In Brussels, on 15 November 1902, the Italian anarchist, Gennaro Rubin, attempted to assassinate King Leopold II of Belgium. From a UK perspective, it’s very interesting to see that James Keir Hardie, who was staying in the Hotel Waterloo in Brussels at the time of the assassination attempt, was arrested by the Belgian police – oh, and very quickly released, too! The Midland Daily Telegraph – Monday 17 November 1902 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000337/19021117/026/0003 …
‘The Magna Carta of Motor-Cars’ On 14 November 1896, a new Act of Parliament in the UK ensured that horseless carriages no longer required a man carrying a red flag to walk in front of them. Here is a newspaper story – published on 14 November 1896 – that reports on the legislation that was called ‘The Magna Carta of Motor-Cars’. Grantham Journal – Saturday 14 November 1896 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000400/18961114/094/0007
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Robert Louis Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place in Edinburgh on 13 November 1850. To celebrate the day, here is an early newspaper review (from January 1886) of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – which was published on 5 January 1886. After his death in 1894, the Graphic published a retrospective look at the works of Robert Louis Stevenson and his contribution to literature.
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Elizabeth Gaskell (aka ‘Mrs Gaskell’), author of such classic Victorian and ‘Condition of England’ novels as North and South and Cranford, died in Holybourne, Hampshire, on 12 November 1865 – she was 55. The Illustrated London News did a feature on ‘The Secret of the Author of Cranford‘. To commemorate the day, here is a newspaper tribute to Mrs Gaskell that was published on 18 November 1865. …
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To mark the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we thought we’d post some stories about the 1918 Armistice. In last year’s post about the 1918 Armistice, we highlighted newspaper stories that announced the news of the signing of the Armistice. This time round, we thought we’d post stories about the Armistice just before it was signed – so included below are four Armistice stories published on 9 November 1918. Just for the record, the Armistice fell on a Monday …
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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, army officer, the first President of Turkey and the ‘Father of the Turks’, died on 10 November 1938 – he was 57. Such was Ataturk’s influence pn Turkey that at 9.05am every 10th of November, the people in Turkey pause in silence for a minute to remember Ataturk. Here is a newspaper obituary of Ataturk that was published on 11 November 1938. Aberdeen Press and Journal – Friday 11 November 1938 Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. …
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Hedy Lamarr (aka Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), the Hollywood actress who was billed as the most beautiful woman in the world, was born in Vienna on 9 November 1916. To celebrate the day of her birth, here is a biographical profile of Hedy Lamarr’s life and career. The Evening Telegraph – Saturday 29 July 1950 Image © D.C.Thomson and Co. Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000563/19500729/023/0003
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‘Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour…’ John Milton died at his home in Bunhill, London, on 8 November 1674 – he was 65. To mark the bicentenary of Milton’s death, many Victorian newspapers published articles about the great poet – ahem, almost as if they were anticipating the arrival of a’Who Do You Think You Are? type of newspaper series. In ‘The Standard’ newspaper, we found a terrific article about Milton, including a section on his genealogy. Included …
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There are some fascinating newspaper columns in The Archive. While looking for a story about something else (we can’t remember what it was!), we stumbled upon the ‘Our Weekly Portrait’ feature, which was published in ‘The Western Mail’. The way this column worked was that people would send in a photograph of a person, and a reading of that person’s character would then be published, based on the photograph supplied. Admittedly, this was all done long before people perfected their …
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In the River Mersey on 6 November 1865, the Confederate warship, CSS Shenandoah, surrendered to HMS Donegal. In 1864 and 1865, the ‘Shenandoah’ had sailed around the world, attacking Union merchant vessels. Indeed, the reason why Captain Waddell chose to surrender to the British is that he feared that surrendering to the Union forces would lead to a charge of privacy. The ‘Shenandoah’ is famous for firing the final shot of the American Civil War. Here is a newspaper story …