It’s time China got over the Opium War – UnHerd

Take three mid-19th century Asian conflicts: one killed 20 million people, one killed well over 100,000 and a third killed 20,000. Which one, despite being barely noticed by the Chinese government at the time, is the most discussed today and has become emblematic of an historic clash between …

Source: It’s time China got over the Opium War – UnHerd

How a Long-Lost Perfume Got a Second Life After 150 Years Underwater – Atlas Obscura

A team of divers and archaeologists discovered the 19th-century fragrance in a shipwreck off the coast of Bermuda.

AFTER AN INTENSE STORM PUMMELED Bermuda in February 2011, the island’s custodian of historic wrecks  Philippe Max Rouja went to do a coastal survey and spotted a partially exposed bow of a boat. The bow belonged to the Civil War blockade runner Mary Celestia, which was en route to North Carolina’s Confederate forces when it sank in 1864.

Source: How a Long-Lost Perfume Got a Second Life After 150 Years Underwater – Atlas Obscura

First Night Design | Great Rail Restorations with Peter Snow #2 days left!

I meant to write this post two or three weeks ago but I forgot all about it. You have two days only (tonight and tomorrow) to catch up on iPlayer [the UK only] with a programme that ‘stars’ my family’s railway carriage and the writer of this blog!

Episode 2 shows the incredible work done by talented volunteers on restoring our Oldbury carriage which dates from…

via First Night Design | Great Rail Restorations with Peter Snow #2 days left!

On this day: the Black Thursday Bushfires | In Times Gone By…

As depicted by English-born artist William Strutt in 1864.

One of the worst bushfire disasters in recorded Australian history, the Black Thursday…

via On this day: the Black Thursday Bushfires | In Times Gone By…

When Australian women were accidentally given the vote. | In Times Gone By…

Australian suffragettes in London in 1911

In the nineteenth century, in the state of Victoria in Australia, the Electoral Act 1863 was passed. According to the act, “all persons” who ow…

Source: When Australian women were accidentally given the vote. | In Times Gone By…

On this day: a prisoner of war | In Times Gone By…

Treatment of prisoners of war in the United States during the Civil War was often harsh, with prisons on both sides overcrowded, and with very few resources available. Food was scarce and thousands…

Source: On this day: a prisoner of war | In Times Gone By…

On this day: the January Uprising began | In Times Gone By…

A symbolic painting of the aftermath of the uprising.

On the 22nd of January, 1863, people of present-day Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus and Latvia rose up against rule by the Russian Empire.The uprising would last into the following year, and would result in Russia harshly punishing those captured.

Source: On this day: the January Uprising began | In Times Gone By…

On this day: the Great Fire of Brisbane

On the 1^st of December, 1864, a fire swept through Brisbane, in the Australian colony of Queensland.

Dozens of homes were lost, alongside banks, hotels and small businesses. The damage was made worse because there was…

Source: On this day: the Great Fire of Brisbane

From the ECW Archives—A Grand Charge: Emory Upton’s Assault on the Mule Shoe Salient, Part 1

Emerging Civil War

A post war photo of Emory Upton. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

A small group of officers stood at the tree line. To their immediate front, resting across an open field lay fresh mounds of earth—earthworks constructed by the Confederate infantry. Each man studied the ground intently, some conversing in hushed tones.  Others stood silently, chewing on cigars, taking in the scene before them.  Cautiously, as the conversations dissipated they began to make their way back to their own picket line. One man lingered while the others left his side. Emory Upton stood by himself for a few moments, taking a some last mental notes of the enemy lines. Turning his back, he walked steadily to rejoin his comrades.

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