History | Pete's Favourite Things

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Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Merchant Adventurers Hall York

Posted: August 13, 2018 in History, Medieval History, UK, York
Tags: Merchant Adventurers Hall, York

The Merchant Adventurers hall was built in 1357-61 for the Mystery of Mercers, a guild of merchants from the city. They became involved in shipping woolen and cloth goods from England and returning with cargoes from the destination ports. This trade was primarily with northern Europe, the Baltic countries and Iceland.

The name Merchant Adventurers comes from a charter granted to the guild in 1581.

Photo by Allan Harris (http://www.flickr.com/photos/allan_harris/)

Today the hall is used for weddings and conferences.

Terry’s of York

Posted: August 9, 2018 in History, Post medieval history, UK, York
Tags: Terry's of York, York

The history of Terry’s in York dates back to 1767 when Robert Berry opened his shop in Bootham Bar. In 1823 he was joined by his nephew-in-law Joseph Terry. Two years later Robert died and his son George became a partner, renaming the company Terry and Berry. This partnership lasted only three years and George sold out to Joseph and the company was renamed Terry’s of York. Joseph retired in 1850 and the company passed to his sons. The iconic Terry’s factory was built in York in 1923 in the Art Deco style by Joseph and Noel Terry.

Terrys Factory York

photo by Neil Turner (http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt/)

It was here in 1931 that probably the most famous Terry’s product, the chocolate orange was launched.

photo by John Keogh (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jvk/)

Production at the plant ceased in 2004 and the site is now under redevelopment as a residential, commercial and leisure complex retaining the iconic 1920’s buildings

There is a reconstruction of the original Terry’s chocolate shop in the York castle Museum

Terrys Chocolate Shop (York Castle Museum)

York Castle Museum: Victorian and Georgian Shops (2)

Posted: August 8, 2018 in History, Post medieval history, UK, York
Tags: York, York Castle

Here are some more reconstructed shops from York castle Museum

The Booksellers

The coach office

The country sports and a clothing store

The taxidermist and the scientific instrument shop

The Music seller and the riding equipment shop

Terrys Chocolate Shop

York Castle Museum: Victorian and Georgian Shops (1)

Posted: August 7, 2018 in History, Post medieval history, UK, York
Tags: York, York Castle

One of the major displays within York Castle Museum is a serious of reconstructed streets made up from shopfronts of Victorian and Georgian shops.

The Cavell Van

Posted: August 3, 2018 in History, Trains
Tags: Charles Fryatt, Edith Cavell, Kent and East Sussex railway, Unknown warrior

Reposting this post connected to Edith Cavell which I originally published last year

Van 132, known as the Cavell Van was built in 1919 as a luggage van to run on passenger services on the Chatham and South-Eastern Railway. Within a few weeks of service, it was selected to convey the body of Edith Cavell, a nurse who was working in Brussels at the outbreak of World War I. When the Germans captured Brussels Cavell and a few colleagues were allowed to remain. She became involved in the underground resistance and played an important part in the escape network for British servicemen trapped in Belgium. She was arrested in August 1915 and tried by a German military court. She and 4 others were executed by firing squad on October 12th. In 1919 it was decided that her body should be brought back to the UK and buried in Norwich Cathedral and van 132 played its part by carrying her coffin from Dover to Victoria on 13th-14th May and the newspapers reported that every station along the route was packed with people wanting to pay their respects.

Van 132 was used again on the 4th July for the repatriation of Captain Charles Fryatt, who was master of a merchant ship, who in 1915 was ordered to stop by a German U-Boat. Fryatt refused and attempted to ram the U-boat, which just managed to dive in time. He was captured a year later whilst trying to evacuate refugees from Holland. In July 1916 he was tried for piracy and executed by firing squad. This caused general condemnation not only from the allied nations but also from many neutral countries. His coffin was conveyed across the Channel to Dover and thence by train to Charing Cross on route to Dovercourt in Essex where he was reburied.

Van 132 was to be used again in November 1920 when it was used to carry the body of the ‘unknown warrior’. An unidentified body had been chosen and the coffin bearing the inscription ‘A British Warrior who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918’ was conveyed from Boulogne to Dover, where it was placed into van 132 for the journey to Victoria. The next day it was taken to Westminster Abbey for the burial service in a new memorial to remember all those who had fallen during the war.

Van 132 is on permanent display at the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Peterborough Cathedral: Edith Cavell

Posted: August 2, 2018 in Cambridgeshire, History, UK
Tags: Edith Cavell, Peterborough, Peterborough Cathedral

Reposting the story of Edith Cavell to accompany Wednesday’s post.

Edith Cavell By Bain (Library of Congress) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Edith Cavell was born near Norwich in 1865. As a 19-year-old she attended Laurel Court school, adjacent to Peterborough Cathedral, as a pupil / teacher. Her skill at languages led to her being recommended for a post as a governess in Brussels, Belgium. She stayed for five years, before returning to the UK to nurse her sick father. This led her to consider a change in career and she trained as a nurse at the London Hospital in 1896. In 1907, she returned to Brussels as the matron of a nursing school and when World War I broke out she continued to nurse the sick at the hospitals attached to the school, even when Belgium was occupied by the Germans. She became involved in the resistance movement, helping Allied soldiers escape from occupied Belgium to neutral Holland. In August 1915, she was arrested along with a number of others and after being interrogated and imprisoned for 10 weeks, she was executed on 12 October and buried in an unmarked grave. This harsh treatment of a woman and a nurse received multinational condemnation. In 1919, following the end of the war, her body was exhumed and reburied in Norwich Cathedral.

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The memorial to Edith Cavell in Peterborough Cathedral was set up by students and teachers of Laurel Court school.

The Edith Cavell memorial

In 2009, Princess Elizabeth de Croy, whose grandparents had run the escape network in Belgium, presented the cathedral with a lamp used by the resistance for signalling night-time meetings during World War I. It hangs above the Cavell memorial.

The WWI lamp presented in 2009

See also https://petesfavouritethings.blog/2017/08/28/the-cavell-van/

Norwich Cathedral(5): Edith Cavell

Posted: August 1, 2018 in History, Norfolk, UK
Tags: Edith Cavell, Norwich Cathedral

Edith Cavell was buried outside Norwich Cathedral following the return of her body from Belgium in 1919. To mark the centenary of her death, a new headstone was produced

In addition, a series of paintings depicting her life were commisioned to be displayed inside the cathedral.

Paintings depicting (left to right): Edith at work in Brussels; Arrest and interrogation; her execution and the return of her body to the UK after the end of WW1.

William Tyndale

Posted: July 30, 2018 in History, London, Medieval History, UK
Tags: statues and memorials in London, William Tyndale

William Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire in 1494. He attended Oxford University and obtained a first degree in 1512 and his master’s degree 3 years later. He began studying Theology. In 1517 he moved from Oxford to Cambridge where he remained until 1521. He then took up a post as chaplain and tutor to a family in Gloucestershire, but after 2 years left to travel to London seeking permission to translate the Latin Bible into English. Finding no support in England for his project, he travelled to Wittenberg in Germany where he began working on the translation. The first copies were printed in Antwerp and Worms in 1526 and some of these found their way back to England. Bishop Tunstall obtained some copies and promptly burnt them, although this proved to be a controversial action even amongst those who opposed the translation from Latin. In 1529, Cardinal Wolsey declared that Tyndale was a heretic and the following year Tyndale wrote an essay opposing the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Infuriated, Henry petitioned the Emporer Charles V for Tyndale’s arrest and extradition. Tyndale was eventually arrested in 1535 and put on trial at Vilvoorde near Brussels on a charge of Heresy. It is interesting to note that one person who urged the court for clemency was Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister. Tyndale was found guilty and sentenced to execution. His last words were reported as “Lord, open the eyes of the King of England”. By 1540, Henry had commisioned the production of ‘The Great Bible’ an English language translation to be used in all churches in the new Church of England. Its core source was Tyndale’s translation.