…in 1940, Winston Churchill succeeded Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.
On this day…
… in 1835, the first installment of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales was published in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was the first of three installments published between May 1835 and April 1837, and marked Andersen’s first venture into the fairy tale genre. Notably, this first collection contained The Princess and the Pea.
On this day…
… 70 years ago, the NHS (National Health Service) was launched in the UK.
Titanic survivor: Masabumi Hosono
41-year-old Masabumi Hosono was the only Japanese passenger on board the Titanic when she sank on her maiden voyage on April 15th, 1912. Hosono survived the sinking, but it cost him his honour.
On This Day…
100 years ago today, in 1918, the Representation of the People Act marked the first step towards women’s suffrage in the UK. The act gave women over the age of 30, who either owned land themselves or were married to men with property, the right to vote. The act also lowered men’s voting age from 30 to 21. It would be another decade before the vote was given to all women over the age of 21 on equal terms with men.
My Great Great Uncles in World War One
One of the first blog pieces I wrote was about my Great Grandpa Norman Dale and his terrible, ‘Saving Private Ryan’-esque experiences in the First World War (you can read that here). Norman was in the 2nd/6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, … Continue reading
On This Day…
in 1917 – one hundred years ago – the Third Battle of Ypres began. It is also known as the Battle of Passchendaele. The battle lasted for 105 days, gaining the Allied forces just 5 miles, at the cost of at least a quarter of a million casualties (not including around 220,000 lost on the German side). 90,000 Allied bodies were never identified, with a further 42,000 never even recovered. Having recently been to see the graves of two of my Great Great Uncles who fought in the First World War, it is incredibly painful to imagine not being able to visit them, or to see them resting peacefully after enduring such horrors.
Did Queen Victoria Really Fall In Love With Her Prime Minister?
I have long been a fan of Queen Victoria. I own a copy of her diaries, I’ve read her biographies and have watched The Young Victoria more times than I care to admit. Her relationship with her husband, Albert, who … Continue reading
Review: Ghosts of War
Ghosts of War: A History of World War I in Poetry and Prose
– By Andrew Ferguson
Verdict:
This short but powerful book is honestly one of the best accounts of the First World War that I have ever read. Ferguson takes his readers through the entire conflict, using well-timed excerpts from poetry and prose to bring to life the many emotions and experiences of global warfare. His focus on Scottish poets and their contribution to the war effort is particularly poignant, as theirs is a role that has often been overlooked.
Was it Fire, not Ice, that Ultimately Caused the Titanic to Sink?
New evidence would suggest that a huge fire in one of the Titanic’s bunkers actually played a far bigger role in her sinking than previously believed. Examining rare photographs taken by the ship’s chief electrical engineers before she left the … Continue reading
My History Cafe 