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Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #10

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  Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #10 A complete and utter Dud When Elizabeth Tomlinson had a little boy she did not content herself with calling him John, William or Thomas, no, she called him Dud. To be honest her lover was Edward Sutton, 5th Baron Dudley of Dudley Castle and History records him as being Dud Dudley, which is making a point really.  He was one of 11 children. In 1622 Dud left Balliol College and took over his father’s iron works. He began to develop the use of coke-coal, a thing Abraham Darby would develop in the Eighteenth Century.  Supporting the Royalists during the Civil War he was captured, escaped and saw out his later years working as a medical doctor.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dud_Dudley   Certified Hair The Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795 [repealed 1865] was one of the many ways a cash strapped government looked to pay for the most expensive thing, war. Those wishing to use the same had to visit an appointe...
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Crowd Funding the Volunteers: The Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry Kickstarter: June 1794

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  Crowd Funding the Volunteers: The Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry Kickstarter: June 1794  Matthew Boulton Sheriff of Staffordshire On 9th June 1794 a meeting was held in aged and soon to be replaced Shire Hall in Stafford. [1]  The meeting was called by the industrialist Matthew Boulton, in his capacity as Sheriff to set about raising a body of troops to defend Staffordshire against internal and external enemies. [2]  As a result of the meeting a subscription was, in the words of the piece sent to several newspapers, ‘immediately opened’ and over £3000 was pledged. [3]  This article intends to look at what we can deduce from the initial attempt to kickstart the Staffordshire Volunteer [later Yeomanry] Cavalry. Following the general meeting, a committee was formed ‘in pursuance of the ..resolutions’.  It moved over the road to the Swan Inn. The proceedings of the general meeting and the committee were ordered to be ‘..advertised in the Birmingham, Shrewsbur...
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Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #9

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  Five Historic things you never thought you needed to know. #9 Have a break, have a Kit Cat… in the 1710s. The original Kit Cats were mutton pies.  Apparently Christopher Cat, a pastry cook on Shire Lane, Temple Bar, made these pies as a specialty.   Well, that is the story and I can’t confirm it yet.  A Christopher Catt, who certainly existed, was a Norwich Quaker, the son of Christopher Catt, who married Thomasin Willson in 1710. The War of the Oaken Bucket The War of the Oaken Bucket was fought between Bologna and Modena in 1325.  It is said that dastardly Modenese had stolen a bucket from a Bolognese well but probably actually began when Modenea seized the castle of Montevegilo. It all ended after the Battle of Zappolino when 7000 Modenese beat 32000 Bolognese and, allegedly, nicked the bucket as a trophy. Talke don’t talk. The village of Talke in Staffordshire was previously known as ‘Talk on the Hill.’   Talk on the Hill is derived from ‘bush on top ...
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‘Manifesting their Zeal’ : The Raising of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry

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  ‘Manifesting their Zeal’   The Raising of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry [1] George Granville Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower Sutherland First Colonel of the regiment 1794 was a somewhat tetchy year. The developing French Wars; demands, all things considered, for a little bit more democracy in the body politic and the developing upset of the Industrial Revolution had caused the government to look to its own defence.   The initial plan was issued by Whitehall, in a circular to Lord Lieutenants, on 15th March. Item 3 indicated that troops of 50 to 80 men Fencible Cavalry were to be raised. With a proper regard to economy it was made clear that, while the government would provide the equipment, the levy money would have to come from local supporters, the commissions were for the war time only and half-pay afterwards was not to be a thing. Some thought was given to units above troop level. Anyone raising two troops was to be given the temporary rank of major, four t...
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