Every year the English Civil War Society commemorates the execution of King Charles I, Martyr, on the last Sunday in January. Charles was executed on January 30th. Please look at my post about the execution here.
This year, I went to the Parade for the second time, and include some photos below. The reenactors met at St James Palace and marched along the Mall to Horseguards Parade. There they assembled, and then a detachment went to the Banqueting House where Charles was lawfully executed/murdered/martyred, depending upon your attitude. Here they lay a wreath.
Charles I Martyr?
He was a tyrant who tried to subvert the rule of Magna Carta and undermined Parliament. Then started a Civil War which killed 85,000. For the numbers behind the Civil War look here. So I’m going for lawfully executed, and I might say good riddance, but I don’t believe in the death penalty. By the way, the legal arrangements made for the unprecedented trial of the Head of State, laid the foundations for trials such as those at Nuremberg, and Kosovo. The Prosecutor was a lawyer called John Cook. Please read about him in this excellent book . The Tyrannicide Brief: The story of the man who sent Charles I to the scaffold. By Robertson, Geoffrey (2005). Chatto & Windus/Vintage. ISBN978-0-09-945919-4. Cook is remembered on Wikipedia as ‘Regicide’. But he was a pioneer of legal action against Tyranny. Another hero.
Here is the official publicity for Sunday’s Parade, followed by some of my photos.
January 25th 2026 Reenactors commemorating the execution of Charles I in Westminster
If you are interested, then you must either come to my walk, this Friday or attend my Virtual Tour, on Friday 30th January, evening. And you will find I am far more even-handed that this post suggests!
Kevin Flude’s walks to commemorate the Martyrdom of Charles I
Charles I and the Civil War. Martyrdom Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Jan 30th 26 To book
The Civil War, Restoration, and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour 7:30pm Fri 30th Jan26 To book
This was 5 years after his death. It is now celebrated around the world, making clear the importance of Robert Burns. Burns himself would have been astonished at the spread of Burn’s Night. He was modest about his attainments, saying, in his introduction to the Commonplace Book:
‘As he was but little indebted to scholastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his performance must be strongly tinctured with his unpolished rustic way of life. ‘
Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy of a grace As lang ‘s my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin wad help to mend a mill In time o’ need, While thro’ your pores the dews distil Like amber bead.
His knife see Rustic-labour dight, An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like onie ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin, rich!
Often bypassed by the tourists on a visit to the wonderful City of Edinburgh is the Writer’s Museum. It is in one of those remarkable Tower houses which seem unique to the High Street in Edinburgh. Inside, it gives a great introduction to the great writers of Scotland.
‘Is it not strange’ wrote philosopher David Hume in 1757 ‘that a time when we have lost our Princes, our Parliament, Independent Government …..that we shou’d really be the people most distinguish’d for literature in Europe?’ (source: Museum display panel)
Edinburgh Writer’s Museum Burns, Scott, Stevenson.
A Visual for Burn’s Night ‘Window in the Writer’s Museum, Edinburgh’ Photo by K Flude
1784 – The death in Edinburgh of Alexander Webster, a writer and church minister who is best remembered for the country’s first census. The first UK census was in 1801.
1817 – The Scotsman newspaper publishes its first edition in Edinburgh.
2012 – First Minister Alex Salmond launches a consultation on the SNP Government’s proposals for a referendum on Scottish independence. on the question “Should Scotland be an independent country?”. The voters answered “No” 55.3% and 44.7% voting in favour. (for more on Scottish Independence, see my post here.)
‘The man born under Aquarius shall be lonely and ireful; he shall have silver at 32 years; he shall win wherever he goeth, or he shall be sore sick. He shall have fear on the water, and afterwards have good fortune, and shall go into divers strange countries. He shall live to be 75 years after nature.’
‘The woman shall be delicious, and have many noises for her children; she shall be in great peril at 24 years and thereafter in felicity. She shall have damage by beasts with four feet and shall live 77 years after nature.
The Kalendar of Shepherds, 1604 (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly)
Resolutions & Predictions
the Author sporting a Betsy Trotwood aphorism ‘Never be mean, never be false, never be cruel’
The Kalendar of Shepherds predictions for those born in Aquarius, (see above) are so specific they cannot help but be wrong for most people. Surely, the art of the prophecy, is to be vague, be general and to know human nature.
By the 21st of January, we should have an idea of whether we are going to keep to your resolutions or not. And perhaps we should now be tuning them or adapting them to fit our lives as actually lived, rather than on our pious hopes. (for more on prophecy, see my post here).
Wisdom in a Taxi Ride
In 2023, on January 21st after my Uncle Brian’s Funeral. I had a chat with a taxi driver on the way to the railway station . He told me that funerals make him wonder how his behaviour might influence those the people who will, one day, make that special effort to turn up at his funeral. As a young Asian guy, he was thinking ahead quite some way.
I replied that ‘Funerals make me reflect on how much time I have spoiled by not being fully engaged in the moment’. All those conversations where my mind wandered. Those radio programmes I only half heard as I tried to read a book at the same time. All those train journeys, walks in the woods or along the canal while listening to headphones. My visits to relatives where I rushed back to get home as quickly as possible. Being present in the moment was, maybe, the key to improving the quality of life and interactions with others.
Dickens’ solution to the woes of the world
We continued chatting through the short journey. As we arrived in the forecourt of the station he suggested we exchange a final word of wisdom. As we had been talking about history, I turned to Charles Dickens. I told him Betsy Trotwood’s words to David Copperfield:
“Never,” said my aunt, “be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel. Avoid those three vices, Trot, and I can always be hopeful of you.”
I said that Betsy’s words stem from Charles Dickens’ belief that the key to progress in the world was to ignore the dogma of religion but to live by just one tenet.
‘Treat people as you want to be treated by others.’
In return, he told me of an Islamic teacher who responded to his enquiry. ‘How to ensure salvation given all the many (possibly conflicting) moral teachings and texts there were’. The answer was, if he lived wisely and considered his impact on others, he could be sure of salvation.
By this time, I had missed my train. But the two of us had had a moment of connection. There are plenty of trains from Guildford to Waterloo.
Dickens Philosophy
Dickens was a brilliant propagandist against the evils that are endemic in society. And yet, he was no socialist. He wrote ‘Hard Times’ which is a virulently anti-trade union story. But his recipe for improvement in society was based on implementing the broad understanding of religion, as expressed in these two quotations:
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39).
“Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).
T-shirts & the Rolling Stones
Philosophy for life as told to St Patrick by a Druid
I have a lot of t-shirts with quotations from history on them. I suspect I am one of the very few people who store his t-shirts in chronological order. The selfie shows chronologically, the first, and the last is:
“You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometime you’ll find You get what you need”
by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.
As the Rolling Stones have a big part to play in the musical history of Lindon, here are the lyrics in full and a youtube video.
You can’t always get what you want
I saw her today at the reception A glass of wine in her hand I knew she would meet her connection At her feet was her footloose man
No, you can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometime you’ll find You get what you need
repeat above
And I went down to the demonstration To get my fair share of abuse Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration If we don’t we’re gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse” Sing it to me, honey
You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find You get what you need Ah baby, yeah Ah
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore To get your prescription filled I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy And, man, did he look pretty ill We decided that we would have a soda My favorite flavor, cherry red I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was “dead” I said to him
You can’t always get what you want, well no You can’t always get what you want. I tell you, baby You can’t always get what you want, no But if you try sometimes you just might find, uh, mm You get what you need, oh yeah, woo! Ah, woo! You get what you need, yeah, oh baby Ah yeah
I saw her today at the reception In her glass was a bleeding man She was practiced at the art of deception Well, I could tell by her blood-stained hands, sing it
You can’t always get what you want, yeah You can’t always get what you want, ooh yeah, child You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometimes you just might find You just might find You get what you need, ah yeah Ah baby, woo!
Ah, you can’t always get what you want, no, no, baby You can’t always get what you want, you can’t now, now You can’t always get what you want But if you try sometimes you just might find You just might find that you You get what you need, oh yeah
And here is an early video of the band, with Brian Jones, playing the song. Sadly, it doesn’t have the sublime choir singing the chorus. Youtube will probably play an ad. I don’t make any money from that by the way!
First written on 21st January 2023, revised January 2024, and republished 2026
On this day
1793 Louis XVI of France was guillotined at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. The National Convention convicted him of high treason 4 days earlier
Scene from the Eve of St Agnes & Keats poem. Porphyro looking at the sleeping Madeline by Edward Henry Wehnert (1813-68) Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/wehnert/8.html
January 20th is the Eve of St Agnes & Keats wrote a poem on the subject. The poem is one of his most important and was written in 1819, published in 1820. Folklore held that a maid would dream of her future lover on St Agnes Eve if she took certain precautions. In particular, they had to go to bed without supper, and transfers pins from a pincushion to their sleeve while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. John Keats used this tradition in his epic poem.
St Agnes was a martyr who, at 13 years old, refused to marry a pagan. She was martyred by being stabbed in the throat. Agnes is well attested and on a list of martyrs dating to AD345. She is the patroness of young women and of chastity. Her feast day is January 21st. I wrote about St Agnes and the Fraternity of St Anne and St Agnes on Distaff Sunday.
The poem begins with a great description of winter.
St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass, And silent was the flock in woolly fold: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told His rosary, and while his frosted breath, Like pious incense from a censer old, Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.
Keats sets up the drama with a poetic description of the folklore:
They told her how, upon St. Agnes’ Eve, Young virgins might have visions of delight, And soft adorings from their loves receive Upon the honey’d middle of the night, If ceremonies due they did aright; As, supperless to bed they must retire, And couch supine their beauties, lily white; Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.
In the poem, the maid Madelaine goes to sleep to dream of her love Porphyro. He risks everything to visit the young girl, and watches her while she sleeps. She dreams of him. Waking up and seeing him, Madelaine lets him into her bed thinking she is still dreaming.
She realises her mistake and tells him she cannot blame him for taking advantage as she loves him so much. But if he leaves her, she will be like “A dove forlorn and lost / With sick unpruned wing”.
The two lovers escape and run away together.
Keats & TB
Keats was born in a livery inn in Moorgate, in the City of London. He lived in Cheapside, later in Hampstead, and was published in Welbeck Street in the West End. As a young man he trained as a surgeon at Guys Hospital, Southwark. But he never practised, although he did consider a post as a Ship’s Surgeon.
One wet, cold February he went home to Hampstead on the roof of a stage coach. But. he had forgotten his coat, so he got soaked and chilled to the bone. That night, he coughed up blood. His medical and family experience led him to believe it was a fatal sign of consumption. He had lived in a small house with his brother and mother, who both died of TB. Keats had helped nurse them.
Later on, however, he consulted a doctor. He was told his illness was psychosomatic. And his thwarted love for his next door neighbour, Fanny Brawne, was contributing to his illness. As his consumption advanced, he was advised to go to a warmer climate. So, he embarked at Tower Pier by the Tower of London. He transferred to a small sailing ship at Gravesend called the Maria Crowther. On the ship to Italy, he shared a cabin with another consumptive. The two consumptives, had opposite ideas as to whether the portholes needed to be open or closed for their health. Letters he wrote makes it clear he was desperate to stop himself thinking about Fanny Brawne. He got to Rome where he died, achieving, he felt, nothing worthwhile in his life. His memorial stone proclaimed:
“Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.”
On This Day
1265– The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the Commons holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster.
Today is also St Sebastian’s Feast Day. He has become a gay icon, and was celebrated in a Latin language film by Derek Jarman from 1976. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiane)
StSebastian by Marco Zoppo, Courtauld Gallery photo K Flude
A full version of the film is available on Youtube, but here are some scenes:
Events Coming up!
January 25th 2026 Reenactors commemorating the execution of Charles I in Westminster
In January, the ‘coney is so ferreted that she cannot keep in her borough’ says Nicholas Breton. He wrote in the January entry of the Kalendar of Shepherds. (See my post here). In modern speech he means, ‘the rabbit is so hunted with the aid of ferrets that she cannot keep to her burrow’. The London Illustrated Almanac of 1873 chose the Rabbit as its wild animal of the month.
Good Luck Rabbits!
If you need good luck say ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. No less a person than FD Roosevelt used to say this. No one knows why. Rabbits’ feet are lucky too. I remember some of my friends had them in our Surrey village in the early 60s. Some of Dad’s neighbours kept ferrets, and I remember dead Rabbits hanging from walls. The merits of the feet are given by the history.com website:
“A 1908 British account reports rabbits’ feet imported from America being advertised as ‘the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left-handed, red-headed bow-legged Negro riding a white horse,’
As to why, no one really knows. But Pliny the Elder in 71AD reported that cutting off the foot of a live hare could cure gout. There are European traditions of rabbit and other animal’s feet amulets curing all sorts of ailments. There are associations with witches, who could shape-shift into a rabbit. So a rabbit’s foot would be witchy and therefore powerful. In March, I reported on the Hare, and their, similar, associations with witches:
For lovers (?) of music, Chas and Dave’s hit song ‘Rabbit’ has a chorus of ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. According to the Cockney singers (they do love a Knee’s Up) it comes from the Cockney Rhyming Slang expression: Rabbit and Pork. This means ‘Talk’ because it rhymes with ‘Pork’. But, according to the rules of Cockney, you can shorten the phrase to Rabbit. To hear about the origins of the song, and royal connections, click here. To watch the official video. (It is misogynistic and of its day. Also, you may have to listen to an advert, but I don’t make any money from the ad!)
Now, I must stop rabbiting on. Time to get things done.
‘Negroland and Guinea with the European Settlements, Explaining what belongs to England, Holland, Denmark, etc’. By H. Moll Geographer (Printed and sold by T. Bowles next ye Chapter House in St. Pauls Church yard, & I. Bowles at ye Black Horse in Cornhill, 1729, orig. published in 1727) Source Wikicommons.
The Royal Africa Company
The Royal Africa Company was set up with a monopoly on trade with the west coast of Africa in:
“redwood, elephants’ teeth, negroes, slaves, hides, wax, guinea grains, or other commodities of those countries”
On January 10th. 1663 King Charles II affirmed the new charter for the Company that, above all else, was responsible for British continuing involvement in enslavement. Shareholders included his nephew, Prince Rupert, Samuel Pepys, and much of the British Establishment, Aristocracy, and City Merchants. Its headquarters were in Cornhill, not far from the East India Company’s HQ. The company was closed in 1752.
Guineas
Gold from the Gold Coast in Guinea was used to make coins, which became known as ‘guineas’. They were originally made from one quarter of an ounce of gold. Below is a sketch of a two guinea coin from the reign of Charles II. Note the elephant at the bottom of the coin.
Sketch of a two guinea coin from the reign of Charles II showing an elephant below the image of the King.
The guinea was original worth 1 pound but fluctuated with the price of Gold. Pepys records it at 24 or 25 shillings. It was eventually phased out, but it became a posh way of expressing value. Ordinary goods would be priced in pounds, but expensive ones in Guineas. By then valued at 21 shillings. (£1 pound 5 pence). Wikipedia suggests it was used for ‘prices of land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring, furniture, white goods and other “luxury” items‘. I remember going shopping with my parents in London and wondering at the fur coats being priced in Guineas. It died out, as a practice, in the 70s.
Enslavement, Government & the Royal Africa Company
There are many sites giving a history of slavery, and the British involvement with it. But, here, I would just like to point out how involved the British Royal Family was in the trade. One of the instigators of the Trade, in the 16th Century was John Hawkins. He secured investment in his second slaving expedition from: Queen Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley, Edward Clinton, Lord Burghley amongst others. Royal involvement in the foundation of the Royal Africa Company was only one of many connections between Royalty and Slavery.
It should be noted that the British education system has emphasised the role of Britain in the abolition of slavery. We are more reluctant to highlight our involvement in setting it up and continuing it. This has begun to change. A new generation of school children in London can visit the excellent London: Sugar & Slavery Gallery at the Museum of London in Docklands.
Compensation for Slavery & Reparations
University College, London has undertaken a profound project where they took the records of compensation payments to:
The slaves, you are thinking?
No, to the slave owners!
The compensation of £20m pounds was provided by a loan to the Governemt by Rothschilds Bank in the City of London. It probably represents around £16billion in modern terms. I have been unsure of the case for historic ‘reparations’. But when ‘we’ compensated the slave owners, it makes the case for compensation to the enslaved overwhelming. The least we can do is to fund projects to correct the educational and life disadvantages of people and countries impacted by slavery. And £16 billion seems like the right amount.
Legacies of British Slave-ownership project
UCL have created a resource where you can click on the streets of London and other areas, to find out the holders of slaves who were compensated in that street.
I looked at the UCL resource looking for the closest slave owner in my area of the East End of London. The nearest person lived about 500 yards away from me. Here are the abridged details from the database. It is very simple to use. Have a go by following this link.
Solomon Nunes Flamengo of Kingston, living at Mutton Lane in Hackney when he wrote his will in 1778. Merchant. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1779. Slave-ownership at probate: 6 of whom 2 were listed as male and 4 as female. 4 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £21356.26 Jamaican currency of which £332.5 currency was the value of enslaved people.
I guess the value of his compensation was £332.5. Solomon was Jewish, which is unusual for the records, by far the majority being Christian. I chose Solomon simply because he was the closest to my house. The UCL website is at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/.
Britain began regulating the Slave trade in the late 18th Century, abolished the Slave Trade in 1807. Slavery, with the compensation to slave owners in 1833, was abolished but they replaced slavery with apprenticeship – in effect bound labour. This was ended in 1838. For more details look at https://www.parliament.uk/
Slavery or Enslavement
Finally, I have seen several exhibitions and TV documentares in recent months where victims of the pernicious trade are referred to as ‘enslaved’ and not slaves.
It is a profound difference. The victims did not make themselves slaves, they did not identify as slaves. They were forced into lt by violence, kidnap. rape, murder, torture, imprisonment, trafficking, forced exile. They were enslaved.
‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill ’12th Night Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756-1811 printmaker. Published Janr. 10, 1807 by Thomas Tegg, 111 Cheapside’
Twelfth Night/Twelfth Day
Yesterday was Twelfth Night for the modern Church of England, but today is Twelfth Night for the Catholic Church and in England in former times ~(yesterday was Twelfth Day Eve. It is also Epiphany or Three Kings Day and because of calendrical differences, Christmas Eve for the Orthodox Church.
In Ireland, it is Nollaig na mBan. This is Women’s Little Christmas; when Women get to rest and let men do the work. This is a typical Saturnalia-style reversal of roles.
‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill
I used the print above, three years ago for my post on New’s Day, then moved it to Twelfth Night. I also use it for lectures on Christmas and Jane Austen. But the focus of my presentation here is explaining the Twelfth Night Cake and the game that was played. But in fact, this is a very political satirical cartoon. More of that, later, let’s begin with the more trivial aspect of the print above.
Twelfth Night Performance, Party
It used to be the big party night, featuring the famous Twelfth Night Cake and theatrical entertainments; mumming and wassailing. Essentially, these terms mean wandering around the Town or Village dressed in costume and drinking beer, cider, or wine cups. The tradition of performance also was kept by the Royal Court and by institutions such as City Livery Companies and the Inns of Court in London.
These traditions saw someone chosen as the King for the night, and often someone else chosen as Queen. In 1606 Ben Jonson’s masque Hymen was performed before the Court. In 1613 Lord Bacon gave Gray’s Inn permission to a Twelfth Night Masque at Whitehall. During the performance, a character called Baby Cake brought in a ‘great cake with a bean and a pease’. On the Candlemas Feast of 2 February 1602 Middle Temple performed a play called Twelfth Night that the lawyers had commissioned from one William Shakespeare. Candlemas was the end of the Christmas Season. See my post on Candlemas here.
The cake has disappeared from current Christmas celebration, probably because it transmuted into our present Christmas Cake. This, I regret. I have had a lifetime when a very heavy Christmas Dinner is followed, first, by Christmas Pudding. Then, overloading with food, the Christmas Cake is brought out. No one, in their right mind, wants a slice of heavy Christmas Cake after a Christmas Dinner, and Christmas Pudding! Many of my American friends disparage fruit cake, but they are mistaken. Good Christmas Cake is something to be thoroughly enjoyed, but on the days following Christmas Day.
I gave a recipe for the Twelfth Night Cake in another post, (here it is). But the important point is that it had a bean and a pea in it. The one who got the bean was selected as King for night and the pea the Queen. The rest of the Christmas Party draw cards. Traditionally, the women draw a card from a ‘reticule’ (bag) and the men’s from a hat. But there are no women at this satirical party (pictured above).
The cards detailed a role the party goers were to play for the rest of the night. The card began with an introductory speech, or rhyme, for the person to speak. The King and Queen led the way, and for the rest of the evening the party members adopted their persona. They might be an aristocrat, a soldier, a cook, a parson, a dairy maid etc. The French do something similar with their Galette des Rois. The bean is called the feve, and may be replaced by a porcelain model. Other places have a King’s Cake for epiphany.
Twelfth Night Satire
So, as I was rushing to get the original Twelfth Night post done, I failed to examine it in any detail. I assumed the cards gave them satirical occupations which would be funny to the contemporary audience in 1807. But then, I noticed the title mentioned St Anne’s Hill. I looked it up and discovered myself down a deep and very enjoyable research rabbit hole.
St Anne’s Hill & Charles James Fox
Now, let’s go down that rabbit hole and look a little deeper.
The caption mentions St Anne’s Hill. I believe this refers to St Anne’s Hill, near Chertsey (SW of London on the River Thames). Here, there was a grand house which was owed by Charles James Fox. He was the leader of the Whigs, a persistent opponent of King George III. He was a supporter of the American and French Revolutions. This explains the red bonnet used to pull out the cards in the illustration.
The central figure is then, Fox. But he died in September,. 1806. The print is dated January 1807. Just before he died, his Foreign Slave Trade Bill of 1806 began the dismantling of this pernicious trade in the British Empire. He was Foreign Minister, who assumed a couple of civil chats with the French would end the long-standing war. But he soon discovered that Napoleon was not to be trusted in negotiations. The war went on for another 9 or so years.
Charles James Fox was a mercurial figure with many radical views. He was also a notorious gambler and loved the high life. One of his many lovers was Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. He eventually married, Elizabeth Armistead, an ex-mistress of the Prince of Wales. St Anne’s Hill was her house. I am pleased to report that she is credited with calming his life-style. He now spent more time at St Anne’s where they would ‘read, garden, explore the countryside and entertain friends’ (Wikipedia).
Isaac Cruikshank’s ‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill
Cruikshank’s illustration is, of course, not designed to document quaint Twelfth Night customs but is a political satire and I discovered that the British Museum has the original version of this print, and. It is dated to 1799 which makes much more sense!
At the back right of the print is a notice which says:
‘Rules to be observed at this Meeting 1. That the Cake be decorated with appropriate insignia 2 That the tickets be deposited in a Bonnet Rouge and drawn in Rotation 3 That the Old Fashioned Game of King and Queen be exploded & Catch as Catch can Substituted in its stead.’
The bonnet rouge is a ‘redcap worn by ardent supporters of the French Revolution’ or ‘an extremist or revolutionary’. (defined by the Collins Dictionary as). Point 3 relates to Fox’s opposition to the King and the Republicanism of the French Revolution. The expression Catch as Catch Can refers to a free form of wrestling without rules, and presumably a satire on ideas of democracy.
Opponents of William Pitt
The characters in the scene (all men) are all political figures. They are associated with the opposition to the very right-wing Government of William Pitt. During the war with France, the opposition was led by a supporter of the French Revolution. For those on the right, which included Pitt’s government, supporting the French Revolution was tantamount to treason. Pitt suspended many civil liberties in ‘Pitt’s Reign of Terror’. He arrested and indeed executed leading members of those demanding political change. The Government even suspended Habeas Corpus to make it easier to arrest their opponents,
Fox is seen drawing a 12th Night Game ticket which is marked ‘Perpetual Dictator’. To his right is Frances Burdett. He was a radical politician, who supported universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments. Note that this is well before these aims became the core of the Chartists campaign for electoral reform.
Frances Burdett
Burdett is shown holding a ticket saying ‘Keeper of the Prison in Cold Bath Fields’. This is a satirical reference to a serious political crisis. The Cold Baths Fields was the site of a medical spring in Clerkenwell, London. It was a prison where radicals were imprisoned. Conditions were very poor, despite the recent rebuilding under the aegis of the prison reformer, John Howard. Burdett exposed the scandalous conditions in the House of Commons. He began a campaign against the magistrates involved in the arrests. Francis Burdett married into the fabulously rich banking family the Coutts. His daughter was the famous Angela Burdett Coutts who was a philanthropist who collaborated extensively with Charles Dickens.
Edward and Catherine Despard
One of the prisoners was Edward Despard who had associations with many radical groups. These included the London Corresponding Society, the United Irishmen and United Britons. Despard married Catherine, the daughter of a free black woman from Jamaica. She, with Burdett, led the campaign against her husbands and other arrests without trial. Catherine wrote a letter to the Attorney General who replied in a demeaning manner:
‘it was a well-written letter, and the fair sex would pardon him, if he said it was a little beyond their style in general’
He did not comment on her colour. She described the imprisonment of her husband as being :
“in a dark cell, not seven feet square, without fire, or candle, chair, table, knife, fork, a glazed window, or even a book”
Despard was freed in 1802, went to Ireland. He returned to London. He was arrested again. And accused of a being the ringleader of a plot to assassinate the King. There was little real evidence. Horatio Nelson was a character witness, and appealed to the King for clemency. Clemency was granted. But only in so far as Despard was not disembowelled. Just ‘Hanged and Drawn’ at Horsemonger Lane Gaol in Southwark (1803). He was the last person to be drawn through the streets at the tail of a horse before execution for treason. These are his last words:
Fellow Citizens, I come here, as you see, after having served my Country faithfully, honourably and usefully, for thirty years and upwards, to suffer death upon a scaffold for a crime which I protest I am not guilty. I solemnly declare that I am no more guilty of it than any of you who may be now hearing me. But though His Majesty’s Ministers know as well as I do that I am not guilty, yet they avail themselves of a legal pretext to destroy a man because he has been a friend to truth, to liberty, and to justice
(a considerable huzzah from the crowd)
and because he has been a friend to the poor and to the oppressed. But, Citizens, I hope and trust, notwithstanding my fate, and the fate of those who no doubt will soon follow me, that the principles of freedom, of humanity, and of justice, will finally triumph over falsehood, tyranny and delusion, and every principle inimical to the interests of the human race.
(a warning from the Sheriff)
I have little more to add, except to wish you all health, happiness and freedom, which I have endeavoured, as far as was in my power, to procure for you, and for mankind in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Despard
After his death, his family denied that Catherine was his wife but merely his ‘house-keeper.’ I assume, this was because they wanted the inheritance rather than, or perhaps, as well as naked prejudice.
@Phew! This is what I love about what I do, you find things out that link disparate parts of your knowledge, creating an ever-interwining web of history.
On this Day
1066 Harold Godwinson crowned King of England on January 6, 1066, the same day as the funeral of the previous king, Edward the Confessor.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five gold rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.
On this day in 1793 the National Convention in Revolutionary France decreed that Year II of the Republic had begun the day before. That is on New Year’s Day, January 1st. But, by October, they decided that the French Revolutionary Calendar should not have begun on January 1st but on the Autumn Equinox. The point being, I imagine, that January 1st, chosen by Julius Caesar had become a random date, not fixed to any external, astronomical event of significance.
The Revolutionaries, wanted their calendar to be completely rational. So they, retrospectively, made 22 September 1792 the first day of Year I. The Equinox has the virtue of having equal days and nights, and with the Sun rising due east and setting due west. Why the Autumn one? I don’t know but, the traditional calendars in Northern Europe, the Celtic and the Northern European tradition had an autumnal start to the Year. The idea being that the harvest is in, the growing has been completed, plants are beginning to die. Seeds are in the ground. So it’s the end of the growing year, therefore the beginning of the next year. It also had the virtual that it was not the Spring Equinox. For, Christians believed that the world was created on the Equinox, and Adam and Jesus born 4 days after the Spring Equinox. (see my post on March 25th)
By choosing a radical and rational reform of the Calendar, the Revolutionaries were following Julius Caesar’s example. His Julian Calendar tidied up the old Roman Calendar. However, Caesar did kept many of the essentials in place. The French, by contrast, almost completely ripped up the calendrical rule book. For more on the Julian Calendar read my post here.
Slippy January
Let’s start with the names of the months. The concept of the month they kept but got rid of the irrational Latin-based names. They replaced them with neologisms derived from seasonal indicators, as you will see. But it’s more fun to begin with the names as reported, satirically, by John Brady. He published these in England in 1811. The list starts with ‘October’ as the year began at the Autumnal Equinox. The seasons are separated by semicolons.
Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
The historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names in his 1837 work ‘The French Revolution: A History’ namely:
Each month was a rational 30 days, (12*30 = 360) leaving 5 days of the solar year to be sorted out. These were given to the Sans Culottes as holidays and called complimentary days. The leap year was similarly given to the Sans Culottes; an extra day, every 4 years. It was a copy of the Egyptian year, which had inspired Caesar to make the Roman year rational.
Working flat out 10/10
And like the Egyptians, the 7-day week went out the window. The month was divided into three décades of 10 days. The tenth day, the décadi, being a day of rest. By my calculations, the ‘lucky’ Sans Culottes gained 5 days at the end of the year. But lost 16 Sundays, a net lost of 11 days over the year. I’m guessing they would have been compensated somewhere in the year? By time off to celebrate various revolutionary festivals, such as the 14th July (celebrating the storming of the Bastille)? The days were called primidi (first day) duodi (second day) tridi (third day) etc.
The hours of the day were decimalised. So each day was divided into 10 hours, rather than the 24 hours we use. The hours into 100 decimal minutes, and the minute into 100 decimal seconds. This meant that an hour was 144 conventional minutes; a minute 86.4 conventional seconds, and a second 0.864 conventional seconds.
The French Revolutionary Calendar did not survive Napoleon, who recalled the conventional calendar. Time keeping returned to the Gregorian standard on 1 January 1806.
I do like the idea of the 10-day week. But I would prefer it to be 6 days of work and 4 days of leisure, thank you. I do wish we could rename our months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.
Notably, Napoleon did not reverse the Metric System. This was initiated in 1799, by the Revolutionary Government, shortly before it lost power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire which took place in Year VIII and installed Napoleon in power. Brumaire is November roughly?
The metric system not only survived, it prospered. Notably absent from the universally accepted system are English-speaking Countries, The UK, US and Canada being the main abstainers. Make of it what you will, but I think the main reason as that we don’t think we should be told what to do by foreigners who we rescued from the Germans. This is, of course, nonsense, given the contribution of the Russians, and all the others who fought to defeat fascism, but it is something that lingers as an idea. (Oh, how I hate you Brexit voters!).
Introducing a Rational System?
We made our coinage metric on 15 February 1971, and from 1962, stopped and started introducing the Metric System. The system was enshrined in UK law with the accession to the European Economic Community. We are now in a strange pickle where our children are mostly fully metric while we boomers are ambivalent. I buy my beer in pints (I’m lying I am the sort of wimp who orders beer in half pints). But petrol in Litres, although I only know how many miles my car does to the gallon. (I no longer have a car).
We measure long distances in miles, and short distances in a strange combination of both. I might go to ask a timber merchant for a couple of metres of 2 by 4. (2 inches by 4 inches is a standard size of wood). (I hate DIY!)
I buy butter in grams and fruit in a £1 container’s full. In summer, I use Fahrenheit as I spend a lot of time with Americans, telling them about our Quintessential country. In winter, I return to the universal world of Centigrade.
The exceptions that prove the Rule! The Blue countries have adopted the metric system. By Goran tek-en, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=96077271
On this Day
Today, is special for the Cybele, Isis, Aphrodite and Ishtar, and is the Vigil for St Genevieve of Nanterre. Paris. (more tomorrow). It is also a Bank Holiday in Scotland.
1492 Spain Conquered Al-Andalus, ending the Reconquista and Islamic rule in Spain with the fall of Granada.
1959 the Russians launch Luna 1, the first human-made object to escape Earth’s gravity.
In your Garden
Clean and repair gardening tools. Plan Spring Flower Beds. Check whether you need more evergreens or flowering heather to add interest to a winter garden.
First Published Jan 2nd 2023, republished Jan 2024, 2025 and 2026
Marble statue of Bacchus from the Temple of Mithras London. The inscription reads ‘hominibus vagis vitam’ Translation … (give) life to men who wander. Bacchus is in the middle, the little old man on the left is Silenus. The drunken tutor to Bacchus.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 8 Maids a Milking; 7 Swans a Swimming; 6 Geese a Laying 5 Golden Rings 4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Closing Time
The 8th day, New Years Day, is the day of the Throbbing Head. In ‘Closing Time’ Leonard Cohen wrote about drinking to excess. I like to think he refers to Christmas and New Year’s Day:
‘And the whole damn place goes crazy twice And it’s once for the devil and it’s once for Christ But the boss don’t like these dizzy heights We’re busted in the blinding lights of closing time.
Trouble is the song mentions summer. Oh well. You can enjoy the official video on YouTube below:
Hangover Cure
What you need is a hangover cure. Nature provides many plants that can soothe headaches. And in the midst of the season of excess, let’s start with a hangover cure.
Common ivy Photo by Zuriel Galindo from unsplash
Ivy and Bacchus
Ivy, ‘is a plant of Bacchus’…. ‘the berries taken before one be set to drink hard, preserve from drunkenness…. and if one hath got a surfeit by drinking of wine, the speediest cure is to drink a draft of the same wine, wherein a handful of ivy leaves (being first bruised) have been boiled.’
Culpeper Herbal 1653 quoted in ‘the Perpetual Almanac’ by Charles Kightly
Bacchus often wore an ivy crown around his head. Romans used Ivy to fend off hangovers.
Bacchus and Wine Making
The image of Bacchus, at the top of the post, is from a fascinating article by the Museum of London on wine making in Roman Britain. It suggests wine in Britain was first made in Brockley Hill, in South East London as little as 20 or 30 years after the Roman Conquest of AD43. The evidence was the discovery of Roman Wine Amphora made locally. This is taken as evidence that the amphorae were made to contain local wine. Direct evidence of a vineyard has been found in Northamptonshire but fron the 2nd Century AD.
Bacchus is the Roman version of the God Dionysus who was the God of ‘wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre.’ Essentially anything that could make you loss your head, and escape your inhibitions. But he could also relieve pain, reduce anxiety, free you from subjugation and therefore he was subversive. The Roman State suppressed and regulated the Bacchanalian Festivals.
Skullache, and Willow,
Crack Willow Trees on the Oxford Canal, August 2021
Now, if that gives you a headache, one of the best documented folk hangover cures is willow bark, useful for headaches, earaches, and toothaches. Here is a record of how simple it was to use:
‘I am nearly 70 years old and was born and bred in Norfolk… My father, if he had a ‘skullache’ as he called it, would often chew a new growth willow twig, like a cigarette in the mouth.’
‘A Dictionary of Plant Lore by Roy Vickery (Pg 401)
In the 19th Century, they discovered that Willow contained salicylic aciacid, from which aspirin was derived. As a child, I remember chewing liquorice sticks in a similar way. We chewed, supposedly for the pleasure and the sweetness, not for the medicinal virtues of the plant.
Country Weather
January 1st’s weather on the 8th Day of Christmas was cold, but bright in the morning, a little bit of rain at lunch time, and a dry but cloudy afternoon. So, according to Gervase Markham, the 8th Month, August, will be sunny to begin with, with some rain in the middle, and cloudy end of the month. (source: ‘The English Husbandman’ of 1635.)
On this Day
Today, is the Day the Nymphs in Greece dedicated to Artemis, Andromeda, Ariadne, Ceres. (according to the Goddess Book of Days by Diane Stein.)
First Published in 2024, republished in 2025, 2026
London Bridge to Bermondsey 11am Sun 8th Feb 26 To book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 2.15pm Feb 8th 26 To book The Rebirth Of Saxon London Archaeology Walk 11am Sun 22nd Feb 26 To book Jane Austen’s London Walk 2.15pm Sun 22nd Feb 26 To book London Before London – Prehistoric London Virtual Walk 7:30pm Mon 23rd Feb26 To book London. 1066 and All That Walk 11.30am Sun 8th March 2026 To book Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 2.30 8th March 2026 Barbican Underground Station To book The Spring Equinox London Virtual Tour 7.30pm Fri 20th March26 To book The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 21st March26 To book The London Equinox and Solstice Walk 2:30pm Sat 21st March26 To book Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.15pm Sun April 5th 2026 To book Samuel Pepys’ London – Bloody, Flaming, Poxy London 2:15pm Sun 5th April 26 To book Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 11.00am Sat 18th April 2026 To book Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.45pm Sat 18th April 26 To book Jane Austen’s London Walk 11.00am Sun 19th April 26 To book Myths, Legends, Archaeology, and the Origins of London 11:15am Sat 2nd May 26 to Book For a complete list of my guided walks for London Walks in 2025 look here
