Chester's Bid for City of Culture 2017

Chester has launched its bid to become UK City of Culture in 2017.  You can find out more and show your support for the bid here.

The city is packed with amazing history to explore, such as its Roman amphitheatre and its unique Rows, and I wish it all the best for its bid.
Images: Watergate St, Chester.

Stranger’s Companion in Chester, 4^th edition, c. 1828.

Photo:

The Rows on Bridge St. © Sue Wilkes.

Funeral for a Hero and Prime Minister

Following the news that Lady Thatcher, one of the most divisive prime ministers of modern times, is to receive a ceremonial funeral with military-style honours, I thought it would be interesting to look at the arrangements for the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, who twice served as prime minister.  

Arthur Wellesley, 1^st Duke of Wellington, saved England (and Europe) from Napoleon’s overweening ambition, and survived Waterloo and the Peninsular Wars.  Wellington was England’s darling when he returned from his amazing victory of June 1815, but his political career was dogged by controversy, notably owing to his uncompromising stance on parliamentary reform.  The Great Reform Bill of 1832 was passed despite his opposition, which earned him some boos at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway two years earlier.

At Wellington’s funeral on 18 November 1852, however, there was a massive turnout to see the final journey of one of England’s greatest military commanders.  Thousands of people paid their respects in silence as they watched the procession, which included a soldier from every one of the queen’s regiments.  The hearse was escorted by cavalry, six battalions of infantry, military bands including the Scots Fusilier and Coldstream Guards, nine guns (field artillery), eight guns of horse artillery. Prince Albert was in attendance, too. The huge funeral carriage was the same one used for Lord Nelson’s procession.  Very fittingly, Wellington was laid to rest by Nelson in St Paul’s Cathedral.

The expense of the funeral caused a debate in parliament. You can see some illustrations from the Illustrated London News of Wellington’s funeral here on the Victorian Web.  There’s a full description of the ‘order of proceeding’ of the funeral procession here on Google books.   John Drew's ‘'Biographical Sketch of the Military and Political Career of the Late Duke of Wellington, Including the Most Interesting Particulars of His Death, Lying in State, and Public Funeral’ (1852) describes the day of the funeral, too.

Images:Wellington and Napoleon:.History of England Vol. VII, (London, c. 1868.)
The Edge Hill Tunnel entrance on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Penny Magazine, 31 March 1833. Both images from the author's collection. 

New Book Contract: Regency Spies

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve just signed a new book contract with Pen and Sword for their new Social History imprint!

‘Regency Spies: England's Rebels and Revolutionaries Exposed’ will explore the shadowy world of the network of government spies and agents provocateurs which kept watch on Britain’s underprivileged masses during the Napoleonic wars.  The upper classes feared a replay of the French Revolution on British soil: the threat of an armed insurrection or a French invasion was taken very seriously.  Any hint of sedition was ruthlessly suppressed.

The ‘Great War’ against Napoleon had a devastating effect on the British economy.  Taxation reached record levels to pay for the war, and the poorer classes endured great hardship.  Hunger fuelled riots for cheaper food and Luddite attacks on mill-owners, factories and machinery.

The spy network had some famous successes, like the discoveries of the Despard plot, the Pentrich Rising and the Cato St conspiracy.  Sometimes the government’s efforts descended into high farce, like the ‘Spy Nozy’ affair, in which poets Wordsworth and Coleridge were shadowed by a special agent.  But the stakes were incredibly high: agitators risked the horrors of a traitor’s death if found guilty.

The book will tell the stories of the real conspirators against the government, and the tragedies which befell ordinary folk entrapped by agents provocateurs.  The provisional launch date for ‘Regency Spies’ is mid-to-late 2015.

Images from the Library of Congress British Cartoons collection:

Satire identifying reform with revolution by Cruikshank, 1819. 
‘True reform of Parliament: patriots lighting a revolutionarybonfire in new Palace Yard by Gillray, 1809. Sir Francis Burdett is making a speech and waving a bonnet rouge [cap of liberty] shaped like a fool's cap as Horne Tooke lights on fire a pile of acts and charters, as well as a Bible, with a flaming baton labeled "Sedition" while three creatures add to the flames. James Boswell, Samuel Whitbread, Lord Folkestone, and Henry Clifford add documents to the pile as a mob destroys Parliament in the background.

The Tyrant of Orkney and Shetland

On the remote islands of Orkney and Shetland, Earl Patrick Stewart’s ruined mansions bear witness to his wealth and power.  But nothing could save Patrick when his rapacity brought him into conflict with church and king…

Royal blood ran in Patrick’s veins.  He was the son of Robert Stewart (1533–1593), an illegitimate son of James V and Euphemia Elphinstone. When Robert died in 1593 his son Patrick (1566–1615) took over the earldom.  This haughty tyrant ruled the isles with great cruelty.  The earl used the people of Orkney and Shetland as slave labour ‘without meat, or drink, or hire’ (pay).  They were forced to man Patrick’s boats and ships and were treated like galley slaves. 

Patrick’s splendid castle at Scalloway (1599) was funded by a tax on every ox and sheep in Shetland.  The islanders worked stone in his quarries, carried stone and lime to construct his castles, palaces and park walls, and undertook whatever other jobs he wanted doing. You can find out more about the rule of  'Black Pate' and his downfall in my new feature for Highlander magazine.

Images:

Scalloway Castle, Shetland.  Local tradition says that the mortar for its walls was mixed using human hair, blood and eggs.  © Sue Wilkes.

St Magnus’s Cathedral, Kirkwall. The cathedral steeple was fortified by Patrick Stewart’s son Robert during his rebellion. Black’s Picturesque Tourist of Scotland, (Adam & Charles Black, 188). Nigel Wilkes Collection.