England
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Elizabeth Tudor- the early years
In chess, the pawn is the most expendable piece on the board. It can be put out into danger and thrown away on the slightest whim. However, if the pawn withstands the dangers of the board and makes it across, it becomes a queen- the most powerful piece in the game. Elizabeth Tudor was born into the Royal Family of England, a pawn. Not the hoped for prince her father had moved heaven and earth for, but another daughter. A disappointment to both parents. Nevertheless, King Henry VIII and his new wife Anne Boleyn put a brave face on it. They added an ‘s’ to the birth announcements and threw…
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Margaret Pole
On May 28th 1541 Lady Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury was taken from the Tower, where she had been held without trial and executed on the orders of Henry VIII. Her beheading was a botch job, carried out by a novice headsman and taking eleven blows, not helped by the fact that Margaret allegedly didn’t go quietly, refusing to put her head meekly on the block! Her crime? She had the wrong blood flowing through her veins, her Uncles were Richard III and Edward IV, and her father George Duke of Clarence, so her mere existence fed Henry VIII’s paranoia regarding his father’s tenuous claim to the throne. She followed…
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Amelia Dyer
We are all familiar with Dr Harold Shipman and his reputation of being one of the most prolific serial killers of all time, with an estimated 250 murders to his name. He was not however the UK’s most prolific. Unheard of by most people, is the name Amelia Dyer – Baby farmer. It is estimated that over a 30 year period she killed at least 300 babies, and possibly as many as 400, that had been entrusted into her care. ‘Baby farming’ became a solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy during the latter part of the 19th century. The lack of effective contraception, and the stigma of having a…
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Bite Size- Dr Horace Emmet
In 1889, one Dr Horace Emmet lectured on the secret of eternal youth at Magdalene College, Cambridge - he claimed that, by administering himself the ground testicles of red squirrels by way of injections, he was physically some 30 years younger and could 'visit' his wife daily. However, just eight weeks after his announcement, his wife left him for a younger man and Emmet himself was dead shortly after, from a cerebral haemorrhage.JJ [...]
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Dick Turpin – Stand and Deliver
On the 7th April 1739, notorious highwayman Richard Turpin was hanged for his crimes, most notably horse, cattle and sheep stealing, robbery with violence, and murder at the Knavesmire in York. Turpin was documented to have been born in the Blue Bell Inn, Hempstead, the son of John Turpin who has been accredited with trades including butchery, farming and inn-keeping, and Mary Elizabeth Parmenter in c1705, the fifth out of their six children and as a young man completed an apprenticeship as a butcher, in Whitechapel. He set up in business for himself in the Essex area. Some sources claim that his father had links with smuggling and as a…
