A bit of history

I have always enjoyed history, and read many books about historical events.  I only wiish I'd taken a keener interest in the subject at school, but then again the same could be said about many of my subjects at school.

 

That said, I never think its too late to learn, and reading a good factual account of an event in history or a biography of a historical figure, is always very satisfying.

 

When I do my morning teaching computer skills to some of the local pensioners, we often get talking about their past and I'm always fascinated by their stories of WWII and their lives just after.

 

Well just to help us along here's some things that have happened in the past, on the dates over this weekend.

 

31st May

 

1076 - The execution of Waltheof of Northumbria ends the 'Revolt of the Earls' against Willian the Conqueror

 

1902 - The Second Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging, which gives Britain sovereignty in South Africa

 

1916 -  The Battle of Jutland - the greatest clash between the Royal Navy and the German Imperial Navy - begins

 

1st June

 

1879 - Eugene Napoleon, the last heir to Napoleon's dynasty, is killed fighting for Britain in the Zulu Wars

 

1962 - Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel for orchestrating genocide against the Jewish people

 

1967 - British pop group The Beatles release the groundbreaking album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'



2nd June

 

455 - Rome is captured and brutally sacked by Geiseric the Vandal

 

1780 - The six-day-long Gordon Riots, named after anti-Catholic agitator Lord George Gordon, begin in London

 

3rd June

 

1098 - The First Crusade captures the strategically important city of Antioch after an eight month siege

 

1940 - The last ship of 'Operation Dynamo' leaves Dunkirk, completing the evacuation of 338,226 Allied troops

 

1989 - Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds



I hope that gives you an idea of the diverse range of events that have happened on these days in our past - and thanks to the BBC website for the information.  I'm always amazed at events that I clearly remember, such as Tiananmen Square, which only seem like they happened yesterday but in fact that was 24 years ago.

 

Two events are missing from this list.

 

The first is one which I would hope that everyone here in the UK should remember.  On 2nd June 1953, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey.  This was the first event televised live by the BBC and was watched by an estimated audience of 20 million.



My mother, whose family didn't have a television at the time, recalls that her family were invited to a neighbours, so they could watch the event on TV.  Sadly my grandmother, turned down the offer, and instead my mother spent the day listening to the Coronation on the 'wireless'.

 

The other event is much sadder and happened 100 years ago.  Almost 100,000 people today will attend the horse racing at Epsom, and watch with great excitement one of the biggest horse races in the world, the Derby.

 

100 years ago, as the horses thundered round Tattenham Corner, on the Epsom course, suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, ran on to the course and was knocked down by King George V's colt Anmer.  She died of her injuries 4 days later in a local cottage hospital.



She was quickly established as a martyr for votes for women and a stage-managed funeral in London was attended by large numbers of spectators.

 

Davison was an educated lady.  In 1895, she achieved first class honours in English at Oxford University, but could not graduate as degrees were closed to women.

 

She was also no stranger to brushs with authority.  In 1906, she was sentenced to a month's hard labour for throwing rocks at the chancellor's carriage.  In 1911, she was found hiding in the crypt of the Houses of Parliament on the night of the census, so that she could put it as her address.  And in 1912 she was sentenced to 6 months in Holloway Prison, for setting fire to a pillar box.  Whilst on hunger strike, in prison, she like many other suffragettes, was force fed, a particularly barbaric practice which involved strapping the prisoner in to a chair, forcing a tube down their throat and into their stomach, and then pouring liquified food directly into their stomach.

 

No one really knows what her intentions were at the Derby.  Whether she intended to kill herself for the cause, or if it was simply a public stunt, it gained little support from the press.  Her death confirmed many of the prejudices against giving women the vote, and may even have been counter-productive.  The then Queen's first thoughts were for the horse and jockey, and not the "horrid woman", as she referred to Davison.

 

Women were eventually granted the right to vote on an equal basis as men in 1928.  It always appears to me to have been a dark period in Britian's history.

 

Emily Wilding Davison, isn't forgotten.  There is now a plaque commemorating the event, at Tattenham Corner on the course.  Martin Luther King Jr, mentioned her name as an example of those who fought for equality, and the feminist movements of the 70's picked up her name.

 

It wasn't a great day in history, but it is worth remembering the struggle that went on so that women could vote.