Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ss Great
Britain
A recent popular poll placed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the
second Greatest Briton of all time after Sir
Winston Churchill. He was without doubt Britain’s
greatest engineer, and of all the legacies he left to
the world, one of his greatest was the ss Great Britain....
Thomas Cochrane
Thomas Cochrane was what can only be described as a
colourful character. Naval commander, politician, fraudster and
national hero, all crammed into one lifetime....
British Fashion through the Ages. Part 4: 19th century to the 1960's
Victorian fashions and styles
Cecil
Rhodes, Empire Builder
Some great men have streets named in their
honour, even greater men have towns or even
cities named after them, so how to compare a man
after whom they named large swathes of Africa?
That man was Cecil Rhodes, who founded the
colonies of Southern and Northern Rhodesia,
renamed Zambia in 1964 and Zimbabwe in 1980....
The Lancashire Cotton Famine
By 1825, cotton was Britain’s
biggest import and the dominant force of the economy was the
Lancashire cotton industry. However the American Civil War brought
the industry to its knees....
The Great Exhibition of 1851
It is Queen Victoria’s
husband Albert who is normally credited with being the
driving force behind the Great Exhibition of 1851, but
it appears that just as much praise for organising this
remarkable event should also be bestowed upon one Henry
Cole.....
Empire Day - 24th May
The words "Empire
Day" summon up an
image of a motherly Queen Victoria presiding over an Empire which
spanned almost a quarter of the entire globe.
However it
was not until after the death of Queen Victoria, who died on 22
January 1901, that Empire Day was first celebrated.
The Victoria Cross
On 26th June 1857, at an award ceremony in Hyde Park, Queen
Victoria presented the first sixty-two Victoria
Crosses in front of a cheering crowd of 100,000
people. A century and half later, the medal
remains the highest honour for bravery and
valour that can be awarded to members of the
British Armed Forces.....
The
Ascott Martyrs A true story of 16 indomitable women and their
struggle for justice....
Sir Robert "Bobby" Peel
And why
British policemen are known as Bobbies........
Greyfriars Bobby A touching
tale of devotion......
Jack
the Ripper
Fear and panic stalked the streets of London's East End in 1888 as
five women were brutally murdered.
Victorian Poisoners
Poison
was the first choice for many murderers in the Victorian era - and was
particularly popular with women!
Patagonia - the Welsh 'New World'
The first group of nearly 200 settlers sailed from Liverpool in late May
1865 aboard the tea-clipper Mimosa.......
The Mold Riots
The history of the border town of Mold in northeast Wales is
fascinating in itself; it is however the events surrounding the
summer of 1869 that will record forever the town's role in the social
history of Britain.....
The Rebecca Riots Men dressed as women protesting against English Law in Wales....
Robert William Thomson
One
of Scotland’s most prolific, but now largely forgotten, inventors was
Robert William Thomson. But who was he, and what did he invent?
