Today in history

12 th August 2021

The Plymouth shooting:
Six people, five victims and the perpetrator are killed in Keyham, Plymouth in the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010.

Keyham Shooting: What happened in Plymouth on August 12, 2021
Five people, including a three-year-old girl, were killed in a six-minute mass shooting in the Keyham area of Plymouth

Shortly after 6pm on August 12, 2021, Jake Davison went on a killing spree. Five people, including a three-year-old girl, were killed in a six-minute mass shooting in the Keyham area of Plymouth - the worst such event in Britain since 2010.

Two more people were injured. The 22-year-old later turned the gun on himself.

The apprentice crane operator armed with a legally held pump-action shotgun, began his shooting spree, killing his mother, former trawler woman Maxine, following an argument with her.

He left their terraced home in Biddick Drive, Keyham, carrying the shotgun and a number of cartridges and began to head down the hill towards Wolseley Road. However, a short distance from his home he encountered three-year-old Sophie and her father 43-year-old Lee Martyn, shooting them both dead. From there he approached a nearby property in Biddick Drive and shot at a mother and adult son, through their front door, injuring them both. They were later treated for their injuries at Derriford Hospital.
Davison then walked through the nearby Snakey Path where he encountered dog-walker 59-year old Stephen Washington, shooting him dead. Leaving the path he turned left into Henderson Place and continued for a few hundreds yards to the hair salon where he shot 66-year-old Kate Shepherd. Despite the efforts of people on the scene, paramedics and surgeons, she died of her injuries at Derriford Hospital shortly before 11pm that same night.

Davison is believed to have headed up Bedford Street and turned right into an area containing several garages. He returned moments later and on the corner of Bedford Street and Henderson Place, took his own life using his shotgun.

The inquests into the deaths were opened on August 19, 2021 and adjourned. On December 9 a pre-inquest review was held which saw Plymouth's senior coroner Ian Arrow note he would split the inquests into two, the first being for the five victims and the second for the gunman. A second pre-inquest review was held on March 15 2022 which saw Mr Arrow confirm that a six-week-long jury-led inquest into the deaths of the five victims would take place next year, beginning on January 16, 2023.

Another element which will be examined will be whether Davison's GP "responded appropriately to a request for information by the police when there was a request for provision of a gun licence by the perpetrator". During a pre-inquest review it was revealed that the GP "wrote declining to give information because he did not feel that he was in a position to be qualified to comment on the personality of a patient to say whether or not they were safe to hold a gun licence."

Mr Arrow said the inquest would consider ten key points, including a report made by Mrs Davison in November 2016 to the Prevent process, which is part of the Government's counter-terrorism scheme to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. He said he would also examined the shotgun licensing process, including its removal from Davison and its return following an assault he carried out.

13 th August 1964

Last U.K hangings:
Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.

Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen, England’s last hangings.

At 8 o’clock in the morning this date in 1964, two gallows traps 50 kilometers apart opened simultaneously — dropping the last two men England ever hanged.

Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen couldn’t have been much smaller fare for a milestone as momentous as the last entry in England’s copious annals of execution.

The two twentysomethings had dropped by Evans’s former coworker’s place in the aptly-named port Workington to borrow money. Since the call was at 3 a.m. and the petitioners were armed, it might appear that they had in mind an offer that John Alan West couldn’t refuse. The reader is invited to fill in the rest: a quarrel, a murder, a stolen watch, a medallion dropped at the crime scene with one of the perps’ own names on it …

Three months later, they were on trial for their lives; a month after that, hanged by the neck until dead. If there is tragedy in these hapless thugs, it may be that either could possibly have saved the other by claiming sole responsibility for the murder; since each blamed the other, the jury ended up finding them equally culpable.

While the last hangings in Canada featured two unconnected men hanged together, the last in England had partners in crime hanged separately. Allen died at Liverpool’s Walton Prison; Evans was dropped at Manchester’s Strangeways Prison.*

And unlike the Canadian case, Evans and Allen didn’t die knowing they were likely the last.

Although hangings had slowed to a crawl in Britain — there were just two in 1963, and none in 1964 before this day — death sentences continued to be handed down. But the trend was toward abolition: the British Parliament suspended the death penalty for ordinary crimes late in 1965, and made the suspension permanent in 1969. The handful of exceptional crimes for which the gallows remained nominally available — treason, piracy, espionage — were never enforced as such before those statutes too were removed from the hangman’s jurisdiction by 1998.

14 th August 1969

                   The troubles, Operation Banner:
                                                                 The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.

                                 The Troubles: How 1969 violence led to Army's longest campaign.

                               When the boots of 300 soldiers hit the ground in Londonderry in August 1969, so began the longest continuous campaign in British military history.

The plan was to restore public order and be out in a matter of days.

The enduring image is of young soldiers being served cups of tea as they protected Catholic areas from sectarian attack.

But weeks turned to years and Operation Banner, as the Army refers to the Troubles, lasted from 1969 to 2007, costing it hundreds of lives

                   Paul Young was a soldier in the Household Cavalry who served in Northern Ireland during the early years of the Troubles.

It was a shock to the system.

"Nobody had been trained to do civil disorder, policing in what was basically developing as a very nasty, dirty civil war," he said.

'A turkey shoot'
The Northern Ireland government at Stormont had asked the UK for troops to be sent in after days of violence, which had erupted in towns and cities.

Police were exhausted and had struggled to cope.

James Willis, a police officer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, recalls the first soldiers to arrive.

"In the Bogside (in Londonderry) they were cheered and welcomed in," he said.

"But it was only a few weeks later when the whole thing kicked off again and the troops were attacked.

"It was at that point I realised this was not going to work, it is not something which was going to be handled by sheer force."

Amid civil strife, the Provisional IRA was soon born and the police and Army became open targets in a campaign of murder and violence, which sought to end British rule.

                          Paul Young remembers patrolling Belfast.

"Literally every day we were under threat," he said.

"We were constantly being shot at from various parts of west Belfast.

"It was a turkey shoot for them."

'Bloody Sunday exacerbated conflict'
Military dominance was elusive as the 1970s descended into bloody chaos.

In 1972, the Army shot dead 13 civilians in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday, an event that Lord Saville concluded strengthened the Provisional IRA and exacerbated the conflict.

                  The Ministry of Defence says 722 soldiers were killed in the Troubles as a result of "hostile action".

The worst attack, a double-bombing at Narrow Water near Warrenpoint, County Down in 1979, cost 18 lives.

Deaths attributed to the Army number 297, according to Ulster University's conflict archive, including killings in controversial circumstances.

                     "We didn't go out with murder in mind," said David Crabbe, who represents Decorum NI, a support group for security force veterans, and who served in the Ulster Defence Regiment.

"We were a force for good - that doesn't sit easy with some people.

"Yes, there were one or two bad apples, there was an element of collusion, but it was not systemic or institutional."

From the first deployment in August 1969, troop numbers swelled considerably over the years, peaking at 27,000.

It may have been intended as a "limited operation", but it ended up rewriting the Army's history books

Dreadful times, probably the worst period in modern British history.

August 15 th 1969

WOODSTOCK:
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in Bethel, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.

August 15, 1969: Woodstock Begins! “3 Days of Peace and Music”



A Brief History
On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, touted to be “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music” opened in the Catskills region of New York State. The 3 day weekend blast saw 32 music acts perform rock and folk music, with just about all forms of rock (of the time) represented. About 400,000 people attended, and the event is often considered one of the most important and famous musical events in rock and roll history.

Digging Deeper
Located on a farm owned by Max Yasgur near Bethel, New York, the site is actually about 43 miles from the town of Woodstock. The promoters had never organized a show this big, but once Creedence Clearwater Revival signed to play many other acts jumped on the band wagon (so to speak).

Advance tickets cost $18 (about $120 in today’s money) and paying at the gate would set you back $24. With about 186,000 advance tickets sold, organizers calculated about 200,000 total music fans would attend, and when twice that number showed up facilities were overwhelmed. Traffic swamped the local roads, and not enough food, shelter, and bathroom facilities were provided. To top off the problems, it rained on and off. Despite the pandemonium, peace generally reigned and only 2 people at the event died, one by a drug overdose and one accidentally run over by a tractor while he slept in a field.

The crowd, weather, and insufficient planning caused the event to run over to a 4th day, when Jimi Hendrix became the final performer Monday morning, with only about 30,000 fans still in attendance. Of course, like other major historical events, many times that number claim to have been present for Hendrix’s final act. Hendrix was the highest paid performer at $18,000, a lot of cash for that time, but many acts got paltry sums as low as under $500 with only a few topping $10,000.

Some major acts that almost appeared, but were not signed after all included Bob Dylan, the Moody Blues, Tommy James and Shondells, the Doors, Chicago Transit Authority, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, the Byrds, Free, Jethro Tull, Iron Butterfly, Joni Mitchell, and even Roy Rogers (singing cowboy) who would have sung “Happy Trails” at the close of the show. As fantastic a line up as they had, if these acts had been included the spectacle would have been mind numbing, by far the most massive and important concert event ever. Still, the festival was a pretty big deal, indeed.
A film documentary released in 1970 titled Woodstock won an Academy Award, and of course the soundtrack was a massive hit as well, having spawned 3 albums and later a 4 CD set. The festival itself lost about $1.4 million, which was made up by revenue from the film and albums. Unfortunately, the movie and albums do not feature the music of CCR as band leader John Fogerty was dissatisfied with the band’s performance.

August 15-18, 1969 remains an indelible mark on the American music psyche and a major memory of the 1960’s.

16 th August 1819

The Peterloo massacre:
Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.

The Peterloo Massacre: Rebellion, bloodshed, and the fight for democracy.

At the beginning of the 1800s, the industrial revolution was in full swing. Factories had popped up all over the northwest of England putting many people out of work while property and landowners became increasingly wealthy.

Meanwhile, those that toiled in the cotton factories and mills, down mines, and in the fields spent the remainder of their time cramped in slum housing starving from their meagre wages.

Punitive corn laws at the end of the 1700s had already pushed up food prices and the Napoleonic Wars, having recently ended, had plunged the country into recession as 350,000 exhausted ex-servicemen returned from the frontline needing work, housing and food.

But only the wealthy land and property owners, about 5% of the population, were allowed to vote. Everyone else was effectively gagged.

Early 1800s Manchester
This former town had less than 10,000 inhabitants 100 years before 1801. However, it was now a city of almost 330,000 people, the vast majority of whom were on or below the breadline. With no MP to channel their cries of despair, it was down to ordinary citizens to stand up and make themselves heard.

In 1817, 600 ‘blanketeers’ set out from Manchester on a protest march to London with only their blankets, from which their sobriquet was coined, as protection from the elements during the night. In the same year, 200 men from Derbyshire tried to stage an unsuccessful uprising in Nottinghamshire, arguably spooking the establishment.

So, when a peaceful demonstration was organised in St Peter’s Square, Manchester, with guest speakers and reformers on hand to lend some intellectual weight to the protest, the authorities were waiting for trouble.


16th August 1819
At 9am crowds began to gather at St Peter’s Square. Despite having marched for many miles, it was a good-natured affair. Many demonstrators were dressed in their Sunday best and sang the national anthem and other patriotic tunes. Some carried banners bearing slogans for ‘equal representation’ and ‘universal suffrage’. Others prepared the hustings for celebrated public speakers such as Henry Hunt.

By midday, up to 80,000 demonstrators had gathered. Also present were around 600 soldiers that included members of the Yeomanry -a volunteer army consisting predominantly of tradespeople and shopkeepers- and the Fifteenth Hussars who’d been on parade earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the local magistrates had moved to a building with a better view over St Peter’s Square.

The reading of the Riot Act
As the speakers began to address the cheering throngs, the magistrates’ sense of unease tipped over into paranoia. After notifying the heads of the Yeomanry -Captain Hugh Birley and Major Thomas Trafford- and Colonel L'Estrange of the Fifteenth Hussars, the Reverand Charles Ethelston read the Riot Act at 1:30pm from an upstairs window overlooking the packed square.

We have all heard the phrase ‘read the Riot Act’, to flippantly describe the actions of a parent or teacher laying down the law. But from 1714, the Riot Act was very real, having been passed through parliament to prevent the ‘unlawful gathering of 12 or more persons'. If the crowds didn’t disperse ‘within an hour’ after the Riot Act was read in public, the authority would be legally permitted to use force to dispel the addressed assembly. Those caught rioting could be tried, convicted and hanged.

The massacre
10 minutes later at 1:45pm, hundreds of Yeomanry, some on horseback, others drunk with personal vendettas, were ordered into the crowd to arrest the speakers. Charging through the crowds with sabres drawn, the panic that ensued quickly turned into chaos.

Soon after, hundreds of Hussars were also ordered in to control the crowds, though a few found themselves protecting the civilians from the brutal Yeomanry. In the space of 20 minutes, over 600 people had been injured and as many as 20 people, including women and children, were killed at close quarters. Following a violent arrest, Henry Hunt was tried, convicted of seditious conspiracy and sent to prison for two years.

17 th August 1896

First pedestrian fatality:
Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.

17 August 1896: the motor car claims its first life
The unfortunate Bridget Driscoll of Croydon became the first pedestrian to be run over and killed by a motor car on this day in 1896, as she walked in Crystal Palace Park.

On this day in 1896, Bridget Driscoll of Croydon, Surrey, was out for a pleasant afternoon's stroll in Crystal Palace Park with her daughter, May. Unfortunately for the doomed Mrs Driscoll, she would become the first in a very (very) long line of statistics road fatalities.

Because also in the park was one Arthur James Edsall, one of three motor-car drivers giving joyrides to visitors. And depending on who you believe, he was driving a little too fast and not paying quite enough attention.

As she strolled along the Dolphin Terrace, Mrs Driscoll was suddenly faced with Edsall's motor carriage bearing down on her, "zig-zagging" down the road, as May told the inquest into her mother's death. Unused to seeing such a contraption – there were perhaps only 20 cars in the country at the time – Mrs Driscoll was rooted to the spot, "bewildered". She held up her umbrella, perhaps to signal the car to stop.
But despite there being "plenty of room for the car to have passed", it careered straight into her and "went over her head, death quickly ensuing", according to the Western Times.
Edsall claimed he was driving at no more than four miles an hour. Indeed, the car wasn't capable of doing more than four and a half, he said, as it was restricted. And even if it wasn't, its top speed would be just eight miles an hour. But others disagreed. At the inquest, a witness described the car "as fast as a fire-engine – in fact, as fast as a horse can gallop".

A passenger in the car testified that the car was going "faster than any omnibus" she had ever been on, and it swerved to the right for no apparent reason, and hit poor Mrs Driscoll.

In another first, perhaps, the inquest sided with the driver, and the death was officially recorded as an "accident".

The coroner said he hoped "such a thing would never happen again". A wildly optimistic hope: according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, over half a million people have died on Britain's roads.

Edsall, however, lived to the ripe old age of 84, dying in 1941.

18 th August 1612

Pendle witches trial:
The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.


The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 18–19 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison. Of the eleven who went to trial – nine women and two men – ten were found guilty and executed by hanging; one was found not guilty.

The official publication of the proceedings by the clerk to the court, Thomas Potts, in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, and the number of witches hanged together – nine at Lancaster and one at York – make the trials unusual for England at that time. It has been estimated that all the English witch trials between the early 15th and early 18th centuries resulted in fewer than 500 executions; this series of trials accounts for more than two per cent of that total.

Six of the Pendle witches came from one of two families, each at the time headed by a woman in her eighties: Elizabeth Southerns (a.k.a. Demdike[a]), her daughter Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren James and Alizon Device; Anne Whittle (a.k.a. Chattox), and her daughter Anne Redferne. The others accused were Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Grey, and Jennet Preston. The outbreaks of 'witchcraft' in and around Pendle may suggest that some people made a living as traditional healers, using a mixture of herbal medicine and talismans or charms, which might leave them open to charges of sorcery. Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made both against each other, perhaps because they were in competition, trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion.

Victims of the beliefs and hysteria of the time, similarly the Salem Witch Trials in America.

19 th August 1987.

                        The Hungerford massacre:
                                                               Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.

                    Looking back at the Hungerford massacre 37 years on
Gunman Michael Ryan shocked the country with his rampage around the quiet Berkshire village.

                     The Hungerford Massacre on August 19, 1987, saw 16 people killed in a rampage by gunman Michael Ryan.

Ryan used a semi-automatic rifle, an M1 Carbine and a Beretta pistol to carry out a string of attacks in the village.

His victims included his own mother and police officer Roger Brereton - who was later posthumously awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct.

Ryan, an unemployed handyman, also injured 15 people in the horrific attack before turning the gun on himself.

The incident prompted the government to change gun laws, banning semi-automatic and pump-action rifles.

Other victims included Susan Godfrey, of Reading, who was killed while picnicking with her children; Roland and Sheila Mason, who were killed in their home; Kenneth Clements, who was shot while walking to Hungerford Common.

PC Brereton was shot in South View.

Abdul Rahman Khan, was shot in his garden; George White, was shot in South View while driving Ivor Jackson home from work.

Ryan's mother Dorothy was shot not far from her home in South View as she pleaded with her son to stop the shooting.

Francis Butler was shot while walking his dog in the Memorial Gardens; Marcus ‘Barney’ Barnard, was shot while driving to his home; Douglas Wainwright, died as he drove with his wife to visit their son; Erie Vardy, was shot while driving his van.

                Sandra Hill, was shot while driving; Jack and Myrtle Gibbs, were shot in their home in Priory Road; and Ian Playle was shot while driving into Hungerford on a shopping trip with his wife and two children.

Ryan also killed his family dog and set fire to his house.

Ryan killed himself at 6.52pm in John O'Gaunt Community Technology College.

It was one of the worst mass shootings in British history.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the village on Thursday, August 20, 1987, the day after the shooting, to pay her condolences.

After the murders, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was passed following a report commissioned by then-Home Secretary Douglas Hurd.

The act banned semi-automatic and pump-action rifles; weapons which fire explosive ammunition; short shotguns with magazines; and elevated pump-action and self-loading rifles.

Shotguns had to be registered and were required to be kept in secure storage.

20 th August 1989.

         Disaster on the Thames, Marchioness disaster:
                                                                         The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.

                              Marchioness disaster

The Marchioness disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure boat Marchioness sank after being hit twice by the dredger Bowbelle at about 1:46 am, between Cannon Street railway bridge and Southwark Bridge.

Marchioness had been hired for the evening for a birthday party and had about 130 people on board, four of whom were crew and bar staff. Both vessels were heading downstream, against the tide, Bowbelle travelling faster than the smaller vessel. Although the exact paths taken by the ships, and the precise series of events and their locations, are unknown, the subsequent inquiry considered it likely that Bowbelle struck Marchioness from the rear, causing the latter to turn to port, where she was hit again, then pushed along, turning over and being pushed under Bowbelle's bow. It took thirty seconds for Marchioness to sink; 24 bodies were found within the ship when it was raised.

                        An investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) blamed a lack of lookouts, but their report was criticised by the families of the victims, as the MAIB had not interviewed anyone on Marchioness or Bowbelle, but relied on police interviews. The government refused to hold an inquiry, despite pressure from the families. Douglas Henderson, the captain of Bowbelle, was charged with failing to have an effective lookout on the vessel, but two cases against him ended with a hung jury. A private prosecution for manslaughter against four directors of South Coast Shipping Company, the owners of Bowbelle, and corporate manslaughter against the company was dismissed because of lack of evidence.

A formal inquiry in 2000 concluded that "The basic cause of the collision is clear. It was poor lookout on both vessels. Neither vessel saw the other in time to take action to avoid the collision." Criticism was also aimed at the owners of both ships, as well as the Department of Transport and the Port of London Authority. The collision and the subsequent reports led to increased safety measures on the Thames, and four new lifeboat stations were installed on the river.

21 st August 1689.

The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.

Battle of Dunkeld.

Introduction
The Battle of Dunkeld took place at the now popular village situated on the banks of the River Tay in central Scotland. Location is about fifteen miles north of Perth.

In the past Dunkeld has played an important role in Scotland’s history. The name translates as ‘Fort of the Caledonians’. The latter were one of the tribes encountered by the Romans about 2000 years ago. During the period AD 600-900 excavations have found the site was an important power centre. In the 9th-12th centuries AD Dunkeld became an important centre of Christianity.

However, arguably Dunkeld’s main claim to fame is the battle which took place there on August 21st 1689. This has to be viewed in context of tensions arising in the late 17th century which gave rise to the Glencoe Massacre plus three battles.

The catalyst for these battles was the rejection of the Catholic leaning King James VII/James II by the British establishment and replacement by the Protestants, William and Mary in 1688. However, James still retained a loyal following, particularly in the Highlands, with such supporters known as Jacobites (Latin for James).

The Battle.
On July 27th 1689 there was a battle at nearby Killiecrankie at which a Jacobite force prevailed over that of the government. However, this success came at cost of the loss of the Jacobites inspirational commander, ‘Bonnie’ Dundee. At Dunkeld the Jacobites were led by Colonel Cannon and the government forces by Lt-Colonel Cleland.

The government forces, Cameronians, totalling some 1200 men occupied Dunkeld and were subject to attack in the early hours of August 21st by 5000 Jacobite clansmen. Fighting was very fierce with the Cameronians resorting to burning local houses as they were progressively pushed back. The final redoubt of the Cameronians comprised the twin bastions of the Cathedral and Dunkeld House (now the Hilton Hotel).

The Cameronions, surprisingly, ultimately prevailed with 300 Jacobite dead for the loss of 45 Cameronians. Latter casualties included Lt-Colonel Cleland who is buried in the cathedral site.

After the battle.
After Dunkeld the Jacobite army dispersed with James suffering a final defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland the following year. However, there were subsequent Jacobite uprising in the 18th century culminating in the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

22 nd August 1485

Bosworth and Richard:
The Battle of Bosworth Field occurs; King Richard III of England's death in battle marks the end of the reigning Plantagenet dynasty and the beginning of the Tudors under Henry VII.

Battle of Bosworth Field.
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field (/ˈbɒzwərθ/ BOZ-wərth) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to fall in battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the defining moments of English history.

Richard's reign began in 1483 when he ascended the throne after his twelve-year-old nephew, Edward V, was declared illegitimate. The boy and his younger brother Richard soon disappeared, and their fate is a mystery still today. Across the English Channel Henry Tudor, a descendant of the greatly diminished House of Lancaster, seized on Richard's difficulties and laid claim to the throne. Henry's first attempt to invade England in 1483 foundered in a storm, but his second arrived unopposed on 7 August 1485 on the southwest coast of Wales. Marching inland, Henry gathered support as he made for London. Richard hurriedly mustered his troops and intercepted Henry's army near Ambion Hill, south of the town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. Lord Stanley and Sir William Stanley also brought a force to the battlefield, but held back while they decided which side it would be most advantageous to support, initially lending only four knights to Henry's cause; these were: Sir Robert Tunstall, Sir John Savage (nephew of Lord Stanley), Sir Hugh Persall and Sir Humphrey Stanley. Sir John Savage was placed in command of the left flank of Henry's army.

Richard divided his army, which outnumbered Henry's, into three groups (or "battles"). One was assigned to the Duke of Norfolk and another to the Earl of Northumberland. Henry kept most of his force together and placed it under the command of the experienced Earl of Oxford. Richard's vanguard, commanded by Norfolk, attacked but struggled against Oxford's men, and some of Norfolk's troops fled the field. Northumberland took no action when signalled to assist his king, so Richard gambled everything on a charge across the battlefield to kill Henry and end the fight. Seeing the king's knights separated from his army, the Stanleys intervened; Sir William led his men to Henry's aid, surrounding and killing Richard. After the battle, Henry was crowned king.

Henry hired chroniclers to portray his reign favourably; the Battle of Bosworth Field was popularised to represent his Tudor dynasty as the start of a new age, marking the end of the Middle Ages for England. From the 15th to the 18th centuries the battle was glamourised as a victory of good over evil, and features as the climax of William Shakespeare's play Richard III. The exact site of the battle is disputed because of the lack of conclusive data, and memorials have been erected at different locations. The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built in 1974, on a site that has since been challenged by several scholars and historians. In October 2009, a team of researchers who had performed geological surveys and archaeological digs in the area since 2003 suggested a location two miles (3.2 km) southwest of Ambion Hill.

23 rd August

Freckleton air disaster:
Freckleton air disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people.

Freckleton air disaster;

On 23 August 1944, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Consolidated B-24 Liberator crashed during a test flight into the centre of the village of Freckleton, Lancashire, England, killing all three crewmen aboard the aircraft and 58 individuals on the ground, including 38 children aged four to six.

An official inquiry was unable to pinpoint an exact cause for the accident, although a sudden thunderstorm and the resultant reduced visibility immediately prior to the accident had caused the test pilot of the B-24, First Lieutenant John Bloemendal, to be ordered to abandon the test fight and attempt to return to base. The report was unable to discount structural failure of the aircraft in such extreme weather conditions as a factor for the accident, and recommended that American pilots be warned how to respond to British thunderstorms.
This aviation accident would prove to be the deadliest to occur in Britain during World War II,[3] and would remain the second worst aviation accident in the world (in terms of number of fatalities) until the 1950 Llandlow air disaster.

What a tragic event.

24 th August 1482

Berwick,English or Scottish:
1482 – The town and castle of Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army.

The historic Border town has changed hands between England and Scotland 13 times.
Berwick, which has a population of around 12,000, has a mayor rather than a provost, as there would be in Scotland.

But the town’s ceremonial robes are purple instead of scarlet, which goes back to its time as a Royal Scottish Burgh.

It is the only English town with a football team in the Scottish Football Leagues – Berwick Rangers, while the Tweed, is recognised as a Scottish river.

Research has found that 25 per cent of the town consider themselves English, 25 per cent Scottish, and half Berwickers.

Berwick, which has an English name meaning “corn farm”, began as a small settlement in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria.

It was taken by the Scots in 1018 and became a hotly disputed territory.

It continued to change hands until on this day, August 24, in 1482, it caputred by England and finally confirmed as English. It has remained so ever since.

The town and castle of Berwick upon Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army
In July 1482 an English army invaded Scotland during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and its castle were captured and the English army briefly occupied Edinburgh. These events followed the signing of the Treaty of Fotheringhay, 11 June 1482, in which Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the brother of James III of Scotland declared himself King of Scotland and swore loyalty to Edward IV of England. The follow-up invasion of Scotland under the command of Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester failed to install Albany on the throne, but Berwick has remained English ever since the castle surrendered on 24 August. The English army left Edinburgh with a promise for the repayment of the dowry paid for the marriage of Princess Cecily of England to the Scottish Prince.

A town with a fascinating history and a lovely place to visit.
A walk around the town walls is recommended.

25 th August 1875.

First channel swimming, Captain Webb:
Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 minutes.



Englishman swims the Channel

Matthew Webb, a 27-year-old merchant navy captain, becomes the first known person to successfully swim the English Channel. Captain Webb accomplished the grueling 21-mile crossing, which really entailed 39 miles of swimming because of tidal currents, in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Webb set out to much fanfare the day before, on August 24. During the overnight crossing from Dover, England, to Calais, France, Captain Webb drank brandy, coffee and beef tea to keep his strength and heat up. He was hailed as a national hero upon his return to England, and a triumphal arch was erected in his honor in his hometown in Shropshire. The Daily Telegraph proclaimed, “At this moment the Captain is probably the best-known and most popular man in the world.”

One of 12 children, Webb learned to swim in the Severn River below Ironbridge. At age 12, he joined the mercantile training ship Conway. He was not remembered as a fast swimmer, but his fellow cadets noted his endurance. While traveling the world with the merchant navy, Webb made his mark with several brave and dangerous swims. Endurance swimming was popular in the 1870s, and Webb decided to swim the English Channel after reading in a newspaper about an unsuccessful attempt. He trained along England’s south coast, swimming distances of 10 to 20 miles and becoming acclimatized to the cold water. In August 1875, his first attempt to swim the Channel ended in failure, but he decided to give it another try.

On August 24, 1875, smeared in porpoise fat for insulation and wearing a red swimming costume made of silk, he dove off Dover’s Admiralty Pier into the chilly waters of the Channel. He began the race in the late evening because of the tides and kept up a slow and steady pace in the dark, using the breaststroke. Accompanying boats handed him beef tea, brandy, and other liquids to sustain him, and Webb braved stinging jellyfish and patches of seaweed as he plodded on. Seven miles from the French coast, the tide changed, and he appeared to be driven backward, but just after 10 a.m. he approached the French shore. The crew of the outgoing mail ship The Maid of Kent serenaded him with “Rule Britannia,” and shortly before 11 a.m. Webb waded ashore.

After sleeping 12 hours in France, Webb returned to England by boat, saying, “the sensation in my limbs is similar to that after the first day of the cricket season.” He was honored at a welcoming banquet in Dover, where the mayor proclaimed, “In the future history of the world, I don’t believe that any such feat will be performed by anyone else.” The London Stock Exchange set up a testimonial fund for him. He toured the country, lecturing and swimming.

Within a few years, interest in Captain Webb began to wane. Overexposed on the lecture circuit and having spent or given away most of the money he earned as a result of his Channel swim, he agreed to a series of degrading exhibitions. In March 1880, he floated for 60 hours in the whale tank of the Royal Aquarium in Westminster, and in October he agreed to an extended swim in the freezing waters of Lancashire Lake. He was pulled from the water exhausted and hypothermic, and those close to him said his constitution never recovered. Seeking an alternate form of income, he prided himself on being an inventor, but few ever saw his bicycle, swimming apparatus, or flying machine, which had flapping seagull-like wings. Reportedly, he broke his nose testing the flying machine.

Eventually, Captain Webb traveled to America with his wife and two children and staged swimming exhibitions that attracted varying degrees of attention. Hearing of the exploits of Emile Blondin, a French daredevil who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope, Captain Webb came up with a new plan to restore his fame and fortune. He would travel to the Falls and swim a particularly treacherous stretch of the Niagara River that was feared for its lethal rapids and whirlpool.

Upon his arrival in Niagara Falls, he called a press conference to outline what he believed would be his greatest exploit since swimming the English Channel. He would embark in a small boat to a point below the Falls. He would then jump out and float down through the rapids. If it was too difficult to stay on the surface, he would dive down, coming up occasionally to breathe and show off his swimming ability. Then he would make his way around the whirlpool, estimating that it would take him two or three hours to extricate himself from its pull. Once beyond it, he would swim to the shore on the Canadian side.

Locals advised Webb that his plan was suicide, noting that 80 people had died in the rapids in recent memory. Webb ignored them and estimated that he would receive $10,000 from the railroad companies, which he assumed would profit greatly from throngs of spectators traveling to Niagara for the event. Ultimately, the railroads refused to sponsor him, and he was rowed out into the river at 4 p.m. on July 24, 1883, intending to risk his life for what he called the credit of his good name. Clad in the same red swimming suit he wore when he swam the Channel, he dove bravely into the water. A cheer went up from the thousands of spectators gathered along the shore.

At first he was swimming powerfully and looked untroubled, but then the river narrowed, and he was gripped by the rapids. Three times he was pulled under and then came up hundreds of feet from where he was seen last. He was no longer in control and was pulled downstream at a furious pace. As he came upon the whirlpool, he threw up his right arm and then went under. Seconds, minutes, and hours passed, and he didn’t come up.

Five days later, his gashed, bruised, and bloated body was found by a fisherman downstream. It had been held by the whirlpool for sometime before being expelled. The body had a huge head wound, exposing the skull, but an autopsy concluded that Webb probably was crushed by the force of the whirlpool and suffered the gash later.

Webb was given a pauper’s burial in the Oakwood cemetery at the edge of the Falls, in a small plot known as “The Strangers’ Rest.” In 1908, in what would have been his 60th year, the Webb Memorial was erected at his birthplace in England. Its simple inscription reads, “Nothing Great Is Easy.”

Captain Webb match box

Also on this day, a little nearer home:



25 th August 1651.

The battle of Wigan Lane:

During the Civil War Wigan remained loyal to the monarchy.

The Earl of Derby, an influential royalist, was based in the town. In 1643 Wigan was captured by a parliamentary force which looted the Moot Hall and church. The town's defences were dismantled.

On 25th August 1651 while approaching Wigan, Derby's troops were surprised in Wigan Lane, to the north of the town, by a Parliamentary force led by Colonel Robert Lilburne.

A fierce, closely fought battle ensued on the banks of the River Douglas.

Eventually Lilburne gained the upper hand and Derby was forced to seek refuge in the town.

The short, brutal encounter led to many casualties including the death of the local royalist officer Sir Thomas Tyldesley.

A monument to him marks the site of the battle.

Charles II presented Wigan with a sword bearing the royal coat-of-arms as appreciation of the borough's loyalty at this time.


With many thanks to Lolly for the research

26 th August 1346.

Battle of crecy and the English longbow:
At the Battle of Crécy, an English army easily defeats a French one twice its size.

The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 in northern France between a French army commanded by King Philip VI and an English army led by King Edward III. The French attacked the English while they were traversing northern France during the Hundred Years' War, resulting in an English victory and heavy loss of life among the French.

The English army had landed in the Cotentin Peninsula on 12 July. It had burnt a path of destruction through some of the richest lands in France to within 2 miles (3 km) of Paris, sacking many towns on the way. The English then marched north, hoping to link up with an allied Flemish army which had invaded from Flanders. Hearing that the Flemish had turned back, and having temporarily outdistanced the pursuing French, Edward had his army prepare a defensive position on a hillside near Crécy-en-Ponthieu. Late on 26 August the French army, which greatly outnumbered the English, attacked.

During a brief archery duel a large force of French mercenary crossbowmen was routed by Welsh and English longbowmen. The French then launched a series of cavalry charges by their mounted knights. These were disordered by their impromptu nature, by having to force their way through the fleeing crossbowmen, by the muddy ground, by having to charge uphill, and by the pits dug by the English. The attacks were further broken up by the effective fire from the English archers, which caused heavy casualties. By the time the French charges reached the English men-at-arms, who had dismounted for the battle, they had lost much of their impetus. The ensuing hand-to-hand combat was described as "murderous, without pity, cruel, and very horrible." The French charges continued late into the night, all with the same result: fierce fighting followed by a French retreat.

The English then laid siege to the port of Calais. The battle crippled the French army's ability to relieve the siege; the town fell to the English the following year and remained under English rule for more than two centuries, until 1558. Crécy established the effectiveness of the longbow as a dominant weapon on the Western European battlefield.

27 th August 1979.

Warrenpoint ambush/Lord Mountbatten assassination:

The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers are killed in an ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the deadliest attack on British forces during Operation Banner. An IRA bomb also kills British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore, Republic of Ireland.

Warrenpoint ambush

The Warrenpoint ambush, also known as the Narrow Water ambush, the Warrenpoint massacre or the Narrow Water massacre, was a guerrilla attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 27 August 1979. The IRA's South Armagh Brigade ambushed a British Army convoy with two large roadside bombs at Narrow Water Castle outside Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland. The first bomb was aimed at the convoy itself, and the second targeted the incoming reinforcements and the incident command point (ICP) set up to deal with the incident. IRA volunteers hidden in nearby woodland also allegedly fired on the troops, who returned fire. The castle is on the banks of the Newry River, which marks the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Eighteen British soldiers were killed and over twenty were seriously injured, making it the deadliest attack on the British Army during the Troubles.
An English civilian was also killed and an Irish civilian wounded, both by British soldiers firing across the border after the first blast. The attack happened on the same day that the IRA assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten, a close relative of the British royal family.

..........................................................................................................................................................................

On August 27, 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten is killed when Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorists detonate a 50-pound bomb hidden on his fishing vessel Shadow V. Mountbatten, a war hero, elder statesman, and second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, was spending the day with his family in Donegal Bay off Ireland’s northwest coast when the bomb exploded. Three others were killed in the attack, including Mountbatten’s 14-year-old grandson, Nicholas. Later that day, an IRA bombing attack on land killed 18 British paratroopers in County Down, Northern Ireland.

The assassination of Mountbatten was the first blow struck against the British royal family by the IRA during its long terrorist campaign to drive the British out of Northern Ireland and unite it with the Republic of Ireland to the south. The attack hardened the hearts of many Brits against the IRA and convinced Margaret Thatcher’s government to take a hard-line stance against the terrorist organization.

28 th August 1648


Second English civil war, seige of Colchester:
Second English Civil War: The Siege of Colchester ends when Royalists Forces surrender to the Parliamentary Forces after eleven weeks, during the Second English Civil War.

The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the Second English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise support for the King, was attacked by Lord-General Thomas Fairfax at the head of a Parliamentary force. The Parliamentarians' initial attack forced the Royalist army to retreat behind the town's walls, but they were unable to bring about victory, so they settled down to a siege. Despite the horrors of the siege, the Royalists resisted for eleven weeks and only surrendered following the defeat of the Royalist army in the North of England at the Battle of Preston (1648).

29 th August 1966


The Beatles last concert:
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The story of the Beatles' last official concert, which took place in San Francisco.

1966 was a transitional year for the Beatles. Having grown weary of a never-ending whirlwind of hotels, press commitments and screaming crowds, the band reached a breaking point that eventually led them to make a radical decision that would forever change their career: They were going to stop performing live.
Adding to their exhaustion was a thirst for new musical horizons. The first few months of the year had been spent recording their new album "Revolver," which came out in August to a collective realization that the band was innovating at a dizzying speed, but also that most of their new songs were impossible to replicate in concert. "Rather that permitting self-expression, live performances became a process of self-denial," author Martin Cloonan explains in "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society."

On Aug. 29, 1966, The Beatles arrived in San Francisco to wrap up their summer tour with a show at Candlestick Park. But what might at first have seemed like an unexceptional event actually signaled the end of an era, as they had all agreed this would be their final concert. "That's it," George Harrison famously sighed on the plane back to London. "I'm not a Beatle anymore."
It had been a tumultuous tour, filled with "mishaps, rain-outs, and an undercurrent of fear," as author Jonathan Gould describes it in his book "Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America." First came tensions in Tokyo, where their Budokan shows fomented protests from the Japanese ultranationalist youth; then there was "the Philippines incident," a diplomatic faux-pas triggered by the band's refusal to abdicate a day off in order to attend an official lunch, which nearly cost them their freedom and even their lives (they were refused security on their way back to the airport, and the plane was denied permission to lift off at first). And by the time they landed in the U.S., John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks had sent the fundamentalist South into an anti-Beatles crusade, with accusations of blasphemy quickly escalating to death threats.
But the madness wasn't exclusive to the Bible Belt region. Outside Candlestick Park, a handful of young protesters from Sunnyvale gathered holding signs that read "Beatles today, what tomorrow?" and "Jesus loves you — do the Beatles?" confirming the band's popularity wasn't nearly as universal as it once had been — even in the progressive Bay Area.
In fact, if compared with the overwhelming Shea Stadium success a mere year prior, where more than 55,000 people saw the Beatles perform a sold-out show through a less-than-decent sound system, Candlestick Park was a flop. Only 25,000 tickets, priced from $4.50 to $6.50, were sold, leaving 7,000 seats empty. Moreover, the contract required 15% of ticket sales to go to the city of San Francisco, resulting in actual financial loss for local promoter Tempo Productions. This was the third time the Beatles played San Francisco, but their first one at Candlestick Park; they had given two shows at the Cow Palace during their 1964 and 1965 tours, respectively.
On their way to the show, Paul McCartney asked the band's press officer Tony Barrow if he had his tape recorder with him: "I said, 'Sure, of course.' [Paul] said, 'Tape tonight, will ya? Record tonight.'" Although manager Brian Epstein had strictly forbidden any recordings, Barrow knew this was a special occasion: "It was fairly common knowledge among The Beatles, and not beyond The Beatles, that this was to be the last concert tour," he later wrote in his book "John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me." "Therefore tonight was to be the last concert they would ever give."
After performances from supporting acts The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes, The Beatles kicked off their 30-minute set (a standard slot at the time) with "Rock And Roll Music," following up with a series of more or less classic numbers that included "I Feel Fine," "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Day Tripper."

Near the end of the show, Ringo joined the other three downstage for a final photograph before returning to his drum kit for the last song. The band then closed their set with a version of "Long Tall Sally," during which Barrow's tape symbolically ran out.
Calling it "probably the most unique Beatle recording in existence," Barrow later made one single copy for himself, giving the original to Paul McCartney — so it was with surprise he later found out a bootleg was circulating online: "It must have come either from Paul’s copy or mine, but we never did identify the music thief!"
Although the September edition of fanzine Beatles Monthly still alleged that a U.K. tour was in the works, Brian Epstein never succeeded in changing their minds. Panicking at the possibility of being made redundant since his contract with the Beatles was nearing expiration (even if they'd later affirm renewal was never in question), he dove deep into depression, dying a year later almost to the day. Ironically, Epstein missed the Beatles' last concert because of a personal situation that had forced him to stay in Beverly Hills. "He never forgave himself for not being at Candlestick Park," Beatles biographer Philip Norman revealed.

Candlestick Park represented a turning point for The Beatles on many levels, the most important probably being the beginning of their separation. "Playing in front of a live crowd, despite its hazards, kept the group’s identity intact," Kevin Courrier explains in his book "Artificial Paradise." "As long as they stayed on the road, the inner tensions of each group member was sublimated into the greater good of the band and its audience."
But it also meant that in that late August in San Francisco, a new incarnation of the four-headed monster was born, a powerful colossus whose unavailability outside the studio only fed into the ever-growing pop mythology, further underlining its main agents' new deified status. "[The Beatles'] opting-out of touring was in itself an affirmation of their determination to prove their self-sufficiency as artists," critic George Melly wrote in 1971.

And if further proof was required, the release of their studio masterpiece "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" a year later in June 1967 dissipated any possible doubts anybody might have that the band was focused on making music without live performance in mind.
Although the San Francisco show was their final official concert, there was one more encore in store: an unofficial and rather improvised performance on Apple Corps' rooftop in January 1969. By then, the dynamics between the band and their audience had irrevocably shifted: "You had a sense of a rare and odd occasion," "Let It Be" director Michael Lindsay-Hogg explains in Peter Doggett's "You Never Give Me Your Money." "You were at a Beatles concert with nobody up there except yourself. And probably because they didn’t have the burden of an audience, they really did play for each other."

Normally I would say that was far too long of a post !!! , but the subject matter was worth it