Phoebe
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The Great War, Cause and Effect
On this, the 102nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, I thought I would offer a quick synopsis of the political climate and so forth that led to the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophia, and the ensuing declaration of war. I also wanted to add a few details as to the aftermath, when the guns finally fell silent over four years later. Following a series of deaths in his family, including his son Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 in a double murder/suicide, and the execution of his brother Maximillian in Mexico after his failed attempts at establishing a monarchy with Napoleon…
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Bluecoat Schools and Ragged Schools
As part of my series on the Poor Laws and workhouses of Britain, I thought I would write a short piece on how these affected education of the poorest children of the times. So here we have a piece on poor schools. Following the Dissolution of the monasteries, during the reign of Henry VIII, scant thought was given to the poor of the parish who had often relied on the charity of the abbeys and so on to provide poor relief of varying measures. These charities included, food, shelter, employment, alms and basic care of the sick. In certain areas, a rudimentary education and certain apprenticeships were offered to young…
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Disaster Victims – The Sage Family
In 1910, John Sage, a baker from Peterborough left Britain with his eldest son George then aged 18, and travelled to Canada where they took a room in a house and earned their money working as waiters on board the Pacific Railway. During their time off, they travelled around taking in the sights, eventually travelling to Florida, where John fell in love with Jacksonville. He paid a deposit on a farm with the idea of being a pecan farmer and sent a postcard to his wife Annie, who had remained in England to run their bakery and take care of the other children. John and Annie had married in 1890,…
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Declaration of Independence
Following the outbreak of conflict in response to the Coercive Acts of 1774 and what were perceived as further injustices, a congress was raised by delegates representing each of the 13 states in order to discuss the question of independence from Great Britain for America. Initially, following the outbreak of war in April 1775, the aim was for the re-establishment of their rights as British subjects, however as the conflict carried on, the Americans received word that their hopes of reconciliation at the instigation of their Sovereign, George III, were in vain when he addressed Parliament in October of 1775 denouncing the hopes of the Americans as rebels, and urging…
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A Soldiers Cemetery – John William Streets
Behind that long and lonely trenched line To which men come and go, where brave men die, There is a yet unmarked and unknown shrine, A broken plot, a soldier’s cemetery. There lie the flower of youth, the men who scorn’d To live (so died) when languished Liberty: Across their graves flowerless and unadorned Still scream the shells of each artillery. When war shall cease this lonely unknown spot Of many a pilgrimage will be the end, And flowers will shine in this now barren plot And fame upon it through the years descend: But many a heart upon each simple cross Will hang the grief, the memory of its…
