History Magazine
1842 – The Terrible Year
Often referred to as the ‘Hungry Decade’, the 1840s was characterised by social unrest, military losses and economic hardship. The year 1842 in particular was fraught with problems, which led to it becoming known as the Terrible Year, arguably the worst of the 19th century.
General George Cornwallis
General Charles Cornwallis is best known for his part in the British defeat at Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War. But there is much more to Cornwallis than this: his career then took him to India and later to Ireland…
The Siege of Yorktown
In 1781, American and French forces under George Washington laid siege to the British army at Yorktown. This would become the most decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War…
D-Day Dodgers – Defying Danger in Italy
The campaigns in Italy in 1943 and 1944 were tough and bloody ones, with some of the most brutal engagements of the Second World War. Yet somehow the sacrifice of the troops involved in the Italian campaign came to be overshadowed by the events of the better-known D-Day operation: the Normandy landings.
The Common Yew
Worshipped by the Druids for its longevity, the Common Yew is typically found in churchyards, its soft wood used over centuries for the longbows that defined medieval warfare. Its Latin name however warns us of its toxicity: ‘Taxus baccata’ translates as ‘toxic tree with berries’…