Sign seen on Hefner road, west of May.

I have been trying to get inside Temple Church for some years now. Lat time was in January when the warden assured me it would be open on Saturday, only to find after travelling up from Dover that the door was locked, despite the sign on the door saying it was due to be open.

 

Anyway, all good things come to those that wait.

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

The Temple Church was consecrated in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 10 February 1185 by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

 

The whole Temple community had moved from an earlier site in High Holborn, considered by the 1160s to be too confined. The church was the chapel serving the London headquarters of the Knights Templar, and from them it took its name. The Templars – as the knights were popularly known – were soldier monks.

 

After the success of the First Crusade, the order was founded in Jerusalem in a building on the site of King Solomon’s temple. Their mission was to protect pilgrims travelling to and from the Holy Land, but in order to do this they needed men and money. For more details of the Templars and this early history of the Church, see The Round Church, 1185.

 

The London Temple was the Templars’ headquarters in Great Britain. The Templars’ churches were always built to a circular design to remind them of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, a round, domed building raised over the site of the sepulchre where Jesus was buried. At first, the Templars were liked and respected. St Bernard of Clairvaux became their patron and they gained many privileges from popes and much support from kings.

 

In England, King Henry II was probably present at the consecration of the church; King Henry III favoured them so much that he wished to be buried in their church. As a consequence of this wish, the choir of the church was pulled down and a far larger one built in its place, the choir which we now see. This was consecrated on Ascension Day 1240 in the presence of the king. However, after Henry died it was discovered that he had altered his will, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

 

On 10 February 1185 Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, processed into the Round for the church’s consecration. The King was almost certainly present. A grand church for a grand occasion; for the Round had no such quiet austerity as we see in it today. The walls and grotesque heads were painted: the walls most probably with bands and lozenges of colour. The Round was proudly modern: Heraclius entered through the Norman door to find the first free-standing Purbeck columns ever cut; above them curved in two dimensions Gothic arches rising to the drum. A chancel, some two thirds of the present chancel’s length, stretched to the east. There the Patriach’s procession will have come to rest for Mass. And there the altar stayed. What, then, – on that great day or later – was the function of the Round?

 

Its most important role was played by its shape. Jerusalem lies at the centre of all medieval maps, and was the centre of the crusaders’ world. The most sacred place in this most sacred city was the supposed site of Jesus’ own burial: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here the crusaders inherited a round church. It was the goal of every pilgrim, whose protection was the Templars’ care. This was the building, of all buildings on earth, that must be defended from its enemies.

 

In every round church that the Templars built throughout Europe they recreated the sanctity of this most holy place. Among the knights who would be buried in the Round was the most powerful man of his generation: William the Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (died 1219), adviser to King John and regent to Henry III. His sons’ effigies lie around his own. The Marshal himself (who lies recumbent and still) took the Cross as an old man; his sons (drawing their swords) did not. Their figures lie frozen in stone, forever alert in defence of their father’s long-forgotten cause. Such burial was devoutly to be desired; for to be buried in the Round was to be buried ‘in’ Jerusalem.

 

The Patriarch Heraclius may well have been the most ignorant, licentious and corrupt priest ever to hold his see. Our reports of his character, however, reach us from his enemies. The great Western chronicler of the Crusades, William of Tyre, was for decades Heraclius’ opponent and rival. In 1180 William had (and had been) expected to be appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem. But the king of Jerusalem was swayed by his mother, said to be a mistress of Heraclius – who was duly appointed Patriarch. William himself was honorably reticent in the face of this reverse. His followers were less restrained. ‘Ernoul’ tells (with more indignation, it seems, than accuracy) how his hero William was excommunicated by the new patriarch, went into exile and died at the hands of Heraclius’ own doctor in Rome. William’s narrative was expanded and continued in Old French as L’Estoire d’ Eracles: its story starts with the Emperor Heraclius who recovered the True Cross in 628 – and includes a prophecy that the Cross, secured by one Heraclius, would be lost (as it was) by another.

 

Can anything redeem our Heraclius’ reputation? Far more was at stake on his visit than at first appears. He was in London as part of a larger mission:- King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem was dying. His kingdom was riven by factions and under threat from Saladin. He had drawn up in his will the rules for the succession: if his nephew, due to become the child-king Baldwin V, were to die before the age of ten, a new ruler should be chosen through the arbitration of four potentates: the Pope, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the King of France and Henry II of England. Late in 1184 a deputation headed west from the Kingdom of Jerusalem: Heraclius, the Grand Master of the Templars and the Hospitallers’ Grand Prior. They visited the Pope, Frederick, Philip II Augustus – and finally Henry. The emissaries reached Reading. As credentials they brought the keys of the Tower of David and the Kingdom’s royal standard. According to some English chroniclers, they offered the Kingdom itself to Henry. The incident is hard to analyse. To plead for protection was to offer the power that would make such protection effective. Did that call for the Kingdom itself? The apparent offer of keys and standard may have been misread; for the ambassadors were reworking a performance already presented to Philip of France. (One French chronicler later derides Heraclius: he was offering the keys to any prince he met.) But the Kingdom of Jerusalem was in desperate straits; and behind the pageant may have lain hopes for the subtlest solution of all: to side-step Jerusalem’s factions; and instead to secure one – any one – of Europe’s leaders as king. How strange, to entrust any such delicate mission to the buffoonish Patriarch of myth.

 

The story offered welcome ammunition to Henry II’s enemies. Gerald of Wales, bitterly opposed to the Angevins, sees here the turning-point in Henry’s reign: the king failed to rise to this one supreme test; from then on his own and his sons’ adventures faced ruin. Gerald inherited the topos from an old story with a quite different cast. His new version gave Heraclius a starring role. The Patriarch confronted Henry, Gerald tells us, at Heraclius’ departure from Dover. Here is the king’s last chance. ‘Though all the men of my land,’ said the king, ‘were one body and spoke with one mouth, they would not dare speak to me as you have done.’ ‘Do by me,’ replied Heraclius, ‘as you did by that blessed man Thomas of Canterbury. I had rather be slain by you than by the Saracen, for you are worse than any Saracen.’ ‘I may not leave my land, for my own sons will surely rise against me in my absence.’ ‘No wonder, for from the devil they come and to the devil they shall go.’

 

Gerald’s Heraclius was no coward, and no fool. ‘That blessed man Thomas of Canterbury’ had been killed in 1170. The penance of the four knights who killed him was to serve with the Templars for fourteen years. Henry himself promised to pay for two hundred Templar knights for a year; and in 1172 he undertook to take the Cross himself. Thirteen years had passed. Henry was growing old. Such a vow, undischarged, threatened his immortal soul – as both Heraclius and he knew well. Henry must tread carefully. He summoned a Great Council at Clerkenwell. Surrounded by his advisers, he gave Heraclius his answer: ‘for the good of his realm and the salvation of his own soul’ he declared that he must stay in England. He would provide money instead. Heraclius was unimpressed: ‘We seek a man even without money – but not money without a man.’ Virum appetimus qui pecunia indigeat, non pecuniam quae viro.

 

***

 

Our church’s consecration was deep within the diplomatic labyrinth at whose centre lay the future of Jerusalem. The Templars had come a long way. The Order was founded in 1118-9 by a knight of Champagne, Hugh of Payns, who led a group of his fellow-knights in vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. At their foundation they were deeply suspect: it was unnatural for one man to be soldier and monk together. A handful of such ambivalent knights had little chance, it might seem, of attracting support. In the twelfth century the significance of their seal was well known: Matthew Paris, monk of St Albans, explained that the two knights on one horse recalled their lack of horses and poor beginnings.

 

In Champagne and Burgundy lay the Order’s origin and the seed of its success. Over the course of fifty years a star-burst of spiritual energy illumined all of Europe; and its centre lay in a small area of eastern France. Hugh’s town of Payns was near Troyes, the local city of one Robert, who became a Cluniac monk. In 1075 this Robert, already an abbot, left his monastery with a group of hermits to found a new house: at Molesme. The list of those influenced by Robert and his houses reads as a roll-call of Europe’s spiritual leaders. There was Bruno, who lived briefly as a hermit near Molesme before establishing the most ascetic of all houses, La Grande Chartreuse; Bruno had already been master to Odo, who later became Pope Urban II and preached the First Crusade. When Robert moved again, in search of a yet more rigorous life, he took with him Stephen Harding, later Archbishop of Canterbury. They set up their house at Citeaux.

 

Harding would in time become abbot. The rigour of the house made it few friends among the local nobility. Its future was uncertain. And then arrived as remarkable a monk as any of that remarkable age: Bernard. He spent three years at Citeaux before a local lord, Hugh Count of Champagne, gave him in 1116 an area of inhospitable woodland well to the north, back in the neighbourhood of Payns. It was known as the Valley of Gall. Bernard gave it a new name: Clairvaux, the Valley of Light.

 

Bernard secured single-handed the Templars’ future. Hugh of Champagne became a Templar; so did Bernard’s own uncle Andrew. The Templars’ constitution, the Rule, shows all the marks of Bernard’s influence; at the Council of Troyes in 1129 he spoke up for the Order; and, most influential support of all, at the repeated request of Hugh of Payns Bernard wrote In Praise of the New Knighthood.

 

The New Knighthood’s first half is well-known: in a text advising and praising and warning the knights, Bernard speaks as well to their critics. He is under no illusions: Europe was as glad to be rid of these warring knights as the Holy Land (in Bernard’s eyes) was glad to see them; their army could be a force for good – or for lawless violence. In the tract’s second half Bernard turns to the Holy Land and to Jerusalem itself. Here was his sharpest spur to the pilgrims’ understanding and to the Templars’ own.

Bernard reads Jerusalem itself like a book. In the tradition of Cassian’s fourfold reading of scripture, dominant throughout the Middle Ages, Bernard saw beneath the appearance of the city’s famous sites a far more important spiritual meaning. The land itself invited such a reading:- Bethlehem, ‘house of bread’, was the town where the living bread was first manifest. The ox and ass ate their food at the manger; we must discern there, by contrast, our spiritual food, and not chomp vainly at the Word’s ‘literal’ nourishment. Next, Nazareth, meaning ‘flower’: Bernard reminds us of those who were misled by the odour of flowers into missing the fruit.

And so to Jerusalem itself:- To descend from the Order’s headquarters on the Temple Mount across the Valley of Josaphat and up the Mount of Olives opposite, – this was itself an allegory for the dread of God’s judgement and our joy at receiving his mercy. The House of Martha, Mary and Lazarus offers a moral: the virtue of obedience and the fruits of penance. And above all: in the Holy Sepulchre itself the knight should be raised up to thoughts of Christ’s death and of the freedom from death that it had won for his people: ‘The death of Christ is the death of my death.’ Bernard draws on Paul’s famous account of baptism, and finds in the pilgrims’ weariness the process of their necessary ‘dying’: ‘For we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, so we shall be also in the likeness of the resurrection. How sweet it is for pilgrims after the great weariness of a long journey, after so many dangers of land and sea, there to rest at last where they know their Lord has rested!’

 

***

 

The Temple Church is now famous as a backwater, a welcome place of calm. The tides of history have shifted; their currents have dug deep channels far from our own Round Church. It was not always so. The effigies of the Marshal and his sons bear telling witness to the Temple’s role in the court’s and nation’s life. In the 16th century the chronicler Stow described the Templars’ seal. The story of their poverty was by then forgotten or incredible. Stow saw rather an emblem of Charity: a knight on horseback takes a fellow Christian out of danger. Perhaps there had always been romance in that picture of knights sharing a horse. The Order’s Rule, after all, allowed each knight three horses and a squire.

 

The effigies testify as well to a rich ‘reading’ of Jerusalem. The New Knighthood is double-edged: all that Bernard writes in praise of Jerusalem frees the faithful from the need to travel there: it is the spiritual sense of the city that matters – a sense as readily grasped at home. To find ‘Jerusalem’, as Bernard would have it, the faithful should rather come to Clairvaux, and not just on pilgrimage. So resolute a reading was hard to sustain. Bernard might detach Jerusalem from the benefits its contemplation could bring; but those around him sooner attached Jerusalem’s blessings to such places as fostered its contemplation.

 

Our effigies seem to us frozen in stone, their figures forever poised to fight battles that ended 700 years ago. But these knights’ eyes are open. They are all portrayed in their early thirties, the age at which Christ died and at which the dead will rise on his return. The effigies are not memorials of what has long since been and gone; they speak of what is yet to come, of these once and future knights who are poised to hear Christ’s summons and to spring again to war.

 

By 1145 the Templars themselves wore white robes with red crosses. White was linked with more than purity. In the Book of Revelation the martyrs of Christ, clad in white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7.14), are those who will be called to life at the ‘first resurrection’. For a millennium they will reign with Christ; at its end Satan will lead all the nations of the earth against ‘the beloved city’ (Rev 20.9). The final battle will be in Jerusalem. Our knights have good reason to draw their swords. For buried in ‘Jerusalem’, in Jerusalem they shall rise to join the Templars in the martyrs’ white and red. Here in the Temple, in our replica of the Sepulchre itself, the knights are waiting for their call to life, to arms and to the last, climactic defence of their most sacred place on earth.

 

Little more than fifty years after the consecration of the chancel, the Templars fell on evil times. The Holy Land was recaptured by the Saracens and so their work came to an end. The wealth they had accumulated made them the target of envious enemies, and in 1307, at the instigation of Philip IV King of France, the Order was abolished by the Pope. The papal decree was obeyed in England and King Edward II took control of the London Temple.

 

Eventually he gave it to the Order of St John – the Knights Hospitaller – who had always worked with the Templars. At the time, the lawyers were looking for a home in London in order to attend the royal courts in Westminster. So the Temple was rented to two colleges of lawyers, who came to be identified as the Inner and Middle Temples. The two colleges shared the use of the church. In this way, the Temple Church became the “college chapel” of those two societies and continues to be maintained by them to the present day.

 

It was King Henry VIII who brought about the next change in the church. In 1540 he abolished the Hospitallers and confiscated their property. The Temple again belonged to the Crown. It was then for Henry to provide a priest for the church, to whom he gave the title ‘Master of the Temple’.

 

‘Be of good comfort,’ said Hooker: ‘we have to do with a merciful God, rather to make the best of that little which we hold well; and not with a captious sophister who gathers the worst out of every thing in which we err.’

 

Richard Hooker was appointed Master of the Temple in 1585. England was in alarm. The threat from Catholic Europe had revived: there had been rebellion against the Queen and Settlement in 1569; in 1570 the Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth and declared her subjects free from their allegiance; Mary Queen of Scots was linked with ever further conspiracy against her cousin; and the danger of Spanish invasion was growing.

 

England’s radical reformers were convinced: England’s only hope of spiritual and political safety lay in the example of Calvin’s godly state, Geneva. The ‘head and neck’ of English Calvinism were Thomas Cartwright and Walter Travers. Since 1581 Travers had been the Reader (lecturer) of the Temple. In 1584 the Privy Council ordered the Inner Temple to continue his stipend ‘for his public labours and pains taken against the common adversaries, impugners of the state and the authorities under her Majesty’s gracious government.’ Hooker and Travers were to be colleagues. Their differences soon became clear. To recover the purity of the primitive church, Travers would be rid of all that intervened and would forge the English church anew. Hooker was steeped in classical and medieval thought; saw the roots of his own (and Travers’) understanding in Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas and Calvin himself; and acknowledged –even valued – the differences to which such a rich tradition could give rise: ‘Be it that Peter has one interpretation, and Apollos has another; that Paul is of this mind, and Barnabas of that. If this offend you, the fault is yours.’ As then, so now: ‘Carry peaceable minds, and you may have comfort by this variety.’ When Hooker carefully and bravely explored the possibility that individual Catholics could be saved, the scene was set for the most famous public debated of the day. ‘Surely I must confess unto you,’ said Hooker: ‘if it be an error to think that God may be merciful to save men, even when they err, my greatest comfort is my error. Were it not for the love I bear unto this “error”, I would neither wish to speak nor to live.’

 

We hear of Hooker’s preaching at the Temple: ‘his voice was low, stature little, gesture none at all, standing stone still in the pulpit, as if the posture of his body were the emblem of his mind, immovable in his opinions. Where his eye was left fixed at the beginning, it was found fixed at the end of the sermon. …The doctrine he delivered had nothing but itself to garnish it.’ Travers, by contrast, was a natural orator, and he was himself a distinguished thinker; he later became the first Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. Hooker held his ground and deepened his reasoning. It was to disclose and offer the comfort of faith that he spoke: ‘Have the sons of God a father careless whether they sink or swim?’ The Temple sermons that survive stress the simple conditions of salvation: ‘Infidelity, extreme despair, hatred of God and all godliness, obduration in sin – cannot stand where there is the least spark of faith, hope, love or sanctity; even as cold in the lowest degree cannot be where heat in the first degree is found.’

 

The debate was brought to an end by Archbishop Whitgift: In March 1586 Travers was forbidden to preach. In 1591 Hooker resigned, and was appointed vicar of Bishopsbourne in Kent. Here he developed his thought in his masterpiece, Ecclesiastical Polity, the foundational – and still, perhaps, the most important – exploration of doctrine in the history of the Anglican church. Hooker elaborated a theory of law based on the ‘absolute’ fundamental of natural law: this is the expression of God’s supreme reason and governs all civil and ecclesiastical polity. ‘Of Law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world: all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power: both angels and men and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy.’ Hooker’s influence has pervaded English thought ever since. He was admired by Laud and by the puritan Baxter, extolled by the Restoration bishops, and brought once more to prominence by Keble and the Oxford Movement; he has now been rediscovered (in a recent monograph by Richard Atkinson) within the modern evangelical church. His reach has extended far beyond theologians. Ecclesiastical Polity was the starting-point for Clarendon’s History and seminal for Locke’s philosophy; its self-critical balance touched Andrew Marvell; and Samuel Pepys read it at the recommendation of a friend who declared it ‘the best book, and the only one that made him a Christian.’

   

THE BATTLE OF THE PULPIT

In 1585 the Master of the Temple, Richard Alvey, died. His deputy – the Reader, Walter Travers – expected to be promoted, but Queen Elizabeth I and her advisers regarded his views as too Calvinist, and Travers was passed over.

 

Instead a new Master, Richard Hooker, was appointed from Exeter College, Oxford. On Hooker’s arrival, a unique situation arose. Each Sunday morning he would preach his sermon; each Sunday afternoon Travers would contradict him. People came to call it the Battle of the Pulpit, saying mischievously that Canterbury was preached in the morning and Geneva in the afternoon. There was a lasting result of all this: Hooker published his teaching as Ecclesiastical Polity and came to be recognised as the founding father of Anglican theology.

 

By the end of the 16th century, the two Inns of Court had erected many fine buildings at the Temple, yet their position as tenants was not a secure one. In order to protect what they had built up from any future whims of the Crown, they petitioned King James I for a more satisfactory arrangement. On 13 August 1608 the King granted the two Inns a Royal Charter giving them use of the Temple in perpetuity.

 

One condition of this was that the Inns must maintain the church. The Temple and the church are still governed by that charter. In gratitude, the Inns gave King James a fine gold cup. Some years later, in the Civil war, his son Charles I needed funds to keep his army in the field. The cup was sold in Holland and has never been traced.

 

In February 1683, the treasurers of the two Societies of the Temple commissioned an organ from each of the two leading organ builders of the time, Bernhard Smith (1630-1708) and Renatus Harris (1652-1708). The organs were to be installed in the halls of the Middle and Inner Temple, to enable them to be played and judged. Smith was annoyed to discover that Harris was also invited to compete for the contract; he was under the impression that the job had already been offered to him. Smith petitioned the treasurers and won permission to erect his instrument in the church instead of in one of the halls. It was set on a screen which divided the round from the quire. This advantage was short-lived as Harris sought and obtained approval to place his organ at the opposite end of the church, to the south side of the communion table. It is thought that both organs were completed by May 1684.

 

Harris and Smith engaged the finest organists to show off their respective instruments and were put to great expense as the competition intensified and each instrument became more.

 

In 1841 the church was again restored, by Smirke and Burton, the walls and ceiling being decorated in the high Victorian Gothic style. The object of this was to bring the church back to its original appearance, for it would have been brightly decorated like this when first built. Nothing of the work remains, however, for it was destroyed by fire bombs exactly a century after its completion. After the Victorian restoration, a choir of men and boys was introduced for the first time. The first organist and choirmaster was Dr Edward John Hopkins who remained in this post for over 50 years, 1843-96, establishing the Temple Church choir as one of the finest in London, a city of fine choirs. This tradition of high-quality music was maintained by Hopkins’ well-known successor, Henry Walford Davies, who stayed until 1923.

 

In 1923 Dr GT Thalben-Ball was appointed organist and choirmaster. This musician, later world- renowned, was to serve the church even longer than his predecessor, John Hopkins, retiring in 1982 after 59 years in office. One reason for his fame was the record made in 1927 of Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer by Thalben-Ball and the boy soloist Ernest Lough. The recording became world-famous and brought visitors to the church from all parts of the globe.

 

In 1941 on the night of 10 May, when Nazi air raids on London were at their height, the church was badly damaged by incendiary bombs. The roof of the round church burned first and the wind soon spread the blaze to the nave and choir. The organ was completely destroyed, together with all the wood in the church. Restoration took a long time to complete. The choir, containing a new organ given by Lord Glentannar, was the first area of the church to be rededicated in March 1954. By a stroke of good fortune the architects, Walter and Emil Godfrey, were able to use the reredos designed by Wren for his 17th-century restoration. Removed by Smirke and Burton in 1841, it had spent over a century in the Bowes Museum, County Durham, and was now re-installed in its original position. The round church was rededicated in November 1958.

 

Probably the most notable feature of today’s church is the east window. This was a gift from the Glaziers’ Company in 1954 to replace that destroyed in the war. It was designed by Carl Edwards and illustrates Jesus’ connection with the Temple at Jerusalem. In one panel we see him talking with the learned teachers there, in another driving out the money-changers. The window also depicts some of the personalities associated with Temple Church over the centuries, including Henry II, Henry III and several of the medieval Masters of the Temple.

 

www.templechurch.com/history-2/timeline/

www.al-islam.org/short/martyrdom/

 

Imam Husain And His Martyrdom

By Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Renowned English translator and commentator of the Holy Qur'an

(Progressive Islam Pamphlet No. 7, September, 1931)

Introduction:

 

The month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, brings with it the memory of the sacrifice of Imam Husayn [a], the grandson of Prophet Muhammad [s], and his noble family and friends. This short text reflects the deep admiration of its author towards Imam Husayn [a] and an insight into the tragedy of Karbala, its reasons and its consequences. It is presented with the hope that it will foster the Islamic unity and the brotherly love that the author seeks in his preface.

 

The author, of course, is none other than the well-known Sunni English translator and commentator of the Qur'an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, who died in 1952 in England. Little would he have known that his English translation and commentary of the Qur'an would become so popular in the West and East alike, wherever English is read and understood.

 

And little would he have known that later editions of his Qur'an translation and commentary would undergo tampering such that favorable references to Imam Husayn [a] would be deleted, amongst other changes!(*) Perhaps there are some out there who want to see the memory of Imam Husayn [a] wiped out. Perhaps Karbala is not quite over yet.

 

The Shi'a Encyclopedia team

 

(*) A detailed and documented case study is now available on Tahrif! Investigating Distortions in Islamic Texts.

Imam Husain And His Martyrdom, Abdullah Yusuf Ali (d. 1952), 41 pages

Lahore: M Feroz-ud-Din & Sons, 1931.

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Preface

 

The following pages are based on a report of an Address which I delivered in London at an Ashura Majlis on Thursday the 28th May, 1931 (Muharram 1350 A.H.), at the Waldorf Hotel. The report was subsequently corrected and slightly expanded. The Majlis was a notable gathering, which met at the invitation of Mr. A. S. M. Anik. Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan, Tiwana, presided and members of all schools of thought in Islam, as well as non-Muslims, joined reverently in doing honour to the memory of the great Martyr of Islam. By its inclusion in the Progressive Islam Pamphlets series, it is hoped to reach a larger public than were able to be present in person. Perhaps, also, it may help to strengthen the bonds of brotherly love which unite all who hold sacred the ideals of brotherhood preached by the Prophet in his last Sermon.

 

A. Yusuf Ali.

 

Imam Husain And His Martyrdom

 

Sorrow as a Bond of Union

 

I am going to talk this afternoon about a very solemn subject, the martyrdom of Imam Husain at Kerbela, of which we are celebrating the anniversary. As the Chairman has very rightly pointed out, it is one of those wonderful events in our religious history about which all sects are agreed. More than that, in this room I have the honour of addressing some people who do not belong to our religious persuasion, but I venture to think that the view I put forward today may be of interest to them from its historical, its moral and its spiritual significance. Indeed, when we consider the background of that great tragedy, and all that has happened during the 1289 lunar years since, we cannot fail to be convinced that some events of sorrow and apparent defeat are really the very things which are calculated to bring about, or lead us towards, the union of humanity.

 

How Martyrdom healed divisions

 

When we invite strangers or guests and make them free of our family circle, that means the greatest outflowing of our hearts to them. The events that I am going to describe refer to some of the most touching incidents of our domestic history in their spiritual aspect. We ask our brethren of other faiths to come, and share with us some of the thoughts which are called forth by this event. As a matter of fact all students of history are aware that the horrors that are connected with the great event of Kerbela did more than anything else to unite together the various contending factions which had unfortunately appeared at that early stage of Muslim history. You know the old Persian saying applied to the Prophet:

Tu barae wasl kardan amadi;

Ni barae fasl kardan amadi.

"Thou camest to the world to unite, not to divide."

That was wonderfully exemplified by the sorrows and sufferings and finally the martyrdom of Imam Husain.

 

Commemoration of great virtues

 

There has been in our history a tendency sometimes to celebrate the event merely by wailing and tribulation, or sometimes by symbols like the Tazias that you see in India, - Taboots as some people call them. Well, symbolism or visible emblems may sometimes be useful in certain circumstances as tending to crystallise ideas. But I think the Muslims of India of the present day are quite ready to adopt a more effective way of celebrating the martyrdom, and that is by contemplating the great virtues of the martyr, trying to understand the significance of the events in which he took part, and translating those great moral and spiritual lessons into their own lives. From that point of view I think you will agree that it is good that we should sit together, even people of different faiths, - sit together and consider the great historic event, in which were exemplified such soul-stirring virtues as those of unshaken faith, undaunted courage, thought for others, willing self-sacrifice, steadfastness in the right and unflinching war against the wrong. Islam has a history of beautiful domestic affections, of sufferings and of spiritual endeavour, second to none in the world. That side of Muslim history, although to me the most precious, is, I am sorry to say, often neglected. It is most important that we should call attention to it, reiterated attention, the attention of our own people as well as the attention of those who are interested in historical and religious truth. If there is anything precious in Islamic history it is not the wars, or the politics, or the brilliant expansion, or the glorious conquests, or even the intellectual spoils which our ancestors gathered. In these matters, our history, like all history, has its lights and shades. What we need especially to emphasise is the spirit of organisation, of brotherhood, of undaunted courage in moral and spiritual life.

 

Plan of discourse

 

I propose first to give you an idea of the geographical setting and the historical background. Then I want very briefly to refer to the actual events that happened in the Muharram, and finally to draw your attention to the great lessons which we can learn from them.

 

Geographical Picture

 

In placing before you a geographical picture of the tract of country in which the great tragedy was enacted, I consider myself fortunate in having my own personal memories to draw upon. They make the picture vivid to my mind, and they may help you also. When I visited those scenes in 1928, I remember going down from Baghdad through all that country watered by the Euphrates river. As I crossed the river by a bridge of boats at Al-Musaiyib on a fine April morning, my thoughts leapt over centuries and centuries. To the left of the main river you have the old classic ground of Babylonian history; you have the railway station of Hilla; you have the ruins of the city of Babylon, witnessing to one of the greatest civilisations of antiquity. It was so mingled with the dust that it is only in recent years that we have begun to understand its magnitude and magnificence. Then you have the great river system of the Euphrates, the Furat as it is called, a river unlike any other river we know. It takes its rise in many sources from the mountains of Eastern Armenia, and sweeping in great zig-zags through rocky country, it finally skirts the desert as we see it now. Wherever it or its interlacing branches or canals can reach, it has converted the desert into fruitful cultivated country; in the picturesque phrase, it has made the desert blossom as the rose. It skirts round the Eastern edge of the Syrian desert and then flows into marshy land. In a tract not far from Kerbela itself there are lakes which receive its waters, and act as reservoirs. Lower down it unites with the other river, the Tigris, and the united rivers flow in the name of the Shatt-al-Arab into the Persian Gulf.

 

Abundant water & tragedy of thirst

 

From the most ancient times this tract of the lower Euphrates has been a garden. It was a cradle of early civilisation, a meeting place between Sumer and Arab, and later between the Persians and Arabs. It is a rich, well watered country, with date-palms and pomegranate groves. Its fruitful fields can feed populous cities and its luscious pastures attract the nomad Arabs of the desert, with their great flocks and herds. It is of particularly tragic significance that on the border of such a well-watered land, should have been enacted the tragedy of great and good men dying of thirst and slaughtered because they refused to bend the knee to the forces of iniquity. The English poet's lines "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink" are brought home forcibly to you in this borderland between abundant water and desolate sands.

 

Kerbela and Its Great Dome

 

I remember the emotion with which I approached Kerbela from the East. The rays of the morning sun gilt the Gumbaz-i-Faiz, the great dome that crowns the building containing the tomb of Imam Husain. Kerbela actually stands on one of the great caravan routes of the desert. Today the river city of Kufa, once a Khilafat capital, is a mere village, and the city of Najaf is famous for the tomb of Hazrat Ali, but of little commercial importance. Kerbela, this outpost of the desert, is a mart and a meeting ground as well as a sacred place. It is the port of the desert, just as Basra, lower down, is a port for the Persian Gulf. Beautifully kept is the road to the mausoleum, to which all through the year come pilgrims from all parts of the world. Beautiful coloured enamelled tiles decorate the building. Inside, in the ceiling and upper walls, there is a great deal of glass mosaic. The glass seems to catch and reflect the light. The effect is that of rich coruscations of light combined with the solemnity of a closed building. The tomb itself is in a sort of inner grill, and below the ground is a sort of cave, where is shown the actual place where the Martyr fell. The city of Najaf is just about 40 miles to the South, with the tomb of Hazrat Ali on the high ground. You can see the golden dome for miles around. Just four miles from Najaf and connected with it by a tramway, is the deserted city of Kufa. The mosque is large, but bare and practically unused. The blue dome and the Mihrab of enamelled tiles bear witness to the ancient glory of the place.

 

Cities and their Cultural Meaning

 

The building of Kufa and Basra, the two great outposts of the Muslim Empire, in the 16th year of the Hijra, was a visible symbol that Islam was pushing its strength and building up a new civilisation, not only in a military sense, but in moral and social ideas and in the sciences and arts. The old effete cities did not content it, any more than the old and effete systems which it displaced. Nor was it content with the first steps it took. It was always examining, testing, discarding, re-fashioning its own handiwork. There was always a party that wanted to stand on old ways, to take cities like Damascus readymade, that loved ease and the path of least resistance. But the greater souls stretched out to new frontiers - of ideas as well as geography. They felt that old seats were like dead wood breeding worms and rottenness that were a danger to higher forms of life. The clash between them was part of the tragedy of Kerbela. Behind the building of new cities there is often the burgeoning of new ideas. Let us therefore examine the matter a little more closely. It will reveal the hidden springs of some very interesting history.

 

Vicissitudes of Mecca and Medina

 

The great cities of Islam at its birth were Mecca and Medina. Mecca, the centre of old Arabian pilgrimage, the birthplace of the Prophet, rejected the Prophet's teaching, and cast him off. Its idolatry was effete; its tribal exclusiveness was effete; its ferocity against the Teacher of the New Light was effete. The Prophet shook its dust off his feet, and went to Medina. It was the well-watered city of Yathrib, with a considerable Jewish population. It received with eagerness the teaching of the Prophet; it gave asylum to him and his Companions and Helpers. He reconstituted it and it became the new City of Light. Mecca, with its old gods and its old superstitions, tried to subdue this new Light and destroy it. The human odds were in favour of Mecca. But God's purpose upheld the Light, and subdued the old Mecca. But the Prophet came to build as well as to destroy. He destroyed the old paganism, and lighted a new beacon in Mecca - the beacon of Arab unity and human brotherhood. When the Prophet's life ended on this earth, his spirit remained. It inspired his people and led them from victory to victory. Where moral or spiritual and material victories go hand in hand, the spirit of man advances all along the line. But sometimes there is a material victory, with a spiritual fall, and sometimes there is a spiritual victory with a material fall, and then we have tragedy.

 

Spirit of Damascus

 

Islam's first extension was towards Syria, where the power was centred in the city of Damascus. Among living cities it is probably the oldest city in the world. Its bazaars are thronged with men of all nations, and the luxuries of all nations find ready welcome there. If you come to it westward from the Syrian desert, as I did, the contrast is complete, both in the country and in the people. From the parched desert sands you come to fountains and vineyards, orchards and the hum of traffic. From the simple, sturdy, independent, frank Arab, you come to the soft, luxurious, sophisticated Syrian. That contrast was forced on the Muslims when Damascus became a Muslim city. They were in a different moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some succumbed to the softening influences of ambition, luxury, wealth pride of race, love of ease, and so on. Islam stood always as the champion of the great rugged moral virtues. It wanted no compromise with evil in any shape or form, with luxury, with idleness, with the seductions of this world. It was a protest against these things. And yet the representatives of that protest got softened at Damascus. They aped the decadent princes of the world instead of striving to be leaders of spiritual thought. Discipline was relaxed, and governors aspired to be greater than the Khalifas. This bore bitter fruit later.

 

Snare of Riches

 

Meanwhile Persia came within the Muslim orbit. When Medain was captured in the year 16 of the Hijra, and the battle of Jalula broke the Persian resistance, some military booty was brought to Medina - gems, pearls, rubies, diamonds, swords of gold and silver. A great celebration was held in honour of the splendid victory and the valour of the Arab army. In the midst of the celebration they found the Caliph of the day actually weeping. One said to him, "What! a time of joy and thou sheddest tears?" "Yes", he said, "I foresee that the riches will become a snare, a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a calamity to my people." For the Arab valued, above all, simplicity of life, openness of character, and bravery in face of danger. Their women fought with them and shared their dangers. They were not caged creatures for the pleasures of the senses. They showed their mettle in the early fighting round the head of the Persian Gulf. When the Muslims were hard pressed, their women turned the scale in their favour. They made their veils into flags, and marched in battle array. The enemy mistook them for reinforcements and abandoned the field. Thus an impending defeat was turned into a victory.

 

Basra and Kufa: town-planning

 

In Mesopotamia the Muslims did not base their power on old and effete Persian cities, but built new outposts for themselves. The first they built was Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf, in the 17th year of the Hijra. And what a great city it became! Not great in war and conquest, not great in trade and commerce, but great in learning and culture in its best day, - alas! also great in its spirit of faction and degeneracy in the days of its decline! But its situation and climate were not at all suited to the Arab character. It was low and moist, damp and enervating. In the same year the Arabs built another city not far off from the Gulf and yet well suited to be a port of the desert, as Kerbela became afterwards. This was the city of Kufa, built in the same year as Basra, but in a more bracing climate. It was the first experiment in town-planning in Islam. In the centre was a square for the principal mosque. That square was adorned with shady avenues. Another square was set apart for the trafficking of the market. The streets were all laid out intersecting and their width was fixed. The main thoroughfares for such traffic as they had (we must not imagine the sort of traffic we see in Charing Cross) were made 60 feet wide; the cross streets were 30 feet wide; and even the little lanes for pedestrians were regulated to a width of 10.5 feet. Kufa became a centre of light and learning. The Khalifa Hazrat Ali lived and died there.

 

Rivalry and poison of Damascus

 

But its rival, the city of Damascus, fattened on luxury and Byzantine magnificence. Its tinsel glory sapped the foundations of loyalty and the soldierly virtues. Its poison spread through the Muslim world. Governors wanted to be kings. Pomp and selfishness, ease and idleness and dissipation grew as a canker; wines and spirituous liquors, scepticism, cynicism and social vices became so rampant that the protests of the men of God were drowned in mockery. Mecca, which was to have been a symbolical spiritual centre, was neglected or dishonoured. Damascus and Syria became centres of a worldliness and arrogance which cut at the basic roots of Islam.

 

Husain the Righteous refused to bow to worldliness and power

 

We have brought the story down to the 60th year of the Hijra. Yazid assumed the power at Damascus. He cared nothing for the most sacred ideals of the people. He was not even interested in the ordinary business affairs of administration. His passion was hunting, and he sought power for self-gratification. The discipline and self-abnegation, the strong faith and earnest endeavour, the freedom and sense of social equality which had been the motive forces of Islam, were divorced from power. The throne at Damascus had become a worldly throne based on the most selfish ideas of personal and family aggrandisement, instead of a spiritual office, with a sense of God-given responsibility. The decay of morals spread among the people. There was one man who could stem the tide. That was Imam Husain. He, the grandson of the Prophet, could speak without fear, for fear was foreign to his nature. But his blameless and irreproachable life was in itself a reproach to those who had other standards. They sought to silence him, but he could not be silenced. They sought to bribe him, but he could not be bribed. They sought to waylay him and get him into their Power. What is more, they wanted him to recognise the tyranny and expressly to support it. For they knew that the conscience of the people might awaken at any time, and sweep them away unless the holy man supported their cause. The holy man was prepared to die rather than surrender the principles for which he stood.

 

Driven from city to city

 

Medina was the centre of Husain's teaching. They made Medina impossible for him. He left Medina and went to Mecca, hoping that he would be left alone. But he was not left alone. The Syrian forces invaded Mecca. The invasion was repelled, not by Husain but by other people. For Husain, though the bravest of the brave, had no army and no worldly weapons. His existence itself was an offence in the eyes of his enemies. His life was in danger, and the lives of all those nearest and dearest to him. He had friends everywhere, but they were afraid to speak out. They were not as brave as he was. But in distant Kufa, a party grew up which said: "We are disgusted with these events, and we must have Imam Husain to take asylum with us." So they sent and invited the Imam to leave Mecca, come to them, live in their midst, and be their honoured teacher and guide. His father's memory was held in reverence in Kufa. The Governor of Kufa was friendly, and the people eager to welcome him. But alas, Kufa had neither strength, nor courage, nor constancy. Kufa, geographically only 40 miles from Kerbela, was the occasion of the tragedy of Kerbela. And now Kufa is nearly gone, and Kerbela remains as the lasting memorial of the martyrdom.

 

Invitation from Kufa

 

When the Kufa invitation reached the Imam, he pondered over it, weighed its possibilities, and consulted his friends. He sent over his cousin Muslim to study the situation on the spot and report to him. The report was favourable, and he decided to go. He had a strong presentiment of danger. Many of his friends in Mecca advised him against it. But could he abandon his mission when Kufa was calling for it? Was he the man to be deterred, because his enemies were laying their plots for him, at Damascus and at Kufa? At least, it was suggested, he might leave his family behind. But his family and his immediate dependants would not hear of it. It was a united family, pre-eminent in the purity of its life and in its domestic virtues and domestic affections. If there was danger for its head, they would share it. The Imam was not going on a mere ceremonial visit. There was responsible work to do, and they must be by his side, to support him in spite of all its perils and consequences. Shallow critics scent political ambition in the Imam's act. But would a man with political ambitions march without an army against what might be called the enemy country, scheming to get him into its power, and prepared to use all their resources, military, political and financial, against him?

 

Journey through the desert

 

Imam Husain left Mecca for Kufa with all his family including his little children. Later news from Kufa itself was disconcerting. The friendly governor had been displaced by one prepared more ruthlessly to carry out Yazid's plans. If Husain was to go there at all, he must go there quickly, or his friends themselves would be in danger. On the other hand, Mecca itself was no less dangerous to him and his family. It was the month of September by the solar calendar, and no one would take a long desert journey in that heat, except under a sense of duty. By the lunar calendar it was the month of pilgrimage at Mecca. But he did not stop for the pilgrimage. He pushed on, with his family and dependants, in all numbering about 90 or 100 people, men, women and children. They must have gone by forced marches through the desert. They covered the 900 miles of the desert in little over three weeks. When they came within a few miles of Kufa, at the edge of the desert, they met people from Kufa. It was then that they heard of the terrible murder of Husain's cousin Muslim, who had been sent on in advance. A poet that came by dissuaded the Imam from going further. "For," he said epigramatically, "the heart of the city is with thee but its sword is with thine enemies, and the issue is with God." What was to be done? They were three weeks' journey from the city they had left. In the city to which they were going their own messenger had been foully murdered as well as his children. They did not know what the actual situation was then in Kufa. But they were determined not to desert their friends.

 

Call to Surrender or Die

 

Presently messengers came from Kufa, and Imam Husain was asked to surrender. Imam Husain offered to take one of three alternatives. He wanted no political power and no revenge. He said "I came to defend my own people. If I am too late, give me the choice of three alternatives: either to return to Mecca; or to face Yazid himself at Damascus; or if my very presence is distasteful to him and you, I do not wish to cause more divisions among the Muslims. Let me at least go to a distant frontier, where, if fighting must be done, I will fight against the enemies of Islam." Every one of these alternatives was refused. What they wanted was to destroy his life, or better still, to get him to surrender, to surrender to the very forces against which he was protesting, to declare his adherence to those who were defying the law of God and man, and to tolerate all the abuses which were bringing the name of Islam into disgrace. Of course he did not surrender. But what was he to do? He had no army. He had reasons to suppose that many of his friends from distant parts would rally round him, and come and defend him with their swords and bodies. But time was necessary, and he was not going to gain time by feigned compliance. He turned a little round to the left, the way that would have led him to Yazid himself, at Damascus. He camped in the plain of Kerbela.

 

Water cut off; Inflexible will, Devotion and Chivalry

 

For ten days messages passed backwards and forwards between Kerbela and Kufa. Kufa wanted surrender and recognition. That was the one thing the Imam could not consent to. Every other alternative was refused by Kufa, under the instructions from Damascus. Those fateful ten days were the first ten days of the month of Muharram, of the year 61 of the Hijra. The final crisis was on the 10th day, the Ashura day, which we are commemorating. During the first seven days various kinds of pressure were brought to bear on the Imam, but his will was inflexible. It was not a question of a fight, for there were but 70 men against 4,000. The little band was surrounded and insulted, but they held together so firmly that they could not be harmed. On the 8th day the water supply was cut off. The Euphrates and its abundant streams were within sight, but the way was barred. Prodigies of valour were performed in getting water. Challenges were made for single combat according to Arab custom. And the enemy were half-hearted, while the Imam's men fought in contempt of death, and always accounted for more men than they lost. On the evening of the 9th day, the little son of the Imam was ill. He had fever and was dying of thirst. They tried to get a drop of water. But that was refused point blank and so they made the resolve that they would, rather than surrender, die to the last man in the cause for which they had come. Imam Husain offered to send away his people. He said, "They are after my person; my family and my people can go back." But everyone refused to go. They said they would stand by him to the last, and they did. They were not cowards; they were soldiers born and bred; and they fought as heroes, with devotion and with chivalry.

 

The Final Agony; placid face of the man of God

 

On the day of Ashura, the 10th day, Imam Husain's own person was surrounded by his enemies. He was brave to the last. He was cruelly mutilated. His sacred head was cut off while in the act of prayer. A mad orgy of triumph was celebrated over his body. In this crisis we have details of what took place hour by hour. He had 45 wounds from the enemies' swords and javelins, and 35 arrows pierced his body. His left arm was cut off, and a javelin pierced through his breast. After all that agony, when his head was lifted up on a spear, his face was the placid face of a man of God. All the men of that gallant band were exterminated and their bodies trampled under foot by the horses. The only male survivor was a child, Husain's son Ali, surnamed Zain-ul-'Abidin - "The Glory of the Devout." He lived in retirement, studying, interpreting, and teaching his father's high spiritual principles for the rest of his life.

 

Heroism of the Women

 

There were women: for example, Zainab the sister of the Imam, Sakina his little daughter, and Shahr-i-Banu, his wife, at Kerbela. A great deal of poetic literature has sprung up in Muslim languages, describing the touching scenes in which they figure. Even in their grief and their tears they are heroic. They lament the tragedy in simple, loving, human terms. But they are also conscious of the noble dignity of their nearness to a life of truth reaching its goal in the precious crown of martyrdom. One of the best-known poets of this kind is the Urdu poet Anis, who lived in Lucknow, and died in 1874.

 

Lesson of the Tragedy

 

That briefly is the story. What is the lesson? There is of course the physical suffering in martyrdom, and all sorrow and suffering claim our sympathy, ---- the dearest, purest, most outflowing sympathy that we can give. But there is a greater suffering than physical suffering. That is when a valiant soul seems to stand against the world; when the noblest motives are reviled and mocked; when truth seems to suffer an eclipse. It may even seem that the martyr has but to say a word of compliance, do a little deed of non-resistance; and much sorrow and suffering would be saved; and the insidious whisper comes: "Truth after all can never die." That is perfectly true. Abstract truth can never die. It is independent of man's cognition. But the whole battle is for man's keeping hold of truth and righteousness. And that can only be done by the highest examples of man's conduct - spiritual striving and suffering enduring firmness of faith and purpose, patience and courage where ordinary mortals would give in or be cowed down, the sacrifice of ordinary motives to supreme truth in scorn of consequence. The martyr bears witness, and the witness redeems what would otherwise be called failure. It so happened with Husain. For all were touched by the story of his martyrdom, and it gave the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and all it stood for. And Muharram has still the power to unite the different schools of thought in Islam, and make a powerful appeal to non-Muslims also.

 

Explorers of Spiritual Territory

 

That, to my mind, is the supreme significance of martyrdom. All human history shows that the human spirit strives in many directions, deriving strength and sustenance from many sources. Our bodies, our physical powers, have developed or evolved from earlier forms, after many struggles and defeats. Our intellect has had its martyrs, and our great explorers have often gone forth with the martyrs' spirit. All honour to them. But the highest honour must still lie with the great explorers of spiritual territory, those who faced fearful odds and refused to surrender to evil. Rather than allow a stigma to attach to sacred things, they paid with their own lives the penalty of resistance. The first kind of resistance offered by the Imam was when he went from city to city, hunted about from place to place, but making no compromise with evil. Then was offered the choice of an effectual but dangerous attempt at clearing the house of God, or living at ease for himself by tacit abandonment of his striving friends. He chose the path of danger with duty and honour, and never swerved from it giving up his life freely and bravely. His story purifies our emotions. We can best honour his memory by allowing it to teach us courage and constancy.

 

The End

Also titled The Price of Freedom, Operation Daybreak is a retelling of the terrible consequences attending the assassination of Nazi-occupation leader Richard Heydrich. When Heydrich puts all of Czechoslovakia under his thumb, a group of Czech expatriates parachute into their homeland to kill the man known as "The Hangman." They succeed, and in retaliation the Nazis wipe the tiny Czech village of Lidice off the map, killing its male residents and carting off its women and children to concentration camps. For the purposes of the plot, assassins Timothy Bottoms and Martin Shaw survive the massacre, albeit only briefly. The Heydrich/Lidice tragedy was previously dramatized in two wartime films, Hangmen Also Die (1943) and Hitler's Madman (1943). Operation Daybreak was adapted from Seven Men at Daybreak, a novel by Alan Burgess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Insertion[edit]

     

Jozef Gabčík

    

Jan Kubiš

Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš were airlifted along with seven soldiers from Czechoslovakia’s army-in-exile in the United Kingdom and two other groups named Silver A and Silver B (who had different missions) by a Royal Air Force Halifax of No. 138 Squadron into Czechoslovakia at 10 pm on 28 December 1941. Gabčík and Kubiš landed near Nehvizdy east of Prague; although the plan was to land near Pilsen, the pilots had problems with orientation.[9] The soldiers then moved to Pilsen to contact their allies, and from there on to Prague, where the attack was planned.

 

In Prague, they contacted several families and anti-Nazi organisations who helped them during the preparations for the targeted kill.[10] Gabčík and Kubiš initially planned to kill Heydrich on a train, but after examination of the logistics, they realised that this was not possible. The second plan was to kill him on the road in the forest on the way from Heydrich’s seat to Prague. They planned to pull a cable across the road that would stop Heydrich’s car but, after waiting several hours, their commander, Lt. Adolf Opálka (from the group Out Distance), came to bring them back to Prague. The third plan was to kill Heydrich in Prague.

 

The attack in Prague[edit]

     

Another of Heydrich's Mercedes 320 Convertible B cars, similar to the one in which he was mortally wounded (currently in the Military History Museum in Prague)

On 27 May 1942, at 10:30, Heydrich proceeded on his daily commute from his home in Panenské Břežany to Prague Castle. Gabčík and Kubiš waited at the tram stop at a tight curve near Bulovka Hospital in Prague 8-Libeň. The spot was chosen because the curve would force the car to slow down. Valčik was positioned about 100 metres north of Gabčík and Kubiš as lookout for the approaching car.

 

As Heydrich’s open-topped Mercedes 320 Convertible B reached the curve two minutes later, Gabčík stepped in front of the vehicle and tried to open fire, but his Sten submachine gun jammed. Heydrich ordered his driver, SS-Oberscharführer Klein, to stop the car. When Heydrich stood up to try to shoot Gabčík with his Luger pistol, Kubiš threw a modified anti-tank grenade[11] (concealed in a briefcase) at the vehicle and its fragments ripped through the car’s right rear bumper, embedding shrapnel and fibres from the upholstery in Heydrich’s body, even though the grenade failed to enter the car. Kubiš was also injured by the shrapnel.[12]

 

Following the explosion, Gabčík and Kubiš fired at Heydrich with their handguns but, shocked by the explosion as well, failed to hit him.[13] Heydrich, apparently unaware of his shrapnel injuries, staggered out of the car, returned fire and tried to chase Gabčík but soon collapsed. Klein returned from his abortive attempt to chase Kubiš, who fled the scene by bicycle. Now bleeding profusely, Heydrich ordered Klein to chase Gabčík on foot.[14] Klein chased him into a butcher shop, where Gabčík shot him twice with his revolver, severely wounding him in the leg, and then escaped to a local safe house via tram.[15][16] Gabčík and Kubiš were initially convinced that the attack had failed.

 

Medical treatment and death[edit]

 

A Czech woman went to Heydrich's aid and flagged down a delivery van. Heydrich was first placed in the driver's cab, but complained that the truck's movement was causing him pain. He was then transferred to the back of the truck, placed on his stomach and taken to the emergency room at Na Bulovce Hospital.[17] He had suffered severe injuries to his left side, with major diaphragm, spleen and lung damage as well as a fractured rib. A Dr. Slanina packed the chest wound, while Dr. Walter Diek, the Sudeten German chief of surgery at the hospital, tried unsuccessfully to remove the splinters. Professor Hollbaum, a Silesian German who was chairman of surgery at Charles University in Prague, operated on Heydrich with Drs. Diek and Slanina's assistance.[17] The surgeons reinflated the collapsed left lung, removed the tip of the fractured eleventh rib, sutured the torn diaphragm, inserted several catheters and removed the spleen, which contained a grenade fragment and upholstery material.[18] Heydrich’s direct superior, Himmler, sent his personal physician, Karl Gebhardt, who arrived that evening. After 29 May, Heydrich was entirely in the care of SS physicians. Postoperative care included administration of large amounts of morphine. There are contradictory accounts concerning whether sulfanilamides were given, but Gebhardt testified at his 1947 war crimes trial that they were not.[18] The patient developed a high fever of 38–39 °C (100.4–102.2 °F) and wound drainage. After seven days, his condition appeared to be improving when, while sitting up eating a noon meal, he collapsed and went into shock. Spending most of his remaining hours in a coma, he died around 4:30 the next morning.[18] Himmler’s physicians officially described the cause of death as septicemia, meaning infection of the bloodstream.[19] One of the theories was that some of the horsehair used in the upholstery of Heydrich’s car was forced into his body by the blast of the grenade, causing a systemic infection.[20] It has also been suggested that he died of a massive pulmonary embolism. In support of the latter possibility, at autopsy particles of fat and blood clots were found in the right ventricle and pulmonary artery, and severe edema was noted in the upper lobes of the lungs, while the lower lobes were collapsed.[18]

 

Botulinum poisoning theory[edit]

 

The authors of A Higher Form of Killing claim that Heydrich died from botulism; i.e. botulinum poisoning.[21] According to this theory, the Type 73 anti-armor hand grenade used in the attack had been modified to contain botulinum toxin. This story originates from comments made by Paul Fildes, a Porton Down botulism researcher. There is only circumstantial evidence to support this allegation[18][22] (the records of the SOE for the period have remained sealed), and few medical records of Heydrich's condition and treatment have been preserved.[18]

 

The general evidence cited to support the theory includes the modifications made to the Type 73 grenade: the upper third part of this British anti-tank grenade had been removed, and the open end and sides wrapped up with tape. Such a specially modified weapon could indicate an attached toxic or biological payload. Heydrich received excellent medical care by the standards of the time. His autopsy showed none of the usual signs of septicemia, although infection of the wound and areas surrounding the lungs and heart was reported.[18] The authors of a German wartime report on the incident stated, "Death occurred as a consequence of lesions in the vital parenchymatous organs caused by bacteria and possibly by poisons carried into them by bomb splinters ... ".

 

Heydrich's condition while hospitalized was not documented in detail, but he was not noted to have developed any of the distinctive paralytic or other symptoms associated with botulism (which have a gradual, progressive onset). Two others were also wounded by fragments of the same grenade: Kubiš, the Czech soldier who threw the grenade, and a bystander, but neither was reported to have shown any sign of poisoning.[18][23] Given that Fildes had a reputation for "extravagant boasts", and that the grenade modifications could have been aimed at making it lighter, the validity of the botulinum toxin theory has been disputed.[18] Two of the six original modified grenades are kept by the Military History Institute in Prague.[24]

 

Consequences[edit]

 

Reprisals[edit]

     

Memorial plaques with names of the victims at the Kobylisy shooting range in Prague, where over 500 Czechs were executed in May and June 1942.

On the very day of the assassination attempt Hitler ordered an investigation and reprisals, suggesting that Himmler send SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to Prague; according to Karl Hermann Frank's postwar testimony, Hitler knew Zelewski to be even harsher than Heydrich.[25] Hitler favored killing 10,000 politically unreliable Czechs, but after he consulted Himmler, the idea was dropped because Czech territory was an important industrial zone for the German military and indiscriminate killing could reduce the productivity of the region.[26]

 

The Nazi retaliation ordered by Himmler was brutal nonetheless. More than 13,000 were arrested, including Jan Kubiš' girlfriend Anna Malinová, who subsequently died in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. First Lieutenant Adolf Opálka's aunt, Marie Opálková, was executed in the Mauthausen camp on 24 October 1942;[27] his father, Viktor Jarolím, was also killed.[28] According to one estimate, 5,000 were killed in reprisals.[29]

 

Intelligence falsely linked the assassins to the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. A Gestapo report identified Lidice as the assailants' suspected hiding place since several Czech army officers exiled in England at the time were known to have come from there. In addition, the Gestapo had found a resistance radio transmitter in Ležáky.[30] In the village of Lidice, destroyed on 9 June 1942, 199 men were executed, 95 children taken prisoner (81 later killed in gas vans at the Chełmno extermination camp; eight others were taken for adoption by German families), and 195 women were immediately deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. All adults, men and women, in the village of Ležáky were murdered. Both towns were burned, and the ruins of Lidice leveled (razed to the ground).[31][32]

 

The possibility that the Germans would apply the principle of "collective responsibility" on this scale in avenging Heydrich's assassination was either not foreseen by the Czech government-in-exile, or else was deemed an acceptable price to pay for eliminating Heydrich and provoking reprisals that would reduce Czech acquiescence to the German administration.

 

Britain’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill, was infuriated enough to suggest leveling three German villages for every Czech village the Nazis destroyed. Two years after Heydrich's death a similar assassination attempt was planned, this time targeting Hitler in Operation Foxley, but not approved.

 

Operation Anthropoid remains the only successful government-organized targeted killing of a top-ranking Nazi. The Polish underground killed two senior SS officers in the General government (see Operation Kutschera and Operation Bürkl); also in Operation Blowup, General-Kommissar of Belarus Wilhelm Kube was killed by Soviet partisan Yelena Mazanik, a Belarussian woman who had managed to find employment in his household in order to assassinate him.[33]

 

Investigation and manhunt[edit]

     

Bullet-scarred window of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague where the attackers were cornered.

In the days following Lidice, no leads on those responsible for Heydrich's death were found despite the Nazis' zealous impatience to find them. During that time, a deadline set for the assassins to be apprehended by 18 June 1942 was publicly issued to the military and the people of Czechoslovakia. If they were not caught by then, the Germans threatened to spill far more blood as a consequence, believing that this threat would be enough to force a potential informant to sell out the culprits. Many civilians were indeed weary and fearful of further retaliations, making it increasingly difficult to hide information much longer. The assailants initially hid with two Prague families and later took refuge in Karel Boromejsky Church, an Eastern Orthodox church dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Prague. The Germans were unable to locate the attackers until Karel Čurda of the "Out Distance" sabotage group was arrested by the Gestapo and gave them the names of the team’s local contacts[34] for the bounty of 500,000 Reichsmarks.

 

Čurda betrayed several safe houses provided by the Jindra group, including that of the Moravec family in Žižkov. At 05:00 on 17 June, the Moravec flat was raided. The family was made to stand in the hallway while the Gestapo searched their flat. Mrs. Maria Moravec, after being allowed to go to the toilet, bit into a cyanide capsule and thereby killed herself. Mr. Moravec, unaware of his family's involvement with the resistance, was taken to the Peček Palác together with his 17-year-old son Ata, who though interrogated with torture throughout the day, refused to talk. The youth was finally stupefied with brandy, shown his mother's severed head in a fish tank and warned that if he did not reveal the information they were looking for, his father would be next.[35] That finally caused him to crack and tell the Gestapo what they wanted to know.

 

Waffen-SS troops laid siege to the church the following day but, despite the best efforts of over 700 SS soldiers under the command of Generalleutnant Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld, they were unable to take the paratroopers alive; three, including Kubiš, were killed in the prayer loft (although he was said to have survived the battle, he died shortly afterward from his injuries) after a two-hour gun battle.[36] The other four, including Gabčík, committed suicide in the crypt after repeated SS attacks, attempts to smoke them out with tear gas, and Prague fire brigade trucks brought in to try to flood the crypt.[37] The Germans (SS and police) suffered casualties as well, 14 SS allegedly killed and 21 wounded according to one report[38][39] although the official SS report about the fight mentioned only five wounded SS soldiers.[40] The men in the church had only small-caliber pistols, while the attackers had machine guns, submachine guns and hand grenades. After the battle, Čurda confirmed the identity of the dead Czech resistance fighters, including Kubiš and Gabčík.

 

Bishop Gorazd, in an attempt to minimize the reprisals among his flock, took the blame for the actions in the church and even wrote letters to the Nazi authorities, who arrested him on 27 June 1942 and tortured him. On 4 September 1942 the bishop, the church's priests and senior lay leaders were taken to Kobylisy Shooting Range in a northern suburb of Prague and shot by Nazi firing squads. For his actions, Bishop Gorazd was later glorified as a martyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

 

Alby sur Chéran

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©Olivier Thirion–Tous droits réservés.

©2013 Olivier Thirion All rights reserved.

© Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.

A breach of copyright has legal consequences

This really is an image of very little consequence -- I was simply looking for an excuse to post this link to some of the best life advise there is. Take five minutes, listen to it. You'll be happy you did.

 

And big thanks to Riitta for reminding me of this.

 

Explore #495 on July 4th, 2010. Thanks everyone! You see: Mr. Luhrmann's advise works.

A coolie (alternatively spelled cooli, cooly, quli, koelie, and other such variations), during the 19th and early 20th century, was a term for a locally sourced unskilled labourer hired by a company, mainly from the Indian subcontinent or Southern China.

 

Today, it is used varyingly as a legal inoffensive word (for example, in India for helpers carrying luggage in railway stations) and also used as a racial slur in Africa for certain people from Asia, particularly in South Africa

 

ETYMOLOGY

The origins of the word are uncertain but it is thought to have originated from the name of a Gujarati sect (the Kolī, who worked as day labourers) or perhaps from the Tamil word for a payment for work, kuli (கூலி). An alternative etymological explanation is that the word came from the Urdu qulī (क़ुली, قلی), which itself could be from the Turkish word for slave, qul. The word was used in this sense for labourers from India. In 1727, Dr. Engelbert Kämpfer described "coolies" as dock labourers who would unload Dutch merchant ships at Nagasaki in Japan.

 

The Chinese word 苦力 (pinyin: kǔlì) literally means "bitterly hard (use of) strength", in the Mandarin pronunciation.

 

HISTORY OF THE COOLIE TRADE

An early trade in Asian labourers is believed to have begun sometime in or around the 16th century. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire in 1807, with other European nations following suit. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, in the colonies were left without a cheap source of manpower. As a consequence, a large scale slavery-like trade in Asian (primarily Indian and Chinese) indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. Some of these labourers signed contracts based on misleading promises, some were kidnapped and sold into the trade, some were victims of clan violence whose captors sold them to coolie brokers, while others sold themselves to pay off gambling debts. British companies were the first to experiment with this potential new form of cheap labour in 1807, when they imported 200 Chinese men to work in Trinidad.

 

The coolie trade was often compared to the earlier slave trade and they accomplished very similar things.

 

Although there are reports of ships for Asian coolies carrying women and children, the great majority of them were men. Finally, regulations were put in place, as early as 1837 by the British authorities in India to safeguard these principles of voluntary, contractual work and safe and sanitary transportation although in practice this rarely occurred especially during examples such as the Pacific Passage or the Guano Pits of Peru. The Chinese government also made efforts to secure the well-being of their nation's workers, with representations being made to relevant governments around the world.

 

CHINESE COOLIES

Workers from China were mainly transported to work in Peru and Cuba, but they also worked in British colonies such as Jamaica, British Guiana (now Guyana), British Malaya, Trinidad and Tobago, British Honduras (now Belize) and in the Dutch colonies Dutch East Indies and Suriname. The first shipment of Chinese labourers was to the British colony of Trinidad in 1806.

 

In 1847 two ships from Cuba transported workers to Havana to work in the sugar cane fields from the port of Xiamen, one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened to the British by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The trade soon spread to other ports in Guangdong province and demand became particularly strong in Peru for workers in the silver mines and the guano collecting industry. Australia began importing workers in 1848 and the United States began using them in 1865 on the First Transcontinental Railroad construction. These workers were deceived about their terms of employment to a much greater extent than their Indian counterparts, and consequently, there was a much higher level of Chinese emigration during this period.

 

The trade flourished from 1847 to 1854 without incident, until reports began to surface of the mistreatment of the workers in Cuba and Peru. As the British government had political and legal responsibility for many of the ports involved, including Amoy, the trade was shut down at these places. However, the trade simply shifted to the more accommodating port in the Portuguese enclave of Macau.

 

Many coolies were first deceived or kidnapped and then kept in barracoons (detention centres) or loading vessels in the ports of departure, as were African slaves. In 1875, British commissioners estimated that approximately eighty percent of the workers had been abducted. Their voyages, which are sometimes called the Pacific Passage, were as inhumane and dangerous as the notorious Middle Passage of the Atlantic slave trade. Mortality was very high. For example, it is estimated that from 1847 to 1859, the average mortality for coolies aboard ships to Cuba was 15.2 percent, and losses among those aboard ships to Peru were 40 percent in the 1850s and 30.44 percent from 1860 to 1863.

 

They were sold and were taken to work in plantations or mines with very bad living and working conditions. The duration of a contract was typically five to eight years, but many coolies did not live out their term of service because of the hard labour and mistreatment. Those who did live were often forced to remain in servitude beyond the contracted period. The coolies who worked on the sugar plantations in Cuba and in the guano beds of the Chincha Islands (the islands of Hell) of Peru were treated brutally. Seventy-five percent of the Chinese coolies in Cuba died before fulfilling their contracts. More than two-thirds of the Chinese coolies who arrived in Peru between 1849 and 1874 died within the contract period. In 1860 it was calculated that of the 4000 coolies brought to the Chinchas since the trade began, not one had survived.

 

Because of these unbearable conditions, Chinese coolies often revolted against their Ko-Hung bosses and foreign company bosses at ports of departure, on ships, and in foreign lands. The coolies were put in the same neighbourhoods as Africans and, since most were unable to return to their homeland or have their wives come to the New World, many married African women. The coolies' interracial relationships and marriages with Africans, Europeans and Indigenous peoples, formed some of the modern world's Afro-Asian and Asian Latin American populations.

 

Chinese immigration to the United States was almost entirely voluntary, but working and social conditions were still harsh. In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty allowed unrestricted Chinese immigration into the country. Within a decade significant levels of anti-Chinese sentiment had built up, stoked by populists such as Denis Kearney with racist slogans - "To an American, death is preferable to life on a par with the Chinese."

 

Although Chinese workers contributed to the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States and of the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada, Chinese settlement was discouraged after completion of the construction. California's Anti-Coolie Act of 1862 and the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 contributed to the curtailment of Chinese immigration to the United States.

 

Notwithstanding such attempts to restrict the influx of cheap labour from China, beginning in the 1870s Chinese workers helped construct a vast network of levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. These levees made thousands of acres of fertile marshlands available for agricultural production.

 

The 1879 Constitution of the State of California declared that "Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is forever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void."

 

Colonos asiáticos is a Spanish term for coolies. The Spanish colony of Cuba feared slavery uprisings such as those that took place in Haiti and used coolies as a transition between slaves and free labor. They were neither free nor slaves. Indentured Chinese servants also labored in the sugarcane fields of Cuba well after the 1884 abolition of slavery in that country. Two scholars of Chinese labor in Cuba, Juan Pastrana and Juan Perez de la Riva, substantiated horrific conditions of Chinese coolies in Cuba and stated that coolies were slaves in all but name. Denise Helly is one researcher who believes that despite their slave-like treatment, the free and legal status of the Asian laborers in Cuba separated them from slaves. The coolies could challenge their superiors, run away, petition government officials, and rebel according to Rodriguez Pastor and Trazegnies Granda. Once they had fulfilled their contracts the colonos asiáticos integrated into the countries of Peru, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. They adopted cultural traditions from the natives and also welcomed in non-Chinese to experience and participate into their own traditions. Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Havana had Latin America's largest Chinatown.

 

In South America, Chinese indentured labourers worked in Peru's silver mines and coastal industries (i.e., guano, sugar, and cotton) from the early 1850s to the mid-1870s; about 100,000 people immigrated as indentured workers. They participated in the War of the Pacific, looting and burning down the haciendas where they worked, after the capture of Lima by the invading Chilean army in January 1880. Some 2000 coolies even joined the Chilean Army in Peru, taking care of the wounded and burying the dead. Others were sent by Chileans to work in the newly conquered nitrate fields.

 

The Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation, of which later U.S. president Herbert Hoover was a director, was instrumental in supplying Chinese coolie labour to South African mines from c.1902 to c.1910 at the request of mine owners, who considered such labour cheaper than native African and white labour. The horrendous conditions suffered by the coolie labourers led to questions in the British parliament as recorded in Hansard.

 

In 1866, the British, French and Chinese governments agreed to mitigate the abuse by requiring all traders to pay for the return of all workers after their contract ended. The employers in the British West Indies declined these conditions, bringing the trade there to an end. Until the trade was finally abolished in 1875, over 150,000 coolies had been sold to Cuba alone, the majority having been shipped from Macau. These labourers endured conditions far worse than those experienced by their Indian counterparts. Even after the 1866 reforms, the scale of abuse and conditions of near slavery did not get any better - if anything they deteriorated. In the early 1870s increased media exposure of the trade led to a public outcry, and the British, as well as the Qing government, put pressure on the Portuguese authorities to bring the trade at Macau to an end; this was ultimately achieved in 1874. By that time, a total of up to half a million Chinese workers had been exported.

 

The term coolie was also applied to Chinese workers recruited for contracts on cacao plantations in German Samoa. German planters went to great lengths to secure access to their "coolie" labour supply from China. In 1908 a Chinese commissioner, Lin Shu Fen, reported on the cruel treatment of coolie workers on German plantations in the western Samoan Islands. The trade began largely after the establishment of colonial German Samoa in 1900 and lasted until the arrival of New Zealand forces in 1914. More than 2000 Chinese "coolies" were present in the islands in 1914 and most were eventually repatriated by the New Zealand administration.

 

INDIAN COOLIES

By the 1820s, many Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hopes of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour. The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Natal, British East Africa, and British Malaya. The Dutch also shipped workers to labour on the plantations on Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. A system of agents was used to infiltrate the rural villages of India and recruit labourers. They would often deceive the credulous workers about the great opportunities that awaited them for their own material betterment abroad. The Indians primarily came from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but also from Tamil Nadu and other areas to the south of the country.

 

Without permission from the British authorities, the French attempted to illegally transport Indian workers to their sugar producing colony, the Reunion Island, from as early as 1826. By 1830, over 3000 labourers had been transported. After this trade was discovered, the French successfully negotiated with the British in 1860 for permission to transport over 6,000 workers annually, on condition that the trade would be suspended if abuses were discovered to be taking place.

 

The British began to transport Indians to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, starting in 1829. Slavery had been abolished with the planters receiving two million pounds sterling in compensation for the loss of their slaves. The planters turned to bringing in a large number of indentured labourers from India to work in the sugar cane fields. Between 1834 and 1921, around half a million indentured labourers were present on the island. They worked on sugar estates, factories, in transport and on construction sites.

 

In 1837, the Raj issued a set of regulations for the trade. The rules provided for each labourer to be personally authorised for transportation by an officer designated by the Government, it limited the length of service to five years subject to voluntary renewal, it made the contractor responsible for returning the worker after the contract elapsed and required the vessels to conform to basic health standards

 

Despite this, conditions on the ships were often extremely crowded, with rampant disease and malnutrition. The workers were paid a pittance for their labour, and were expected to work in often awful and harsh conditions. Although there were no large scale scandals involving coolie abuse in British colonies, workers often ended up being forced to work, and manipulated in such a way that they became dependent on the plantation owners so that in practice they remained there long after their contracts expired; possibly as little as 10% of the coolies actually returned to their original country of origin. Colonial legislation was also passed to severely limit their freedoms; in Mauritius a compulsory pass system was instituted to enable their movements to be easily tracked. Conditions were much worse in the French colonies of Reunion and Guadeloupe and Martinique, where workers were 'systematically overworked' and abnormally high mortality rates were recorded for those working in the mines.

 

However, there were also attempts by the British authorities to regulate and mitigate the worst abuses. Workers were regularly checked up on by health inspectors, and they were vetted before transportation to ensure that they were suitably healthy and fit to be able to endure the rigours of labour. Children under the age of 15 were not allowed to be transported from their parents under any circumstances.

 

The first campaign against the 'coolie' trade in England likened the system of indentured labour to the slavery of the past. In response to this pressure, the labour export was temporarily stopped in 1839 by the authorities when the scale of the abuses became known, but it was soon renewed due to its growing economic importance. A more rigorous regulatory framework was put into place and severe penalties were imposed for infractions in 1842. In that year, almost 35,000 people were shipped to Mauritius.

 

In 1844, the trade was expanded to the colonies in the West Indies, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Demerara, where the Asian population was soon a major component of the island demographic.

 

Starting in 1879, many Indians were transported to Fiji to work on the sugar cane plantations. Many of them chose to stay after their term of indenture elapsed and today they number about 40% of the total population. Indian workers were also imported into the Dutch colony of Suriname after the Dutch signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers in 1870. In Mauritius, the Indian population are now demographically dominant, with Indian festivals being celebrated as national holidays.

 

This system prevailed until the early twentieth century. Increasing focus on the brutalities and abuses of the trade by the sensationalist media of the time, incited public outrage and lead to the official ending of the coolie trade in 1916 by the British government. By that time tens of thousands of Chinese workers were being used along the Western Front by the allied forces (see Chinese Labour Corps).

 

SEX RATIOS AND INTERMARRIAGE AMONG COOLIES

A major difference between the Chinese coolie trade and the Indian coolie trade was that the Chinese coolies were all male, while East Indian women (from India) were brought alongside men as coolies. This led to a high rate of Chinese men marrying women of other ethnicities like Indian women and mixed race Creole women. Indian women and children were brought alongside Indian men as coolies while Chinese men made up 99% of Chinese colonies. The contrast with the female to male ratio among Indian and Chinese immigrants has been compared by historians. In Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies just 18,731 Chinese women and 92,985 Chinese men served as coolies on plantations. Chinese women migrated less than Javanese and Indian women as indentured coolies. The number of Chinese women as coolies was "very small" while Chinese men were easily taken into the coolie trade. In Cuba men made up the vast majority of Chinese indentured servants on sugar plantations and in Peru non-Chinese women married the mostly male Chinese coolies.

 

Chinese women were scarce in every place where Chinese indentured laborers were brought, the migration was dominated by Chinese men. Up to the 1940s men made up the vast majority of the Costa Rican Chinese community. Males made up the majority of the original Chinese community in Mexico and they married Mexican women.

 

In the early 1900s, the Chinese communities in Manila, Singapore, Mauritius, New Zealand, Victoria in Australia, the United States, and Victoria in British Columbia in Canada were all male dominated.

 

WIKIPEDIA

(Read the entire text it the 'note' section). The playwright based “Dear Madam City Attorney McLean”upon his experiences/discussions with City of Santee, California, City Attorney Don McLean. The play examines the consequences of unethical conduct bygovernment lawyers. The play is available to anyone gratis!

 

TITLE: Dear Madam City Attorney McLean

! &n bsp; by Richard W. White

Copyright 1997; Edited, 2000.

 

CLASSIFICATION:Three-act, contemporary political drama

 

RATING: G

 

CAST: RICK - male, near fifty; thin; worn;

McLEAN – male, used to giving orders.

TAX LADY - female; self-assured; over bearing;

Ms. HOWARD - female; handsome; well dressed.

GEORGE - friendly; city cowboy; well fed.

 

LENGTH:50 minutes, plus or minus.

 

REQUIREMENTS: Permission to produce “Dear MadamCity Attorney McLean” is granted to any public or private school or theater.The playwright asks to be informed on any production of this work.

 

“Dear Madam City Attorney McLean” was written for the classroom or community theater setting, with minimal set requirements or rehearsal. Thecharacter McLEAN may be entirely read from the script, since the player is never seen. The character RICK may read much of his dialogue “from the computer monitor” (since he is writing it as he is speaking it). The glowing light (the McLEAN effect) maybe a flashlight or a small spotlight.

 

CONTACTING THE PLAYWRIGHT OR THE MAYOR:

The playwright may be contacted through by email firecat2@sbcglobal.net

  

NOTES: The playwright based “Dear Madam CityAttorney McLean” upon his experiences/discussions with Santee City Attorney DonMcLean. The play examines the consequences of unethical conduct by government lawyers. The characters of the play examine the political drama genre in contemporary America.

     

DEAR MADAM CITYATTORNEY McLEAN

  

A political drama

 

by RICHARD W.WHITE

based upondiscussions with

Donald McLean,City Attorney

City of Santee,California

        

© 1997 by Richard W. White

   

Theauthor hereby grants to everyone the right to use this play gratis!

DEARMADAM CITY ATTORNEY McLEAN

 

APolitical Drama by RICHARD W. WHITE

Based upondiscussions with

Don McLean,City Attorney,

City of Santee,California

 

CHARACTERS

 

RICK TAX LADY

McLEAN DIRECTOR

! Ms. HOWARD

GEORGE

UNNAMED COUNCILMAN

MRS. McLEAN

 

With the curtain closed, RICK, a thin, cleanbut worn man near fifty, hurrying toward old age, appears at the center of thestage.

RICK: I’m going to start byreading the first two pages of the letter I read to the Santee City Council inApril 1995. Then, I’ll get on with the play.

Rick walks to the side of the stage andtakes his place behind a small podium.

RICK: Good evening, Mr. Mayorand Santee City Council. My name is Rick: I’m a former twenty yearresident and business owner. And I came here this evening to tell you straightout, the City of Santee cheated me on the Prospect Avenue bridge project.

The City engineer, Cary Stewart, concealed survey error from me and heconcealed plan error from the surveyors. And the result was chaos. Piles weren't centered under the footings. Footings weren't aligned underthe abutments. The bridge deck had to be lowered and reduced inthickness. Some alignments were off as much as two (2) foot.

City Engineer Cary Stewart concealed the survey error because he didn't want topay for fixing his mistakes. They were his mistakes because his planswere wrong and I should have been paid for fixing the accumulated errors. But I wasn't paid. I was cheated and Cary couldn't have cheated mewithout the help of City Attorney McLean. Period.

Cary also requested extra work, which he didn't pay for. The asphaltbikeway; lowering the bridge deck and cutting off the rebar; extra rip rap; changesin the manholes. Cary kept a 'log of extras', but when the project wasfinished, Cary wouldn't pay for any of it and he wouldn't give us any reasonfor not paying.

Nearly a year after we finished the work, we demanded arbitration before theState Board. In answer to our demand, City Attorney McLean sued claiming theState didn’t have authority to hear it.

But Cary and Attorney McLean weren't satisfied to see me cheated. Andthey weren't satisfied to see me wasting my! time an d money playing lawyergames. They decided to destroy my business with a bogus defaultresolution voted on by this city council without advance notice to me. The State found 100% in my favor two months after Santee defaulted me. It’s been years: Why hasn't the Santee rescinded the default resolution? Why haven’t I been paid? Why was I cheated? Why is it okay for Santee tocheat?

Good evening.

As Rick begins to walk behind the curtain,councilwoman Lori Howard blocks his path.

RICK: If you don’t mind, we’lldo this scene here, instead of in your coffee shop, to save on set cost.

LORI: Rick, you can’t do thisplay. The council has talked about it in closed session. You can’t do it,in my coffee shop or anywhere else.”

A rotund city cowboy, George Tockstein, CityManager enters.

RICK: Hi ya,George. I’ve been wanting to talk to you.

GEORGE: (Smiling andfriendly)Rick, we, I mean the council, we, the city, would rather just rely on thefinding of the court.

RICK: George, there has neverbeen a hearing on the merits. There has never been a finding by anycourt, except the one that decided Cary’s labor complaint was bogus. Whydon’t you just ask Cary Stewart why he didn’t pay me?

LORI: You can’t do thisplay! We aren’t asking or answering anything. Come on, George,let’s get out of this play.

UnnamedCouncilman steps into Rick’ path.

MRS. McLEAN: “I don’tcare if you use my name, in this play. It’s my married nameanyway.”

UNNAMED COUCILMAN: “Rick, you can’t do this play. On the phone or anywhere else.”

RICK: I won’t say yourname, or try to describe your peculiar voice or overly long sideburns. Iwill only work with your voice and the threat that you made to me. I tookit as a threat when you told me on the phone ‘this time you have gone too far,’in response, I thought, you’d said that to me for the barbeque I had thrown forthat intercity pop-Warner football team I sponsored. I gave the barbeque as aprize for the team having won the league championship. And I won’t saynothing about seeing you at five o’clock in the morning stuffing Jack Doylecampaign signs in the truck of your late model Japanese make sedan. Ihave already decided to keep the Mayor’s name out of this by referencing themayor of La Mesa, Art Madrid, who, I ran into in the parking lot of La MesaCity Hall.”

Nameless Councilmanleaves in a huff, as Lori and George walk from the stage. The curtainopens to reveal an early morning scene. Rick takes his seat, a foldingsteel chair at a folding table, which serves as his desk, facing theaudience. He is under the glow of a desk lamp, typing at the green hazeof his small computer monitor. Books are stacked on the d! esk, whi ch is setbetween two (tall) old steel filing cabinets. The walls of the room behindthe desk are primarily old scaffolding and two-by-four wall studs with noplaster covering. The house has been gutted by reconstruction. Framed pictures hang about on open-wall studs. A door is at the back ofthe stage. A wooden plank on saw horses serves as a counter top on stageright. An electric coffee pot is set upon the plank, together with coffeecup, a jar of instant coffee, a pill bottle and a grocery bag. Twocardboard boxes, stuffed with clothing, covered with plastic trash bags, are onthe floor at the back of the stage and a sleeping bag. Drying laundryhangs about. Old books, under plastic sheets, are stacked about on thefloor.

RICK: (Reading aloudin monotone from his computer monitor.) Opening scene. At his desk in his sparsepremises, Rick is reading from his computer screen, making a sternpronouncement: (Announcing, narrative style, still reading from thecomputer screen.) Since the beginning of history, productive people have organized themselves …

(The green glow of t! he compu ter screenbecomes tinged with orange, causing RICK to stop reading.)

RICK: McLean, move offmy monitor. I can’t see to read.

McLEAN: (A demanding, butdistant sounding man who is used to giving orders, speaking from high offstage.) It’s cold over here. The warmth feels good.

RICK: (Grinning.) Then go to hell.

(The orange glow fades from the computerscreen as a glow of light appears on the small gray cloth screen that is aboveand in front of R! ick.)&nb sp;

McLEAN: That little exercisebefore the city council last night was a waste of time.

RICK: The necessity of it goesbeyond what we can see or understand just now.

McLEAN: So why did you bother?

RICK: This experience needs tobe shared. The helplessness of one man’s humanity, the richness ofpoverty, the peace I am feeling: all of this deserves to be celebrated. But more importantly, you’re not the only crooked government lawyer: peopleneed to shown what happens when the government cheats.

McLEAN: What people? Idon't understand. Who are you are talking about? You should beworking.

RICK: Michaelanglo once toldthe Pope, ‘A man doesn't work with his hands alone.’ My heart is tootroubled to work.

McLEAN: Your soul is troubled.

RICK: Look who'stalking.

McLEAN: I was surprised howgood you looked last night.

RICK: Appearances is thecheapest of modern lifes’ necessities. It’s the one perk I allow mypride.

McLEAN: Pride? You don't evenown a bed.

RICK: When all my bills arepaid, I’ll buy a bed. (Softly speaking to McLean) Now please, I’m tryingto work. (After a slight pause, starting again with the narratorvoice.) Sincethe beginning, productive people have organized themselves into governments forthe purpose of mutual benefit. Where government is honest and withoutcorruption, society prospers. Where government is dishonest, societyfails to thrive.

For thoseliving it, the correlation between the ethics of government and quality of lifeis obscure, but it is observable, by a stroke as brief and brilliant as theflash of lighting, which unites the earth and sky in the night. I haveseen this coruscation as its power passed through my existence, vaporizing mylife’s work. And I come before you as a witness, for having lived throughit, (a pause, then the dialogue flows quickly) I know that the great unseendanger that America faces today, (slowly) is the ethical depravity which is creepinginto the ranks of our government lawyers.

McLEAN: That indictment is alittle enthusiastic.

RICK: (Quietly to McLEAN): I am still editing. Nowhush, I want to finish this. (! Narratin g) For America to prosper,we need to publicly condemn the crooked government lawyer.

McLEAN: What is allthis?

RICK: I’m writing a play aboutus.

McLEAN: Us? Doesn’t seem very productive.

(RICK types during thefollowing dialogue, reading it as he types it.)

RICK: (Speaking offhand): Realistically, my options arevery limited. My only asset is experience, which would count a negativein any other enterprise, but in this play writing business, it may be anadvantage. And the risk in this undertaking is minimal, which makes itattractive. (Rick stops typing) McLean, read this, please.

McLEAN (Poetically): In search of understanding,you trespassed into timeless contemplation, and for this offense, fate has castyou adrift upon a cosmic tide, where the jetsam of humanity twines with dybbuksand bobbing ossuaries in a slick of black ink on a windless white page, toawait Dies Irae. (Plainly): This play is crap.

RICK: What should I do tocontribute to America? Go door to door, to collect secondhand integrityand slightly worn ethics for you and your law partner wife?

McLEAN: Where do you get theseideas?

RICK: I asked you thatquestion while you were still living and you did the same thing: Why don’t youanswer me? I’m trying to do some good here: or should I write Mrs. McLeana letter, setting out my concerns for America’s future?

McLEAN: Reading oldbooks?

RICK: My experience is asomber treasure. For it to have value, it must be cast into the pool ofliterature, where in the ageless waters of humanly acceptable conclusions, allthe obtuse, precisely objective, impersonal phenomenon of science and law blendtogether … to become understanding … eventually.

(RICK types the words that McLEAN isspeaking.)

McLEAN: (Conciliatory,condescending): It’s these old books, isn’t it? These used up, very old books.

RICK: (RICK stops histyping and looks at McLEAN): George Bernard Shaw was self-taught.

McLEAN: And he to was afailure, painting his ideological graffiti in other peoples’ minds. (Apause) This idea is lunacy. Why don’t you get back into business?

RICK: (Looking to McLEAN): Lunacy is inspiration indisguise, since a man with many more brains than his fellows, necessarilyappears as mad to them as one who has less.

McLEAN: And cynicism is thelast refuge of a quitter.

RICK: ‘No man is abovethe law’. Did you ever read my letters?

McLEAN: Your little ethicslessons were misdirected: I was the law.

RICK: And that is preciselythe problem: You were the government of my part of America, functioning withthe ethics of an open pit toilet, a putrid, infected zit on the economic hullof America.

McLEAN: If America has aproblem, it’s people like you, failing to contribute their talents.

RICK: One more man on the oarswon’t save a leaky boat.

McLEAN: You’re pumping bilgewater onto the deck of the sturdiest democracy ever to set sail.

RICK: I’m simply plugging thelegal rot below the waterline.

McLEAN: If this country sinks,the fatal damage will more likely spring from the infectious negative mentalityof your ilk, rather than from structural damage, legal or otherwise.

RICK: The economic hull ofAmerica is taking on water, but you are still loading lawyer ballast. Don’t you realize each business lost in a free enterprise system is anotherhole in the ship of state?

McLEAN: What ken yourintellect brings to the American political discussion is as shallow as thisso-called play.

RICK: Allowing government lawyerslike you to smash small businessmen like me, with impunity, brings this countryto a potentially dangerous crossroads. The greatness of America comesfrom the diversity of its entrepreneurs sailing in the shallows; theinnovators; the small shops; individuals working alone who aren’t swimming withthe main stream. Ben Franklin with his kite; the Wright brothers in theirbicycle shop; Ford, with his first gasoline motor on his kitchen sink onChristmas eve.

McLEAN: (Enunciatingsternly) Isee the problem here: you imagine yourself a sort of mental ventriloquist whocan cleverly project his thoughts into other people’s minds. That’s whatyou used to do with your letters to me, wasn’t it? Well, you should know,your constant little lessons in good citizenship were a waste of postagestamps.

RICK: The drama of life isn’tplayed out with thoughts alone, lawyer McLean. (The telephone ringsand RICK answers it.) Hello. (He smiles proudly.) Yeah, this is Grandpa. (Helistens carefully for a moment.) No, I didn’t die. It’s just hard for me tocome and visit. (Listening, then gently) Mommy is driving on thelittle tire? (A pause.) Oh, gee. We’ll have to do something aboutthat. (Pause a beat) Is Mommy at work? (Pause) Okay. Grampa willthink of something. You better get ready for school. Grampa lovesyou. Bye-bye.

(RICK hangs up the telephone and typesMcLEAN’s dialogue as he speaks it.)

McLEAN: A rational manacting in the real world will strike a balance between what he desires and whatcan be done. It is only in imaginary worlds that we can do whatever wewish.

RICK: (Looking at McLean) (Typing the next line ofdialogue):This is my play and I imagine you gone. Go away. I don’t need thephilosophical counsel of a crooked government lawyer.

(RICK dials the telephone while McLeanreads.)

McLEAN: Choose your friends onmoral principles and you’ll soon have less company then you have now.

RICK: (Speaking tothe telephone) Isthe boss there?

McLEAN: I am here as the voiceof reality. You can’t continue to subsist like a Brahmanistictramp.

(A noisy jet passes low, shaking the house.)

RICK: (Speaking to McLean,offhand.) Reality in practical affairs is simply a series of tradeoffs. I choose tosurvive without material flourish. (Speaking into the telephone.) Hello, John. Hey,do you still want a structural slab behind the shop? (A pause.) I’ll make you a trade: fourtires for the slab. You buy the mud. (A pause.) Thanks. (Hehangs up the handset.)

McLEAN: You have turned yourlife into a lonely tragedy.

RICK: (Typing as hespeaks): This solitude is a thing of beauty.

McLEAN: It’s been years. Have you lost all sense of time?

RICK: Contemplation is thetimeless sense and best practiced in isolation, for as Emerson said, ‘alone iswisdom’. Leave me.

McLEAN: You are not happy inthis state.

RICK: Emerson said, ‘alone ishappiness’. Leave me.

McLEAN: You need to get outamong normal people.

RICK: Emerson said, ‘the crowdthat you are obstructs my contentment’. Leave me.

McLEAN: Emerson also said,‘Life consists of what a man is thinking of all day.’

(A moment of silence.)

McLEAN: You’re a talentedfellow. You should contribute.

RICK: This is mycontribution. You were the government: why did you cheat me?

McLEAN: For me to discussparticulars of the matter would violate the attorney/client privilege. Itwould be unethical.

RICK: (Looking to McLEAN,sans typing):So tell me of your ethics.

McLEAN: You should be doingsomething.

RICK: This play issomething. Help me with it or leave me alone.

McLEAN: You don’t really wantme to leave. Without me, you would have nothing at all and you reallywould be all alone.

RICK: Why did you cheatme?

McLEAN: I was protecting myclient.

RICK: Your client was thetaxpayer, not City engineer Cary Stewart. Your duty was to the law, notyour fat wallet. ABA Rule one point two D: ‘A lawyer shall not … assist aclient in conduct that … is … fraudulent.’

McLEAN: I will not respond toyour egregious slander. I assert it was my job to protect the City.

RICK: Your engineer CaryStewart ordered the work and then wouldn’t pay for it. When I demanded Statearbitration, you sued the State, claiming it had no authority to settle thematter. It was all legal baloney, to fatten your own wallet.

McLEAN: I love the law; I wastop of my class at Cal Western in sixty-two; but I’m not being paid to argueand I won’t do it.

RICK: So then leave.

McLEAN: I see you better thanyou realize. You turned your anger inside and now it is coming fullcircle, inside out, until it’s directed against those who would help you.

RICK: You are not helpingme.

McLEAN: You’re bulliedby your own ego; you’re trying to undo what happened with shear will power. It can’t be done. You can’t shift a single grain of sand with willpower. You should start a new business. You have the ability tocreate jobs.

RICK: (Typing as hespeaks): Ihave created a new job: I am a prospector, panning the sands of my experience, (gesturingto the books)exploring the veins of these old pages, in search of understanding.

McLEAN: (Laughs): Look around you. You made a better brick layer.

RIC! K: Brick s were a hobby,something for me to love: nothing more.

McLEAN: Your hobby made asplash at City Hall when they featured your home in the newspaper homesection.

RICK: Cary used to walk hisdog by every night, to make a splash on my bricks, after Santee defaulted me.

McLEAN: I’m notsurprised. You put him on the defensive. He needed to do somethingto assuage his ego.

RICK: Your loyalty wasmisplaced in Cary. Shielding him from the Engineer’s Board investigationwas a disservice to the community and a breach of your professionaleth! ics.&nbs p;

McLEAN: For me to commentwould be a breach of the attorney client privilege.

RICK: Cary wasn’t yourclient. It was a professional breach to stonewall the engineer’s boardinvestigation for five years.

McLEAN: What’s thepoint? It’s been eight years.

RICK: (RICK puts his handsto his forehead and looks to McLean through his fingers) Eight years and I am stillunable to make any sense of it. Eight years of document searches,depositions, motions, law! yer game s. Eight years with my spirit frustrated,my aspirations chained, my family in disarray. Eight years since I spentthe last of my pride, since I could afford self respect.

McLEAN: Forget it.

RICK: All I have is my memory:it is the most of me; and it needs healing: it must be healed, because ourfuture rests on our memories; memories are the foundation of our spirit - butto be healed, they must be exposed to the light.

McLEAN: (After a long pause.) Have you read this allthe way through? You sound stilted, on artificial wooden words that willalways be too long for your social stature. Believe me, you need to getback into business.

RICK: (Tinged with irony,his hands over his lowered head): The business I know has no sense to it, ifgovernment can cheat with impunity.

McLEAN: Government must putits own interest, the good of all, before that of any individual citizen.

(Rick rises and pours himself a cup ofcoffee while speaking the following dialogue.)

RICK: ‘Injusticeanywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly,affects all indirectly’. Dr. King wrote that in his letter fromBirmingham jail.

McLEAN: And what did itget him? He was dead within six months.

RICK: What hope do any of ushave, if our government cheats?

Consequences are serious

Every one of us has a great responsibility to protect the environment – and climate change is a global issue that is going to require a global solution. This globe illustrated some of the ways our climate could change in the future.

It has been many years since we were last here in Tenterden. So long ago that I fear the Kent church project had not yet started. Because, I had not visited St Mildred's before. It towers above to attractive town, which is stretched along the main road. A narrow turning to the right brings you into Church Road, and to the entrance to St Mildred.

 

Tenterden is the start of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, I think we were last here for a beer festival on the railway some years ago, maybe 5 years. And after riding for the first service from the day, I remember thinking ten in the morning was too early to be supping my first pint.

 

Tenterden is West Kent, go west a few miles and you are in Sussex, but the town and whole area is attractive; clapboard houses, oast houses, ancient churches, hop farms, steam trains, marshes. Its all here.

 

St Mildred is on a grand scale, lots of nooks and crannies to explore and snap.

 

Most wonderful feature is the 15th century roof, which is really special. Good glass, a nice alabaster memorial.

 

A great start to the day.

 

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A superb church, which despite a heavy-handed restoration by G.M. Hills (see also Newenden) in 1864 still has much of interest. The nave ceiling is exceptional fifteenth-century work, rather more domestic in feel than is normal in an ecclesiastical building. There are two blocked thirteenth-century windows above the chancel arch - an unusual position to find windows in Kent. The five bay aisles are extremely narrow. The glass in the south aisle windows by Hughes of 1865 are rather fun. In the north chapel is a fine alabaster standing monument to Herbert Whitfield (d. 1622) and his wife. This monument cuts off the base of the north-east window and displays many colourful coats of arms. The chancel screen and pulpit are late nineteenth century and fit in with the medieval architecture better than most works of that period.

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Tenterden

 

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The history of Tenterden itself is lost in time, as is the origin of St. Mildred’s church. Perhaps all that can be said with any confidence is that the story of the town and the story of St. Mildred’s are bound together with each other, with the story of pre-conquest Kent, with the story of Christianity in Kent, and with the story of the ancient Kentish royal house.

 

Tenet-wara-den (the den of the Thanet folk) was the Wealden area used by the abbey of Minster-in-Thanet for Autumn pig-forage (acorns and beech mast to fatten the pigs for Winter). That abbey was founded by Domne Aefa (“the lady Aebba”?) of the Kentish royal family, and either she herself or her daughter, St. Mildred, was the first abbess. This is within the first century after the arrival in Canterbury of St. Augustine’s mission from Rome. Mildred’s holy reputation was an international one, and there can be no doubt that a church in her name was here from some point in the eighth to tenth centuries. The reign of Canute is the latest possible period and it was almost certainly much earlier. However, we have no record of any incumbent before 1180, and the oldest perceptible fabric of the church is of about that time too.

 

When you stand in the middle of St. Mildred’s, you see a large building reflecting the prosperity of the town in the later middle ages. The north arcade of the chancel is probably around 1200, but most of the chancel, nave, and aisles is work of the 13th to 15th centuries. The fine wagon-vault ceiling of the nave has been variously stated to be 14th or 15th century (with some Victorian additions). The tower of the church, a prominent Kentish landmark, was probably built by architect Thomas Stanley. This major building work was undertaken in the middle of the 15th century, at the height of Tenterden’s prosperity, it being no coincidence that the town gained a charter and Cinque Port status in support of Rye, at about the same time.

 

The town’s prosperity was reflected also in the presence of important shipbuilding yards at both Reading Street and Smallhythe, both on the tidal River Rother at that time. The settlement at Smallhythe was sufficiently large to gain its own chapel sometime in the middle ages, but we know nothing of that building, though it was probably dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Smallhythe itself was burnt in a huge fire in 1514, and we know that rebuilding of the chapel began virtually straight away. The current church of St. John the Baptist is a beautiful example of a brick-built Tudor church, box-like (so with an excellent acoustic). It has, during its history, had varying levels of dependence or independence from the town church of St. Mildred.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, the population was growing fast, and attitudes to worship were changing too. St. Mildred’s lost its box pews, and had the organ moved to its present position. A new church was planned for the hamlet of Boresisle at the northern end of Tenterden, the neat and small Gothic revival church being dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels. Two consequences were, firstly, the acquisition by Kent of another prominent landmark – the graceful spire, and secondly, the name Boresisle fell out of usage and the hamlet itself has ever since been known as “St. Michael’s”.

 

I do feel it important to append to this account of the Anglican church buildings a brief comment on the other churches of the town. There was always a Roman Catholic presence here, but after the Reformation, there was no church building until the Catholic priest in Tenterden, Canon Currie began, in the 1930s, a determined attempt to put that right, culminating in the building of St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic church in Ashford Road.

 

The history of “non-conformity” in Tenterden is a major and extensive one. Within a few decades of the development around the 1370s, by John Wyclife at Oxford, of the doctrines later known as “Lollardy”, there were significant numbers of people in Tenterden who ascribed to doctrines regarded as unorthodox. Moreover, following the Reformation of the 1540s to 1560s, there were many who rejected not only Roman ways, but were unhappy with the English church. We know that Tenterden families joined the 17th century exodus to the New World (notably to Massachusetts), and Tenterden acquired its first “non-conformist” chapel around 1700, that building now being the Unitarian church in Ashford Road, and one of Tenterden’s most interesting ancient relics. The nineteenth century saw the building of the Methodist church at West Cross, and two of the three Baptist churches – Zion in the High Street, and the Strict Baptist Jireh Chapel at St. Michael’s. Trinity Baptist in Ashford Road was built in 1928.

 

Those interested to pursue their enquiries further will find a guide in St. Mildred’s, and there is much information in standard texts of Kent history and architecture.

 

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=265

 

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THIS hundred contains within its bounds THE TOWN AND PARISH OF Tenterden, and part of the parish of Ebeney, containing the borough of Reading, the church of which is in another hundred.

 

This hundred was antiently accounted one of the Seven Hundreds, and was within the jurisdiction of the justices of the country, from which it was separated by Henry VI. who, on account of the impoverishment of the port and town of Rye, in Sussex, by his letters patent, in his 27th year, incorporated the town and hundred of Tenterden, by the name of the bailiff and commonaltie of the town and hundred of Tenterden, and granted that the same should be a member annexed and united to that town and port, and separated from the county of Kent, and that the bailiff and commonalty of this town and hundred should have for ever, on their contributing to the burthens and exigencies of that port and town from time to time, (fn. 1) many franchises, privileges, and freedoms, and all other liberties, freedoms, and free customs which the barons of the five ports had before that time enjoyed. In which state this town and hundred remained till the 42d year of queen Elizabeth's reign, when the name of their incorporation was changed to that of the mayor, jurats, and commonalty of the town and hundred of Tenterden, by which it continues to be governed at this time.

 

THE CORPORATION consists of a mayor, twelve jurats, and as many common-councilmen, a chamberlain, and town clerk; the jurisdiction of it being exclusive from the justices of the county. The mayor is chosen yearly on August 29. The election used to be in the town-hall; but that being burnt down by some prisoners in the prison-room over it, it was afterwards made under one of the great old oaks, which are not far from the place, on the other side of the street, where it stood. A neat and elegant hall was finished in 1792, adjoining the Woolpack Inn, in which the mayor has been elected as heretofore, and it is occasionally used as an assembly room by the inhabitants. The mayor is coroner of both the town and hundred; there is no sheriff; the commoners must be resciants, and are chosen by the mayor and two of the jurats; the jurats are all justices of the peace. They hold sessions of oyer and terminer, but cannot try treason. At the sessions holden at Tenterden, August 10, 1785, two men were convicted of burglary, and executed near Gallows-green the 27th following. Both the charters of this corporation being destroyed by the fire of the court-hall in 1660, an exemplification of them was procured anno 12 George III.

 

The liberty of the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, claimed a paramount jurisdiction over this hundred, till the incorporation of the town of Tenterden, and the annexing this hundred to it in the reign of Henry VI. since which the mayor and jurats have been lords of the royalty of it, and continue so at this time.

 

The parish is divided into six boroughs, each having a borsholder chosen yearly, these are Town Borough, Castweasle, Boresile, Shrubcote, Dumborne, which includes all Smallhyth, and Reading, which is wholly in the parish of Ebene.

 

THE PARISH of Tenterden lies too near the marshes to be either healthy or pleasant, excepting that part where the town is situated near the northern boundaries of it, on what may be called for this country, high ground; it is about five miles across each way. The soil of it is various, the northern part being sand, towards the east it is a wet stiff clay, and towards the south and west towards the marshes a deep rich mould. The generality of the lands in it are pasture, but there are about one hundred acres of hop-ground dispersed in different parts of it; there is very little wood, and that mostly between the town and Smallhyth, a hamlet formerly of much more consequence, as will be further mentioned hereafter, situated at the southern boundary of it, on the road into the Isle of Oxney, close to the river Rother, which separates that part of this parish from the island. About a mile and a half eastward is the hamlet of Reading-street, built adjoining the high road to Apledore, close to the marshes below it, on the passage over the Rother into Ebeney, and the Isle of Oxney.

 

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 1755, between ten and eleven o'clock in the forenoon (being at the same time that the great bason at Portsmouth was disturbed) several ponds in this parish and neighbourhood, without any sensible motion of the earth, were greatly agitated, the water of them being forced up the banks with great violence, fretting and foaming with a noise similar to the coming in of the tide, so as to terrify many who were near them; some of these waters flowed up three times in this manner, others circled round into eddies, absorbing leaves, sticks, &c. and it was observed that only those ponds were affected, that had springs to supply the waters of them.

 

THE TOWN OF TENTERDEN is situated nearly in the centre of the parish and hundred. It stands on high ground, neither unpleasant nor unhealthy; the greatest part of it is built on each side of the high road leading from the western parts of Kent and Cranbrooke through this parish south-east to Apledore. A small part of it is paved, where there is a small antient market-place, built of timber; but the market, which is still held on a Friday, is but little frequented, only two millers, and seldom any butchers attending it. It is a well-built town, having many genteel houses, or rather seats, interspersed throughout it, among which are those of the Curteis's, a numerous and opulent family here, who bear for their arms, Argent, a chevron between three bulls heads, caboshed; (fn. 2) the Haffendens, who have been long resident here, and in Smarden and Halden, in this neighbourhood. Bugglesden, in the north part of Boresile borough, in this parish, was very antiently, and till within these few years, their property and residence. Richard Haffenden now resides in a new house, built by his father, called Homewood, at the west end of this town, and in the south part of Boresile borough. They bear for their arms, Chequy, sable and argent, on a bend, sable, three mullets, or; the Staces, who have been resident here from the beginning of the last century, as appears by their wills in the Prerogative-office, Canterbury, in several of which they are stiled gentlemen; the Blackmores, possessed of Westwell house, a handsome seat at the south east end of the town, built by James Blackmore, esq. in 1711, one of whose descendants afterwards becoming possessed by gift of the seat of Briggins, in Hertfordshire, removed thither, where they have continued ever since, and this of Westwell-house is now occupied by Mr. James Blackmore, the uncle of Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Briggins, who died possessed of it in 1789, having been thrice married. He left by his two first wives three sons and two daughters; his third. wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Tatnall, of Theobalds, now survives him. They bear for their arms, Argent, a fess between three balckmoors heads sideways, couped at the neck, sable; and several others, most of whose wealth, as well as that of the inhabitants of this town in general, has arisen from its near neighbourhood to Romneymarsh, where most of them have some occupation in the grazing business.

 

The church stands on the north side of the town, which, with the rest of the parish, consists of about three hundred houses, and two thousand inhabitants, of which about five hundred are diffenters, who have two meeting-houses here, one of Presbyterians, the other of Methodistical Baptists.

 

At the east end of the town is Craythorne-house, which formerly belonged to the Bargraves, and then to the Marshalls, who sold it to the late Mr. John Sawyer, who built a new house here, in which he afterwards resided, and his assigns now possess it. A branch of the family of Whitfield had once their residence in a large house at the east end likewise of this town. John Whitfield resided here, as did his son Herbert, who died in 1622; they were descended from an antient family in Northumberland, and bore for their arms, Argent, on a bend, plain, between two cotizes, ingrailed sable, a mullet, or. At length the heirs of Sir Herbert Whitfield, sold this seat to Wil liam Austen, esq. of Hernden, in this parish. Sir Robert Austen, bart. the last of that name, resided in it, and it now belongs to his heirs, and is made use of as a boarding school for young ladies.

 

There is a large fair held in this town on the first Monday in May yearly, for cattle, wool, merchandize, and shop goods of all sorts, to which there is a great resort from all the neighbouring country. Most of the road, leading from the town to Smallhyth, particularly the upper part of it, known by the name of Broad Tenterden, is said to have been lined with buildings on each side, and to have been the most populous part of the parish.

 

THERE ARE several places in this parish worthy notice, the first of them is HALES-PLACE, at the northwest end of this town, which was for many generations the residence of a branch of the family of Hales, who removed hither from their original seat, of the same name, in the adjoining parish of Halden. Henry Hales, who lived in the reign of Henry VI. was born here, and married Juhan, daughter and heir of Richard Capel, of Tenterden, by which he greatly increased his estate in this parish. He had by her two sons, of whom John Hales, the eldest, was of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, esq. and was one of the barons of the exchequer. He had four sons, Sir James Hales, one of the justices of the common pleas, who was of the Dungeon, where his descendants continued many generations afterwards; Thomas, who was seated at Thanington, whose descendant Robert was created a baronet in 1666, and was ancestor of the present Su Philip Hales, bart. Edward, the third son, inherited this seat and his father's possessions in this parish; and William, the fourth son, was of Recolver and Nackington, in this county. Edward Hales, esq. the third son, who inherited this seat and estate at Tenterden, resided at it, and left a son Sir Edward Hales, who was created a baronet on the 29th of June, 1611. He removed his residence from hence to the neighbouring parish of Woodchurch, in which parish he possessed the antient seat of the Herlackendens, in right of his wife Deborah, only daughter and heir of Martin Herlackenden, esq. of that place. His son Sir John Hales, having married Christian, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir James Cromer, of Tunstal, became possessed of the antient seat of the Cromers in that parish, where he resided, and died in his father's life-time, in 1639, whose son Edward Hales succeeded to the title of baronet on his grandfather's death, in 1654 whose heir he was, and resided at Tunstal. His son Sir Edward Hales, bart. having purchased the mansion of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, resided there, as his descendants have ever since; and from him this seat and estate at Tenterden at length descended down to his great-grandson Sir Edward Hales, bart. now of St. Stephen's, who about forty-eight years ago pulled down the greatest part of this antient seat, and fitted up a smaller dwelling or farm-house on the scite of it, which, together with the antient offices or out-buildings of the mansion still remaining, continues part of his possessions.

 

HERNDEN, formerly spelt Heronden, was once an estate of considerable size in this parish, though it has been long since split into different parcels. The whole of it once belonged to a family of the name of Heronden, whose arms, as appears by the antient ordinaries in the Heralds-office, were, Argent, a heron volant, azure. At length one part of this estate was alienated by one of this family to Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, whose descendant Sir John Baker, knight and baronet, died possessed of it in 1661; but the capital mansion and other principal parts of it remained some time longer in the name of Heronden, one of whom, in the reign of Charles I. alienated some part of it, now called Little Hernden, to Short, a family whose ancestors had resided at Tenterden for some time. In the Heraldic Visitation of this county, anno 1619, is a pedigree of this family, beginning with Peter Short, of Tenterden, who lived in the reign of Henry VIII. They bore for their arms, Azure, a griffin passant, between three estoiles, or. At length one of them sold this part of it to Curteis, whose grandson Mr. Samuel Curteis is now in the possession of it. But the remainder of Hernden, in which was included the principal mansion, situated about a quarter of a mile southward of the town, was at the same time conveyed by sale to Mr. John Austen, the second son of William Austen, esq. of this parish, and elder brother of Robert, created a baronet anno 1660. He afterwards resided here, and dying in 1655, s. p. gave it by will to his nephew Robert Austen, esq. the second son of Sir Robert above-mentioned, by his second wife. He afterwards resided here, and had two sons, Robert and Ralph; the eldest of whom, Robert Austen, esq. resided here, and left three sons, William, of whom hereafter, and Edward and Robert, both of whom afterwards succeeded to the title of baronet. William Austen, esq. the eldest son, inherited Hernden, and in 1729, suffered a recovery of this, as well as all other the Kentish estates comprised in his grandfather's settlement of them, to the use of him and his heirs. He died in 1742, and by will devised it to Mr. Richard Righton, who afterwards resided here, and died possessed of it in 1772, and was buried, as was his wife afterwards, under a tomb on the south side of the church-yard; upon which it came into the hands of his son Benjamin Righton, esq. of Knightsbridge, who in 1782 conveyed Hernden, a farm called Pixhill, and other lands in this parish and Rolvenden, to Mr. Jeremiah Curteis, gent. of Rye, in Sussex, who finding this antient mansion, which seems, by a date remaining on it, to have been built in the year 1585, being the 28th of queen Elizabeth's reign, in a ruinous condition, pulled it down; but the scite of it, together with the lands belonging to it, still remain in his possession.

 

PITLESDEN, or Pittelesden, as it was antiently spelt, is situated near the west end of this town. It was once a seat of some note, being the residence of a family of that name, who bore for their arms, Sable, a fess, between three pelicans, or, in whose possession it continued till Stephen Pitlesden, (fn. 3) about the reign of Henry VI. leaving an only daughter and heir Julian, she carried it in marriage to Edward Guldeford, esq. of Halden, whose descendant Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter and heir Jane, she entitled her husband Sir John Dudley, afterwards created Duke of Northumberland, to the possession of this manor, and they, in the 30th year of Henry VIII. joined in the conveyance of it to Sir Thomas Cromwell, lord Cromwell, afterwards created Earl of Essex, who passed it away by sale to that king, and it remained in the hands of the crown till king Edward VI. in his 7th year, granted it, with the pend of water, wear and fishery, with the dove-house belonging to it, and all its appurtenances, to Sir John Baker, one of the privy council, to hold in capite by knight's service, in whose family it continued till Sir John Baker, bart. of Sissinghurst, in the reign of king Charles I. conveyed it by sale to Mr. Jasper Clayton, mercer, of London. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Mr. William Blackmore, gent. of this place, who at his death devised it to his daughter Sarah, who entitled her husband Mr. John Crumpe, of Frittenden, to the possession of it for her life, but the remainder, on her death, is vested in her brother Mr. Thomas Blackmore, gent. now of Tenterden.

 

LIGHTS, formerly called Lights Notinden, is a small manor here, which together with another called East Asherinden, the name of which is now almost forgotten, though there was a family of this name of Asherinden, or Ashenden, as it was afterwards spelt, who were resident in this parish, and were, as appears by their wills, possessed of lands here called Ashenden, so late as the year 1595. These manors belonged partly to a chantry founded in this parish, and partly to the manor of Brooke, near Wye, which was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury; in which state they continued till the reign of Henry VIII. when, on the suppression both of that priory and of the chantry likewise, they were granted by that king to Sir John Baker, his attorneygeneral, whose descendant Sir John Baker, of Sissinghurst, knight and baronet, died possessed of them in 1661. How long they continued in his descendants, I do not find; but the former is now-become the property of Mr. William Mantell, and the latter belongs to Mr. William Children, who has lately built a house on it, in which he resides.

 

FINCHDEN is a seat here, situated on the denne of Leigh, at Leigh-green, which was formerly in the possession of a family, who were ancestors of the Finch's, whose posterity still continued till very lately in the possession of it. They were antiently called Finchden, from their seat here; one of them, William de Fyncheden, was chief justice of the king's bench in the 45th year of the reign of Edward III. (fn. 4) though his name in some old law books, which appear to be of that time, is written contractedly Finch, which probably was the original name, though I do not find any connection between this family and the descendants of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, seated at Eastwell and elsewhere in this county; excepting that they hear the same coat of arms. In later times I find William Finch, gent. of this place, died possessed of it in 1637, and in his direct descendants this seat continued down to Mr. William Finch, gent. who resided in it, and died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. leaving his brother Mr. Richard Finch, of Tenterden, his next heir.

 

ELARDINDEN is an estate, which was formerly of some account here, and is parcel of the manor of Frid, or Frith, in Bethersden. It was antiently part of the possessions of the noble family of Mayney. Sir John de Mayney, of Biddenden, died possessed of it in the 50th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued till the reign of Henry VI. when it was alienated by one of them to William Darell, esq. whose descendant George Darell, esq. conveyed it by sale in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir John Hales, of the Dungeon, in Canterbury, one of the barons of the exchequer, who gave it to his third son Edward Hales, esq. of Tenterden, in whose descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales of St. Stephens, near Canterbury, the present possessor of it.

 

THE MANORS OF GODDEN AND MORGIEU are situated in the south-west part of this parish. The former of them was once in the possession of a family of that name, one of whom, Roger de Godden, paid aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. as one knight's fee, which he held here of Stephen de la Hey. Soon after which it seems to have passed into the possession of the family of Aucher. How long it continued in this name I have not seen; but in the 36th year of Henry VI. the executors of Walter Shiryngton, clerk, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, having founded a chantry in the chapel near the north door of St. Paul's cathedral, London, which, from the founder, bore the name of Shiryngton's chantry, they purchased both these manors towards the endow ment of it. (fn. 5) These manors remained part of this foundation till the suppression of it, in the 1st year of Edward VI.when coming into the hands of the crown, they were granted by the king, the year afterwards, to Sir Miles Partridge, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he sold them, in the 6th year of that reign, to Thomas Argal; and from his descendant they passed into the possession of Sir John Colepeper, afterwards created lord Colepeper, who died possessed of them in 1660; upon which they came to his second son John, who on his elder brother's death without male issue, succeeded to the title of Lord Colepeper, and dying in 1719 without issue, bequeathed these manors to his wife Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, of Hollingborne, who by will devised them to her nephew John Spencer Colepeper, esq. of the Charter-house, being the last of the vast possessions of the different branches of this family dispersed over this whole county. He, in 1781, alienated them to Mr. Richard Curteis, of Tenterden, the present possessor of them.

 

KENCHILL is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the property of the family of Guldeford, one of whom, Sir Richard Guldeford, knight-banneret, and of the garter, possessed it in the reign of Henry VIII. His son Sir Edward Guldeford, warden of the five ports, leaving an only daughter Jane, she carried it in marriage to Sir John Dudley, afterwards duke of Northumberland, and he, about the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, conveyed it to that king, who, in his 36th year, granted it to Thomas Argal, to hold in capite by knight's service, on whole decease his son Thomas Argal had possession granted of it, in the 6th year of queen Elizabeth. At length, after some intermediate owners, it came into the possession of Robert Clarkson, esq. of London, who sold it in 1687 to Mr. John Mantell, grazier, of Tenterden, who was one of the instances of the quick accumlation of riches from Romney-marsh; for in fourteen year she had acquired sufficient to become the purchaser of this and other estates, which rented at 800l. per annum. He devised Kenchill by will, together with the manor of East Asherinden, already mentioned before, Dumborne, and other lands in this parish, to his son Reginald, who died possessed of them in 1743, and lies buried in this church-yard. They bear for their arms, Argent, a cross between four martlets, sable, as borne by the family of Horton Monks, excepting, that the latter bore the cross engrailed; and leaving no issue, he gave them to his nephew Mr. Edward Mantell, of Mersham, who left several sons and daughters, who afterwards joined in the sale of their respective interests in them to Mr. William Mantell, the then elder brother; by which means he became entitled to the entire see of Kenchill, with the manor of East Asherinden, and resided at the former of them. He married Anne Marshall, of Mersham, and died in 1789, leaving issue several children. The Rev. Mr. Thomas Mantell, the younger brother, re-purchased Dumborne, of which he is now possessed, having married in 1788 Miss S. Horne, by whom he has one daughter.

 

THE HAMLET OF SMALLHYTH, commonly called Smallit, is situated somewhat more than three miles from the town of Tenterden, at the southern boundary of this parish, close to the old channel of the river Rother, over which there is a passage from it into the Isle of Oxney. The inhabitants were formerly, by report, very numerous, and this place of much more consequence than at present, from the expressions frequently made use of in old writings of those infra oppidum and intra oppidum de Smallhyth; the prevalent opinion being, that the buildings once extended towards Bullen westward; no proof of which, however, can be brought from the present state of it, as there remain only three or four straggling farm-houses on either side, and a few cottages in the street near the chapel. The sea came up to this place so lately as the year 1509, as is evident by the power then given of burying in this chapel-yard the bodies of those who were cast by shipwreck on the shore of the sea infra predictum oppidum de Smalhyth; which are the very words of the faculty granted for that purpose.

 

At this place A CHAPEL was built, and was soon afterwards licensed by faculty from archbishop Warham, anno 1509, on the petition of the inhabitants, on account of the distance from their parish church of Tenterden, the badness of the roads, and the dangers they underwent from the waters being out in their way thither; and was dedicated to St. John Baptist. The words of it are very remarkable: And we William, archbishop aforesaid, of the infinite mercy of Almighty God, and by the authority of St. Peter and St. Paul the apostles, and also of our patrons St. Alphage and St. Thomas, remit, &c.

 

Divine service still continues to be performed in this chapel, which is repaired and maintained, and the salary of the chaplain paid out of the rents of lands in this parish and Wittersham, which are vested in trustees; who pay him the annual produce of them, the rents of them being at this time 52l. 10s. per annum, though it is set down in Bacon's Liber Regis, as only of the clear yearly certified value of forty five pounds. The present curate is Thomas Morphett, appointed in 1773.

 

Charities.

 

JOHN WOOD, by will in 1560, gave an annuity of 40s. per annum, out of certain lands in Tenterden, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. payable to the churchwardens, towards the repair of the church; which gift is confirmed by a decree of the court of chancery; the lands being in the occupation of Richard Farby.

 

LADY JANE MAYNARD GAVE by will in 1660, thirty acres of land in Snave and Rucking, let at 24l. per annum, for putting out poor children apprentices, whose fathers are dead or otherwise disabled by sickness; the overplus to be given to poor, honest and aged widows of this parish, that have not been nor are likely to become chargeable to it.

 

MR. ANNE SHELTON, widow, by will in 1674, gave nine acres of land in Brookland and Brenset, now let at twelve guineas per annum, to the vicar and churchwardens to put out one or more children, born in Tenterden, apprentices to some honest handicrast trade.

 

DAME FRANCES NORTON, widow, sister of Judith, wife of Robert Austen the elder, of Heronden, esq. gave by deed in 1719, an estate, of 35l. per annum, in Hollingborne, for the joint benefit in equal moieties of this parish and Hollingborne. Since which, by a commission of charitable uses, in 1748 a farm of 15l. per annum, in Hucking, has been purchased and added to it; the division of the profits of which between them, and the application of them, has been already fully related under the description of the parish of Hollingborne, in the fifth volume of this history, p. 473.

 

AN ANCESTOR of the family of Heyman, of Somerfield, many years since founded the free school in this town, for teaching the Latin tongue gratis, to so many poor children of this parish as the mayor and jurats should think proper, who are trustees of it, and appoint the master; but at present there are no children on this foundation.

 

WILLAIM MARSHALL, clerk, about the year 1521, gave 10l. per ann. to be paid the master of this school, out of a messuage and twelve acres of land, in this parish, now belonging to Sir Edward Hales, bart. which was confirmed by a decree in the Exchequer, anno 4 queen Anne, and then in the occupation of Thomas Scoone.

 

JOHN MANTELL,gent in 1702, gave 200l. which was laid out in the purchasing of a piece of fresh marsh land, containing ten acres, in St. Maries, let at 10l. per annum, to be paid to the master of this school.

 

The south chancel of the church is appropriated to the use of this school.

 

TENTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Charing.

 

The church, which is dedicated to St. Mildred, is a large handsome building, consisting of two isles and three chancels, having a lofty well-built tower at the west end, which standing on high ground is seen from the country for many miles around it. There are eight bells in it, and a set of musical chimes. The two isles and chancels are all ceiled; the north isle is curiously ceiled with oak and ornamented. There are three galleries in the church. On the front of the steeple are the arms of St. Augustine's monastery, and likewise on a beam over the altar. In the north window a coat, Two chevrons, gules, on a canton, gules, a lion passant, or. In the south window, at the bottom, Or, a saltier, between four mullets, sable; and another, Gules, a bend sinister azure, fretted argent. The monuments and gravestones in this church, as well as the tomb-stones in the church-yard, are so numerous as to be far beyond the limits of this volume. Among them are those belonging to the families of the Austens, Curteis's, Blackmores, Haffendens, and other families mentioned before, as the modern possessors of estates and manors in this parish.

 

Thomas Petlesden, esq. by will in 1462, appears to have been buried in the chancel of St. Catherine, and gave one hundred marcs to the steeple here, to be paid out of his land, &c. as long as it was a werking. (fn. 6)

 

Till within these few years there hung a beacon, (a very singular instance remaining of one) over on the top of this steeple. It was a sort of iren kettle, holding about a gallon, with a ring or hoop of the same metal round the upper part of it, to hold still more coals, rosin, &c. It was hung at the end of a piece of timber, about eight feet long. The vanes on the four pinnacles were placed there in 1682. There was formerly a noted dropping stone, in the arch of the door-way going into the bell-lost, which has ceased to drop for many years. By the dropping of it, part of a stone, or two stones rather, were carried off, leaving a considerable rist or hollow where the stones were joined. Upon the water drying in 1720, where it fell underneath, the stone hardened and grew slippery, being probably of the nature of the stelastical water in the Peak of Derbyshire, at Poolshole.

 

There is a noted saying, that Tenterden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands—which is thus accounted for: Goodwin, earl of Kent, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, was owner of much flat land in the eastern part of it, near the isle of Thanet, which was desended from the sea by a great wall, which lands afterwards became part of the possessions of the abbot of St. Augustine's, near Canterbury still retaining the name of Goodwin, their former owner; and the abbot being at the same time owner of the rectory of Tenterden, the steeple of which church he had then began building, had employed during the course of it so much of his care and attention to the finishing of that work, that he neglected the care and preservation of that wall, insomuch, that on Nov. 3, 1099, the sea broke over and ruined it, drowning the lands within it, and overwhelming it with a light sand, still remaining on them, the place retaining to this time the name of the Goodwin Sands, and becoming dreadful and dangerous to navigators. Thus this steeple is said to be the cause of the Goodwin Sands. This is the common tradition; how far consistent with truth, so far as relates to these sands, will be taken notice of in its proper place. (fn. 7)

 

THE CHURCH of Tenterden was part of the antient possessions of the monastery of St. Augustine, to which it was appropriated in 1259, on condition of a proper portion being assigned for the maintenance of a perpetual vicar of it; and the official of the archbishop, on an inquisition concerning this vicarage, made his return that it then consisted in all tithes, obventions, and oblations belonging to the church; except the tithes of sheaves, corn, and hay, of which latter the vicar should receive yearly four loads from the abbot and convent, and that it was then valued at eighteen marcs and more per annum.

 

The abbot of St. Augustine took upon himself, about the year 1295, to constitute several new deanries, and apportioned the several churches belonging to his monastery to each of them, according to their vicinity; one of these was the deanry of Lenham, in which this church of Tenterden was included, but this raising great contests between the archbishops and them, it ended in stripping the abbot of these exemptions, and he was by the pope declared to be subject to the archbishop's jurisdiction in all matters whatsoever, which entirely dissolved these new deanries. (fn. 8)

 

This church had a manor antiently appendant to it, and on a quo warranto in the iter of H. de Stanton, and his sociates, justices itinerant, anno 7 Edward II. the abbot was allowed year and waste, and cattle called weif, in his manor of Tentwardenne among others; and those liberties, with all others belonging to the abbot and convent, were confirmed by letters of inspeximus by Edward III. in his 36th year, and likewise the additional privilege of the chattels of their own tenants condemned and sugitive, within their manor here.

 

¶In which state this church continued till the general suppression of religious houses, when it came with the rest of the possessions of the abbey of St. Augustine, anno 30 Henry VIII. into the hands of the crown, after which the king, by his dotation charter in his 33d year, settled both the church appropriate of Tenterden, with the manor appendant and all its rights and appurtenances, and the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, on his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, with whom the inheritance of the parsonage remains. After the death of Charles I. on the dissolution of deans and chapters, this parsonage was surveyed in order for sale; when it appears to have consisted of one great barn, newly erected, on a close of pasture of five acres; together with all the tithes of corn within the parish; and several rents, out of lands and tenements in Tenterden, amounting to 26s. 8d. taken in right of the parsonage, which had been let in 1640 to Sir Edward Hales, at the yearly rent of 20l. 6s. 8d. but that they were worth over and above that rent seventy-eight pounds. That the lessee was bound to repair the premises, and the chancel of the church, and provide for the dean and officers, or pay the sum of 33s. 4d. The present lessee of it is Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephens, but the advowson of the vicarage the dean and chapter retain in their own hands.

 

In 1259 this vicarage was valued at thirty marcs, and in 1342 at forty-five marcs. It is valued in the king's books at 33l. 12s. 11d.and the yearly tenths at 3l. 7s. 3½d. In 1588 there were communicants five hundred and eighty-six. In 1640 it was valued at 120l. per annum. Communicants six hundred. It is now double that value.

 

There is a modus claimed throughout the parish, in the room of small tithes.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol7/pp200-219

Close enough

 

just something I did for lolz / out of bordom

Consequences after a huge storm.

Check out a new post on thegoldensieve.com

 

The mission and a word about post content.

I have long had my eye on the weathered facade of Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo, popularly known as the Carmel Mission. I have family that lives nearby and have heard about it's historical and aesthetic value in the past. I had a few days in Monterey for work recently and sneaked away to get a few images, stopping for nearly an hour at the mission. In the past, I've posted a single image per day. For a while this was fun, but then I found out that an image per day had a number of unintended consequences. Whenever I was taking photographs, knowing that I was going to post a one per day, I began to think about how many times I needed to come up with something worthy of the blog. Sometimes this meant posting a series of photographs that were very similar or separating photographs that belonged together. Though grabbing 365 interesting images per year isn't very difficult - this accounting exercise is extremely stifling to one's creativity - yet it is impossible to understand how limiting it is until you free yourself from this constraint. Some of my readers undoubtedly shoot for a blog or project that requires one image per day. I wonder, do you ever head out with your camera and in the midst of naturally reacting to what you see - say to yourself, "I need a few more," even when you've grabbed your best images? Do you photograph things you don't value or love, just to get images? Maybe I'm alone here, but I doubt it. Today's post features many images, as will most future posts, so I hope you enjoy (and can wait out posts that are spaced more liberally)!

Ancient history by our standards.

The Mission proper, that is a Christian congregation run by its founder, Father Junípero Serra was first established in Monterey in 1770. Serra, with permission of the Viceroy of New Spain, Carlos Francisco de Croix, marqués de Croix, then moved the Mission to what is now the city of Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1771 because of a power struggle with the military enclave. Depending on the source (either the official Mission website or the various historical brevia available online) this struggle is framed either as a desire to control the direction of New Spanish colonialism or as a battle over the mistreatment of the natives by the governor and his soldiers. The mission Serra founded in Monterey eventually became the Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo, a.k.a. the Royal Presidio Chapel and still stands as a National Historical Landmark in Monterey. The edifice you see in the photographs below was built by later mission leaders in what is now Carmel-by-the-Sea, the neophytes being served from a smaller, make-shift structure during the first decades of its existence. Typically, I take one or two record shots of information that is available at the site while photographing so that I can retain the information on dates and places that I sometimes have trouble remembering properly. This time I found precious little information in the Basilica and instead had to find as much out online as I could. Interestingly, there is no readily available information online about the interesting statues, curios and relics that are located throughout this beautifully restored mission. Much of what I learned after the fact was about the history of what some call the most beautifully preserved of the California mission chain.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the mission, which contains some information about Father Junípero Serra and his efforts related to this mission, but is woefully short on a number of accounts. I am not a religious person by any stretch of imagination. In fact, I find myself securely camped in the opposite extreme, but this is not the place or the time for a discussion about God or faith, etc. Instead, I am interested in the mission as it relates to human history and the early history of California. Furthermore, I have an interest in how we connect to the narrative thread of historical places like the mission and how I can use my camera to capture moments of beauty within these places.

The story of the Camel Mission is but one fascinating chapter in the story of the Spanish colonization of Mexico and the Americas. At the time, these missions and the nearby Presidios (military outposts) represented the first formal European establishments focused on colonizing the west coast. The Viceroys sent explorers, soldiers and members of the Franciscan Order to bring "civilization" (and it's attendant religious trappings) to the native Americans. Within this post I will refrain from considering what benefits, if any, were brought to the native peoples by the introduction of the mission chain into Alta California. New Spain was an empire whose lifespan is still longer than the American timeline, with aristocratic titles originating in the 16th century. The trail of European devastation through native populations begins at about the same time and includes names of these original dignitaries - Cortés and Pizarro. Although Christians may feel differently, it isn't clear to me that Serra and the mission movement brought anything to the Indians besides an acceleration of destructive European influence. Yet, some readers will note that waves of devastation had damaged native populations throughout the Americas both before and after the arrival of Europeans, and that by all accounts the Father Serra was a truly dedicated missionary and cared deeply about fulfilling his oaths and tending his flock. The magnitude of devastation both natural, domestically made and of European origin are topics I do not pretend to fully comprehend. How the mission system fits into the tragic backdrop of these events is something I think is best left to the historians. Serra, true to his word, worked until death building the mission and died with nothing more than a cot, his habit and a few other daily trappings - having worked continually to do what he thought was best for the native members of his congregation. There was, and still is, a chain of 21 missions extending from San Diego to Sonoma, north of San Francisco, and the Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo is widely accepted as one of the most faithfully restored/preserved.

A large step backward in time.

I love visiting places like the mission because they represent such a strong counterpoint to much of the tourist-trap culture in which an out-of-towner like myself might normally find himself. There is a reason you'll never see a photograph of Disneyworld on this blog. Some places, though commercially successful and valuable for one reason (or person) or another, for me possess no aesthetic or cultural value and will simply not see the business end of my camera. I think all people make this mental calculation when photographing and each person's calculation will be different from his peers. Here at the mission, outside of the labyrinthian giftshop, I find myself standing in a square flanked by a museum and the stately, aging facade of the capilla of the Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo. The rose window, Moorish bell-tower dome and roughly hewn door are your first clues that stepping inside is stepping back over 200 years in time.

The chapel is no stranger to a camera, but whenever I am in a place like this I am very careful not to disturb the atmosphere of the place or my fellow visitors. I extend my tripod legs outside the building and, if I am taking bracketed images for HDR, wait between taking images so that I don't create a continual noise of my shutter clacking open and closed.

Just inside the wooden doors the soft white light of Monterey marine-layer-noon drops to zero and the chapel is lit by a single hanging lamp, votive candles and a few recessed windows. A large stoup of holy water is held within an ancient iron basin atop a carved wooden pedestal placed upon an ornate and plush rug. A long center aisle extends beyond the stoup, through the pews to the apse.

The walls are adorned with various oil paintings of religious and historical personages and events. Just past the first set of pews is the entrance to the burial chapel to the left and an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the right. The air is cool and calm and I was nearly alone here in the nave.

The burial chapel has no external light and is instead lit by a single set of votives and the hanging lamp. I could not find any information on the figure of Our Lady of Bethlehem within glass frame above the altar, but did discover that the previous Pope, John Paul II had visited the mission in September of 1987 and designated it a Minor Basilica. As I took these images, I waited for many other visitors to percolate through the burial chamber. Many of these folks would stop and take a photograph of the plaque you see on the floor commemorating the papal visit. I found this to be a particularly interesting vignette of the sieving capacity of memory. Within the hallowed grounds of this mission there are layers of memory and narrative history to which we connect in different ways. Perhaps more than any other pope I can name, the previous Catholic leader was truly an example of a fascinating individual who used his political influence for good, yet I do not connect to his story as strongly as I do to the historical thread of the California missions. Then again, I'm not a Catholic.

Through the central aisle, up to the altar and then to the left is a claustrophobic and darkened alcove with a small altar and votive. I found this corner of the mission the most interesting to photograph. Here the room is lit by a small gas lamp and a round votive stand, the light flickering and revealing the carefully painted walls and ceilings. The air is richly perfumed by the hanging thurible above the votives. A mirror and door provide all the frames a photographer could possibly need and I played a bit with my position relative to the door to frame both the door to the sacristy and the relic containing the fragments of the Fray Serra's original coffin. Here we go beyond the literal narratives within the mission and invent our own stories. A penitent or devout missionary shuffles through these halls, observing his duties and escaping the damp cold of a coastal winter. A modern pilgrim stops to say a prayer and light a votive, sharing the same footsteps as his invisible predecessor. Recreating the mood and memory of places like this little alcove by an act as simple as taking a photograph is my favorite pastime.

The beautified Serra is interred just before the altar along with several other figures who feature prominently within the history of the Carmel Mission.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Batuwangala Maha Vidyalaya's students participated for their annual excursion from 03.08.2009 to 07.08.2009.This event was organized by the Buddhist Association of the college and was proposed at the English literary Association.The whole plan was to cover the most impotent places of the Sri Lankan culture.The late Kingdoms of ancient Sri lanka was given priority.We left the school early morning at about 3am of 03.08.2009 and traveled through Mathugama,Horana,Aththanagalla and reached to Dambulla area by 2pm.We had the day one break fast near Horana.We first visited the ' Namal Uyana temple near Dambulla,Sri Lanka.This temple was a full of collections of pictures.

The pictures were about the misbehavior of the people in this birth and consequences of the deeds when they enter the next birth.It was put in to pictures in a way kind of calling to one to refrain from bad deeds.Students were awarded of the Eight fold path way revealed by Loard Bhudhdha and the statues of the temple was very helpful to depict.After taking the lunch of the day one @ the same temple we left for Dambulla Rock temple.

 

Dambulla Rock temple is more impotent to Art Students coz of its wall paintings.Dambulla temple is one of the masters peace of Buddhist Rock cravings and the watershed technologies used by the ancient people.All the students climbed up to the caves and worshiped there.there after We left for Anuradhapura where our day one accommodations were readied.The Night meal was cooked by the accompanied parents with the help of teachers and Senior Girls.Senior Boys were divided in to groups and assigned duties Accordingly.The parents woke up early morning with teachers and again prepared breakfast and lunch all together.We server break fast and containerized the Lunch.We left the technical College of Anuradhapura At about 7.30am And reached to the Isurumuniya Raja Maha Viharaya by 10 minutes traveling.

 

Isurumuniya is another impotent place for Sinhala Buddhist.there is a 6th Century Gupta style carving. The woman, seated on the man's lap, lifts a warning finger, probably as a manifestation of her coyness; but the man carries on regardless."

The figures may represent The Great King Dutugemunu's son Saliya and the law caste (Sadol Kula) maiden Asokamala whom he loved. It's known that he gave up the throne for her.

 

After the Isurumuniya we left for 'mirisaweliya' next to it.Mirisawetiya was built by the great King Dutugamunu who reigned during the time (161-137 BC) and united Sri Lanka under a single flag.

 

It is believed that King Dutugamunu had a sceptre that contained a scared relic of the Buddha. While going to the tank “Tissawewa”, for a water festival, the King has planted the scepter in a certain place. When he came back, it is said that his men could not remove the scepter from the place.

 

Witnessing the miracle, the King decided to build a dagaba enclosing the scepter. Thus was the creation of Mirisawetiya.

 

The significance of the scepter is the fact that this was the king's "victory scepter" for his battles with Elara, and by building the Dagaba around it shows the tremendous dedication that the King had for Buddhism and his spirituality.Mirisawetiya was the first dagaba built by the great king Dutugamunu.

 

After that we left for Ruwanweli Saya.The Ruwanwelisaya is a stupa in Sri Lanka, considered a marvel for its architectural qualities and sacred to many Buddhists all over the world. It was built by King Dutugemunu, who became lord of all Sri Lanka after a war in which the Chola King Elara, were defeated. It is also known as Mahathupa, Swarnamali Chaitya and Rathnamali Dagaba.

 

The stupa is also one of the Solosmasthana (the 16 places of veneration) and the Atamasthana (the 8 places of veneration in the ancient sacred city of Anuradhapura). The stupa is one of the world's tallest monuments, standing at 300 ft (92 m) and with a circumference of 950 ft (292 m).

 

Then we left for Jaya Shi Maha Bodhiya.The 'Bo' ( 'Bodhi') tree or Pipal (ficus religiosa) was planted as a cutting brought from India by by emperor Ashoka's daughter, the Princess Sangamitta, at some point after 236 BC. Guardians have kept uninterrupted watch over the tree ever since. There are other Bo trees around the Sir Maha Bodhi which stands on the highest terrace. In April a large number of pilgrims arrive to make offering during the Snana Pooja, and to bathe the tree with milk. Every 12th year the ceremony is particularly auspicious.

After the Sri Maha Bhodiya we vent to worship Thuparamaya.Thera Mahinda him self had introduce Theravada Buddhism and also chetiya worship to Sri Lanka. At his request King Devanampiyatissa built Thuparamaya in which was enshrined the collarbone of the Buddha and is considered as the first dagaba built in Sri Lanka, after the introduction of Buddhism. This is considered the earliest monument of chronicled Sri Lanka. The name Thuparamaya comes from "stupa" and "aramaya" which is a residential complex for monks.

 

This chetiya was built in the shape of a heap of paddy. This dagaba was destroyed from time to time. During the reign of King Agbo II it was completely destroyed and the King restored it. What we have today is the construction of the dagaba, done in 1862 AD. As it is today, after several renovations, in the course of the centuries, the monument has a diameter of 59 ft (18 m), at the base. The dome is 11 feet 4 inches (3.45 m) in height from the ground, 164½ ft (50.1 m) in diameter. The compound is paved with granite and there are 2 rows of stone pillars round the dagaba. During the early period vatadage was built round the dagaba.

 

After that we went to see Sandakadapahana.The Best of the Moon Stones we have in Sri Lanka is the one which is at the entrance to the palace of King Mahasen. According to Dr. Senarath Paranawithana, there is a deep philosophy underlying these carvings found in this Moon Stone.

 

We can clearly see the Hindu influence on the Moon Stones of Polonnaruwa . In the Moonstones of Anuradhapura , among the animals carved out was an ox. Hindus consider the oxen as sacred. Hence we do not see the ox in the Moon Stones of Polonnaruwa.

Then we moved to see the Samadhi Statue.Samadhi statue is a statue situated at Mahamevuna Park in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is said that this is one of the best pieces of sculpture. The statue is 8 feet in height and made of granite and the Dhyana mudra is symbolished - The posture of meditation in which Buddha sits in the cross - legged position with upturned palms, placed one over the other on the lap.

 

Then we visited"kuttam Pokuna".One of the best specimen of bathing tanks or pools in ancient Sri Lanka is the pair of pools known as "Kuttam Pokuna" (Twin Ponds/Pools). The said pair of pools were built by the Sinhalese in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura. These are considered one of the significant achievements in the field of hydrological engineering and outstanding architectural and artistic creations of the ancient Sinhalese.

A garden was landscaped which separates the two ponds which in length is 18 1/2 ft. The larger pool of the two is 132ft by 51 ft, while the smaller pool is 91ft by 51 ft. The depths of the two pools is 14ft and 18ft for the smaller pool and the larger pool respectively.

The faces of the pools were cut granite slabs which includes the bottom and the sides of the pool. A wall was also built around the pool which encloses the compound. Flights of steps are seen on both ends of the pool decorated with punkalas, or pots of abundance and scroll design. Embankments were constructed to enable monks to bathe using pots or other utensils. Water to the pools were transferred through underground ducts and filtered before flowing to the pool and in a similar fashion the water was emptied.

 

Dr. Senerath Paranavithana was actively involved in the restoration of the ponds, in which small figures of fish, a conch, a crab and a dancing woman were found in the bottom.

With kuttampokuna we left the Ancient city Anuradhapura.Students wanted to have there Lunch on a Tank Dam.So we had our day two lunch on the dam of Nuwara wewa,Anuradhapura.But before lunch we did not forget to feel the breeze and the cold of the water.

By 2 pm day two we finished the Anuradhapura Visiting and left for Sigiriya.Student were curious and active.They took just 1hour to climb up to the Sigiya.Sigiriya (Lion's rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. A popular tourist destination, Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings (frescos), which are reminiscent of the Ajanta Caves of India. The Sigiriya was built during the reign of King Kassapa I (AD 477 – 495), and it is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the Buddhist Sangha. The garden and palace were built by King Kasyapa. Following King Kasyapa's death, it was again a monastery complex up to about the 14th century, after which it was abandoned. The ruins were discovered in 1907 by British explorer John Still. The Sigiri inscriptions were deciphered by the archaeologist Senarath Paranavithana in his renowned two-volume work, published by Oxford, Sigiri Graffiti. He also wrote the popular book "Story of Sigiriya".

 

The Mahavamsa, the ancient historical record of Sri Lanka, describes King Kasyapa as the son of King Dhatusena. Kasyapa murdered his father by walling him alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother Mogallana, Dhatusena's son by the true queen. Mogallana fled to India to escape being assassinated by Kasyapa but vowed revenge. In India he raised an army with the intention of returning and retaking the throne of Sri Lanka which he considered was rightfully his. Knowing the inevitable return of Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya as a fortress and pleasure palace. Mogallana finally arrived and declared war. During the battle Kasyapa's armies abandoned him and he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Chronicles and lore say that the battle-elephant on which Kasyapa was mounted changed course to take a strategic advantage, but the army misinterpreted the movement as the King having opted to retreat, prompting the army to abandon the king altogether. Moggallana returned the capital to Anuradapura, converting Sigiriya into a monastery complex.

 

Alternative stories have the primary builder of Sigiriya as King Dhatusena, with Kasyapa finishing the work in honour of his father. Still other stories have Kasyapa as a playboy king, with Sigiriya a pleasure palace. Even Kasyapa's eventual fate is mutable. In some versions he is assassinated by poison administered by a concubine. In others he cuts his own throat when isolated in his final battle. Still further interpretations have the site as the work of a Buddhist community, with no military function at all.

 

We did not miss the beauty of sigiriya and to have some pictures of it.After the Sigiriya we Finished day two.Our day two Accommodation was ready @ Royal college Polonnaruwa.it was a nice experience coz all the students should experience a bath in a canal.most of them this was the first time to bath in a canal.

 

In early morning after taking the breakfast and the contained lunch we left to see polonnaruwa,the late kingdom of Sri Lanka.First fo all we went to see the statue of King Parakramabhahu facing the Parakrama Samudraya.it was another master peace of rock carvings.

then we traveled on the Dam of Parakrama Samudraya,the leargest tank of the polonnaruwa,and captured some occasions.We could visit the museum in frat of the Parakrama Samudraya.

After that we left for Dimbulagala.But we saw the Mahaweli river at Manampitiya and the newly built bridge.So we stopped there for the day three lunch.Students got the first chance to have a bath in the Mahaweli River.The water was cald and so clean even the dry season in the polonnaruwa area.it was so hot but still the water of Mahaweli river gave the full satisfaction of having a birth.with in 40 Minutes we finished the bathing and started to have our lunch.Students were very happy to have their lunch on a river bank.Dimbulagala is Another impotent Rock in polonnaruwa.After the lunch we left for Dimbulagala temple and visited the temple.After that we left for Mahiyanganaya.Our aim is to visit the ancient people in Sri lanka and to talk to them.We reached to the Dambana with the dawn an could talk to some Ancient people there.A gang of people there entertained us with some beautiful Veddas dance and songs.

 

After Dambana we went to our day three resting place.We stayed in a resthall at Mahiyanganaya.Like the two previous days cooking and containing food for the day was happened and we went to see mahiyangana Dagoba.Mahiyanganaya is one of a place where the lord Buddha has visited.We could capture the beauty of the dagoba to our lenses.

 

After that we went to see Soraborawewa.Another master piece of Tank technology by Ancient Sri lanken People.At sorabora wewa we went on a cane trip on the river and we found one capable oarsman with us on board.He too joined with other oarsman and took us around the Soraborawewa.

Then we left for Kandy.The road to Kandy to Mahiyanganaya was under construction but our two drivers took us to Kandy by 4.30pm.then we went to see Sri Dalandamaligawa.But on the way we impotent guests there.

 

According to Sri Lankan legends, when the Buddha died, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kusinara in India and his left canine tooth was retrieved from the funeral pyre by Arahat Khema. Khema then gave it to King Brahmadatte for veneration. It became a royal possession in Brahmadatte's country and was kept in the city of Dantapuri (present day Puri in Orissa).

 

A belief grew that whoever possessed the Sacred Tooth Relic had a divine right to rule that land. Wars were fought to take possession of the relic. 800 years after the Buddha's death, in the 4th century CE, the tooth came into the possession of King Guhaseeva of Kalinga, which roughly corresponds to the present day state of Orissa.

 

Kalinga had become a Buddhist and begun to worship the Sacred Tooth relic. This caused discontent among some of the citizens, who went to King Paandu and said that King Guhaseeva had stopped believing in god and that he had started to worship a tooth.

 

King Paandu decided to destroy the relic, and ordered to it brought to the city. It is said that, as the tooth arrived at the city, a miracle occurred, and King Paandu converted to Buddhism.

 

When King Ksheeradara heard, he went with his army to attack Paandu in the city of Palalus. The invaders were defeated before reaching the city, and King Ksheeradara died.

 

A prince from the city of Udeni who had become a Buddhist came to worship the sacred tooth. King Guhaseeva was pleased with him, and let him marry his daughter. The prince was known as Dantha and the princess as Hemamala.

 

When they heard that King Ksheeradara had died in the war, his sons raised a large army to attack King Guhaseeva and destroy the relic. They entered the city, but King Guhaseeva secretly sent Dantha and Hemamala out of the city, with the relic.

According to legend, Hemamali hid the relic in her hair ornament and the royal couple disguised themselves as Brahmins in order to avoid discovery. They set sail from Tamralipti, a port at the mouth of the river Ganges, and landed in Sri Lanka at the port of Lankapattana (now Ilankeiturei).

It is said that Sri Lanka was chosen as the new home for the tooth relic because the Lord Buddha had declared that his religion would be safe in Sri Lanka for 2,500 years.[citation needed]

 

At the time of Dantha's and Hemamali's arrival on the island, King Kirti Sri Megavanna or Kithsirimevan ruled Sri Lanka. The King was overjoyed when he heard the news and warmly welcomed the royal couple and received the Sacred Tooth Relic with great veneration. He built a beautiful palace within the Royal Palace Complex itself and enshrined the Relic in it. Thereafter, he ordered that an annual perahera be held in honour of the Sacred Relic.

 

As time went on, as the land was threatened with foreign invasions, the seat of the kingdom was moved from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa, then to Dambadeniya and other cities. Upon each change of capital, a new palace was built to enshrine the Relic. Finally, it was brought to Kandy where it is at present, in the Sri Dalada Maligawa temple.

 

The Sacred Tooth Relic came to be regarded as a symbolic representation of the living Buddha and it is on this basis that there grew up a series of offerings, rituals, and ceremonies. These are conducted under the supervision of the two Mahanayake Theros of Malwatte, Asgiriya Chapters, and Diyawadana Nilame of the Maligawa. These have a hierarchy of officials and temple functionaries to perform the services and rituals.

 

Finally we visited the Peradeniya botonical guarden.Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya is located in close proximity to the city of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is renowned for the collection the variety of Orchids,and has more than 300 varieties of Orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palms trees attach it is the National Herbarium. Total land mass of the botanical garden is 147 acres, 460 Meters above sea level with a 200 day annual rain fall, it is managed by the Division of National Botanic Gardens of the Department of Agriculture.

Finally we finished our Annual Excursion with lot of Joy and Knowledge,Experiences and lot more.We would like to thank the Two Rivers who took us all around this Island and parents,Teachers who helped to make this event a success.

Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit is calling it a “DOTUC fee,” for Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences, and the airline says it covers costs to the airline for holding fares 24 hours after booking without penalty.

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........***** All images are copyrighted by their respective authors ........

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......item 1) .... Las Vegas Sun News ... www.lasvegassun.com/news .... TRANSPORTATION:

 

Spirit Airlines says DOT ignoring cost impact to customers, adds ‘unintended consequences’ fee

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img code photo .... A Spirit Airlines jet

 

photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2011/08/26/scaled...

 

A Spirit Airlines jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.

 

Sam Morris

 

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FEBRUARY 2, 2012

 

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 | 3:13 p.m.

 

www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jan/31/spirit-airlines-says...

  

The battle between discount air carrier Spirit Airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation escalated today with the airline — the fastest growing carrier at McCarran International Airport last year — adding a new $2 fee to ticket prices to cover costs associated with new consumer regulations that took effect last week.

 

Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit is calling it a “DOTUC fee,” for Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences, and the airline says it covers costs to the airline for holding fares 24 hours after booking without penalty.

 

The Department of Transportation ordered new consumer protection rules that took effect on Thursday. Spirit, Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air, all prominent operators at McCarran, have been the most vocal in their displeasure with the rules.

 

Spirit’s passenger counts at McCarran grew by 228 percent last year over 2010. Southwest is the busiest carrier at McCarran while Las Vegas-based Allegiant is poised to grow substantially in 2012 after having a 6.4 percent increase in local passengers last year.

 

The new rules order airlines to include all taxes and fees when advertising or displaying costs of airfares. Airlines don’t have to disclose fees that may not apply to all travelers, such as baggage and booking fees. The rules also order airlines to hold passengers’ fares when booking and allow them to be canceled or changed without penalty for 24 hours.

 

“People love the idea of not having to commit to a reservation, but this regulation, like most, imposes costs on consumers,” Spirit President and CEO Ben Baldanza said in a company release issued today.

 

“Wouldn’t we all like to eat all we want and not get fat?” Baldanza said. “Regulators like to try to sell the idea of this rule but have ignored the cost impact to consumers. You simply can’t eat all you want without consequences.”

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img code photo ... Senate Ethics Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

 

photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2011/05/12/AP1105...

 

Senate Ethics Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is pursued by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2011, after speaking on the Senate floor about former Nevada Sen. John Ensign.

 

AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

 

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Baldanza was on the receiving end of a scathing letter from Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who criticized Spirit for emailing customers and telling them the government is encouraging airlines to hide federal taxes. It is Spirit’s contention that by requiring airlines to display the full cost of a ticket that customers won’t see how much of it is taxes and fees and how much of it is the airline’s fare.

 

“I have been shocked by the failure of your airline to tell the truth in an email sent to your customers earlier this week as well as warnings posted on Spirit.com that read, ‘New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in your fares.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” Boxer wrote.

 

“What the rule says is that you have to tell your customers the full cost of a ticket," she continued. "It prohibits Spirit or any other airline from advertising fares ‘that exclude taxes, fees or other charges since the major impact of such presentations is to confuse and deceive consumers.’

 

“And despite Spirit's claim that the airline must now hide relevant information, the rule ‘allows carriers to advise the public in their fare solicitations about government taxes and fees ...’

 

“Today's consumers are faced with many options when planning air travel, and being able to compare the full price before purchase is both necessary and fair. Your recent statement that ‘the better form of transparency is to break out costs so that consumers know exactly what they are buying’ is exactly what this new DOT rule will help do,” her letter said.

 

Airlines like Spirit, Southwest and Allegiant are more sensitive to the new rules because they traditionally have offered lower fares and the displays that include taxes and fees come across as sticker shock to potential customers.

 

Spirit and Allegiant have business models that offer greatly discounted fares but numerous fees for baggage, booking by phone or online and for seat selection. Southwest fares appear higher with taxes and fees, but its counterparts don’t have to disclose bag fees it doesn’t have.

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The Voyage of Life: Youth

 

West Building, Main Floor—Gallery 60

 

•Date: 1842

•Medium: Oil on Canvas

•Dimensions:

oOverall: 134.3 × 194.9 cm (52⅞ × 76¾ in.)

oFramed: 162.6 × 224.5 × 17.7 cm (64 × 88⅜ × 6 15/16 in.)

•Credit Line: Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

•Accession Number: 1971.16.2

•Artists/Makers:

oArtist: Thomas Cole, American, 1801-1848

 

Overview

 

Cole’s renowned four-part series traces the journey of an archetypal hero along the “River of Life.” Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of “Youth” and its aspirations for glory and fame. As the traveler approaches his goal, the ever-more-turbulent stream deviates from its course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where nature’s fury, evil demons, and self-doubt will threaten his very existence. Only prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.

 

From the innocence of childhood, to the flush of youthful overconfidence, through the trials and tribulations of middle age, to the hero’s triumphant salvation, The Voyage of Life seems intrinsically linked to the Christian doctrine of death and resurrection. Cole’s intrepid voyager also may be read as a personification of America, itself at an adolescent stage of development. The artist may have been issuing a dire warning to those caught up in the feverish quest for Manifest Destiny: that unbridled westward expansion and industrialization would have tragic consequences for both man and nature.

 

Inscription

 

•Lower Left: Rome / 1842 / T. Cole

 

Provenance

 

Sold by the artist to George K. Shoenberger [1809-1892], Cincinnati, perhaps as early as 1845 and no later than May 1846;[1] Shoenberger heirs, after 20 January 1892;[2] purchased 1908 by Ernst H. Huenefeld, Cincinnati;[3] gift 1908 to Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association of Methodist Church of Cincinnati;[4] sold 17 May 1971 through (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York) to NGA.

 

[1]For a discussion of a possible 1845 date, see Thomas Cole, Exh. cat. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, 1969: 35. Other sources place the acquisition a bit later than 1845; see Paul D. Schweizer, “The Voyage of Life: A Chronology,” in The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 45 (“December 1846?”), and Ellwood C. Parry III, The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination, Newark, Delaware, 1988: 332 (“sometime late in 1846 or, more likely, early in 1847”); however in a Boston Transcript article entitled “The Voyage of Life,” which appeared 21 May 1846, the pictures are mentioned as then belonging to “a wealthy gentleman of Cincinnati.”

[2]A letter of April 1979 from Mrs. Robert Heuck (in NGA curatorial files) specifies: “Mr. Shoenberger died in 1892, at which time many of the belongings of the home were given to heirs.” Shoenberger died 20 January 1892; for additional information, see The Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio, 6 vols., Cincinnati, 1895: 6:1457-1458.

[3]Mrs. Robert Heuck, letter of April 1979 (in NGA curatorial files) states: “In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest W. [sic] Huenefeld purchased the land [and the house and contents].”

[4]Edward H. Dwight and Richard J. Boyle, “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’,” Art in America 55 (May 1967): 62.

 

Associated Names

 

•Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Association

•Hirschl & Adler Galleries

•Huenefeld, Ernst H.

•Shoenberger, George K.

 

Exhibition History

 

•1842—Annual Exhibition of Modern Artists, Piazza del Popolo, Rome, 1842, no cat.

•1842—Private Exhibition, Luther Terry’s studio, Orto di Napoli, Rome, 1842.

•1843—Pictures by Thomas Cole N.A. … The Voyage of Life! A Series of Allegorical Pictures, National Academy of Design, New York, 1843-1844, no. 2.

•1843—Second Exhibition, Boston Artists’ Association, 1843, no. 2.

•1844—Paintings Exhibited…, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1844, no. 2.

•1848—Western Art Union, Cincinnati, 1848, no cat.

•1854—Pictures at the Ladies’ Gallery, Cincinnati, 1854, 2 and 5, no. 21, as Youth.

•1983—A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 26, repro.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985, 4, 5, 28, 30-32, 34-36, 38-40, 42, 44, 45, 48, 53, 66-69, no. 38.

•1994—Thomas Cole: Landscape into History, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; The Brooklyn Museum, 1994-1995, fig. 116.

•1995—Loan for display with permanent collection, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1995-1996.

•2000—Explorar el Edén: Paisaje Americano del Siglo XIX, Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2000-2001, no. 3, repro.

 

Technical Summary

 

Secondary ground layers include yellow under the boat and surrounding area; red under the sky across the top. Infrared reflectography reveals underdrawing of the central mountain peak, the castle/temple, and aura. A tear in the upper center of the sky has been repaired. There is abrasion along the lower edges, scattered losses along the edges, and craquelure throughout.

 

All four paintings in The Voyage of Life series were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970-1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

 

Bibliography

 

•1843—“Cole’s Pictures at the National Academy of Design.” Anglo American (30 December 1843): 239.

•1843—“Dottings on Art and Artists. No. II.” New World 6 (25 February 1843): 246.

•1843—“Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (26 December 1843): 2.

•1843—New-York Daily Tribune (18 February 1843): 3.

•1844—“A Few Words About Mr. Cole’s Paintings.” New World 8 (17 February 1844): 217.

•1844—“Cole’s Paintings.” New-York Daily Tribune (9 January 1844): 2.

•1844—“Editor’s Table.” The Knickerbocker 23 (January/February 1844): 97, 196.

•1844—P., S.H.J. “To Thomas Cole.” New Mirror 2 (27 January 1844): 269.

•1847—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1847. Cincinnati, 1847: 25.

•1848—Bryant, William Cullen. A Funeral Oration, occasioned by the death of Thomas Cole delivered before the National Academy of Design, New York, May 4, 1848. Philadelphia and New York, 1848: 30.

•1848—Whitley, Thomas W. Reflections on the Government of the Western Art Union and a Review of the Works of Art on Its Walls. [Originally published in the Herald of Truth] Cincinnati, 1848: 17-18.

•1849—Lanman, Charles. “The Epic Paintings of Thomas Cole.” Southern Library Messenger 15 (June 1849): 353.

•1849—Transactions of the Western Art Union for the Year 1848. Cincinnati, 1849: 10.

•1853—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Course of Empire, Voyage of Life, and other Pictures of Thomas Cole, N.A.. New York, 1853: 295-298, 301, 309, 312-314, 317, 320-322, 353, 359.

•1854—“Thomas Cole.” National Magazine 4 (April 1854): 318-321.

•1855—“Sketchings.” The Crayon 1 (7 February 1855): 92.

•1858—“Notes and Gleanings—Cole’s Pictures of Life.” National Magazine 13 (September 1858): 284-285.

•1860—Green, George W. Biographical Sketches. New York, 1860: 101, 105, 110-112.

•1860—“The Artists of America—Taken from New American Cyclopaedia.” The Crayon 7 (February 1860): 46.

•1865—Cummings, Thomas S. Historic Annals of the National Academy of Design (1825-1863). Philadelphia, 1865. Reprint, New York, 1965: 170, 176, 201.

•1932—Mayer, Frank Blackwell. With Pen and Pencil on the Frontier in 1851: The Diary and Sketches of Frank Blackwell Mayer. Edited by Bertha L. Heilbron. Reprint, Saint Paul, 1932: 41.

•1954—La Budde, Kenneth James. “The Mind of Thomas Cole.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1954: 171, 212.

•1962—Devane, James. “Sightseers Have Visited Scarlet Oaks for 95 Years.” Cincinnati Enquirer (20 May 1962): 6A.

•1964—Noble, Louis Legrand. The Life and Works of Thomas Cole (1853). Edited by Elliot S. Vesell. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1964: 220-224, 231, 233-235, 237, 239-240, 264.

•1967—Dwight, Edward H., and Richard J. Boyle. “Rediscovery: Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’.” L’Art et les Artistes 55 (May 1967): 60-63, repro. 62, repro. detail 63.

•1967—Merritt, Howard S. “Thomas Cole’s List, ‘Subjects for Pictures.’” In Baltimore Museum of Art, Annual II: Studies on Thomas Cole, an American Romanticist. Baltimore, 1967: 84, 90.

•1970—Riordan, John. “Thomas Cole: A Case Study of the Painter-Poet Theory ofArt in American Painting from 1825-1850.” 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Syracuse University, 1970: 1:99-100; 2:345, 455-497.

•1973—Wallach, Alan Peter. “The Ideal American Artist and the Dissenting Tradition: A Study of Thomas Cole’s Popular Reputation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1973: 70-72, 106.

•1976—Kurland, Sydney. “The Aesthetic Quest of Thomas Cole and Edgar Allan Poe: Correspondence in their Thought and Practice in Relation to their Time.” Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio University, Athens, 1976: 105-109, 172, repro. 227.

•1977—Wallach, Alan. “The Voyage of Life as Popular Art.” The Art Bulletin 59 (1957): 234.

•1979—Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 106, pl. 93.

•1980—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 133, repro.

•1980—Coen, Rena N. “Cole, Coleridge and Kubla Khan.” Art History 3 (June 1980): 218, 227, pl. 32.

•1980—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 11, 14, no. 25, color repro.

•1981—Virdis, Caterina Limentani. “Paesaggio e racconto in Edgar Allan Poe.” Artibus et Historiae 4 (1981): 90, 94, repro. 90.

•1981—Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 96, 112-113.

•1983—Schweizer, Paul D. “Another Possible Literary Source for Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life.” In “New Discoveries in American Art.” Edited by Jayne A. Kuchina. The American Art Journal 15 (1983): 74-75.

•1985—The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, 1985: 66-69.

•1987—Sarnoff, Charles A. “The Voyage of Life Had a Life of Its Own.” Paper presented to the NGA, January 1987.

•1987—Wilmerding, John. American Marine Painting. Rev. ed. of A History of American Marine Painting, 1968. New York, 1987: 44, 46, 47, color repro. 42.

•1988—Parry, Ellwood C., III. The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination. Newark, London, and Toronto, 1988: 218, 228, 265-268, 270-272, 275, 277, 280, 284-285, 291-298, 301-303, 332, 338, 378.

•1988—Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 11, 17, 102, 103, no. 28, color repro.

•1990—Powell, Earl A., III. Thomas Cole. New York, 1990: 103.

•1991—Kopper, Philip. America’s National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 263.

•1991—Wilmerding, John. American Views: Essays on American Art. Princeton, 1991: 56, 67, repro. 58.

•1992—American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 146, repro.

•1992—National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 231, repro.

•1994—Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 202-203, color fig. 15.5.

•1994—Truettner, William H., and Alan Wallach. Thomas Cole: Landscape into History. Exh. cat. Natl. Mus. of Am. Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Brooklyn Museum. Washington,1994: 42,46-47,79,82,84,98-101,113,130-133,138,144,149-150,152,154,182, no. 116.

•1995—Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. The Spirit and the Vision: The Influence of Christian Romanticism on the Development of 19th-Century American Art. Atlanta, 1995: 137-148, fig. 27.

•1996—Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 95-108, color repro.

•1998—Boeckl, Christine M. “Path/Road/Crossroads.” In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:692.

•2004—Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 308, 310, no. 248, color repro.

  

From American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I:

 

1971.16.2 (2551)

 

The Voyage of Life: Youth

 

•1842

•Oil on Canvas, 134.3 × 194.9 (52⅞ × 76¾)

•Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

•Inscriptions:

oAt Lower Left: Rome / 1842 / T. Cole

 

Technical Notes

 

All four paintings were executed on herringbone twill fabric with moderately fine threads and a moderately rough surface. The paintings were lined (apparently for the first time) and the original panel-back stretchers were replaced during treatment in 1970—1971. The presence of unused tack holes and the pattern of wear on the canvas edges suggest that the paintings were originally stretched and painted on slightly larger stretchers, and then restretched by the artist on the panel-backed stretchers. All four paintings have white ground layers; in specific areas of each painting (see individual comments, below) secondary ground layers of different colors were applied. Infrared reflectography reveals only minimal underdrawing. Paint was applied moderately thinly and with low and broad brushstrokes in some areas such as the skies, and more thickly and with some high impasto in details such as the figures and foliage. In general, the paintings are in excellent condition, with only scattered small losses, some craquelure, and minor abrasion. In 1970-1971, discolored varnish was removed and the paintings were restored.

 

1971.16.2 (Youth): Secondary ground layers include yellow under the boat and surrounding area; red under the sky across the top. Infrared reflectography reveals underdrawing of the central mountain peak, the castle/temple, and aura. A tear in the upper center of the sky has been repaired. There is abrasion along the lower edges, scattered losses along the edges, and craquelure throughout.

  

Description by the Artist:

 

Second Picture: Youth

 

The stream now pursues its course through a landscape of wider scope and more diversified beauty. Trees of rich growth overshadow its banks, and verdant hills form the base of lofty mountains. The Infant of the former scene is become a Youth, on the verge of Manhood. He is now alone in the Boat, and takes the helm himself; and in an attitude of confidence and eager expectation, gazes on a cloudy pile of Architecture, an air-built Castle that rises dome above dome in the far-off blue sky. The Guardian Spirit stands upon the bank of the stream, and with serious yet benignant countenance seems to be bidding the impetuous voyager ‘God Speed.’ The beautiful stream flows directly toward the aerial palace, for a distance; but at length makes a sudden turn, and is seen in glimpses beneath the trees, until it at last descends with rapid current into a rocky ravine, where the voyager will be found in the next picture. Over the remote hills, which seems to intercept the stream and turn it from its hitherto direct course, a path is dimly seen, tending directly toward that cloudy Fabric, which is the object and desire of the voyager.

 

The scenery of this picture—its clear stream, its lofty trees, its towering mountains, its unbounded distance, and transparent atmosphere—figure forth the romantic beauty of youthful imaginings, when the mind magnifies the Mean and Common into the Magnificent, before experience teaches what is the Real. The gorgeous cloudbuilt palace, whose most glorious domes seem yet but half revealed to the eye, growing more and more lofty as we gaze, is emblematic of the day-dreams of youth, its aspirations after glory and fame; and the dimly-seen path would intimate that Youth, in his impetuous career, is forgetful that he is embarked on the Stream of Life, and that its current sweeps along with resistless force, and increases in swiftness as it descends toward the great Ocean of Eternity.

The station approach with warnings of the consequences of trespassing.

Tuesday 22 November 2016, saw local Greater Manchester Police officers join HMP Manchester Community Team in a visit to St. Edward’s RC Priamry School in Lees, Oldham as part of the ‘Actions Have Consequences’ campaign.

‘Actions Have Consequences’ workshops inform pupils on how their actions can affect them and their local community and the negative outcomes that could occur if they were to stray off the beaten track.

 

Subjects include nuisance 999 calls, bullying, anti-social behaviour, stranger danger, internet safety as well as others. Although the workshops carry a serious message, they are structured to be fun, informative and engaging.

  

The HMP Community Team gave the young people an idea of the harsh reality of prison life and the dangers of knife and gang-related crime.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

 

Consequences of the war.

Last Call!

TITLE/NAME:

Emissions and consequences - by Hristo Rusev 19, Bulgaria

 

DESCRIPTION:

The photo was taken on 21/01/2014 at the entrance of the Trakia highway into Sofia. Vegetation on the side of the road testifies of the pollution from cars and vans.

 

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Hristo Rusev, 19, from Svilengrad, Bulgaria, studying International relations and law at Varna Free University. He describes himself as a boy flying with the wind, because he loves travelling, and he loves taking photos.

 

CREDIT:

©Hristo RUSEV

 

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Photography competition: Insert <> here!

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Become our "Guest Photographer"!

 

If photography is a passion of yours, we'd like to invite you to take part in our photography competition. During the coming months we will announce different topic once a month until the European elections in May. Send us your photo and you might be the winner of the month and have your photo published on our site. One of these monthly winners will be invited to Strasbourg in July to do a full photo reportage on the newly elected parliament.

 

How to take part

 

You can submit your photo and entry form via email. The deadline for the second topic "tobacco" is Sunday 23 February at midnight CET. The February winner will be announced in the first week of March and the photo will be used to illustrate an article on this topic.

 

Among the submitted photos, an editorial committee will select the ten best entries and then pick the winner of the month. This will automatically make them a finalist for the jury prize. At the same time, the ten best photos will be showcased on our social media pages where everyone can vote for their favourite. The most liked photo and the person who took it will then be awarded a public prize. Both of these photographers will be invited to the first sitting of the newly elected chamber after the European elections in May, where they will get the chance to create their own photo-reportage of the event.

 

Hurry!

 

Send your photo and application form to the following address: webcom-flickr@europarl.europa.eu. For more details on the rules, photo requirements and copyright conditions please click on the links on the right. Happy clicking!

 

Rules:

www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20140110RE...

 

Application form in 23 official languages:

www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/photo_competition/AF_EN.rtf

(This link to the English file, to access to the other versions, change the two letters in red in the URL)

 

Q& A: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140110...

 

Guestphotographer in 2009: www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=IM-PRESS&...

 

January topic was "car and van emissions". Take a look at the 10 best images of the month and vote ("like") your favourite one!

www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/sets/7215763962...

excerpts taken from www.catholicauthors.com/greene.html

 

Graham Greene is perhaps the most perplexing of all the literary converts whose works animated the Catholic literary revival in the 20th century. His visions of angst and guilt, informed and sometimes deformed by a deeply felt religious sensibility, make his novels, and the characters that adorn them, both fascinating and unforgettable.

 

His fiction is gripping because it grapples with faith and disillusionment on the shifting sands of uncertainty in a relativistic age. His tormented characters are the products of Greene's own tortured soul, and one suspects that he was more baffled than anyone else at the contradictions at the core of his own character and, in consequence, at the heart of the characters that his fertile and fetid imagination had created.

 

From his earliest childhood Greene exhibited a world-weariness that at times reached the brink of despair. In large part this bleak approach may have been due to a wretched childhood and to the traumatic time spent at Berkhhamsted School where his father was headmaster. His writing is full of the bitter scars of his school days. In his autobiographical A Sort of Life, Greene described the panic in his family after he had been finally driven in desperation to run away from the horrors of the school: "My father found the situation beyond him . . . My brother suggested psychoanalysis as a possible solution, and my father - an astonishing thing in 1920 - agreed."

 

For six months the young, and no doubt impressionable, Greene lived at the house of the analyst to whom he had been referred. This episode would be described by him as "perhaps the happiest six months of my life," but it is possible that the seeds of his almost obsessive self-analysis were sown at this time. Significantly, he chose the following words of Sir Thomas Browne as an epigraph to his first novel, The Man Within: "There's another man within me that's angry with me."

 

In later years, the genuine groping for religious truth in Greene's fiction would often be thwarted by his obsession with the darker recesses of his own character. This darker side is invariably transposed onto all his fictional characters, so that even their goodness is warped. Greene saw human nature as "not black and white" but "black and grey," and he referred to his need to write as "a neurosis . . . an irresistible urge to pinch the abscess which grows periodically in order to squeeze out all the pus." Such a tortured outlook may have produced entertaining novels but could not produce any true sense of reality. Greene's novels were Frankenstein monsters that were not so much in need of Freudian analysis as the products of it.

 

Greene's conversion in 1926, when he was still only 21 years old, was described in A Sort of Life, in which he contrasted his own agnosticism as an undergraduate, when "to me religion went no deeper than the sentimental hymns in the school chapel," with the fact that his future wife was a Roman Catholic:

 

I met the girl I was to marry after finding a note from her at the porter's lodge in Balliol protesting against my inaccuracy in writing, during the course of a film review, of the "worship" Roman Catholics gave to the Virgin Mary, when I should have used the term "hyperdulia." I was interested that anyone took these subtle distinctions of an unbelievable theology seriously, and we became acquainted.

 

The girl was Vivien Dayrell-Browning, then 20 years old, who, five years earlier, had shocked her family by being received into the Catholic Church. Concerning Greene's conversion, Vivien recalled that "he was mentally converted; logically, it seemed to him . . . It was all rather private and quiet. I don't think there was any emotion involved." This was corroborated by Greene himself when he stated in an interview that "my conversion was not in the least an emotional affair. It was purely intellectual."

 

A more detailed, though hardly a more emotional, description of the process of his conversion was given in his autobiography. "Now it occurred to me . . . that if I were to marry a Catholic I ought at least to learn the nature and limits of the beliefs she held." He walked to the local "sooty neo-Gothic Cathedral" which "possessed for me a certain gloomy power because it represented the inconceivable and the incredible" and dropped a note requesting instruction into a wooden box for enquiries. His motivation was one of morbid curiosity and had precious little to do with a genuine desire for conversion. "I had no intention of being received into the Church. For such a thing to happen I would need to be convinced of its truth and that was not even a remote possibility."

 

His first impressions of Fr. Trollope, the priest to whom he would go for instruction, had reinforced his prejudiced view of Catholicism: "At the first sight he was all I detested most in my private image of the Church." Soon, however, he was forced to modify his view, coming to realize that his initial impressions of the priest were not only erroneous but that he was "facing the challenge of an inexplicable goodness." From the outset he had "cheated" Fr. Trollope by failing to disclose his irreligious motive in seeking instruction, nor did he tell the priest of his engagement to a Catholic. "I began to fear that he would distrust the genuineness of my conversion if it so happened that I chose to be received, for after a few weeks of serious argument the 'if' was becoming less and less improbable."

 

The "if" revolved primarily on the primary "if" surrounding God's existence. The center of the argument was the center itself or, more precisely, whether there was any center:

 

My primary difficulty was to believe in a God at all . . . I didn't disbelieve in Christ - I disbelieved in God. If I were ever to be convinced in even the remote possibility of a supreme, omnipotent and omniscient power I realized that nothing afterwards could seem impossible. It was on the ground of dogmatic atheism that I fought and fought hard. It was like a fight for personal survival.

 

The fight for personal survival was lost and Greene, in losing himself, had gained the faith. Yet the dogmatic atheist was only overpowered; he was not utterly vanquished. He would reemerge continually as the devil, or at least as the devil's advocate, in the murkier moments in his novels.

 

The literary critic, J.C. Whitehouse, has compared Greene to Thomas Hardy, rightly asserting that Greene's gloomy vision at least allows for a light beyond the darkness, whereas Hardy allows for darkness only. Chesterton said of Hardy that he was like the village atheist brooding over the village idiot. Greene is often like a self-loathing skeptic brooding over himself. As such the vision of the divine in his fiction is often thwarted by the self-erected barriers of his own ego. Only rarely does the glimmer of God's light penetrate the chinks in the armour, entering like a vertical shaft of hope to exorcise the simmering despair.

 

Few have understood Greene better than his friend Malcolm Muggeridge, who described him as "a Jekyll and Hyde character, who has not succeeded in fusing the two sides of himself into any kind of harmony." There is more true depth and perception in this one succinct observation by Muggeridge than in all the pages of psycho-babble that have been written about Greene's work by lesser critics. The paradoxical union of Catholicism and skepticism, incarnated in Greene and his work, had created a hybrid, a metaphysical mutant, as fascinating as Jekyll and Hyde and perhaps as futile. The resulting contortions and contradictions of both his own character and those of the characters he created give the impression of depth; but the depth was often only that of ditch water, perceived as bottomless because the bottom could not be seen. Greene's genius was rooted in the ingenuity with which he muddied the waters.

 

It was both apt and prophetic that Greene should have taken the name of St. Thomas the Doubter at his reception into the Church in February 1926. Whatever else he was or wasn't, he was always a doubter par excellence. He doubted others; he doubted himself; he doubted God. Ironically, it was this very doubt that so often provided the creative force for his fiction. Perhaps the secret of his enduring popularity lies in his being a doubting Thomas in an age of doubt. As such, Greene's Catholicism becomes an enigma, a conversation piece - even a gimmick. Yet if his novels owe a debt to doubt, their profundity lies in the ultimate doubt about the doubt. In the end this ultimate doubt about doubt kept Graham Greene clinging doggedly, desperately - and doubtfully - to his faith.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Police

2010 Dodge Charger PP

One of the stars of Disney Pixar's original animated feature - 'Cars' is Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet.

 

Dod Hudson is the antagonist in Lightning McQueen's (the central story character), misadventure in the town of Radiator Spring. Lightning has ended up in Radiator Springs as a consequence of rolling out of the back of his transporter truck 'Mack' on the way to Los Angeles for a race.

 

Doc is a grumpy old character, who has no love for racecars, though this theme is developed out from Doc's involvement in oval racing in the 1950's. Doc was involved in a season ending crash in 1954, and forgotten. This is a parallel metaphore for the Hudson Motor company, maker of the 6-cylinder Hornet, which was unable to compete financially with the US Big three (GM, Ford and Chrysler), and was merged with Nash-Kelvinator in 1954 to form American Motor Company (AMC).

 

In the Disney Pixar story, Doc punishes Lightning for tearing up the town road, and forces him to tow the resealing machine, and fix the road. After many conversations, including the discussion of his 1954 crash, Doc ultimately reveals Lightning location to his race team, who come and collect him from Radiator Springs, and take him onto Los Angeles.

 

Doc is redeemed, by showing up part way through the race, and acting as Lightning's crew chief. The oither characters help Lightning go on to lead the race. When the Plymouth Superbired character of Mr The King is involved in a massive car crash, appearing crippled on the inside of the circuit (as Doc appears in his similar story), Lightning skids to a halt, allowing Chick Hits to pass him, just before the finish line, for the win.

 

The metaphore here is that people are more important winning. And that character is built by doing the right thing.

 

Doc and the rest of the characters return to Radiator Springs, with Lightning as a new hero.

 

Doc Hudson does not return for the sequel movie 'Cars 2', as his character voice star, Paul Newman, passed away between the production of the two movies.

 

Doc Hudson has been built as a Lego model for Flickr LUGNuts 60th Build Challenge, our fifth birthday, the 44th challenge theme, - 'Cars, Too!' - celebrating all things automotive from Disney / Pixar movies, including 'Cars' and 'Cars 2'.

The town "won" it's name on a gameshow

Due to the lockdown we seemed to have filled a 240 litre paper recycling bin. More cardboard on ice cream lolly boxes due to the warmest May on record here in the UK, certainly more beer boxes (no explanation needed on that one) and more boxes from internet shopping (not by me I hasten to add, although I did buy a can of paint by mail order).

 

Mixed Berry seems to be flavour of the month!

A film swap with @HBPhotography from the UK. A personal project which I have thoroughly enjoyed doing with her. Check her stuff out!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

 

Some background:

Following the end of the Second World War, Poland was politically dominated by the neighboring Soviet Union; as a consequence, the Polish aviation industry underwent vast changes at the behest of the Soviets. While the nation's design offices had been liquidated, some former members had joined Poland's Aviation Institute (IL) and performed some limited work on various original projects, even though such efforts were initially officially discouraged. As such, it was at IL that the effort to design would become the first jet aircraft to be developed in Poland originated; however, during the late 1950s, responsibility for the design work on the program was transferred to aircraft manufacturer PZL-Mielec at an early stage in order that IL could resume its primary mission of scientific and technological research. Much of the design work on the program was produced in response to the specified needs of a requirement issued by the Polish Air Force for a capable jet-propelled trainer aircraft, which was seeking a replacement for the piston-engine PZL TS-8 Bies at the time.

 

Polish government officials came to openly regard the project as being of considerable importance to the nation's aviation industry, thus vigorous efforts were made to support the development of the TS-11. The main designer was Polish aeronautical engineer Tadeusz Sołtyk; his initials was the source for part of the type's official designation TS-11. Early on, it was decided to adopt a foreign-sourced turbojet engine to power the aircraft. Quickly, the British Armstrong Siddeley Viper had emerged as the company's favored option; however, reportedly, negotiations for its acquisition eventually broken down; accordingly, work on the project was delayed until a suitable domestically-built powerplant had reached an advanced stage of development.

 

On 5 February 1960, the first prototype conducted its maiden flight, powered by an imported Viper 8 engine, capable of producing up to 7.80 kN (1,750 lbf) of thrust. On 11 September 1960, the aircraft's existence was publicly revealed during an aerial display held over Lodz. The next pair of prototypes, which performed their first flights during March and July 1961 respectively, were instead powered by a Polish copy of the Viper engine, designated as the WSK HO-10. The flight test program that the three prototypes were subjected to had both demonstrated the capabilities of the new aircraft and its suitability for satisfying the Polish Air Force's stated requirements for a trainer jet; as such, it was soon accepted by the Polish Air Force.

 

During 1963, the first production model of the type, designated as the TS-11 Iskra (Spark) bis A, commenced delivery to the service. From about 1966, new-build aircraft were furnished with a newer Polish-designed turbojet engine, designated as the WSK SO-1, which was capable of producing up to 9.80 kN (2,200 lbf) of thrust and reportedly gave the TS-11 a top speed of 497 mph. From 1969 onwards, the improved WSK SO-3 engine became available, offering considerably longer times between overhauls; this engine was later improved into the WSK SO-3W, which was able to generate 10.80 kN (2,425 lbf) of thrust.

 

During the 1960s, the Iskra competed to be selected as the standard jet trainer for the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union had given Poland a promise to support its aviation industry and to favor the procurement of suitable aircraft for this purpose from Polish manufacturers. However, the Iskra was not selected for this role, it had lost out to the Czechoslovak Aero L-29 “Delfín”, another newly-designed jet-propelled trainer aircraft. Largely as a result of this decision, Poland became the only Warsaw Pact member to adopt the Iskra while most others adopting the rival Delfin instead, and foreign sales to other countries were highly limited.

 

During 1975, an initial batch of 50 Iskra bis D trainer aircraft were exported to India, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited acquired license production rights for the aircraft, which became domestically known as the HAL HJT-18 "Dawon". Beyond the basic trainer variant Dawon T.1, India also adapted projected versions of the TS-11 that had never gone into production in Poland, e. g. the Iskra BR 200, locally known as the Dawon GR.2.

 

This variant was a single-seated light attack and reconnaissance aircraft, which used the two-seater airframe but had the rear cockpit faired over. In order to expand the type's performance and ordnance, HAL improved the original design and mounted a more powerful Rolls Royce Viper turbojet with an increased airflow. Wingtip tanks were added, improving range and loiter time, and the cockpit received kevlar armor against small caliber arms for low altitude operations. Instead of the trainer version's optional single 23mm cannon in the nose section the additional space through the empty instructor's seat was used for a pair of 30mm Aden cannon in the lower fuselage flanks and its ammunition, as well as for additional navigation and communication avionics.

 

The Indian Air Force procured 64 of these light aircraft from 1978 onwards, which partly replaced the outdated HAL HF-24 "Marut" fleet. These machines even saw hot combat action in 1984, when India launched Operation Meghdoot to capture the Siachen Glacier in the contested Kashmir region.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: One

Length: 11.15 m (36 ft 7 in)

Wingspan (incl. tip tanks): 11.01 m (36 ft 1 in)

Height: 3.50 m (11 ft 5½ in)

Wing area: 17.5 m² (188 ft²)

Empty weight: 2,760 kg (6,080 lb)

Loaded weight: 4,234 kg (9,325 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 4,540 kg (10,000 lb)

Powerplant:

1 × Rolls-Royce Viper turbojet, rated at 12.2 kN (2,700 lbf)

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 760 km/h (419 knots, 472 mph) at 5,000 m (16,400 ft)

Cruise speed: 600 km/h (324 knots, 373 mph)

Stall speed: 140 km/h (92 knots, 106 mph) (power off, flaps down)

Range: 1,500 km (828 nmi, 931 mi)

Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,300 ft)

Rate of climb: 16.8 m/s (3,300 ft/min)

 

Armament:

2x 30 mm Aden cannon with 120 RPG in the lower nose

4 underwing pylons, up to 1.200 kg (2.640 lb) of bombs, unguided rocket pods or gun packs

  

The kit and its assembly:

I have already butchered several of these former Intech kits from Poland, but never built one as an Iskra. Since the kit comes with optional parts to build the planned Iskra 200 BR single-seater, I gave the kit a try - and had the idea to create an "Indian Tiger" of it, as a part of a bigger plan for a future build project (see below).

 

Building the Mistercraft TS-11 is not a pleasant experience, though. The kit comes cheap, and that's what you get. While it comes with some nice features like an engine dummy, two optional canopies and ordnance loads, the whole thing tends to be crude. There's flash, gaps, a surface finish that partly looks as if the molds had been sand-blasted, mediocre if not poor fit, and the clear parts do not deserve this description – they are utterly streaky. You can certainly make something out of it with lots of effort, but it's IMHO not a good basis for an ambitious build.

 

The biggest issue I had were the parts for the single seat cockpit. There are no locator pins, and when you manage to put the canopy onto the fuselage there remains a considerable hole in the spine where the two-seater canopy would be attached. As a result, lots of PSR was necessary around the optional parts. I also scratched a rear bulkhead for the cockpit (which normally would remain empty and “open”) and added some equipment/boxes behind the pilot's seat. Messy affair.

 

Even though I’d have loved to replace the main wheels (the OOB parts had sinkholes and poorly molded details) I stuck with them because of the complicated cover arrangement, trying to cover the worst flaws under other parts. The jet exhaust was replaced, too, since I saved the engine dummy for the spares box.

 

On the wing tips, the tips were slightly trimmed and I added tanks from an 1:144 Tornado (Dragon) - a small detail that lets the Iskra appear a bit beafier than it actually is. For the same reason I omitted the single cannon in the nose with its characteristic bump, and replaced it with two guns: leftover parts from KP MiG-19 kits, plus a pair of differently shaped, smaller fairings alongside the lower flanks.

 

The ordnance comes from the scrap box, since I wanted a little more muscle than the OOB options. I went for a pair of unguided missile launchers (from a Kangnam Yak-38) and a pair of Soviet iron bombs (KP Su-25).

  

Painting and markings:

Well, the real motivation behind this build is that I used this kit as a proof-of-concept test for a planned build of the Indian Air Force's famous MiG-21 "C 992" of No. 1 Squadron that bore a striking tiger stripe scheme – but, unfortunately, there's no conclusive color picture of the aircraft, and painting suggestions remain contradictive, if not speculative. Some profiles show the aircraft with a grey of silver fuselage underside, while some have the tiger stripes wrapped around the fuselage, or not. Some have the upper camouflage wrapped around the whole fuselage, so that only the wings’ undersides remain in a light color. Some sources also claim that no darker, basic tone had been applied at all to the upper sides, and that the stripes had been directly painted on the bare aluminum surface of the Fishbed.

The worst, color-wise thing I found for this specific aircraft were in the painting instructions of the Fujimi kit: opaque FS 34227 as basic color seems to be totally off to me... But you also find suggestions of a yellowish sand tone, mid-stone, even some greenish slate grey, whatever. Fascinating subject!

 

From what I learned about the aircraft from various sources, the scheme looks like a kind of translucent/thin layer of olive drab/greenish earth or khaki tone over bare metal on all upper surfaces and wrapped around the fuselage – very light, if there was any paint at all. Alternatively, the bare metal must have been very weathered and dull, since pictures of C992 reveal no metallic shine at all.

 

On top of that, the tiger stripes (most probably in black, but there are suggestions of dark brown or green, too…) were applied manually, apparently by at least three painters who were probably working at the same time on different sections of the Indian Fishbed. Since I have the build of this aircraft on my agenda, some day, and a plan to re-create the special paint finish, this Iskra single seater was used as a test bed.

 

External painting started with an overall coat of acrylic aluminum (Revell 99), with some panels on the wings in grey (a protective lacquer, frequently applied on real-life Iskras). Then came a coat of highly thinned FS 34087 (Olive Drab) from Modelmaster, mixed with a little of Humbrol 72 (Khaki Drill) and applied with a soft, flat brush, leaving out areas where later the decals would be placed.

 

Once dry, the camouflaged areas received a wet sanding treatment, so that the edges would become bare metal again, and, here and there, the impression of flaked/worn paint was created.

 

Next came the tiger stripes. I somewhat wanted to create the three-different-painters look of C992, and so I not only used three different brushes for this task, I also used three different shades of black (acrylic “Flat Black”, "Tar Black" and “Anthracite” from Revell). Again, once dry, light sanding created a flaked/worn look.

 

The wings' undersides were left in aluminum, as well as the fuselage. This differs from the C992 benchmark, but I found the Iskra’s low stance to be more conclusive with an all NMF underside.

 

Cockpit and landing gear interior became medium grey (FS 36231). In a wake of Soviet-ism I painted the wheel discs in bright green, as a small color contrast to the otherwise rather murky aircraft.

 

The markings are a mix of IAF roundels for an early MiG-21 from a Begemot sheet, while the tactical code was taken from the Mistercraft OOB sheet. The yellow 10 Squadron badge was created with PC software and printed on white decal sheet – another, nice color highlight.

  

It looks harmless, but building the Mistercraft Iskra was a real PITA - now I know why I formerly only butchered this kit for donor parts... However, with the little modifications I made and some different ordnance the light aircraft sells its "attack/recce" role well, and the tiger livery looks pretty unique and ...Indian. And, once more, the beauty pics reveal that this paint scheme, while looking primarily decorative, is actually quite effective over typical northern Indian landscapes. C 992 can come! :D

Fotos tomadas en Truth or Consequences

consequence of the worldwide depression

limeshots

 

Poonam, 6, is revelling in the heavy monsoon rain in Oriya Basti, one of the water-affected colonies near the abandoned Union Carbide (now DOW Chemical) industrial complex in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, site of the infamous 1984 gas tragedy. The poisonous cloud that enveloped Bhopal left everlasting consequences that today continue to consume people's lives. When the monsoon rain falls every year, it seeps through the buried waste of Union Carbide, before proceeding to pollute the area's underground water reservoirs.

 

- 'Official Website of Poonam'

 

- 'Full PhotoShelter Gallery 2009-14'

 

> The full-time education of Poonam (12 in 2014) and her sister Jyoti, 13, is being solely sponsored by my long-term campaign on 'GoFundMe', and by the sale of 'Prints for Education'.

 

> If you feel passionate about Poonam's unique story of change through photography and social media, I kindly invite you to consider contributing directly to its continuation. Thank you very much for reading on.

 

Sometimes a picture has the power to turn fate around:

 

In August 2009, I began visiting urban colonies in the city of Bhopal, central India, to document the severe illnesses faced by children as a result of contaminated water. As a consequence to the 1984 tragedy, around 100,000 people are now chronically ill from the effects of the gas leak, while tainted drinking water has affected thousands more.

 

Toxic waste – buried around the former factory – has penetrated the underground aquifers, harming the health of nearby dwellers. As a grim result, children are increasingly faced by severe disorders. Living with his family in a rundown shack made of bare soil and cow dung, one such victim is Sachin, now 20, and suffering from leg paralysis.

 

On a fateful day, during one of my regular visits to his home, heavy rain began to fall. His youngest sister, Poonam, then 6, was revelling in the rain to curb the scorching summer heat.

 

I started taking pictures immediately.

 

A frame from that propitious moment was later assigned numerous recognitions, including a 5000 USD grant from ‘The Photographers Giving Back Awards’ - in Sweden - to implement a long-term plan for the wellbeing of Poonam, 11 in 2014, and designed to assist her family overcome extreme poverty.

 

Born ‘unlucky’, with a tiny sixth toe on each foot, her father superstitiously believed she brought misfortune upon their lives.

 

Today, Poonam dreams of becoming a teacher, like the ones practicing in her small private school, a short walk away from the family’s newly-built home – made of solid bricks. Along with her sister Jyoti, 12, she regularly attends lessons. (Year 5 Elementary in 2014-2015)

 

I have witnessed the passion that is moving this family along, and how a single possibility for change was able to spark in them such a vibrant enthusiasm for life.

 

Poonam’s fairytale is far from over: time after time, I intend to witness her blossoming into a teenager, an emancipated woman, and later into a loving wife and mother.

1616 Water Street, Kelowna, BC.

 

Statement of Significance:

 

Description of Historic Place:

 

The historic place is the prominent and familiar two-storey, brick Kelowna Fire Hall located at 1616 Water Street, built in 1924 at the southwest corner of Water Street and Lawrence Avenue in Kelowna's Downtown area.

 

Heritage Value:

 

The Kelowna Fire Hall is a highly significant heritage resource, as a consequence of its lengthy and continuous role in protective service since the early years of community development, and for its landmark architectural quality, including having been designed by a distinguished and prolific, but poorly known, architect.

 

Frequent fires in the early years of Kelowna emphasized the need for effective fire-fighting services, just as they also encouraged the replacement of the original wood-frame structures on Bernard Avenue with those built of stone and brick in the first decade of the twentieth century.

 

The current Kelowna Fire Hall was constructed in 1924, replacing the first, wood, fire hall that had been erected on the present site in 1906. The new brick building had three truck bays and a tall hose tower. Living quarters upstairs were occupied by some of the bachelor volunteer firemen, who lived there rent-free in return for being quickly available.

 

The first fire engine, the 'Broderick', an 1850s-vintage hand-pumper, had been purchased (from Vernon) by Kelowna merchants in 1904. A regular Kelowna Volunteer Fire Brigade was formed in 1909, with Max Jenkins as fire chief. The Brigade's first fire truck was bought in 1912, and in 1914 another, a converted Cadillac, was added. Its ladders were reportedly a little too long for the existing fire hall, and a hole was cut in the back wall to accommodate them.

 

The limitations of the first hall led to the construction of the present building. It too has required adaptation and expansion as the City has grown, in 1945 and again in 1950-51. The changes along Water Street are seen in an additional truck bay, with a larger door, at the left; and the enlargement of one of the three original doors by removing the transom window. The building was also extended along Bernard Avenue.

 

The handsome structure was the last building known to have been designed by architect Harold Joseph Rous Cullin, a native of England who came to BC in 1904 to work with Samuel Maclure, and who maintained a well-known practice in Victoria. The builders were Miller and Emslie, perhaps assisted (or with later additions) by Ward and Baldock. The fire hall displays Georgian Revival features, seen in the restrained classicism of the decorative features, such as the cornice, the corner pilasters, and the window details.

 

By 1962 the Brigade employed nine paid staff to supplement about thirty volunteers. As the city grew and firefighting became more technically demanding, the paid staff grew. The members of the Kelowna Volunteer Fire Brigade had other regular occupations. For example, James D. Pettigrew, one of the founding members in 1909 and Fire Chief from 1920 to 1945, was a jeweller and also served as Mayor of Kelowna in 1945 and 1946. Membership in the Brigade, while demanding, was also a kind of club for the young men of the town, and athletic and social activities focused around it. When not on call, firemen at the hall worked on social and charitable projects, such as making and repairing toys for Christmas gifts for needy children. Many members of the Brigade enlisted in the nation's service in both World Wars. The War Memorial at the Water Street and Lawrence Avenues corner of the site recognizes those who did not return.

 

In 1973 the headquarters of the Kelowna Volunteer Fire Brigade was moved to the new Enterprise Way Main Hall as the result of expansion of the city boundaries. Five years later the name of the service was changed to the Kelowna Fire Department, to reflect its professional nature. The Water Street Fire Hall continues as one of Kelowna's eight fire halls, serving the Downtown area. The community and the nation were reminded of the importance of Kelowna's Fire Department - and the value of this building - during the momentous battle to save the City from forest fires in the summer of 2003.

 

Source: City of Kelowna, Planning Department, File No. 6800-02

 

Character-Defining Elements:

 

The character-defining elements of the Kelowna Fire Hall include:

- The Georgian Revival features, seen in the restrained classical details, such as the broad wood cornice and entablature, the pilasters at the corners of the original block, the surrounds of the three truck bays, and the 12-over-1 wood-sash, double-hung windows

- The red brick walls, with banded courses

- The tall parapet

- The overhead vehicle doors

- The tall corner hose tower with bellcast metal cupola and bell

- The later addition to the left on Water Street, with a simplified, sympathetic design

- The light-painted headers and sills on the second-floor windows and tower

- The prominent corner location

- The landmark quality, appropriate for a public building

- Brick paved and landscaped plaza on the Lawrence Avenue side

- The continuous use as a fire hall

 

Canada's Historic Places

St Andrew, Wingfield, Suffolk

 

Famously, Suffolk has no motorways. There are A-roads, B-roads, and a-long-way-from-any-other-roads. It is by way of this last category that you reach Wingfield, lost as it is in the lattice of dog-legging, high-hedged lanes somewhere between Eye and Halesworth. Even if there was no church, Wingfield would still be famous. It has a castle which isn't really a castle, and a college which is no longer a college. It was the combined power of these two, coupled with one of the most powerful families in late medieval England, which has given St Andrew the shape we find it in today. And even if it was just the church, this would still be a beautiful place to come, an elegant building of the 14th and 15th centuries set in a small, sloping, rambling graveyard at a curve in the climbing road beside the village pub.

 

Fine 18th and early 19th century gravestones abound, and not a great deal seems to have happened since, as if the sleepy air of this backwater has had a soporific effect on the powers of the seasons, the village, and even the passage of time itself. But if the graveyard is a place to remember our ancestors now just out of reach, St Andrew itself is a document of the events, enthusiasms and urgencies of longer ago, the Suffolk of more than half a millennium away.

 

The great defining moment in English history was the wave of virulent disease which swept western Europe in the middle years of the 14th century, for which the Victorians would coin the popular phrase 'the Black Death'. This outbreak of bubonic and pneumonic plagues would, in the short term, carry off half the population of East Anglia, but it was the economic consequences which would have the greater effect in the long term. As the sons of the old landed families were carried off by the pestilence, so the old estates were broken up and sold off to a rising merchant class. The fall in population resulted in a shortage of labour, handing economic leverage to the ordinary people for the first time. A surplus of consumable produce, and money to spend on it, meant that by the second half of the 14th century we can for the first time identify what might be termed a middle class emerging in English society.

 

The old feudalism was giving way to what was a kind of proto-capitalism. Many families who rose to prominence during this century became fabulously rich. They exhibited their wealth in their houses and their households, and exercised their piety in donations and bequests to the Church, either in the form of buildings and furnishings, or by paying for Priests. Much of this effort was aimed at ensuring the prayers which would be said for them after they were dead. They hoped to escape the long centuries in purgatory which many of them clearly deserved. Part of this project involved an attempt to reinforce Catholic doctrine in the face of local superstitions and abuses, to make sure that the ordinary people knew their duty. Ironically, many of these families would, a couple of centuries later, embrace firmly the new idea appearing on the continent, Protestantism, and oversee a destructive Reformation in the parish churches that their ancestors had built up and beautified.

 

But that was in the future. Sir John Wingfield, whose family had owned the manor of Wingfield for generations, survived the Black Death, and perhaps as a form of thanksgiving he established a college of Priests here in Wingfield in his will of 1361. The college buildings survive at the heart of later buildings just to the south of the church. Wingfield's personal fortunes had been bolstered by marrying his daughter into one of the parvenu families which rose to prominence in the 14th century. These people were merchants and traders in the northern coastal city of Kingston upon Hull, nearly two hundred miles away, but theirs was a name which would come to be intimately linked with the county of Suffolk. They were the de la Poles.

 

Wingfield's grandson, Michael de la Pole, would inherit the Wingfield estates. He built the fortified manor house known as Wingfield Castle, and in the later decades of the century and the early years of the next, he oversaw a massive rebuilding of the church. Only the low tower was left from Sir John's day. De la Pole's father William had been made first Duke of Suffolk. He increased the family's wealth by lending it to the Crown. But it is Michael de la Pole's son that history remembers most firmly. John de la Pole, second Duke of Suffolk, was a notable figure in Shakespeare's Henry VI parts I and II. Wounded at Harfleur, he watched his brother die at Agincourt: All my mother came into mine eyes and gave me up to tears. The most powerful man in England, equivalent of Prime Minister and leader of the military, he surrendered at Orleans to Joan of Arc in person, and his family paid £20,000 for his release, roughly ten million in today's money, but a drop in the ocean to them.

 

John ended up in his grave rather earlier than he might have expected. Exiled for five years under tenuous circumstances, he was murdered by Henry VI's henchmen as the ship taking him into exile left Dover. On the day before he died, he wrote a letter to his young son enjoining him to look after his mother: Always obey her commandments, believe her counsels and advices in all your works. This message was received by the boy's grandmother, who by virtue of her father's marriage was granddaughter of the writer Geoffrey Chaucer.

 

Sir John Wingfield, his grandson Michael de la Pole and Michael's son the second Duke of Suffolk, John de la Pole, are all buried here in the chancel at St Andrew. To reach them, you step into the porchless north door of the nave; the porch on the south side was intended to serve the college. The nave is wide and square, and full of light even on a dull day thanks to the lack of modern glass. Only the floor tiles strike a jarring note; what was considered the height of taste in the late 19th century is now, rather unfortunately, reminiscent of Burberry - a bit like chav lino, innit. But never mind, for fashions will change again, and in any case the eye is drawn by the creamy light of the stone-faced chancel, the great arcades seeming to swell and soar as they head eastwards to the drama of the great Perpendicular window.

 

The chancel aisles continue, the arches become resplendent in motifs and riotous capitals. And above, the clerestory does something extraordinary. What had been a simple range of five evenly spaced windows on each side above the arches, becomes a Perpendicular wall of glass, seven windows on each side of the chancel huddling together and picked out in brick which may well have come from the de la Pole's works in Hull. Conversely, the great range of aisle windows in the nave continues into the chancel on the south side, but on the north becomes sparser and erratic, leaving wall space for monuments. For here was the final resting place of one of medieval England's most powerful families.

 

A marvellous crocketed and canopied archway surmounts what is now the vestry door, but was once the way into the chapel of the Holy Trinity. Beside it, within a magnificent canopied easter sepulchre, lies the effigy of Sir John Wingfield, founder of the feast. Michael, Earl of Suffolk, lies across the chancel between the sanctuary and the south aisle chapel, his great tomb set within the arch of the arcade. Beside him is his wife Katherine, and their effigies are made of wood, a fairly late example of the technique. An earnest little lion sits up, alert, beneath his feet, and under his head is a sleeping, bearded saracen, his mouth grinning in the rictus of death. One of the most spectacular features of the tomb is the way that the sedilia are built into the northern side, which at once shows that the tomb is in its original location, and also unites the de la Poles in the sacramental liturgy of the church.

 

But the finest monument here is back across the chancel, on the other side of the sanctuary and backing the wall to the chapel. This is John de la Pole, second Duke. He lies in alabaster beside his wife Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of Edward IV and Richard III. Their tomb echoes that of John's grandfather, but there are subtle differences. His iconography is the same, but the rendering of the images has changed in half a century. Now, the lion is softer, prouder, and the moor is startling and dignified. This dignity extends to the whole structure, surely one of the finest memorials in England from the later part of the 15th century. Looking at Duke John's face, it seems inarguable that he was sculpted from the life. Beside him, his wife, her pillow borne to heaven by flights of angels, the tiny disembodied hand of one surviving poignantly beside her as she sleeps.

 

St Andrew is a tale of two churches, a church of two halves. Perhaps no other chancel in Suffolk is as magnificent as that of Wingfield, and it does rather put the nave in the shade. The return stalls survive from the days of the College of Priests, with misericord seats and sombre heads on the hand rests, polished by centuries of standing up and sitting down. Beneath them is an acoustic chamber, as at Blythburgh, an early form of amplification designed to add resonance to the voices of those singing the offices.

 

But within a century, it was all over. The Reformation did for the College of Priests and prayers for the dead, and the Anglican reformers comprehensively wrecked the buildings which their ancestors had built up with such devotion. What little remained was seen off by the puritans a century later. To be fair, some of the loveliest interiors in Suffolk are those which speak of the 17th and 18th century life of the buildings; but here, at Wingfield, the first response is to mourn what must have been lost. Indeed, by the 17th century this chancel was derelict and disused, probably roofless. What survives in the church from those years is ephemeral, unexceptional; except, perhaps, for the hudd, a kind of sentry box used by clergymen at burials in inclement weather. East Anglia has only one other, at Walpole St Peter in Norfolk.

 

The chancel was mended in a sympathetic manner in the 1860s; fortunately, the 19th century restoration of the furnishings here came later, and the Victorians can be praised for preserving so much. And if the nave speaks predominantly of any period, then it is of the present day, because this is obviously a thriving church.

 

One curious note, though: in 1911, the chancel was reordered in an Anglo-catholic fashion with furnishings by the great Ninian Comper. Incredibly, these were almost entirely removed and destroyed in another refurbishment in the 1960s, and all that survives of Comper are the candle holders on the return stall. What we see today in any case is the result of another major restoration in 1999.

 

So often in a quiet, rural backwater like Wingfield we expect, and usually find, a humble church of the common people, a touchstone to the blacksmith and the wheelwright, the ploughboy and the farrier. Well, they are all here - in the graveyard, they are all around. But St Andrew is not a humble church. It is one of the great English testaments, a story of power and glory, of treachery and downfall. The Dukes of Suffolk are no more, but still St Andrew rides the hidden lanes of the county like a great ship, a ship of light. All around, the 21st century seems rather mundane and shabby by comparison.

 

(c) Simon Knott, 2007, 2015

 

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St Mary, Yaxley is a pleasing perpendicular church with a tremendously ornate north porch right on the eve of the Reformation - was it a sign of things that would have followed? Inside, the stars are an elaborately carved rood screen and a good collection of medieval glass fragments. The sexton's wheel above the south door is unique in Suffolk, though there's another across the Norfolk border at Long Stratton. The choreographer Frederick Ashton is buried in the churchyard.

 

I was out in east Suffolk test-driving the new Buildings of England: Suffolk , a real pleasure. At nearly every church I found something I hadn't noticed before.

 

The new edition is in two volumes, Suffolk:East and Suffolk:West. Pevsner had only needed a single volume of about 500 pages for the first edition, but the fabulous new expanded edition runs to more than 1300 pages. The new Buildings of England volumes for Suffolk are published on April 23rd. People will just have to buy both.

I saw this sign for a mobile phone billing plan and had to laugh. (full discloure - I added the number 4). It's one of those adverts that make you wonder who is proofing the ad before it goes live!

Tuesday 22 November 2016, saw local Greater Manchester Police officers join HMP Manchester Community Team in a visit to St. Edward’s RC Priamry School in Lees, Oldham as part of the ‘Actions Have Consequences’ campaign.

‘Actions Have Consequences’ workshops inform pupils on how their actions can affect them and their local community and the negative outcomes that could occur if they were to stray off the beaten track.

 

Subjects include nuisance 999 calls, bullying, anti-social behaviour, stranger danger, internet safety as well as others. Although the workshops carry a serious message, they are structured to be fun, informative and engaging.

  

The HMP Community Team gave the young people an idea of the harsh reality of prison life and the dangers of knife and gang-related crime.

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.

www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.