News & Blog Posts Category
Five objects from I object: Ian Hislop’s search for dissent
September 7, 2018 - Richard Moss
Ian Hislop has been on a mission to find stories of dissent, subversion and satire hidden within the vast collections of the British Museum for a new exhibition I object: Ian Hislop’s search for dissent. Showcasing over 100 objects that challenge the official version of events and defy established narratives, the items span three millennia […]
Picton’s home goes under the hammer
August 29, 2018 - The Chairman
I read in today’s Country Life that Lieutenant Sir Thomas Picton’s old home in Carmarthenshire is about to go under the hammer. Iscoed Mansion was bought by Picton in 1804 but sadly now it is something of a ruin. It remained in the Picton family until 1919. Whilst much of the estate has been sold […]
Ireland’s Wellington Monument
August 29, 2018 - The Chairman
A number of the Waterloo Association visited Ireland in August to see the many sites of the 1798 Rebellion which few people have heard of. It so nearly toppled the British Empire and yet little is known. More about this later as the subject fits well into the Age of Revolution. But let us start […]
Early Peterloo medal acquired by People’s History Museum
August 11, 2018 - Richard Moss
A number of commemorative medals were produced following the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, but this one, recently acquired by the People’s History Museum in Manchester, is believed to be one of the earliest. Its closeness to the terrible events of the notorious massacre of August 16 of 1819 when 18 people in a crowd of […]
A smart dressing gown for Napoleon
August 3, 2018 - The Chairman
This fine cloak of Napoleon’s has recently been in the news. It was picked for a special exhibition in Buckingham Palace over the summer. This exhibition marks the Prince of Wales’s 70th Birthday. More details can be found on https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/prince-patron/buckingham-palace The cloak is a magnificent Egyptian-style cloak and was worn by Napoleon the night before the […]
More on Colonel Harris
July 2, 2018 - The Chairman
I have discovered more about Captain Harris whose coateee was recently DNA tested. Having been wounded he was left in the open on the battlefield overnight and was only found by his Brigade Commander, Hussey Vivian and his cousin Clement Wallington. Harris was so weak he could only whistle quietly but this was enough to […]
Captain Cook voyages through The British Library
June 13, 2018 - Richard Moss
The British Library follows the journeys of the man who opened up the world during the Age of Revolution in James Cook: The Voyages Captain James Cook’s name has always been synonymous with exploration and adventure, but even in the 1770s when the American Revolutionary War was underway, such was his fame that none other […]
Stephenson’s Rocket heads back up north to Manchester
June 13, 2018 - Richard Moss
The iconic Stephenson’s Rocket, which was built to run on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first inter-city passenger railway line, will be on display at the Museum of Science and Industry from September 22 2018 until April 21 2019. Rocket secured its place in railway history after winning the Rainhill trials, in 1829. […]
Jeremy Bentham’s papers digitised online
June 13, 2018 - Richard Moss
Some 95,000 images from collections at Univeristy College London and The British Library have been captured in digital form, making them accessible to interested readers around the globe. Bentham is perhaps best known for formulating the ethical theory of utilitarianism: the idea that society should be organised to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest […]
The Surgeon’s Blade: An Amputation at the Hip Joint
June 11, 2018 - Mick Crumplin
In his latest medical blog, Mick Crumplin discusses one of the most difficult and dangerous medical procedures of the Napoleonic wars Sometimes we must marvel at how far human endurance can be stretched. This operation is an extremely stressful one, performed 200 years ago, 31 years before the discovery of anaesthesia. It entailed removal of […]