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Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General
Prime Ministers delves into the premiership's 300 year history and
unearths a host of fascinating, intriguing and little-known facts
about some of the best-known characters in British history, lifting
the lid on the top job. Find out about the Prime Minister who only
lasted 100 days, another who served for 21 years, or how Downing
Street came to be the Premier's residence. Brief, accessible and
entertaining pieces on a wide variety of subjects makes it the
perfect book to dip in to. "The Amazing and Extraordinary Facts
series" presents interesting, surprising and little-known facts and
stories about a wide range of topics which are guaranteed to
inform, absorb and entertain in equal measure.
General Sir Gordon MacMillan's five children decided to write this
life of their father to learn more about what he had done, and so
allow their children and grandchildren to draw inspiration from the
great man from whom they are descended. Fascinating details came to
light about his bravery in the First World War, his successes in
command in the Second World War, his good fortune in surviving
three assassination attempts during the last years of the British
Mandate in Palestine, and his disagreement with Churchill over the
handling of delicate issues in Gibraltar. But this is not just a
tale of a soldier and his military exploits, and of his subsequent
engagement in civilian and Clan activities in Scotland. It is a
story that is placed in the broader family setting within which his
children feel fortunate to have been brought up.
After my last book, "Grandad Boats", I have been asked by a lot of
fishermen to write another. But you only have one life, so you only
have one story. But I have noticed that of all the books on the
subject of fishing that I have read, the type of fishing that was
done with the ropes was almost never mentioned. So with the help of
the men that have been there and done that, I hope that I have now
laid that to rest.
It was about six years ago that I started to put this book
together. Initially, it was the pubs and inns in Crowland - there
were about 32 - so I started to find the landlords from about 1829
to 1913. I found a few pictures of them but not many as most of
them have now disappeared. Then I came across a picture of the
Abbey Hotel and went to see the landlord, who found a picture of
the floods in Crowland. This then set me off on a trail to find out
more about the 1947 floods in and around Crowland. I spent hours in
Peterborough library finding details about the floods. Then I found
some pictures of the floods on e-Bay and was talking to the person
who I purchased them from. He told me he had about 20-30 pictures
of Crowland during the floods. He said he would send them to me on
a disc. Some weeks later it arrived and to my amazement there were
over 80, not only of the flood but of people, parties, carnivals,
events and lots more. So then I started the long trail to put it
all together into a book. Finally, six years later it was finished;
I do hope that it will bring back memories of 1947 to many people
and hopefully that they can remember some of the places and people
in the book.
By bringing evidence from heraldry, DNA and place names to bear and
by insisting on feasible time lines this two volume work (with
accompanying CD) exposes many of the myths which still mask the
origin stories of so many Scottish Clans - and offers far more
interesting, exciting and accurate replacements. The specific
political situations which made the creation of these myths
necessary or desirable are explained. In order to achieve all this
a fresh understanding of the "clan" has been required - and is
provided - and radical theories have been developed regarding
Pictish place names and the origins of heraldry, while the Norse
Sagas have been placed in a new and viable timeframe, with many
contradictions and errors resolved. Shakespeare's "MacDuff" is
identified, as is the Orkneyinga Saga's "Karl Hundisson". To aid
understanding the accompanying CD includes a family tree showing
the inter-relationships of the participants and a library of Google
Earth placemarks allowing the reader to find all the key locations
- many of them quite obscure - effortlessly. Full colour
illustrations of Heraldic arms add to the richness of the
experience while the Bibliography benefits from being "searchable".
The work focuses on the period of the "House of Canmore" dynasty
(and does not extend beyond 1316), but ancestral lines are traced
back, in some cases nearly 1000 years further. The ancestors of the
Siol Alpin clans are discussed in detail back to the year 810.
Names considered in this Volume: Abernethy Bisset Calder Campbell
Chattan Davidson Farquharson Fraser of Lovat Lamont MacArthur
MacBain MacDonald MacDougall MacDowall MacDuff MacGillivray
Macintyre Mackay Mackenzie Mackintosh MacLaren Maclean of
Dochgarroc MacPhail MacQueen Macpherson MacMillan MacSween McThomas
Munro Oliphant Shaw Stewart Wemyss Also examined and explained in a
very new way: Pictish Placenames The Origins of the Clan System The
Origins of Heraldry The early life of St Patrick The History of
Norway, Orkney and Normandy (700-1030) Scottish Politics (800-1057)
Manuscript 1467
By bringing evidence from heraldry, DNA and place names to bear and
by insisting on feasible time lines this two volume work (with
accompanying CD) exposes many of the myths which still mask the
origin stories of so many Scottish Clans - and offers far more
interesting, exciting and accurate replacements. The specific
political situations which made the creation of these myths
necessary or desirable are explained. In order to achieve all this
a fresh understanding of the "clan" has been required - and is
provided - and radical theories have been developed regarding
Pictish place names and the origins of heraldry, while the Norse
Sagas have been placed in a new and viable timeframe, with many
contradictions and errors resolved. Shakespeare's "MacDuff" is
identified, as is the Orkneyinga Saga's "Karl Hundisson". To aid
understanding the accompanying CD includes a family tree showing
the inter-relationships of the participants and a library of Google
Earth placemarks allowing the reader to find all the key locations
- many of them quite obscure - effortlessly. Full colour
illustrations of Heraldic arms add to the richness of the
experience while the Bibliography benefits from being "searchable".
The work focuses on the period of the "House of Canmore" dynasty
(and does not extend beyond 1316), but ancestral lines are traced
back, in some cases nearly 1000 years further. The ancestors of the
Siol Alpin clans are discussed in detail back to the year 810.
Names considered in this Volume: Colquhoun Comyn Crawford Dunbar
Grant Johnston Kirkpatrick Livingston(e) MacGregor MacNab MacAulay
Mack Mackinnon MacFie MacQuarrie Maguire, Duffy (in Ireland)
MacAlpine Maxton Maxwell Mitchell (in Scotland) Moffat
Montalt/Mohaut (in England) Mowat Ruthven
Just who did the British think they were? For much of the last
1,500 years, when the British looked back to their origins they saw
the looming mythological figure of Brutus of Troy. A
great-great-grandson of the love goddess Aphrodite through her
Trojan son Aeneas (the hero of Virgil's Aeneid), Brutus
accidentally killed his father and was exiled to Greece. He
liberated the descendants of the Trojans who lived there in slavery
and led them on an epic voyage to Britain. Landing at Totnes in
Devon, Brutus overthrew the giants who lived in Britain, laid the
foundations of Oxford University and London and sired a long line
of kings, including King Arthur and the ancestors of the present
Royal Family.Invented to give Britain a place in the overarching
mythologies of the Classical world and the Bible, Brutus's story
long underpinned the British identity and played a crucial role in
royal propaganda and foreign policy. His story inspired generations
of poets and playwrights, including Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton,
Pope, Wordsworth, Dickens and Blake, whose hymn 'Jerusalem' was a
direct response to the story of Brutus founding London as the New
Troy in the west.Leading genealogist Anthony Adolph traces Brutus's
story from Roman times onwards, charting his immense popularity and
subsequent fall from grace, along with his lasting legacy in
fiction, pseudo-history and the arcane mythology surrounding some
of London's best-known landmarks, in this groundbreaking biography
of the mythological founder of Britain.
Witchcraft holds a continued fascination for readers around the
world, and the Scottish witch hunts have recently received renewed
media attention, especially with the BBC 2 show Lucy Worsley
Investigates, bringing attention to Edinburgh's witches. Expert
Mary Craig explores the unusual story of Agnes Finnie, a middle
class shopkeeper who lived in the tenements of Edinburgh. After
arrest, most witches were tried within a matter of days but not
Agnes. Her unusual case took months with weeks of deliberation of
the jury. Mary explains why and gives her expert insight into the
political and religious tensions that led to her burning. The book
will interest a variety of readers, academics and non-academics
alike - those interested in witchcraft, British and Scottish
history, religious studies and women's studies. Mary Craig works as
a historian with museums, archives and schools and hosts regular,
well-attended events on the subject of witchcraft in the Scottish
Borders. We expect strong media coverage. The Witches of Scotland
campaign has recently gained traction and the attention of first
minister Nicola Sturgeon, calling for a pardon and apology to those
accused during the witch hunts.
This is the first book on the genesis, impact and reception of the
most-widely read History of England of the early 18th century: Paul
Rapin Thoyras' Histoire d'Angleterre (1724-27). The Histoire and
complementary works (Extraits des Actes de Rymer, 1710-1724;
Dissertation sur les Whigs et les Torys, 1717) gave practical
expression to theorizations of history against Pyrrhonian
postulations by foregrounding an empirical form of history-writing.
Rapin's unprecedented standards of historiographical accuracy
triggered both politically-informed reinterpretations of the
Histoire in partisan newspapers and a multitude of adaptations that
catered to an ever-growing number of readers. Despite a
long-standing assessment as a "standard Whig historian", Rapin
fashioned the impartial persona of a judge-historian, in compliance
with the expectations of the Republic of Letters. His personal
trajectory illuminates how scholars pursued trustworthy knowledge
and how they reconsidered the boundaries of their community in the
face of the booming printing industry and the interconnected growth
of general readership. Rapin's oeuvre provided significant raw
material for Voltaire's and Hume's Enlightenment historiographical
narratives. A comparative foray into their respective different
approaches to history and authorship cautions us against assuming a
direct transition from the Republic of Letters into an
Enlightenment Republic of Letters. To study the diffusion and the
impact of Rapin's works is to understand that empirical
history-writing, defined by its commitment to erudition in the
service of impartiality, coexisted with the histoire philosophique.
This is the life story of Mark Middleton, born in Stamford,
Lincolnshire, in 1841, died in 1883. He was a mail cart driver for
the Royal Mail but had an accident on Peterborough Town Bridge and
after a long illness died in Lincoln Asylum, aged 42. This all
started by reading an article in the local paper by Percy Hall
which was shown to me by Mick Masters from records kept by his late
wife. I contacted Mrs M. Cary. Percy Hall was her father. She
showed me all the documents her father kept on Mark Middleton.
After seeing these I suggested that it should be turned into a
book. Having been given permission in writing and with the consent
of living relatives, I have started to write this book. So this is
the life of Mark Middleton.
1st Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment. A personal memoir of the highs
and the lows following Roy Rees during World War Two, his pre-war
training and activities through to eventual retirement from the
Army in 1946.
Please note this title is suitable for any student studying: Exam
Board: AQA Level: A Level Subject: History First teaching:
September 2015 First exams: June 2017 Retaining all the well-loved
features from the previous editions, The Tudors has been approved
by AQA and matched to the 2015 specifications. With a strong focus
on skills building and exam practice, this book covers in breadth
issues of change, continuity, and cause and consequence in this
period of English history through key questions such as how
effectively did the Tudors develop the powers of the monarchy, and
how did English society and economy change. Its aim is to enable
students to understand and make connections between the six key
themes covered in the specification. Students can further develop
vital skills such as historical interpretations and source analyses
via specially selected sources and extracts. Practice questions and
study tips provide additional support to help familiarize students
with the new exam style questions, and help them achieve their best
in the exam.
This highly praised study traces the province's history from
partition in 1921 to today's peace process. Widely acknowledged as
the best informed academic observers of Northern Irish politics,
the authors look behind the handshakes on the White House lawn and
provide a fascinating insight into history as it unfolds in the
headlines and on news bulletins.
Suffolk has been home to monastic communities since St Felix and St
Fursey founded the first monasteries in the seventh century, and
today the county is home to both awe-inspiring monastic ruins and
living communities of men and women devoted to prayer. This first
complete survey of the monastic history of Suffolk traces the
development of monasticism in the kingdom of East Anglia, its
recovery after Viking destruction, and the flourishing of an
extraordinary variety of communities in medieval Suffolk, ranging
from the immensely powerful Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to tiny
friaries and nunneries. The book examines the impact of the
dissolution of the monasteries and the survival of the monastic
dream, against all odds, in post-Reformation Suffolk. Finally, the
book surveys the revival of religious communities in modern Suffolk
to the present day, and provides a comprehensive gazeteer of all
past and present monasteries in the county.
In 1942, the British Empire won a great military victory
Al-Alamayn, the end of the beginning on Egyptian soil. Yet five
years later, in an ugly, forgotten debate at the Security Council,
the United States led Britain and Egypt to an inconclusive draw.
How did this Imperial weakening come about? The roots lie in the
interaction of British policy, Egyptian politics, and the post-war
international order. Imperial control had rested upon the practice
of intervention using the rivalry between the Palace and the
majority political party, the Wafd. In 1942, and again in 1943 and
1944, British Ambassador Miles Lampson forced Faruq, the King of
Egypt, to put, and keep, Prime Minister Mustaffa Nahhas in power.
But this came at the cost of national aspirations al-Gala
(evacuation of all British forces) and sovereignty over Sudan being
raised as the rallying cries of a frustrated political opposition.
Meanwhile, American (and Soviet) influence grew; and Egypts new
diplomatic instrument, the Arab League, became part of the
political game. Nahhas was dismissed in September 1944. His
successor, Ahmad Mahir, who had been on the Embassys payroll, was
assassinated in 1945. Lampson thus lost control of the game. In
London, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin recognized the need for a
new ambassador and a conciliatory negotiator (Lord Stansgate),
offering full evacuation to Prime Minister Ismail Sidqi. And yet
this compromise also broke down as a result of the unresolved Sudan
question. Intervention was weighed in London, but rejected. The
Egyptians insisted on the 1947 UN debate, which merely produced a
prolonged stalemate indicating Britains Imperial decline. This set
the stage for the Suez debacle of the 1950s, calling an end to
Britains authority at multiple levels.
More than one million immigrants fled the Irish famine for North
America--and more than one hundred thousand of them perished aboard
the "coffin ships" that crossed the Atlantic. But one small ship
never lost a passenger.
"All Standing" recounts the remarkable tale of the "Jeanie
Johnston" and her ingenious crew, whose eleven voyages are the
stuff of legend. Why did these individuals succeed while so many
others failed? And what new lives in America were the ship's
passengers seeking?
In this deeply researched and powerfully told story, acclaimed
author Kathryn Miles re-creates life aboard this amazing vessel,
richly depicting the bravery and defiance of its shipwright,
captain, and doctor--and one Irish family's search for the American
dream.
The 9th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby) was part
of Lord Kitchener's "New Army" made up initially of men from the
north midlands This is their story complete with pictures of many
of the men The 9th Battalion was not an elite force, but a group of
ordinary working men who felt compelled to serve their country but
found themselves in the most extra-ordinary military conflagration
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