Sunday 2 March 2014
Friday 27 September 2013
V&A Special Exhibition 2014 - Wiliam Kent
The V&A, London and the Bard Graduate Centre, New York are working on a special exhibition to be run between 22 March and 13 July 2013.
Learn more about this exhibition (which will bring together over 200 objects including architectural drawings for such prominent buildings as the Treasury and Horse Guards at Whitehall) at http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/william-kent-designing-georgian-britain/
Learn more about this exhibition (which will bring together over 200 objects including architectural drawings for such prominent buildings as the Treasury and Horse Guards at Whitehall) at http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/william-kent-designing-georgian-britain/
Monday 23 September 2013
Review: A Very British Murder
What can I say - finding any programme presented by Dr Lucy Worsley is bound to attract my attention.
There are only two TV historians who I know are going to entertain me whilst also teaching me a thing or two (just in case your wondering, the other is Michael Wood).
Tonight's first episode of three programmes about crime and the British obsession with this criminal offence was just what I was expecting.
Lucy was as enthusiastic as ever and introduced viewers to our "appetite for sensation" with murder by looking at cases from the 19th century.
The programme started with a very sublime image of Grasmere and the events of 1811. Thomas de Quincy was renting a cottage from William Wordsworth when a young family was murdered in London (the events became known as the Radcliffe Highway Murders). These events shocked the residents of Grasmere, as they did people around the country. de Quincy remarked on impact of reports. For instance, Lucy reads from his report about one lady resident who ensured each night that there were 18 locked doors between herself and any potential intruder.
Timothy Marr and his wife, Cecilia sent their servant, Margaret Jewell, out for oysters one evening but none could be had at such a late hour. On return to the house she found that she was locked out but she heard foot steps and the crying of the baby. No one let her in even at 12:30. The pawnbroker from next door woke up on hearing Margaret's attempt to get in and climbed over the wall to get in - he found the bodies.
Lucy stated that although everyone was horrified about what had happened to the adults all they were interested in was "Where was baby?" He was found in cradle - throat had been slit.
The locals were horrified by the "ultra fiendish nature" of the crime not least because in 1810 there had only been 15 convictions for murder in whole of Britain.
Lucy visited the Marine Police Museum to discuss with Rosalind Crone, lecturer at the Open University about the state of British law enforcement at the time and how before the 1820s policing was at local level - constables were not detectives they were reactive.
To maintain the on-going sensational aspect of the story Lucy reported the sense of community and how thousands paid respect at funeral. Against the background of haunting images of grave stones Lucy commented on the fact that 12 days after this killing it seemed that the murderer had struck again for on the 19 December a resident was seen climbing out of a window of the King's Arms pub shouting 'murder, murder'.
Inside the publican, his wife and servant had been hacked and beaten to death. There was pandemonium. Strangers were picked up for questioning and London Bridge was closed while searches carried out.
An eagle-eyed police officer noticed, on the original murder weapon, the letters JP and it was ascertained that the weapon belonged to a John Peterson, a sailor, from Hamburg ( but he had been away at sea at the time of the killings).
John Williams, another lodger, was suspected because he had access to murder weapon. Before he could be committed for trial Williams hanged himself which was generally believed to proof that he was clearly guilty.
On News Year John Williams body went by cart through Wapping. This was a very public display despite the fact that there was little evidence of guilt
When the crowd reached the home of Marr's it paused and, as Lucy reported, a member of crowd turned the corpses head to look a the house as though expecting Williams to be 'aware' of his terrible activities.
Broadsides carried the story and newspaper owners realised that such events could boost circulation - by the time the reports reached Grasmere the story had almost reached mythic propositions. de Quincy, in On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, said that there was a murder club. This satire said that John Williams best of murders!
What was apparent was that the public was consumed by murder.
20 years after murder another murder occurred which popular entertainment showed the growing obsession with events.
On this occasion the scene was the Suffolk village of Polstead and involved a young woman, Maria Marten, her lover, William "Foxy" Corder and Red Barn on the outskirts of the village (the barn got its name because as sun set it was turned the colour of blood and locals thought of it as a place of evil).
The last time anyone saw Maria was on 18 May 1827. For a year Maria's parents thought they had eloped until, in April 1828, the step-mother started to have nightmares (she believed that Maria had been murdered and buried in Red Barn). It was her father who found her remains in exact spot predicted in dream.
Lucy visited the Old Vic theatre (or the "Blood Tub") to discuss the "wildly popular" melodramas with the actor William Kirk.. They discussed how a melodrama had to contain coincidences, ghosts, the implausible but that the audience needed to know who the hero and villain were as they enjoyed joining in often shouting catcalls jeering the villain and cheering the heroine.
Two particular activities in this first programme were particularly entertaining the first was Lucy trying her hand at acting. In early Victorian garb she took to the stage and read from the play based on the events. The method of acting and the script itself were laughable by today's standards and it was quite clear how such a performance could take the audience out of itself.
The story being performed at country fairs even before trial
Cathy Haill (of the V&A) discussed the puppet show version and how it would have been exciting to see the puppets and scenery.
Back to the real events Lucy reported how Corder was taken to Bury St Edmund to stand trial on 07 August 1828. At first he pleaded not guilty but he ultimate did confess but said the shooting was an accident. The trial took two days with 35 minutes to find him guilty.
Huge crowd gathered outside gaol when Corder was hanged.
The events did not die with the perpetrator instead they were featured in ale house songs
Lucy's next visit was to The Cock Inn, Polstead where Vic Gammon (Newcastle University) performed a popular song.
And so we reach the second most entertaining moment of the programme - Lucy joins in with enthusiasm!
After a good sing-a-long Vic and Lucy discuss how street ballad singers would have taught others and how such songs were both a delightful reporting of the gory happenings ("Bleeding mangled body") and a "massive public warning" about what happens when you murder some one.
Not long after the murder tourists arrived to see the location and visit Maria Martens grave which has disappeared because stone was chipped away by visitors. Corder's crime led to souvenirs such a snuff boxes made from parts of the barn, the actual pistols used and book whose binding was made from Corder's tanned skin! Even today the village "celebrates" the murder as the separate the story from the reality.
Another 20 years elapsed as Lucy turned her attention to The Bermondsey Horror and activities of- Maria and Frederick Manning who were found guilty of the murder of Patrick O'Connor (who appears to have formed the third side of a love triangle). Maria stole his valuables from O'Connor's lodgings and then disappeared.
Unlike the other murders reviewed on this occasion there as a more formal investigation as the Metropolitan Police had been formed. O'Connor had been reported missing and police constables, searching the Manning's house, noticed that one of flagstones which when lifted were shown to cover body of the missing man.
Modern detective methods meant that the police tracked Maria to Scotland (she had taken a cab to Euston, the a train to Edinburgh) and Frederick to the Channel Islands.
Due to the success in the arrest of the couple meant that public learnt of abilities of the new police force.
Lucy commented on the fact that Maria and Frederick became so popular that 2.5m copies of book about the events were sold - Maria was the most fascinating because of her sex, she was foreign, had been a lady's maid in grand houses and was attractive.
The trial at the Old Bailey led to a number of distinguished individuals visiting the courts including members of the House of Lords and foreign ambassadors.
Frederick was charged with the murder (O'Connor had been shot through the eye and received 17 blows to the head). It was believed to be premeditated as the couple had recently and quick lime
Maria, herself, was charged with aiding her husband but was blamed, by Frederick's barrister, for the crime as she was a "female of loose morals".
After two days the couple were found guilty and Maria turned on the court officials and others ranting about unfairness to foreigners. She was nicknamed the "Lady MacBeth of Bermondsey" and was to inspire Charles Dickens (the basis of the murdered in Bleak House). Dickens watched the couple being hanged on 13 November 1849 from a room overlooking the gaol and although he agreed with sentence he did not like behaviour of crowd.
What this particular murder and the subsequent trial showed was that it was a turning point in the history of crime and that the public sucked up news.
Lucy covers such a lot but in a way that cannot help to be entertaining - even inspiring in an odd sort of way which perhaps proves that we are obsessed with murder whether reality or fiction. Can't wait for part two!
To watch online go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01ftzs2/A_Very_British_Murder_with_Lucy_Worsley_The_New_Taste_for_Blood/
There are only two TV historians who I know are going to entertain me whilst also teaching me a thing or two (just in case your wondering, the other is Michael Wood).
Tonight's first episode of three programmes about crime and the British obsession with this criminal offence was just what I was expecting.
Lucy was as enthusiastic as ever and introduced viewers to our "appetite for sensation" with murder by looking at cases from the 19th century.
The programme started with a very sublime image of Grasmere and the events of 1811. Thomas de Quincy was renting a cottage from William Wordsworth when a young family was murdered in London (the events became known as the Radcliffe Highway Murders). These events shocked the residents of Grasmere, as they did people around the country. de Quincy remarked on impact of reports. For instance, Lucy reads from his report about one lady resident who ensured each night that there were 18 locked doors between herself and any potential intruder.
Timothy Marr and his wife, Cecilia sent their servant, Margaret Jewell, out for oysters one evening but none could be had at such a late hour. On return to the house she found that she was locked out but she heard foot steps and the crying of the baby. No one let her in even at 12:30. The pawnbroker from next door woke up on hearing Margaret's attempt to get in and climbed over the wall to get in - he found the bodies.
Lucy stated that although everyone was horrified about what had happened to the adults all they were interested in was "Where was baby?" He was found in cradle - throat had been slit.
The locals were horrified by the "ultra fiendish nature" of the crime not least because in 1810 there had only been 15 convictions for murder in whole of Britain.
Lucy visited the Marine Police Museum to discuss with Rosalind Crone, lecturer at the Open University about the state of British law enforcement at the time and how before the 1820s policing was at local level - constables were not detectives they were reactive.
To maintain the on-going sensational aspect of the story Lucy reported the sense of community and how thousands paid respect at funeral. Against the background of haunting images of grave stones Lucy commented on the fact that 12 days after this killing it seemed that the murderer had struck again for on the 19 December a resident was seen climbing out of a window of the King's Arms pub shouting 'murder, murder'.
Inside the publican, his wife and servant had been hacked and beaten to death. There was pandemonium. Strangers were picked up for questioning and London Bridge was closed while searches carried out.
An eagle-eyed police officer noticed, on the original murder weapon, the letters JP and it was ascertained that the weapon belonged to a John Peterson, a sailor, from Hamburg ( but he had been away at sea at the time of the killings).
John Williams, another lodger, was suspected because he had access to murder weapon. Before he could be committed for trial Williams hanged himself which was generally believed to proof that he was clearly guilty.
Post mortem sketch of John Williams
On News Year John Williams body went by cart through Wapping. This was a very public display despite the fact that there was little evidence of guilt
When the crowd reached the home of Marr's it paused and, as Lucy reported, a member of crowd turned the corpses head to look a the house as though expecting Williams to be 'aware' of his terrible activities.
Broadsides carried the story and newspaper owners realised that such events could boost circulation - by the time the reports reached Grasmere the story had almost reached mythic propositions. de Quincy, in On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, said that there was a murder club. This satire said that John Williams best of murders!
What was apparent was that the public was consumed by murder.
20 years after murder another murder occurred which popular entertainment showed the growing obsession with events.
On this occasion the scene was the Suffolk village of Polstead and involved a young woman, Maria Marten, her lover, William "Foxy" Corder and Red Barn on the outskirts of the village (the barn got its name because as sun set it was turned the colour of blood and locals thought of it as a place of evil).
The last time anyone saw Maria was on 18 May 1827. For a year Maria's parents thought they had eloped until, in April 1828, the step-mother started to have nightmares (she believed that Maria had been murdered and buried in Red Barn). It was her father who found her remains in exact spot predicted in dream.
Lucy visited the Old Vic theatre (or the "Blood Tub") to discuss the "wildly popular" melodramas with the actor William Kirk.. They discussed how a melodrama had to contain coincidences, ghosts, the implausible but that the audience needed to know who the hero and villain were as they enjoyed joining in often shouting catcalls jeering the villain and cheering the heroine.
Two particular activities in this first programme were particularly entertaining the first was Lucy trying her hand at acting. In early Victorian garb she took to the stage and read from the play based on the events. The method of acting and the script itself were laughable by today's standards and it was quite clear how such a performance could take the audience out of itself.
The story being performed at country fairs even before trial
Cathy Haill (of the V&A) discussed the puppet show version and how it would have been exciting to see the puppets and scenery.
Back to the real events Lucy reported how Corder was taken to Bury St Edmund to stand trial on 07 August 1828. At first he pleaded not guilty but he ultimate did confess but said the shooting was an accident. The trial took two days with 35 minutes to find him guilty.
Huge crowd gathered outside gaol when Corder was hanged.
The events did not die with the perpetrator instead they were featured in ale house songs
Lucy's next visit was to The Cock Inn, Polstead where Vic Gammon (Newcastle University) performed a popular song.
And so we reach the second most entertaining moment of the programme - Lucy joins in with enthusiasm!
After a good sing-a-long Vic and Lucy discuss how street ballad singers would have taught others and how such songs were both a delightful reporting of the gory happenings ("Bleeding mangled body") and a "massive public warning" about what happens when you murder some one.
Not long after the murder tourists arrived to see the location and visit Maria Martens grave which has disappeared because stone was chipped away by visitors. Corder's crime led to souvenirs such a snuff boxes made from parts of the barn, the actual pistols used and book whose binding was made from Corder's tanned skin! Even today the village "celebrates" the murder as the separate the story from the reality.
Another 20 years elapsed as Lucy turned her attention to The Bermondsey Horror and activities of- Maria and Frederick Manning who were found guilty of the murder of Patrick O'Connor (who appears to have formed the third side of a love triangle). Maria stole his valuables from O'Connor's lodgings and then disappeared.
Unlike the other murders reviewed on this occasion there as a more formal investigation as the Metropolitan Police had been formed. O'Connor had been reported missing and police constables, searching the Manning's house, noticed that one of flagstones which when lifted were shown to cover body of the missing man.
Modern detective methods meant that the police tracked Maria to Scotland (she had taken a cab to Euston, the a train to Edinburgh) and Frederick to the Channel Islands.
Due to the success in the arrest of the couple meant that public learnt of abilities of the new police force.
Lucy commented on the fact that Maria and Frederick became so popular that 2.5m copies of book about the events were sold - Maria was the most fascinating because of her sex, she was foreign, had been a lady's maid in grand houses and was attractive.
The trial at the Old Bailey led to a number of distinguished individuals visiting the courts including members of the House of Lords and foreign ambassadors.
Frederick was charged with the murder (O'Connor had been shot through the eye and received 17 blows to the head). It was believed to be premeditated as the couple had recently and quick lime
Maria, herself, was charged with aiding her husband but was blamed, by Frederick's barrister, for the crime as she was a "female of loose morals".
After two days the couple were found guilty and Maria turned on the court officials and others ranting about unfairness to foreigners. She was nicknamed the "Lady MacBeth of Bermondsey" and was to inspire Charles Dickens (the basis of the murdered in Bleak House). Dickens watched the couple being hanged on 13 November 1849 from a room overlooking the gaol and although he agreed with sentence he did not like behaviour of crowd.
What this particular murder and the subsequent trial showed was that it was a turning point in the history of crime and that the public sucked up news.
Lucy covers such a lot but in a way that cannot help to be entertaining - even inspiring in an odd sort of way which perhaps proves that we are obsessed with murder whether reality or fiction. Can't wait for part two!
To watch online go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01ftzs2/A_Very_British_Murder_with_Lucy_Worsley_The_New_Taste_for_Blood/
Friday 20 September 2013
A Weighty Issue
George, the Prince Regent, is often held up as the exception of the age - a man with a huge girth (a waist of some 50 inches by the time of his death) but the Leicestershire gentleman, Daniel Lambert (1770-1809), at over 52 stone at his death in 1809 far exceeded George. Lambert, like his father, was a keeper of a Bridewell or House of Correction in Leicester - he was not the usual type of gaoler and was generally well liked by the prisoners. Like many men of his age he enjoyed his sport being a keen swimmer and excellent rider but seems to have also enjoyed his food.
Whilst this may sound unlikely, it was managed when seven men from the Dengie Hundred (the equivalent to the modern day council) squeezed quite easily into the garment - hence the seven 'hundred' men!" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2008/05/15/fat_man_maldon_feature.shtml)
Lambert and Bright may have been celebrities for their unusual sizes, others were more interested in loosing weight. It is famously reported that Lord Byron followed a variety of 'faddish' diets such as potato and vinegar diet or biscuits and soda water. In the five years between 1806 and 1811 he lost five stone. Beau Brummell reportedly weighed himself on the scales at Berry Bros & Rudd 40 times and lost two stone between 1815 and 1822.
Others had an even more unusual 'diet':
"Each night the Prince's table was a symposium of the usual habitues, a sprinkling of political orators and a posse of little arrogant scribblers, and eccentric men of the world such as the Duke of Norfolk, who was all his life a great friend of Fox. One could meet him at night in the most ambiguous places, sometimes dressed as a clergyman, sometimes as a jockey. He was also a great bibber, and in The Times of February 1794 one reads : "The Duke of Norfolk has had an attack of rabies; he cannot stand the sight of water. His doctors have prescribed him to look only at wine. The Marquis of Bath and Lord Thurlow, who were present at the consultation, have decided to follow the same diet." (Beau Brummell, His Life and Times http://archive.org/stream/beaubrummellhisl012964mbp/beaubrummellhisl012964mbp_djvu.txt)
I'm not sure if there is much consolation in realizing that our ancestors were as equally good at abusing their bodies as we are today!
The Lancaster Gazette and General Advertiser, for Lancashire, Westmorland,
&c. (Lancaster, England), Saturday, July 01, 1809; Issue 420.
19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II.
The "Mr Bright" mentioned in the above obituary was Edward Bright, a candle-maker and grocer, who was known as "the fat man of Maldon". At his death in 1750, at the age of only 29, he left a wife, five children and a memorable weight of over 42 stone. It was said that seven men could fit into his waistcoat - a 'fact' which a month after his death resulted in a wager at the Black Bull pub. This wager stated that "you could fit seven hundred men inside one of Bright's buttoned-up waistcoats.Whilst this may sound unlikely, it was managed when seven men from the Dengie Hundred (the equivalent to the modern day council) squeezed quite easily into the garment - hence the seven 'hundred' men!" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2008/05/15/fat_man_maldon_feature.shtml)
Lambert and Bright may have been celebrities for their unusual sizes, others were more interested in loosing weight. It is famously reported that Lord Byron followed a variety of 'faddish' diets such as potato and vinegar diet or biscuits and soda water. In the five years between 1806 and 1811 he lost five stone. Beau Brummell reportedly weighed himself on the scales at Berry Bros & Rudd 40 times and lost two stone between 1815 and 1822.
Others had an even more unusual 'diet':
"Each night the Prince's table was a symposium of the usual habitues, a sprinkling of political orators and a posse of little arrogant scribblers, and eccentric men of the world such as the Duke of Norfolk, who was all his life a great friend of Fox. One could meet him at night in the most ambiguous places, sometimes dressed as a clergyman, sometimes as a jockey. He was also a great bibber, and in The Times of February 1794 one reads : "The Duke of Norfolk has had an attack of rabies; he cannot stand the sight of water. His doctors have prescribed him to look only at wine. The Marquis of Bath and Lord Thurlow, who were present at the consultation, have decided to follow the same diet." (Beau Brummell, His Life and Times http://archive.org/stream/beaubrummellhisl012964mbp/beaubrummellhisl012964mbp_djvu.txt)
I'm not sure if there is much consolation in realizing that our ancestors were as equally good at abusing their bodies as we are today!
Thursday 19 September 2013
Saturday 7 September 2013
Historical Recipes 1
The Bee : or Literary weekly intelligencer
(May 8, 1793)
(May 8, 1793)
I wonder who the unnamed gentleman was?!
Literary Quotations 1
"Lord Byron is a planet in the great hemisphere of literature." Observations on the Poetical Style of Lord Byron, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register, Sept 1818
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