Historical Info for Historical Fiction Readers discussion

I have started a new folder called History to Tickle Your Fancy. Feel free to add some of the short bits that you have run across, true to life but stranger than fiction. Won't that be fun?

Here's something interesting for my fellow history lovers....

The English sweating sickness was a mysterious and highly virulent disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485. The last outbreak occurred in 1551, after which the disease appears to have simply vanished.... the onset of symptoms were dramatic and sudden, with death occurring within hours. Its cause remains unknown!

How strange that it disappeared! I'm grateful, but I wonder what the cause was. I can't imagine that it was a virus and just disappeared on its own.

I am going to copy this anecdote to a separate thread in the above mentioned section. Thanks for sharing it!

Debra wrote: "How strange that it disappeared! I'm grateful, but I wonder what the cause was. I can't imagine that it was a virus and just disappeared on its own.

I am going to copy this anecdote to a separate ..."

No problem! Found it really interesting so why not share it? :)

A little local history here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lysander...

I was browsing and came across this picture of the miniature fort at Osborne House. Osborne House is a royal residence on the Isle of Wight, built in the Italian style by Prince Albert for his wife Queen Victoria.

It was one of Victoria's favourite residences and it was there that many of her nine children were born. Today the rooms are decorated with many portraits of her children and strange, rather macabre sculptures of their disembodied little baby arms and legs.

Osborne was very much a family residence from the beginning and in the grounds there is a 'Swiss Cottage' in which the royal children and grandchildren used to play house. As a play house it's quite spectacular, especially when you consider that some of Victoria's subjects were living twelve to two rooms in slums where everyone was dying of cholera and other nasties. In fact, much of splendour of Osborne comes along with a bit of chill if you're even slightly aware of the enormous gap between rich and poor in the 19th Century. Similarly the fabulous ivory-decorated Durbar Room, created to celebrate Victoria as Empress of India, can cause some uncomfortable post-colonial squirmings.

However there is nothing quite like the shivers prompted by the sight of this seemingly adorable little toy fort, where Victoria's children and grandchildren played war. Among these children were the future George V of England and his first cousin, Princess Vicki's eldest son, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The two cousins played together as children and then grew up to lead their respective nations through the bloodbath of World War I. If you put something like this in a novel I'm sure reviewers would rightly accuse you the smacking the reader over the head with the foreshadowing stick.

By the time war broke out, Victoria herself was already thirteen years gone. She died at Osborne on the 22nd January 1901, after more than sixty three years on the throne. She is to date the longest reigning British monarch, although looks likely to be pipped to the post in 2015 by her great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth II.

Anna wrote: "A little local history here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lysander...

I was browsing and came across this picture of the miniature fort at Osborne House. Osborne House is a royal resid..."

This was really interesting Anna! Thanks for sharing :)

Hi Anna, chilling it is, about the two playing war as children. Gah!

The Duchess of York has a book out about Osborne House. I enjoyed it immensely. I don't remember anything about the fort, however.

Thanks for sharing!

That was really interesting! I would have never known.

(You can't make this stuff up) Why I love to write about Hong Kong during this period (1850's). As if they didn't have enough trouble facing off with the Chinese they seemed to hate each other more!

THE TIMES OF LONDON:

"...When we last heard of this amiable community, the Governor had run away to seek health or quiet in the Philippines; the Lieutenant-Governor was at issue with Mr. Tarrant, editor of the Friend of China, on account of Mr. Tarrant's persistent accusation that the Lieutenant-Governor had, at some remote period, encouraged or protected his servant in "squeezing" the Chinese; the Attorney-General was suspended for bringing certain charges against the Registrar; the Acting Attorney-General had been worried to death and another was succeeding to his perilous office; the Colonial Secretary was absent; but the Acting Colonial Secretary was undergoing accusations of having, while united in himself the somewhat incongruous duties of a private barrister and Colonial Secretary, given his clients the benefit of his official position and having destroyed papers which compromised a notorious offender; the Colonial Treasurer was being cross-examined in a witness box as to the pressure he had put upon The Daily Press when he had the editor in prison; the Registrar and Protector of Chinese had accumulated upon his head all the accusations that can be reasonably brought against any one man, from piracy on the high seas down to brothel-keeping; the newspaper proprietors were all more or less in prison, or going to prison or going out of prison, on prosecutions by some one or more of the incriminated and incriminating officials; and the Chief Justice was trying an action against the Governor."

Oh my.

I had to read that twice! :D

The Heroine of Matagorda

In historical fiction (including my own) women tend to turn up in the most extraordinary situations and bear heavy responsibilities, to an extent which may seem fanciful to many today, given the idea we have of women’s role being so subservient in the past.

One example is “The Heroine of Matagorda”, a Mrs. Agnes Reston, wife of a sergeant of the Scots Brigade which was responsible for the defence of a small fort of Matagorda, on the approaches to Cadiz, in 1810. She was one of the few women (manly wives of NCOs) who were allowed to follow their husbands, often acting as laundresses, and she refused to leave the fort when the other wives were sent away for safety.

According to Joseph Donaldson, a sergeant of the 94th Regiment who later published his memoirs, Mrs. Reston tore up her linen for bandages and tended the wounded. She carried sandbags for repair of the batteries, and brought ammunition and water to the men at the guns. When she saw a frightened drummer-boy was had been sent to get water for the wounded from a well that was under French fire she exclaimed “The puir bairn is frightened, and no wonder! Gie the bucket to me!” She proceeded to the well and drew water calmly, though no less an authority than General Napier, historian of the Peninsular War, stated that a shot cut through the bucket rope but she recovered it and continued on regardless.

She had a child with her in camp and Donaldson recorded that “I think I see her yet, while the shot and shell were flying thick around her, bending her body to shield her child from danger by the exposure of her own person.

Mrs.Reston went on to die in Glasgow in 1856 at the age of 85. It is shaming to note that after her husband’s discharge some officers proposed her for a pension. The Commander-in-Chief supported her case to the Secretary of War, but he judged he had no funds at his disposal for such a purpose. Civil servants never seem to change.

Not all the women of her time were dancing and flirting with Mr. Darcy – others were serving King and County at the risk of their lives. Mrs.Reston should not be forgotten.

Thanks for sharing that here, Antoine!

Yes, history is full of unsung heroes and surprising incidents of ordinary people rising to heroic levels when needed.

The moderator wrote:

I can't imagine that it was a virus and just disappeared on its own.

We science fiction "types" recognize this as a common SF trope. Viruses mutate and become less virulent - or not virulent at all.

The English Sweating Sickness appears to be an historical example.

Good to know. The same happens with epidemics like polio- though some like to give credit to vaccinations. Thanks!

Just started a series about ancient Spartan women on my blog. Here's a tidbit from my latest post:

Spartan brides cross-dressed and had their heads shaved.

For those who'd like to read the posts, here's the link:

http://sqeries.wordpress.com/category...

Thanks, S.Q... I'll read it at some point. Can't right now.

I came across this article about the nuclear football, the briefcase that controls the US nuclear arsenal. Don't read this if you're easily horrified, but some parts are good for a chuckle. Others are just bewildering.
http://www.hackworth.com/maxim012001....

Do I dare read it? Lol. Thanks, Jim.

Members of the Waffen SS had a small tattoo on the underside of their arm with their blood type. Although this was, in theory supposed to save their life, it didn't bode well when they were taken prisoner.

Ah, Rose, it doesn't sound good.

I like the old story about NY Governor Al Smith visiting the then mayor of NYC "Gentleman Jimmy Walker," to see if he would endorse him for another term. Walker was a bit of a party boy, and Smith was visiting to see if Walker was fulfilling his promise to cut out the partying and get his work done. When Smith arrived, Walker was sleeping off a night of hard partying, and had to be slapped and coffee-ed into shape by his wife, and the Governor received him after waiting some time for his arrival in the living room. Satisfied that Walker was keeping up his end of the bargain, Smith suggested they celebrate with a drink, a suggestion Walker politely refused, and the Governor left. Smith was shortly thereafter in a limousine with a couple of friendly young ladies and a few magnums of champagne, celebrating his getting the Governor's endorsement.