George V’s Coronation 1911 — ‘…hats were waving and everybody was yelling…’ | First Night History

FROM THE ARCHIVE: 22nd June 2014

Coronation portrait by Sir Luke Fildes, 1911

Today, 22 June, in 1911, George V was crowned in Westminster Abbey. My great-aunt, Diana Thomas, née Hoskyns, was ten years old when he came to the throne. Her description of the Coronation …

Source: George V’s Coronation 1911 — ‘…hats were waving and everybody was yelling…’ | First Night History

Balfour Declaration 1. Beware Mythistory | First World War Hidden History

Possibly the most contentious centenary within the First World War was the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. It left in its wake so many controversies and is held to be the root of so much anta…

Source: Balfour Declaration 1. Beware Mythistory | First World War Hidden History

Gibraltar Evacuees in London | London Historians’ Blog

A guest post by Joe Gingell.

In May 1940 the British Government ordered the evacuation of women, children, the elderly and infirm to French Morocco to convert Gibraltar into a fully-fledged fortress…

Source: Gibraltar Evacuees in London | London Historians’ Blog

The Rare Archival Photos Behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ – Atlas Obscura

A crop from the 1924 panorama showing members of the Osage tribe alongside prominent local white businessmen and leaders. COURTESY ARCHIE MASON

One day in 2012, when I was visiting the Osage Nation Museum, in Oklahoma, I saw a panoramic photograph on the wall.

Taken in 1924, the picture showed a…

Source: The Rare Archival Photos Behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ – Atlas Obscura

People with Disabilities in Jane Austen’s England, a Guest Post by Elaine Owen | ReginaJeffers’s Blog

York Vs York: Changing Attitudes in Regency England In April, Elaine Owen shared this piece on Austen Authors. I thought it worthy of a second look.  Jane Austen did not write about disabled people…

Source: People with Disabilities in Jane Austen’s England, a Guest Post by Elaine Owen | ReginaJeffers’s Blog

On this day: the death of a war hero | In Times Gone By…

Only hours after being awarded the French Légion d’honneur, British Lieutenant Reginald Warneford was killed in an aeroplane crash on the 17th of June, 1915. A 1919 painting depicting the moment th…

Source: On this day: the death of a war hero | In Times Gone By…

Haddon Musings’ Feminist Friday – Marie Stopes | Stevie Turner, Indie Author.

Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes was born on 15th October 1880 in Edinburgh.  Her father Henry was a brewer, engineer, architect and palaeontologist, and her mother Charlotte was a Shakespearean scholar and women’s rights campaigner.  Her parents had met at one of the meetings of The British Association for the Advancement of Science.  Marie was taken to the meetings, where she met…

Source: Haddon Musings’ Feminist Friday – Marie Stopes | Stevie Turner, Indie Author.

Tales of a Polish Woman | toritto

Christine Granville, nee Krystyna Skarbek, O.B.E., GM, Croix de Guerre, died tragically on June 15, 1952. She was a Special Operations Executive Agent during the war, celebrated for her daring and …

Source: Tales of a Polish Woman | toritto

The Fastest girl on Earth: Dorothy Levitt was the first British woman racing driver & holder of the world’s first water speed record

In the more austere time when it was unimaginable for a woman to have an opinion, not to mention operating a vehicle, there was an extraordinary lady who rode cars like a boy, set records, learned to fly, and documented all of her experience so she could inspire  women all over the world to pursue their dream as a racing drivers. Dorothy Levitt or “the fastest girl on earth” was the first British…

Source: The Fastest girl on Earth: Dorothy Levitt was the first British woman racing driver & holder of the world’s first water speed record

Romanov rumours and the lonely grave of a mysterious woman in Kent – Flickering Lamps

In a corner of a burial ground in the remote marshland town of Lydd in Kent is a lonely grave, set a little apart from the others.  It is the final resting place of a soldier’s wife –…

Source: Romanov rumours and the lonely grave of a mysterious woman in Kent – Flickering Lamps

The hidden life story of the iconic ‘Migrant Mother’

Florence Owens Thompson with daughters Ruby and Norma.

For decades after the classic photo was taken, the identity of its subject was unknown to the public.

Source: The hidden life story of the iconic ‘Migrant Mother’

Emily Davison and her Blackheath Home | Running Past – 8th June

One of the best known ‘daughters’ of Blackheath was the suffragette Emily Davison, who was born at Roxburgh House, 13 Vanbrugh Park West. She was to die on 8 June 1913 following serious…

Source: Emily Davison and her Blackheath Home | Running Past

May 19, 1944 The Seven Dwarves of Auschwitz – Today in History

Shimson Eizik Ovitz was a Romanian rabbi, a WWI era entertainer, and someone afflicted with pseudoachondroplasia. He was a dwarf. Ovitz fathered 10 children by two normal sized wives, Brana Fruchter and Batia Bertha Husz. Three of them grew to normal height, the other seven…

Source: May 19, 1944, The Seven Dwarves of Auschwitz – Today in History

D-Day | In Times Gone By…

This image – from the 6th of June, 1944 – shows British troops taking part in the iconic Normandy landings of the Second World War. Some 156 000 troops from more than a dozen nations to…

Source: D-Day | In Times Gone By…

Oak Jozef – Wisniowa, Poland – Atlas Obscura

The Oak Jozef, a 650-year-old English Oak in the Wisniowa region of south-east Poland, has long been a Polish symbol of pride. In 1934, its image proudly appeared on the 100-Zloty bill—and that was before it performed one of its most remarkable feats, hiding two Jewish brothers in its trunk during the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II.

Source: Oak Jozef – Wisniowa, Poland – Atlas Obscura