George Orwell Sings The Blues

And whilst I was finding the cutting of our late prime minister's first poll-tax victim, I also found this from the late Ray Lowry - his finest work!

George Orwell and the Sheffield Connection

George Orwell in Sheffield

John and Audrey Rushton - A Day To Remember

As the country enters a period of profound mourning and despair at the passing of a former politician, I dragged up this old newspaper cutting which amply demonstrates the sheer misery that a "conviction" politician can cause

John and Audrey Rushton seem to have been airbrushed from history - I can find no on-line mention of John's trial and sentence, and given their ages, in all probability, they are no longer here to witness the death of the person who caused them so much grief and anguish. And of course John may have been the first to be sentenced for the crime of non-pyement but he was by no means the last. 

In fact looking at the last link, it is interesting to note the total lack of support the future Lord Bedwelty gave to his imprisoned colleague. He should hang his head in shame 

Pig Styes for Discharged Soldiers

A sign of things to come

This was reported in the national press on 7th July 1918, but given the lamentable provision of affordable social  housing in Sheffield who is to say that it will not happen again.

I am also going to see if I can get some more information on these two families - it would be interesting to find out their fate

"Sheffield - a city on the move, due to a lack of secure affordable housing.

54% of Sheffield's affordable housing has been lost since 1980! (As of 2010 - and even more has be lost since then!)"

Who Murdered Eleanor Hammerton?

I've just posted an article to the site that I've being meaning to complete for he best part of a year. 

Eleanor was murdered by an  unknown assailant in her draper's shop on Ecclesall Road on Saturday 13th January 1945. It as to be the last unsolved murder in Sheffield until June 1975 when a NCP car park attendant John Wortley was murdered in a city centre car-park 

Th final touch was when I mentioned the case to some-one I met at the Sheffield and District Family History Society AGM a week last Monday (18th March 2013). She kindly searched the records of Ecclesall All Saints Churchyard and located Eleanor's last resting place. And then she  went and took a photograph of the grave

Sheffield & District Family History Society - 18th March 2013

I was invited to give a talk on Monday night at the Sheffield and District Family History Society's Annual General Meeting. It was held at Cemetery Road Baptist Church which I believe is one of Sheffield's ever dwindling band of grade listed buildings

The title of the talk was 

18th March – Sheffield’s Shocking Past
Chris Hobbs recounts some of the most gruesome and grizzly episodes of Victorian Sheffield.

Well Chris Hobbs did not recount episodes from Sheffield's Victorian Past. Instead he recounted just one incident from the era, one incidentally that has not seen the "light of day" since 1869.

It is always a bit of a risk, but by doing the talk this way I was able to bring out the main themes in the book - Sheffield's Shocking Past - and also focus on a particular event and its aftermath. It was, to summarise a demonstration of how I research an article.

The meeting was very well attended with over 80 people in the audience, and at the end of the talk, I received a a very generous round of applause.And what was even nicer was that a few people came up to me at the end of the talk and said that they really enjoyed it. 

I get the impression that most authors who are invited to give talks of this nature tend to give a precis of their book and little else. Well in Sheffield’s Shocking Past there are 61 deaths and to recount all or even a few of them, would far exceed the allocated time.It is far better to construct a talk using original material, and hope by doing this, you "inform and entertain the audience"

At the Eagles Nest - Summer 1976

I came across these photographs the other day - I had not seen them for years. The date back to the summer of 1976 when I went around Europe on an Inter-Rail pass

A much more youthful photo of me and a fine picture of the Eagle's Nest. There is a rather good web-site about the Eagles Nest or The Kehlsteinhaus to give it it's German name. When I visited it the site it was just really a very pleasant cafe with some fantastic views. The views are still there of course but it looks as though the cafe has received a major upgrade, and it has become much more of a major tourist destination with guided tours etc

It is also the highest altitude I've ever been to on foot - a shade over 6,000 feet. Whether or not, I will get higher than this in future is doubtful but you can hope I suppose     

Career Opportunities - Adulterating Charlie

It is not often that a man of my advancing years gets a job offer never mind one that offers high wages and bonuses together with paid leave. I received this rather familar e-mail on Monday from a well known European company
"Good day!

Our company is engaged in sales of pharmaceutical additives. The company is well known all over the world, also in Europe. Therefore, in connection with the expansion of our production market is recruiting staff in your area.

To work needed representatives residing directly in the country, who can speak on native language and necessarily on English.

The main requirements to the applicant as follows:
- Accommodation in Europe
- Knowledge of the English language, as well as all reports and documents we have only English
- Responsibility and sociability
-Knowledge in the field of international bank transfers

Responsibilities:
-Talks with customers
-Control over payments in your area
-Record keeping
-Reports of all news to head office

Job offers:
-High-wage
-Instant bonuses
-Payment of taxes
-Paid leave
-Career

If you are interested, please send your contact details to this email address Dewayne@ecceuropaeu.com

As I fitted all the criteria I decided to go for it as they say. But when I did my background checks I found out  that the company concerned was not just a European one but a world-wide one with particularly strong links to Latin and South America and Asia. And then I realised that the "pharmaceutical additives" were not in fact pharmaceutical but non pharmaceutical. ie they were added to the pharmaceuticals afterwards as I way of keeping costs down and profits up

By this time I was becoming unsure, did I want to spend all my time in front of some weighing scales.on the kitchen table waiting for my new work colleagues to visit me . And the answer was No I did not. And so here I am writing this blog rather than "reporting news to head office" .

The First Bomb To Be Dropped

I've just finished reading "The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in theBath"  by Jane Robins, that centres of the many criminal activities of George Smith. There is much to my surprise a "Sheffield connection" which I will have to research more thoroughly.

But the author does mention in the book a little known event in Dover (Kent) that was the first of its kind ever to happen on the British mainland - the dropping of an aerial bomb from an "aircraft" for want of a better word.

The details are as follows

"The raid on Dover on December 24 1914, the first time a bomb was dropped from the air on England, ...

At around 11 in the morning a single German Taube airplane, flown by Lt. Von Prondzynski, crossed the Channel and arrived over Dover . The pilot pulled a bomb from the cockpit floor, and dangling it over the side of his machine apparently aimed it at Dover Castle , a pretty sizeable target. He missed by 400 yards. Instead of hitting the symbolic castle guarding the coast the bomb landed on a kitchen garden on Leyburne Road. The explosion excavated a crater about four feet deep in the plot, and broke a few windows of the nearby rectory of St James’ Church. And it did claim one casualty, the rectory’s gardener Mr Banks, who had been pruning a tree and was knocked to the ground by the blast. Banks was only bruised and battered, and lived to tell the tale, as did the German pilot who veered off back to Flanders and safety.

In a neat piece of historical symmetry Dover would be the last British town to suffer an air raid just before the Armistice in November 1918 ".

A piece of the shell was mounted and is in the Imperial War Museum with the entry as follows

"Fragment of the first bomb dropped on English soil during the First World War. The bomb, which landed near Dover, at 10.45 a.m. on 24th December 1914, was dropped by a single German aeroplane which then went home. Three days before a German aeroplane had made its appearance above Dover and had dropped two bombs which, aimed presumably at some part of the harbour, had fallen harmlessly into the sea. This fragment was presented to King George V by the Anti-Aircraft Corps, Dover. Nearly 9,000 German bombs of a total weight of 280 tons were dropped on British soil in fifty-one airship and fifty-two aeroplane attacks during the First World War. In all 1,412 people were killed and 3,408 others were wounded as a result of these raids, London suffering more than half of the casualties -670 killed and 1,962 injured."

The future Baron Clegg is telling lies to me

And as I was still feeling very apprehensive after mi Lord Ashdown's demand for money, I then received this e-mail from the future Baron Clegg

"Subject: Letter from the Leader: Five days
From:    "Nick Clegg" <leader@libdems.org.uk>
Date:    Sat, February 23, 2013 11:17 am

Dear Friend,

Five days. That is all we have got left to make sure the people of Eastleigh send Mike Thornton to Westminster as their new MP. Five days to make a difference.

I went back to Eastleigh this week. And each time I visit, I am overwhelmed by the number of volunteers, from all over the country, who are giving up their spare time to come and support our excellent candidate Mike. Our HQ is buzzing with people and among the army of activists you can spot Vince, Shirley, Simon, Kirsty, Tim and Ed and many more.

On Tuesday Mike Thornton and I visited the Rose Bowl cricket ground where, by bringing international matches to the venue, the Lib Dem Council is helping create 500 new jobs and bring millions of pounds of investment
into the local economy.

It's one of the many examples where the Lib Dems on the Council and the Lib Dems in Government are making a difference, creating a stronger economy and a fairer society.

It is a truly amazing campaign being fought by our team and I would like to thank everyone who has supported it so far. But now is not the time to let up. We know that it's going to be tight and we don't take any vote for
granted.

Tax fairness has dominated this campaign. £600 back in people's pockets this April thanks to Liberal Democrats raising the tax-free personal allowance. In Eastleigh, real-terms cuts to council tax every year for the
last ten years. And our ongoing battle to deliver a mansion tax to make sure the wealthiest in Britain pay their fair share in these difficult times. Fairness for all on tax, from national government and from local government: that's the message that's cutting through strongly in Eastleigh and around the country.

I will be back in Eastleigh - more than once! - and I really hope I'll see you there. If you can't make it there are lots of other things you can do to help.

Click here now to either donate
<https://eastleighlibdems.nationbuilder.com/donate> or volunteer
<http://www.eastleighlibdems.org.uk/volunteer> - it's going to be close between Mike and the Conservative - your help will be crucial.

Five days to make a difference. Five days to make sure the Liberal Democrats' voice in Eastleigh, in Westminster and across the country is heard loudly and clearly.

Best wishes, Nick Clegg Leader of the Liberal Democrats 

I am not sure if the future Baron Clegg is telling the truth. When I asked for the £600 that Clegg has promised me in six weeks time to be paid in used tenners, his agent who had the acronym HMRC did not know what I was talking about. Whilst he did acknowledge that this was money I have earned and had taken off me before I saw it, he did give me rather short shrift.I was old that I certainly will NOT be getting £600 of my money in my pocket this April and that's that

I should have known that even in these difficult times I can still rely on the future Baron Clegg to tell lies - it seems to be a problem with his cohorts as well.

"Mi Lord Ashdown is on't ear'ole"

From time to time you get e-mails that beggar description but a couple of weeks ago I received this plea from mi Lord Ashdown

"Subject: Please do this today
From:    "Paddy Ashdown" <internalcomms@libdems.org.uk>
Date:    Tue, February 12, 2013 12:47 pm

Dear Friend,

When we won Eastleigh in 1994, it was a breakthrough for Liberal Democrats. This by-election can be as well.
We have, in Mike Thornton, a fantastic local candidate who can continue
our record of service to Eastleigh. He is also the only candidate who can stop the Conservatives winning.

But, we’ve only got a few more days to win this election.

Keith House, who is running our campaign, will tell you that he knows what
we need to do to win. He’ll also tell you that at the moment he doesn’t have enough money to do it all.

Make a donation to the campaign today and Keith will put it to work right away. <https://eastleighlibdems.nationbuilder.com/donate>

To give you just one example, a donation of £25 today will allow us to contact an extra hundred voters in Eastleigh before the weekend. Only Mike Thornton can beat the Conservatives in this campaign, and cannot afford to lose by a few votes.

Give whatever you can afford today, and you’ll make all the difference.
<https://eastleighlibdems.nationbuilder.com/donate>

Thank you, Paddy"

We'll this mail seems far removed from those sent from my "good friends in Lagos" who on the receipt of my bank account details will transfer funds to it - an arrangement that they assure me will benefit both parties to the transaction.

But mi Lord Ashdown doesn't want a reciprocal arrangement like my friends in Lagos. He wants me to send any amount of money from my bank account to a Mr Keith House (no details given) who will, with my money contact other working people.and ask them to support this group  .

I don't like that sound of that at all. And my fears were heightened when I found out that "Mike Thornton, a fantastic local candidate" has taken the place of someone who is going to prison for lying to everyone about his crimes. And the person who is going to prison is a multi-millionaire that owns seven properties.

I think mi Lord Ashdown would find it more beneficial to ask Mike Thornton's predecessor for some money - he won't be able to use it when he is doin 'time. And being charitable to mi Lord should give some peace of mind whilst he languishes in jail 

John and Mary Shirt - Highfields, Sheffield

JOHN SHIRT appears in the 1851 Census. - John is living with his wife MARY in Barrack Yard in the Highfields area of Sheffield. His occupation is given as Carter. and his place of birth is Barlow, Derbyshire (the same as Mary's)

In February 2013 I went to a Vintage Craft Fair at St Marys Church, Bramall Lane Sheffield. St Marys was the local parish church for the district and I knew that JOHN and MARY were buried there from the burial records

SHIRT John 18 Mar 1853 74 London Rd
SHIRT Mary 21 Jul 1857 76 London Rd

All the gravestones were laid flat many years ago, and in fact some of the graves were removed to make way for "road improvements" But I was surprised to see laid flat on the floor near the door, a memorial to JOHN and MARY

 

MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS - JOHN and MARY SHIRT

I would like to know if John and Mary are still resting in St Mary's or if they were removed in the 1960's. It certainly makes you think!

Fred and May Hemsworth 1942

I received the following e-mail the other day from a researcher who lives in Calgary Alberta Canada

"I was doing some genealogical research on my grandmother, Phyllis Travis, when I came across your beautiful photo of my Auntie May and Uncle Fred Hemsworth's wedding.

My grandmother was raised as May's sister, although she was a cousin, adopted by Elizabeth Travis when her parents died just after the turn of the last century. Phyllis moved to Canada in 1918 and her daughter (my mother) moved to Scotland after WW2 to marry an RAF navigator she had met when he was training in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I was born in Scotland and many of my favourite childhood memories are of visited Auntie May and Uncle Fred in their home in Sheffield.

If you are interested I have several pictures of Fred and May taken in the mid forties to early 1950s. I have forwarded one in a seperate email to you of  the couple emerging from their bomb shelter in the back garden that they sent to my grandmother assuring her they were both well despite the German air raids on the Sheffield steel industry. The picture was taken in early 1942.

And this is the marvelous photo she sent

More information can be found at Fred and May's Page

And the shelter - the following is edited from Wikipedia

"The Anderson shelter was designed in 1938 by William Paterson and Oscar Carl (Karl) Kerrison in response to a request from the Home Office. It was named after Sir John Anderson, then Lord Privy Seal with special responsibility for preparing air-raid precautions immediately prior to the outbreak of World War II, and it was he who then initiated the development of the shelter. After evaluation by Dr David Anderson, Bertram Lawrence Hurst, and Sir Henry Jupp, of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the design was released for production.

Anderson shelters were designed to accommodate up to six people. The main principle of protection was based on curved and straight galvanised corrugated steel panels. Six curved panels were bolted together at the top, so forming the main body of the shelter, three straight sheets on either side, and two more straight panels were fixed to each end, one containing the door—a total of fourteen panels. A small drainage sump was often incorporated in the floor to collect rainwater seeping into the shelter. The shelters were 6 ft (1.8 m) high, 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) wide, and 6 ft 6 in (2 m) long. They were buried 4 ft (1.2 m) deep in the soil and then covered with a minimum of 15 in (0.4 m) of soil above the roof. The earth banks could be planted with vegetables and flowers, that at times could be quite an appealing sight and in this way would become the subject of competitions of the best-planted shelter among householders in the neighbourhood. The internal fitting out of the shelter was left to the owner and so there were wide variations in comfort.

Anderson shelters were issued free to all householders who earned less than £250 a year, and those with a higher income were charged £7. 1.5 million shelters of this type were distributed from February 1939 to the outbreak of war. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

The Anderson shelters performed well under blast and ground shock, because they had good connectivity and ductility, which meant that they could absorb a great deal of energy through plastic deformation without falling apart (This was in marked contrast to other trench shelters which used concrete for the sides and roof, which were inherently unstable when disturbed by the effects of an explosion - if the roof slab lifted, the walls fell in under the static earth pressure; if the walls were pushed in, the roof would be unsupported at one edge and would fall). However, when the pattern of all night alerts became established, it was realised that in winter Anderson shelters were cold damp holes in the ground and often flooded in wet weather, and so their occupancy factor would be poor. This led to the development of the indoor Morrison shelter 

At the end of the war in Europe, households who had received an Anderson shelter were expected to remove their shelters and local authorities began the task of reclaiming the corrugated iron. Householders who wished to keep their Anderson shelter (or more likely the valuable metal) could pay a nominal fee.

Because of the large number made and their robustness, many Anderson shelters still survive. Many were dug up after the war and converted into storage sheds for use in gardens and allotments."

It looks as though Fred and May's Anderson Shelter was certainly up to scratch! 

Richard 111 - Now is the winter of our discontent"

 

 

Astounding news that the body of Richard 111 has been located in a Leicester Car Park  after lying there undisturbed since 1485. And his remains are in a remarkable state of preservation

He was the last English king to die in battle (and the only English king to do so on English soil since Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066). And of course his fame rests on the opening lines of Shakespeare's play Richard 111  

 

"Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York;

And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried".

 

 

 

Personally speaking I would like to see the body re-interred where they found it, after all it had been lying there for nigh on 530 years. But it appears that it is now going to be re-interred in Leicester Cathedral (which is news to me as I never knew that Leicester had a cathedral).

 

But apparently it has and full details of his re-burial can be found with this link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alonzo Hemsworth 1917 - 1941

This concerns my late mum's cousin ALONZO who shared the same christian name as his father and grandfather

Alonzo was a Sapper in the 278 Field Company Royal Engineers but was killed on active service on 23rd February 1941 and is buried in Whiston (St Mary Magdalene) Churchyard, Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

HEMSWORTH, ALONZO
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Sapper Regiment: Royal Engineers Unit : 278 Field Coy.
Date of Death: 23/02/1941
Service No: 1923169 - Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Sec. B. Row 6. Grave 111. Cemetery: WHISTON (ST. MARY MAGDALENE) CHURCHYARD

Rather intriguingly, his death certificate was issued in Rochford, Essex (GRO Ref Death 1941 Hemsworth Alonzo Age 20 Rochford Volume 4a Page 1545). Rochford is on the outskirts of Southend on Sea and saw much activity in the early years of WW2 as it was close to the fighter station RAF Hornchurch and was on the main route the Luftwaffe took to bomb London. Given that Alonzo was a sapper in the Royal Engineers I speculated for many years as to whether or not he was in a bomb disposal squad and a victim of a UXB

In January 2013 I eventually came across information that had eluded me. I was correct in my supposition that Alonzo was in a bomb disposal unit but incorrect about a UXB, it was a landmine. The excellent Rotherham War Memorials site gives the following information

" Alonzo Hemsworth was born in Rotherham in the second quarter of 1917 to Alonzo Hemsworth and Alice May (nee Orgill) of 79 Sandringham Avenue, Whiston.
He enlisted in the Army and was a Sapper in 278 Field Company, Royal Engineers, serial number 1923169. On 23 February 1943 Sapper Hemsworth and another sapper were working in a minefield at Wakering Stairs, when a landmine exploded killing Alonzo Hemsworth and injuring the other sapper who was taken to Shoebury Military Hospital. (Wakering Stairs is on the shoreline of Essex east of Southend-on-Sea.)

And straight after in February 2013 I received the following e-mail

" I have been researching my father's (Harry Falconer) military history - he was in the Royal Engineers 278 Field Coy.

I thought you might be interested in one of our family stories.

Harry was a week late for his marriage to my mother Betty (they eventually married on 7/3/1941) because he was involved in an incident where one of his mates was killed when they were on manoeuvres near Southend. I found a list of incidents in Essex where was based and found the reference to your relative Alonzo Hemsworth being killed on 23/2/1941 and wonder if this was the incident Dad was involved in. Harry died in 2000 but Betty is still going strong at 92 years."

It is probable that Harry was the sapper injured in the accident that cost Alonzo his life.

The Summer of 1937

Following on from my previous post, there is a photograph of the family that was taken in the summer of 1937.

 My mother is 7 years old and is at the front to the left, next to her dad Sid. Behind mum is Sid's older sister Connie holding her son Peter. The lady at the back in the centre is their mother and my great grandmother Mary Anne Hemsworth who had just turned 80!. On the right of the photo is my grandmother Lily who has an arm around her son Jack. The final person on the photo to the right of the photo is Connie's daughter Mary.

And so just another family photo - well not really, inasmuch as this photo was taken at Ashopton in the Derwent Valley, a village that was to be submerged just a few years later to create one of England's largest reservoirs.

The Hemsworth Family - Sheffield

As this is the first post of 2013 may I take this opporunity to wish all my readers health and prosperity in the forthcoming year.

It has been a while since my last blog but I've hardly been slacking - far from it. After the publication of two books in the last year, I have rather a large back log of material to sort out. One of the main items was a scrapbook my late mother kept, in which she stuck family photos going back over a hundred years.

Many of these photographs I had never seen before, but thankfully my mother had labelled most of them and I have been able to tie them in with my reasearch. The problem was the actual scanning. My mother stuck then in a large scrapbbook with glue, and so I was unable to remove them. this meant manipulating each page a number of times until I could scan all the photos on that page.

They then had to be cropped, enhanced etc which took even longer. But the effort has been worth it. I have now started posting some of the photos of my ancestors to the website using

The Marriage of Fred and (Gertrude) May HEMSWORTH

12 Broughton Road Hillsborough Sheffield 1907

as an index. 

 

It is an absolutely fantastic photo of an Edwardian wedding that features the Hemsworth family in their wedding finery

The house was owned/rented by the brides parents John and Elizabeth Travis. The house still stands and a search reveals that the property was last sold in 2005

12 Broughton Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S6 2AS

£139,000     Terraced, Freehold     27 May 2005    
£31,500       Terraced, Freehold     14 May 1999

I have not been to the house which is adjacent to Hillsborough Park but it is on the list!

  

Merry Xmas 2012

I have not received a Xmas card this year from the Liberal Democrats which is a shame as they normally show a seasonal winter scene in Sheffield. It may have something to do with a Liberal Democrat canvasser who I spoke to earlier this year!. The Liberal Democrat party can't seem to get their collective heads around the fact that millions of people regard their continuing support of the Tory Party as an affront to democracy, justice and fairness. 

One look at the result of the recent Rotherham by-election reveals the parlous state of the party

• Sarah Champion (Labour) 9,866 (46.25%, +1.62%)
• Jane Collins (UKIP) 4,648 (21.79%, +15.87%)
• Marlene Guest (BNP) 1,804 (8.46%, -1.96%)
• Yvonne Ridley (Respect) 1,778 (8.34%)
• Simon Wilson (Conservative) 1,157 (5.42%, -11.32%)
• David Wildgoose (English Democrat) 703 (3.30%)
• Simon Copley (Independent) 582 (2.73%, -3.58%)
• Michael Beckett (Liberal Democrat) 451 (2.11%, -13.87%)
• Ralph Dyson (TUSC) 261 (1.22%)
• Paul Dickson (Independent) 51 (0.24%)
• Clint Bristow (Independent) 29 (0.14%)
• Labour majority 5,218 (24.46%)
• 7.13% swing Labour to UKIP
• Turnout: 21,330 (33.63%, -25.37%)

It was the lowest vote ever recorded by a major party in a by-election. It surely shows that the British people have totally turned against "Cleggism" and its diminishing band of adherents.

And so here is an old Xmas card from the 1930's that seems particular applicable at the momnet to the Liberal Democrats and their policies

Merry Xmas  - I don't think so!

  

MEMORIAL TO COASTAL MINE CLEARANCE OFFICERS AND MEN. MUNDESLEY ON SEA, NORFOLK

I've got quite a backlog of material to sort through but came across the following photograph that was taken in July this year. At first it looks like an increasingly desperate attempt by our children to  aquire their inheritance.  But it is in fact a realtively new war memorial that was only commissioned in 2004

 This is from an "Rootsweb" article

"MEMORIAL TO COASTAL MINE CLEARANCE OFFICERS AND MEN. MUNDESLEY ON SEA, NORFOLK.

A new Memorial is to be dedicated on the cliff top at Mundesley-on-Sea, Norfolk on Sunday 2nd May 2004 at 12.00 am. This is to honour all the men who lost their lives towards the end of the second world war and for a number of years afterwards whilst employed on mine clearance on the beaches of Norfolk. Mines had been laid at the early part of the war when there were fears of an invasion. Maps were made of the sites, but during the course of the war, some were lost. Obviously it was not safe to venture onto the beaches while the threat of u.x.b's was still there. So the brave men of the Royal Engineers came to the rescue. At least 26 of these men lost their lives on Norfolk soil.

See
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/NorfolkCoastalMineClearance.html
where we have attempted to identify all the men using CWGC. A number of relatives of the men will be attending the dedication. Do you know of anyone who was involved with this work or relatives of the men? They obviously weren't all Norfolk men - Wales, Scotland, Ireland and many counties of England are mentioned in the Roll Call.

If you should happen to know anyone, please send the information direct to BCashford@aol.com

For a further insight and "discussion" into this memorial see Flickr.

 

The Death of Mr Aldi

I came across the following cutting (29th July 2010) the other day that made me wonder about the human condition. Greater riches than Croesus, and a miserable life!.

Theo Albrecht

The Basil Hicks Lecture

I went to The Basil Hicks Lecture last night which I believe was the 12th to be held since its inception


Synopsis

The First World War was the bloodiest, most destructive conflict in British history. The extremely costly campaigns waged on the Western Front and elsewhere led to the loss of unprecedented numbers of British lives and had a profound emotional impact on the civilian population. The Lecture will look at the mass bereavement caused across the British Empire as a result of the First World War and examine the initially controversial role played by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission in responding to the needs of millions of British subjects in mourning. The work of the Commission in the 21st Century, as the organisation prepares for the centenaries of the milestones of the First World War, will also be explored in detail.

Basil Hicks and the Basil Hicks Lectures

Basil Perrin Hicks

Basil Perrin Hicks, the man in whose memory the Basil Hicks Lectures are given, was the younger son of the University of Sheffield’s founding Vice-Chancellor, Professor William Mitchinson Hicks FRS, and his wife Ellen Perrin. He was educated at Rugby and studied at Hanover and Bonn before entering Trinity College, Cambridge: after graduating in 1914 he studied further in Paris before returning to England on the outbreak of war, joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and received his Commission in September 1914. He went to the Front on 7th August 1915 as a Lieutenant in the 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, and was shot and killed whilst leading his men against the German trenches on the morning of 15th September, the first day of the Battle of Loos. He was one of 380,000 men to fall in the three months of that battle, which moved the German lines back just 1,200 yards – albeit a considerable achievement in its context.

Basil Hicks is commemorated – and pictured – in the Great West Window of St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath, the Outer London suburb which was home to his mother’s family, and by the Lecture series endowed by his parents. Professor and Mrs Hicks originally envisaged that each Lecture should “deal with some aspect of the Great War, either its origins, its conduct or its social and international consequences....”, though in practice a wide range of topics has been covered by the historians, politicians and military men who have given the Lectures since their time. This 2012 Lecture indeed addresses a direct consequence of the War, which by the unprecedented scale of the killing led to the creation of what is now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to honour the Fallen and to care for their remains.

Although I am fairly well-aquainted with the work of the CWGC, it was still an interesting and thought-provoking lecture. The speaker was both concise and lucid, and took the audience through the history and the work of the Commission. 

He was particularly thoughtful on the subject of "repatriation" which aroused fierce passions at the time and still does to this day. All in all a really good lecture.