to the aid of a woman involved in a fight between two drunken men….

The Metropolitan Police Force had launched on the 29th of September 1829; Constable No.169 Joseph Grantham had joined S-Division on the 10th of February 1830…. On the night of Monday 28th of June he was called to Skinner Street, Smiths-Place in Somers Town to deal with a domestic disturbance…. 31-year-old Grantham had become the father of twins that very day….

Image credit : Leonard Bentley via Flickr

On arriving at the address the constable found two drunken Irishmen quarrelling….one of them had been beating his wife…. Grantham intervened and threatened to handcuff one of the men, a Michael Duggan – who did not take lightly to this threat…. In the scuffle that followed PC Grantham was knocked to the ground….and Duggan delivered a swift kick which struck Grantham’s right temple….

The constable was carried to a surgeon’s shop in Judd Street – but pronounced dead on arrival…. He was then moved to the Boot Public House in Cromer Street to await a coroner’s inquest…. Duggan was arrested and taken to a nearby police station – it transpired his real name was actually Michael Galvin and he had just completed an apprenticeship to a bricklayer….

He appeared before Magistrate Mr Griffith at Marylebone Police Station and was committed for trial on the charge of murder…. However, a post-mortem examination on Grantham concluded death had occurred through an apoplexy brought on by the ‘exertion and excitement of the moment’…. Galvin’s charge was changed to the lesser charge of assault….

On Saturday the 10th of July he was brought before the Middlesex Sessions charged with assaulting two police officers, Constable Grantham and Constable Bennett…. The Jury returned a guilty verdict on both counts…. Sentence was passed; six months imprisonment for the assault on Grantham and a further six weeks for that on Bennett…. You could say he got away with murder….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….27th June 1899

On this day in history : 27th June 1899 – At the age of thirteen A.E.J. Collins achieves the highest-ever (of the time) recorded cricket score…. Over four afternoons he scores 628 not out….

Arthur Edward Jeune Collins was born in India but educated in Britain…. In September 1897 he joined Clarke’s House at Clifton College, which had an excellent reputation for sport…. He played half-back for the rugby XV and for the cricket XI team…. In 1901 he won a bronze medal for boxing at a public schools tournament in Aldershot….

Collins, on the left, with R.P. Keigwin at Clifton College, school racquets team, 1902 – Public domain

But it was in 1899 that he was to score the then highest ever recorded cricket score…. It was a junior school house match between Clarke’s House and North Town House – an annual event….

Matches were always played to the end; there was not a time frame, it took as long as it took…. Play commenced on Thursday the 22nd of June….Collins won the toss for Clarke’s House and chose to bat first…. He hit his first stroke at around 3.30pm and by close of play at 6pm had scored 200 runs….

Play resumed on the Friday and by 5.30pm Collins had broken the existing world record of 485 runs…. By the end of the day he had scored 509….and there was now considerable interest from the public and media…. At Monday lunchtime play continued once more and Collins reached 598 runs…. On Tuesday the 27th the school extended the hours of play to try and finish the game….and Collins eventually ended on 628 runs…. The match was finally concluded on Wednesday the 28th of June with a Clarke House win by an innings and 688 runs….

Plaque at Clifton College, installed 1962 – Image: Brookie CC BY-SA 3.0

Collins held the word record until January 2016 – when it was beaten by Pranav Dhanawade, a fifteen year old Indian boy who scored 1,009 not out from 327 balls….

As for Collins, despite his achievement he was never to play First Class Cricket….he chose an army career instead…. He married Ethel Slater in 1914 and was sent to France at the outbreak of World War I…. Collins was killed in action on the 11th of November 1914 at the First Battle of Ypres, Belgium….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….26th June 1817

On this day in history : 26th June 1817 – The birth in West Yorkshire of painter and poet Branwell Brontë – only son of the Brontë family and brother to writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne….

Bronte Birthplace Plaque – Tim Green via Flickr

Born in Thornton, near to Bradford, Patrick Branwell Brontë – known as Branwell – was the fourth of six children…. He was just 4-years-old when his mother died in 1821 – and his aunt Elizabeth Branwell moved in to look after the children…. He was then to be deeply affected when his two eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were to die from TB shortly before his eighth birthday…. The four remaining Brontë children were to become very close….

Branwell, always on the small side for his age and with flaming red hair, was quick-witted and a bit of a show-off in public…. His father decided to educate him at home and taught him in the classics – whilst his sisters were sent away to boarding school….

In 1829 the children’s father hired the services of John Bradley, a local artist of some repute, to teach his children to draw…. It was possibly then that Branwell began to aspire to become a portrait painter…. In 1834 he painted a portrait of his sisters and himself – only to paint out his own image as he was dissatisfied with it…. The portrait now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery and is recognised as one of the best known images of the sisters….

Branwell rented a studio in Bradford in 1838 and set himself up as a professional portrait painter…. Only he made a lot of friends in the artistic community and spent too much time in the pub and failed to make a living as an artist! In 1840 he took employment as tutor to the children of a wealthy family – but was sacked within a year…. Then for the next six months he worked as a clerk but again lost his job, over a discrepancy with the accounts….

Branwell Bronte, self portrait, 1840 – Public domain

At the beginning of 1843 his sister Anne managed to secure him a job as a tutor – but once again, in 1845, he was sacked – seemingly after having an affair with his employer’s wife…. Returning to the family home in disgrace he fell into self-pity and soon became an alcoholic and addicted to opium…. Branwell died on the 24th of September 1848, possibly from TB….