The Cambridgeshire Family History Society (CFHS) is holding a Family History Fair on Saturday 26 October 2013 at Girton Glebe Primary School (CB3 0PN). Admission to the fair itself is free, with a £2 entry charge for the various lectures that are taking place. http://www.cfhs.org.uk/
Friederich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born in Rocken (near Leipzig) on 15 October 1844. To celebrate the day, here is a delightfully quirky newspaper story about Nietzsche’s first meeting with Wagner, and the angst suffered by the philosopher concerning whether or not his new suit would be ready in time for the historic meeting. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser – Friday 05 July 1907 Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/19070705/221/0014
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On 14 October 1913, 439 miners lost their lives when an explosion occurred at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd. The accident at Senghenydd in 1913 remains the UK’s worst mining disaster. Included below is a newspaper report of the tragedy, and also a photograph of anxious mothers and children waiting for news of their fathers and husbands, as well as a photo showing some members of the rescue party. Also, on 24 May 1901, an explosion in the same mine killed 81 …
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Emilie Charlotte Le Breton (aka Lillie Langtry and ‘Jersey Lily’) was born in Jersey on 13 October 1853. Langtry was one of the most famous artists of the Victorian era, and was also the mistress of the Prince of Wales from 1877 to 1880. Included below are illustrations of Langtry playing Rosalind (in As You Like It) and Miss Hardcastle (in She Stoops to Conquer), and also an advert from 1892 in which she luxuriously (and rather risquely) promotes Pears …
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“Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone” – Edith Cavell The English nurse, Edith Cavell, was executed by a German firing squad on 12 October 1915 – she was 49. A German military court found her guilty of treason, after she had helped Allied soldiers escape from Belgium, which had been occupied by the Germans. Included below are three newspaper stories from October 1915 that report on the execution of Nurse Cavell. Western Daily Press – …
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Sometimes it’s the tiny wee snippets in newspapers that speak volumes. We loved this newspaper story about how the romantically-inclined munition workers (munitionettes ) during World War One put little, romantic notes inside the ammunition cases that were sent to the soldiers at the front. Western Daily Press – Thursday 27 February 1919 Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000264/19190227/048/0006
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In these politically-correct days, one doesn’t hear the term, ‘henpecked husbands’, thrown around very often – indeed, if at all. And even when the term was in vogue, we had no idea that there was a “Henpecked Husbands’ Society” (HHS). So were very struck by this newspaper story which reports on a grand day out that the HHS (Yorkshire Branch) had in Blakedean, Hepstonstall (near Halifax), in 1928. Evening Telegraph – Tuesday 10 April 1928 Image © D.C.Thomson & Co. …
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To celebrate ‘Black History Month’, here is a fascinating newspaper story from 1847 that reports on a visit that the emancipated slave, writer and statesman, Frederick Douglass, made to Britain in 1847. It looked like Douglass would have problems returning to the USA from Liverpool, until the captain of Cunard Ship, ‘Cambria’, proposed a heart-gladdening solution to a thorny problem… Stirling Observer – Thursday 15 April 1847 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000474/18470415/021/0004 Saturday 02 March …
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Charles-Camille Saint-Saens was born in Paris on 9 October 1835. Here’s a delightful interview that the 75-year-old Saint-Saens gave to a newspaper reporter when he visited London in 1904. Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Monday 27 June 1910 Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/19100627/120/0010 Edinburgh Evening News – Thursday 02 June 1904 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/19040602/037/0004
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On the evening of 8 October 1871, the Great Fire of Chicago started to rage through ‘the windy city’, killing hundreds of people and destroying over three square miles of the city over the following two days. The fire began in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O’Leary in Dekoven Street, and it’s rumoured (a rumour started by a newspaper writer) that the cause of the fire was a cow kicking over an oil lantern. Included below is a …