• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Forgotten History

An Interesting character.

Among the hundreds of thousands of patriots that Poland celebrates for serving in the resistance movement in World War Two there is one black, Nigeria-born man.

Jazz musician August Agboola Browne was in his forties, and had been in Poland for 17 years, when he joined the struggle against Nazi occupation in 1939 - thought to be the only black person in the country to do so. Under the code name "Ali", he fought for his adopted country during the Siege of Warsaw when Germany invaded, and later in the Warsaw Uprising, which ended 76 years ago this month.

Astoundingly, he survived the war in which 94% of the residents of Poland's capital were either killed or displaced, and continued living in the ravaged city until 1956 when he emigrated with his second wife to Britain. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54337607
 
Book report by a former member of this parish. (I can't link it to FB so I'm posting the full text.)

https://www.facebook.com/RichardAlexander5215

Geoffrey Pidgeon "Edgar Harrison : Soldier, - Patriot and Ultra Wireless Operator to Winston Churchill".

This is a story that would make a good film, though I doubt anyone would believe it to be true. Born in South Wales in 1915, Edgar was bright enough to pass the exams to go to grammar school but his parents couldn't afford the expenses. His work started helping out at a railway signal box before and after school. At 13 he started working down the mines.

Aged 14 he sat exams to become an apprentice in the Royal Corps of Signals and passed. The next few years saw him learning the trade, as well learning about the army, riding horses and so forth. After a brief spell as a gunner/ / wireless operator in an armoured car unit he was posted to China at the of 1933 where served until 1938 working the comms at Peking in the British Legation there, communicating with places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, several Chinese cities where the British had an outpost of some sort as well as the Royal Navy commanders and stations in East Asia. And of course with London.
With the renewal of Sino-Japanese war in 1937 things got a little heated and by the end of the year he was homeward bound. More training ensued on his arrival and so in 1940 he was ready for the next step up - he was recruited into SIS (MI6) - section VIII - the comms department, where he was involved in fitting Packard cars for use as part of a secure comms unit which could communicate direct with Bletchley park and send / receive ULTRA traffic. They also built wireless sets for use by agents on the ground.
The next few years were busy with Edgar flying or sailing off to various places : Norway, Belgium, Greece, Crete, setting up wireless stations and then having flee in the face of German advances and be evacuated along with everyone else. He was stranded in Greece with the last detachment of British Army which finally surrendered when they were out of ammunition and had no ships to rescue them. Edgar had other plans - he acquired the use of a rowing boat and set off from mainland Greece for Crete. Fortunately he was picked up by a destroyer and landed in Crete in time to help set up comms there only to be evacuated again after the Germans invaded and overwhelmed the ill-organised defences. (Ironically General Freyberg (O/C Crete) was given the full details of where the Germans were going to attack as the Allies had cracked the German codes and knew their battle plans. For some reason though he wasn't allowed to know the source of the information and so disregarded it. ULTRA was extremely need-to-know, and showing too much advance knowledge of German plans might have alerted them the fact that the Allies could read their ENIGMA traffic.

This time he was evacuated in an orderly manner and ended up in Egypt where he joined the Inter Services Liaison Department (cover name for SIS) in Cairo. Next stop was Yugoslavia. In 1941 after the AXIS powers had invaded Yugoslavia there was a complicated set of wars going on between German and Italian invaders, Serbian resistance fighters (Chetniks) and the Communists under Tito. There were also Croation fascist Ustase fighters involved and numerous unaligned partisan units scattered around the country. The British initially decided to back Mihailovic's Chetniks and Edgar was dispatched to set up secure comms between them and the British. This involved a lot of close calls, dodgy dealing but luck was on his side and eventually having completed his mission he was evacuated.

No rest for the wicked they say, and with Soviet Russia now involved in the war, the Allies agreed to supply all manner of supplies and some comms gear. So off he set again, this time via Iran, up though the Caucasus into the Ukraine, where he set about installing gear into Soviet tanks. His O/C was also high up in SIS - one wonders such people were sent to install wireless gear in tanks ? Anyways the Russians were driven back, taking Edgar with them and he was eventually recalled back to Cairo.

1942 sees Edgar working with the Long Range Desert Patrol Group in North Africa, working out of Kafra Oasis. Thence to Algiers after Operation Torch landings. 1943 sees the Invasion of Sicily and the war in Italy. Soon after the landings Edgar was in operation in Sicily contacting various agents in there and on the mainland and setting up secure comms. Once that was up and running he was ordered back to Algiers and then finally back to Blighty, where he arrived at the end of 1943.

After so much overseas service Edgar had a break for a while, getting involved in the teaching side of Section VIII, training RAF personnel in morse and wireless telegraphy. 1944 saw the D-Day landings and subsequent battle across France, the Low Countries and into Germany. Edgar was involved in setting up the secure mobile comms units for Allied Commanders.

So where does Winston Churchill fit into the story ? Sadly Edgar wasn't able to tell his full story before he died but it's known he provided the secure ULTRA comms for Winston Churchill when he was abroad at various Conferences. Obviously as PM Churchill needed to be kept up to date with what was happening and to be able to have secure comms with London and his Commanders.

The end of the war in Europe was but a brief respite for Edgar as he was soon on his way east, continuing his work with Allied forces fighting Japan until the conflict ended.

After the war Edgar served in the Diplomatic Wireless Service setting up secure comms around the world, eventually retiring in 1975 as the Principal Signals Officer. Sadly about this part of his life we know nothing apart from lists of places he was stationed.
The big shame is that Edgar didn't live long enough to tell more of his life story. But what we have is the story of an ordinary man living an extra-ordinary life.

The book has several appendices which give more background information on topics encountered in the main story, there's a useful reading list, the book is well-illustrated throughout, has an index, glossary etc and is generally well-produced. Well worth reading if you're interested in one of the sides of the war that is rarely mentioned but was crucial in helping win the war.

Image may contain: 2 people, text that says 'EDGAR HARRISON SOLDIER- PATRIOT AND ULTRA WIRELESS OPERATOR TO WINSTON CHURCHILL GEOFFREY PIDGEON'

 
Last edited:
An intriguing tale.

Winston Churchill is often portrayed as the lone voice in the wilderness as World War Two approached - his warnings about the danger posed by Adolf Hitler falling on deaf ears.

But according to Labour MP Chris Bryant, there is another story - the story of a group of gay or bisexual MPs whose opposition to appeasement exposed them to persecution.

He tells their stories in his book, The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler.

Mr Bryant became fascinated by their stories when researching for a book on the history of Parliament.

"Every sentence I read about Jack Macnamara was intriguing," he says of the Conservative MP for Chelmsford 1935-1944. "His researcher was Guy Burgess [later uncovered as a Soviet spy], he went on sex trips to Nazi Germany and he ended up being a colonel in the London Irish Rifles. Who's not going to be intrigued by that sentence?"

As well as Mr Macnamara, Mr Bryant's book documents the lives of MPs including Robert Bernays, Ronnie Cartland (younger brother of the novelist Barbara Cartland), Harold Nicolson and Ronald Tree. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54478753
 
The rotting underwater Victorian ballroom .. beneath the lake of a once lavish Victorian estate built by a flamboyant mining tycoon, a secret awaits…

aballroom001.jpg


aballroom002.jpg


https://www.messynessychic.com/2014...DE9xZ6BFzFZRDizmtdQxv8KiMenJjcvk_Lb4cfWPGnKas
 
Last edited:
Surprising it hasn't leaked water considering it's over 100 years old.
 
I love the way the lower panes look like old televisions. They should be playing ancient episodes of Stingray. Or Jacques Cousteau! :fhtagn:
 
Bones of contention.

Menace to sobriety: When Salvationists fought Skeletons

A young woman, newly married, was knocked to the ground in the English seaside town of Hastings. She was targeted because of her religious beliefs and the clothes she wore, felled by a thrown rock and kicked in the stomach by a mob. She lost an eye. Then later, in hospital, she died from internal injuries.

It was 1882, and Susannah Beaty had become the Salvation Army's first "martyr".

The tail end of the 19th Century saw towns across the south coast of England descend into violence. Dead animals, some set alight, were hurled at passing Salvationists, as were sticks, stones, paint-filled eggs, burning coals and rotten fish. Chamber pots were emptied from upper windows over the heads of men and women below. Thousands of people were injured, some were killed.

The founders of the Salvation Army - originally known as the Christian Mission - William Booth and his wife Catherine, preached and lived out a doctrine of practical Christianity. And a rival force - a ragtag yet violent band calling itself the Skeleton Army - was determined to throw a spanner in the good works.

The rebel group's roots were in the "Bonfire Boys" of towns on the south coast of England - young working-class men who built fires, burned effigies and in some cases, bowled flaming barrels of tar along the streets. They enjoyed nights of revelry and roughhousing, fireworks and fisticuffs and were always unlikely to be attracted to an organisation dedicated to abstinence and cleanliness.

Chris Hare, a historian from Worthing - one of the hotspots of Skeleton activity - says the revolts were the "final violent expression" of traditional working-class festivals and celebrations, such as Bonfire Night and May Day. ...

In response to the "soup, soap, salvation" slogan, Skeleton banners read "beef, beer and bacca". Makeshift uniforms were cobbled together by the Skeletons, and the Salvation bands were drowned out by a cacophony of whistles, horns and drums wielded by Skeletons, who sang their own songs, often with obscene or threatening lyrics. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-54251256
 
"From the beginning of the war, though, Winston County's inhabitants were strongly Unionist. Christopher Sheats, a 22-year old Winston County schoolteacher and ardent Unionist, was elected by an overwhelming majority to represent the county at Alabama's secession convention. There, he refused to sign the secession ordinance. His Unionism later led to his expulsion from the state legislature and his imprisonment for some time under charges of treason."

Really, you can't make this shit up.
 
Erfurter Latrinensturz really sounds like it should be the name of an 80's/90's German industrial music group.

And, come to think of it, The Erfurt Latrine Disaster really should be a Woody Guthrie protest song.
 
A truly terrible tale of injustice.

She caused a disturbance in church, challenging the vicar over an unpaid bill. For that, Mary Frances Heaton was declared insane and sent to a lunatic asylum in 1837.

She never emerged into the world again, spending the last 41 years of her life locked up. But this weekend her life has been acknowledged with a blue plaque to “the tragic patient” unveiled in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It highlights her small collection of needlework samplers, a legacy of her life in stitches.

“She wasn’t mad, she was furious,” said Sarah Cobham who, along with other members of the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project, researched Heaton’s life. “She’s a reminder that women were very quickly assumed insane or hysterical. Mary didn’t stand a chance.” ...

In the asylum, Heaton was subjected to years of “treatments”, including electric shocks to her pelvis, purging concoctions and the ingestion of mercury. Her medical records describe her at various times as wild, flighty, excitable, ungovernable, extravagant, violent and abusive.

Over time, Heaton’s mental and physical health deteriorated. Eventually, after a failed escape attempt and with her spirit broken, she became docile and “took to quietly embroidering her story as a way of preserving her memories,” according to Cobham. On one she stitched the words: “I wish the vicar would submit to arbitration my claim against him for music lessons given to his daughter, regularly, twice a week, during the years 1834 and 1835.” ...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...was-locked-in-asylum-for-calling-vicar-a-liar
 
A truly terrible tale of injustice.

She caused a disturbance in church, challenging the vicar over an unpaid bill. For that, Mary Frances Heaton was declared insane and sent to a lunatic asylum in 1837.

She never emerged into the world again, spending the last 41 years of her life locked up. But this weekend her life has been acknowledged with a blue plaque to “the tragic patient” unveiled in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It highlights her small collection of needlework samplers, a legacy of her life in stitches.

“She wasn’t mad, she was furious,” said Sarah Cobham who, along with other members of the Forgotten Women of Wakefield project, researched Heaton’s life. “She’s a reminder that women were very quickly assumed insane or hysterical. Mary didn’t stand a chance.” ...

In the asylum, Heaton was subjected to years of “treatments”, including electric shocks to her pelvis, purging concoctions and the ingestion of mercury. Her medical records describe her at various times as wild, flighty, excitable, ungovernable, extravagant, violent and abusive.

Over time, Heaton’s mental and physical health deteriorated. Eventually, after a failed escape attempt and with her spirit broken, she became docile and “took to quietly embroidering her story as a way of preserving her memories,” according to Cobham. On one she stitched the words: “I wish the vicar would submit to arbitration my claim against him for music lessons given to his daughter, regularly, twice a week, during the years 1834 and 1835.” ...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...was-locked-in-asylum-for-calling-vicar-a-liar

It's good to know that Ms Heaton's dignity is at last being acknowledged.
When I worked at a Hospital for the Mentally Subnormal (yes, that's what the sign said) in the mid-'70s I met elderly people who had been locked up for similar behaviour years before.

The males were mainly petty criminals - it wasn't a prison, although there was a secure unit for men whose conditions were judged dangerous - and the women were there because of 'moral defectiveness.' This might mean promiscuity, working in prostitution, having a baby outside marriage or even, I was told, having an extramarital affair.

Here are scans of the actual 20th century documentation used to legally confine people on the grounds of their being a 'mental defective'.
(Safe Study More link)
English Mental Health Forms
 
It's good to know that Ms Heaton's dignity is at last being acknowledged.
When I worked at a Hospital for the Mentally Subnormal (yes, that's what the sign said) in the mid-'70s I met elderly people who had been locked up for similar behaviour years before.

The males were mainly petty criminals - it wasn't a prison, although there was a secure unit for men whose conditions were judged dangerous - and the women were there because of 'moral defectiveness.' This might mean promiscuity, working in prostitution, having a baby outside marriage or even, I was told, having an extramarital affair.

Here are scans of the actual 20th century documentation used to legally confine people on the grounds of their being a 'mental defective'.
(Safe Study More link)
English Mental Health Forms
Are people who are locked up under the mental health act still described as being sectioned or isn't that term used anymore?

edit: yes it is
 
Last edited:
Mary Wollstonecraft gets her due at last.

A memorial to the "mother of feminism" is to be unveiled in north London, after a 10-year campaign.

The sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft by artist Maggi Hambling CBE will go on display on Newington Green, Islington, from Tuesday. Born in London in 1759, Wollstonecraft was an 18th Century author and radical who promoted the rights of women. The silvered-bronze sculpture has drawn criticism from some who have queried the inclusion of a naked female figure.

Bee Rowlatt, chair of the Mary on the Green campaign for a statue, said:

"Her ideas changed the world. It took courage to fight for human rights and education for all. But following her early death in childbirth her legacy was buried, in a sustained misogynistic attack. Today we are finally putting this injustice to rights. It's not your average memorial statue at all. It's not of her, it's for her, and the statue draws you in. I hope it sparks a conversation about Wollstonecraft and her extraordinary life." ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54886813
 
Mary Wollstonecraft gets her due at last.

A memorial to the "mother of feminism" is to be unveiled in north London, after a 10-year campaign.

The sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft by artist Maggi Hambling CBE will go on display on Newington Green, Islington, from Tuesday. Born in London in 1759, Wollstonecraft was an 18th Century author and radical who promoted the rights of women. The silvered-bronze sculpture has drawn criticism from some who have queried the inclusion of a naked female figure.

Bee Rowlatt, chair of the Mary on the Green campaign for a statue, said:

"Her ideas changed the world. It took courage to fight for human rights and education for all. But following her early death in childbirth her legacy was buried, in a sustained misogynistic attack. Today we are finally putting this injustice to rights. It's not your average memorial statue at all. It's not of her, it's for her, and the statue draws you in. I hope it sparks a conversation about Wollstonecraft and her extraordinary life." ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54886813


It will be either be damaged/defaced or even stolen within a week. :(
 
Mary Wollstonecraft gets her due at last.

A memorial to the "mother of feminism" is to be unveiled in north London, after a 10-year campaign.

The sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft by artist Maggi Hambling CBE will go on display on Newington Green, Islington, from Tuesday. Born in London in 1759, Wollstonecraft was an 18th Century author and radical who promoted the rights of women. The silvered-bronze sculpture has drawn criticism from some who have queried the inclusion of a naked female figure.

Bee Rowlatt, chair of the Mary on the Green campaign for a statue, said:

"Her ideas changed the world. It took courage to fight for human rights and education for all. But following her early death in childbirth her legacy was buried, in a sustained misogynistic attack. Today we are finally putting this injustice to rights. It's not your average memorial statue at all. It's not of her, it's for her, and the statue draws you in. I hope it sparks a conversation about Wollstonecraft and her extraordinary life." ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54886813

I'll have a look at it today. Having looked her up, it's sited close to where she co-founded a school. I really like a lot of Maggi Hambling's stuff.
 
Back
Top