Author: secretary

Russia said it needed some money to complete its railway from Petersburgh to Moscow, but people were suspicious that the Bear was building up funds in case of war.

“Russia is in the English Money Market, to negotiate a loan of five millions and a half, at the rate of four and a half per cent., to be liquidated by annual instalments in the course of fifty years! The Czar has sagaciously chosen his time for asking the aid of British capitalists. Money, just now, is ‘dirt cheap,’ and able to command scarcely half the interest which Russia offers. The security, too, for a foreign one, is generally looked upon as good. The temptation, therefore, is unusually strong to comply with the desire of the northern despot. On his part, there is a seeming deference to the commercial and pacific principles which have taken so tenacious a hold upon the British public. He is silent on the subject of war: he wishes to ‘complete a railroad between Petersburgh and Moscow.’ He thus appears to be engaged in developing the resources of his vast empire, and in forwarding the civilization of his semi-barbarous subjects. What philanthropist, what advocate of peace, can come between his and the capitalists of this country, to denounce the transaction, as favoring the objects of despotism? The bear has cunning as well as strength; and, we trust, public opinion, at the call of Mr. Cobden, will utter as loud a protest against the hypocrisy of Russia, as it did last autumn against the impudence of beggared Austria. The assertions of the member for the West Riding of Yorkshire, respecting the very limited pecuniary resources of the Russian empire, notwithstanding the exaggerated statements of its vast wealth which had found general credence, are now proved to have been well founded. Russia cannot complete her railroad to Moscow without obtaining a loan from foreigners for that purpose. Her treasury-chest, then, could never have been very abundantly supplied. And such cash as it contained had already been expended in the efforts made last year, and made successfully, to crush Hungarian independence. The overflowings of British industry and enterprise are now called for, to replenish the coffers which have been exhausted by a policy as odious to our sympathies as it was detrimental to our commercial interests. Russia squanders all her available wealth in trampling upon what we most revere, and in destroying what would have been highly beneficial to our trade, and then asks us to ward off from her the embarrassing consequences of her own wilful and wayward imperiousness.”

The Stamford Mercury, 18th January, 1850.

When a tramp appeared before the magistrates, his clothing was commented on by the local M.P.. The magistrate clearly knew his ‘Hamlet‘: the hero calls his Uncle ‘A King of Shreds and Patches, indicating that he is not a true king, having murdered Hamlet’s father and usurped the throne.

Had this story been about forty years earlier, he could have been referring to Nanki Poo in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Mikado’ – the ‘Wand’ring Minstrel’ – a ‘thing of shreds and patches’.

“Robt. Miller, a tramp, who passed the night of Saturday the 5th inst. in the Sleaford Union workhouse, took him before the magistrates at Sleaford on the following Monday, when R. A. Christopher, Esq., M. P., adjudged him to be committed to Falkingham house of correction for 14 days’ hard labour, and directed that the fragments might be stitched on calico and put together, so that on his next appearance in public he will be very much like ‘a thing of shreds and patches’.”

The Stamford Mercury, 11th August, 1848.

The Duchess of Glouncester was obviously a keen country-woman, and clearly a safari in the wilds of Kenya held no fear for her.

“The vision of the Duchess of Gloucester, clad in slacks, khaki blouse and topi, perched in a shelter on tree-tops at night, watching big game come from the jungles in East Africa to drink in the pools, is in strange contrast to her dainty appearances in this country. Since she arrived in Kenya she has accompanied the Duke on two shooting expeditions and has spent several nights on safari. While the Duke has been shooting, especially in search of the rarer types of antelopes, the Duchess has been busy with her sletch-book, for she possesses artistic talents above the average. She has already held two exhibitions of her pictures of Kenya Colony and landscapes around her old Northamptonshire home, Boughton House, at a West End gallery. Some of her water-colours adorn the rooms at Boughton House and the homes of members of her family.

While the Duchess is away, Queen Mary is acting on her behalf in giving advice concerning the final touches to the re-decoration and furnishing of Barwell Castle, which the Duke purchased recently. The Duke and Duchess are expected to take up their resicdence there two months hence.

Contrary to expectation, the Duke will continue to hunt from Melton Mowbray, where his stud of hunters is still being kept, but with the easy transport facilities that exist to-day both the Duke and Duchess are likely also to be seen out with the Fitzwilliam and Lord Burghley’s Hounds, this season, as the Duchess shares her husband’s zest for the chase.”

The Stamford Mercury, 30th September, 1938.

This poor gorilla was clearly frightened and confused, but he was brave enough to pelt his would-be arresters with potatoes! We wonder if the marvellous Guy (late of London Zoo) would have done the same in that situation?

“According to the Paris letter of the Daily Telegraph a gorilla has been arrested in Paris. The animal appeared to be doing sentry duty in front of one particular house. He strode solemnly backwards and forwards, walking erect, and turning sharply when at the end of his beat. When a attempt was made to secure him he suddently lost his temper, tried to bite the bystanders, then pelted them with potatoes, which he seized from a neighbouring greengrocer’s shop. Two policemen came upon the scene, and inquired in the house for the owner of the gorilla, but no one claimed the animal. The representatives of authority then solemnly marched the anthropod, who walked erect between them like a man, off to the police-station, where they reported that they had found a prisoner causing an obstruction in a public thoroughfare. The constables, impressed by the half-human appearance of the animal had serious doubts whether he ought not to be duly charged with the offence; but the officer, overruling their objections, had the gorilla conveyed to the pound.”

The Stamford Post, 14th March, 1902.

After being requisitioned during the Second World War and having attracted huge death duties, the 7^th Earl Lonsdale sold every fixture and fitting of Lowther Castle and it became an empty shell. However, it has been restored and is now a popular tourist attraction.

“It has been said that Lord Lonsdale can never forget the happy years he and his wife spent in Lowther Castle, the ancestral home in Westmoreland which now stands deserted. Although he now has to live at Stud House, Oakham, with typical Lonsdale spirit he has thought of an original way to be reminded daily of the castle. He has a flower sent for his buttonhole from the Castle gardens every day. Even when he went to Paris recently during the Royal visit he had his flower sent to him daily by aeroplane.”

The Stamford Mercury, 30th September, 1938.

J H Pestalozzi was a swiss educationalist who believed that education should help children develop critical thinking skills, foster empathy and emotional intelligence, and practical, hands-on learning.

“Pestalozzian Preparatory BOARDING and DAY SCHOOL for Young GENTLEMEN, STAMFORD.

THE Misses Heatley, in announcing their removal from Barn Hill for the reception of Pupils, avail themselves of this opportunity to repeat their thanks for the support their friends have given to principles which are silently, though successfully, making way in England; a result long since foretold by their ablest advocate, the late Fr. Mayo. He always said they were so consonant with good sense, so much in harmony with the spirit of the People of England, that they must be adopted, though it might be that the name ofPestalozzi would not be appended to them. The general principle seems universally recognised, that Instruction is not Education; that the Child is to be reated as a moral, intellectual, and physical being; or, to repeat the well-lknown words of Pestalozzi, that education must work on the Heart, the Head, and the Hand. It is not the amount of knowledge (in a Preparatory School) which Children may obtain, – but, what is of far more importance than positive knowledge, and far more pleasing to witness, is the freedom of mind, and intelligent sympathy with the meaning of questions. This system attains the important end of sending Children into the world with well-furnished minds, capable of easy development. In whatever direction occasion may call for further progress, there is good ground-work laid: such as will bear ample testimony to the merits of the system.

🖙 The Autumnal Quarter will commence on the 29th of September. Barn Hill, Stamford, Sept. 15th, 1847.”

The Stamford Mercury, 24th September, 1847.

A fantastic advertising ruse resulted in many sales of this Mummy pea, but sadly, it seems it was just a scam which fooled many vegetable gardeners. Perhaps this pea was in need of a father? Incidentally, the real pea named ‘Mummy’s Pea’, which is still available, has well-filled pods and tastes sweet.

“A few months ago the gardening world were thrown into a state of great excitement by the announcement of the discovery of a new pea, which had been propagated from one found in the wrappers of a mummy, supposed to have been placed therein some 1500 years B. C. This pea was said to have a flower like a geranium, a pod like the letter S, to be extremely productive, and to be the best in quality ever before known. The seed sold in London, and numbers of people in different parts were induced to purchase the seed of the mummy pea. It has been at length tried; the bloom is like that of the geranium; but there is no pod like that of the letter S: it is a slow grower, extremely shy in bearing, has a common field-pea appearance, nothing to boast of in quality, and has been pronounced by all who have been duped into its purchase, as being nothing more or less than a piece of mere humbug!”

The Stamford Mercury, 10th August, 1849.

What would you do if you found a three foot long alligator (- or was it a crocodile ?) near a railway? Run? Assume it was waiting for the next train? This sensible watchman called for help and a rope. But quite how its owner managed to forget about it is bizarre. Let us hope it found a suitable environment in London – perhaps near Regent’s Park? After all, at three feet it must have been quite young – adults tend to be between eight and fifteen feet long.

“On the evening of the 10th Inst., as a watchman was proceeding to his beat, about thirty yards from the platform at the Trent Valley railway-station at Tamworth, he was surprised to discover an alligator, three and a half feet in length, apparently wounded. An alarm was instantly given, and a rope procured, when the monster was fairly captured, and placed in confinement until the following Sunday, when it was forwarded to London. It turned out to be the property of a gentleman who went up by the mail-train on the previous Thursday night, and who did not miss his travelling companion until his arrival in town. It is supposed to have fallen from the railway carriage, and got injured.”

The Birmingham Jour.

The Stamford Mercury, 24th August, 1849.

A bull buffalo is a seriously large beast and very strong; when one escaped in the middle of London, chaos ensued.

“On Tuesday three buffaloes – a grown bull and two calves – one of them about the size of a small donkey, and the other of a sheep, landed at the London docks, were being driven along Holborn to Euston-square terminus, for transit to Birmingham, when, frightened by the strange noise and clamour at the foot of Holborn-hill, the bull darted away, followed by the calves. The animals proceeded at a very rapid rate along Fleet-street and the Strand, to Charing-cross. Here the bull dashed across Trafalgar-square, St. James’ square, along Jermyn-street, up Bond-street, through Grosvenor-square, into Park-lane, and upsetting Captain English and his horse, at that moment coming out of the Park. Having accomplished this, he fell in behind a load of hay being driven up Park-lane. The keepers, who had followed in a chaise-cart, attended by an immense crowd, now came up, and ropes being passed over his horns, he was secured to the tail of the cart. He kicked and plunged furiously, and from his great strength threatened to upset both horse and cart, and broke one of his horns, which bled profusely. He was at length drawn to a neighbouring stable, and depositied there for safety. The bull and calves are very handsome animals, of a greyish slate colour. No serious accident occurred in this long chase, though numbers of persons were excessively frightened.”

The Stamford Mercury, 3rd August, 1849.

. . . And the midlent fair is still going strong, still popular and still using the public thoroughfares, although the original prancing horses have been replaced by modern, exciting and faster rides. But it’s a shame we don’t have the wild beasts and feats of horsemanship nowadays.

This year’s midlent fair will open on Monday, 16th March.

” – this annual pleasure mart, which formerly lasted for a fortnight, commenced on Monday last, and will be continued till the end of the week. The attraction of the shows is not quite equal in extent to that of late years, and consequently the public thoroughfares are not so much incommoded as it was anticipated they would be : there are no exhibitions of wild beasts, nor any booths for the feats of horsemanship, though the drama (besides the ‘legitimate’ at the theatre-royal under the able management of Mr. Cacle) is abundently applied on the customary pruning principles exercised at fairtimes of ‘cut and come again,’ by Messrs Bennett and Lawrence.”

The Stamford Mercury, 7th April, 1848.