‘The Ship they called the Mayflower‘: The 16th September 2020 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the departure of the ship, Mayflower, from Plymouth Sound in Devon, England. The ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ were drawn from the Puritan separatists who had set up illegal churches in Lincolnshire and other parts of East Anglia. Threatened with fines and/orContinue reading “Four Hundred Years Ago: The Birth of a ‘New England’ – Trans-Atlantic Separatists & the Language of Dissent.”
Category Archives: European History
Empire, Slavery & Reform; 1783-1858: Black Lives & ‘White’ Colonies.
Britain in the World of 1783 – The Economic Advantages of Empire: In the course of the eighteenth century, Britain became the most prosperous trading nation in the world. Her most serious commercial rival was France. At the beginning of the century both countries held possessions in North America, the West Indies and controlled tradingContinue reading “Empire, Slavery & Reform; 1783-1858: Black Lives & ‘White’ Colonies.”
Bristol, Colston and Colonial Trade, 1580-1780
Foreground: The ‘Drowning’ of Edward Colston, 2020 The heart-breaking, public and blatant murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020 has fuelled a storm of protests across the world. ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests have broken out across Britain and other European countries, where the reckoning has reopened questions about the legacies ofContinue reading “Bristol, Colston and Colonial Trade, 1580-1780”
75 Years Ago – Victory in Europe, May – August 1945: A Summer to Remember.
Death of the Dictator: In his Journal of the War Years, published in 1948, Anthony Weymouth wrote this entry for Tuesday, 1st May: Last night Hitler’s death was announced on the German wireless and, to everyone’s astonishment, his successor is to be Admiral Dönitz. On Saturday last Mussolini was executed by Italian patriots. On SundayContinue reading “75 Years Ago – Victory in Europe, May – August 1945: A Summer to Remember.”
Andrew James 