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

 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The Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795 [repealed 1865] was one of the many ways a cash strapped government looked to pay for the most expensive thing, war.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 appointed officer and pay a guinea to get their annual certificate.  


Certain exemptions were included: the Royal Family and their servants; clergymen with an income of under £100 a year; and members of the armed forces who were privates in the army, artillery soldiers, mariners, engineers, non-commissioned officers, subalterns, officers in the navy of the rank Lieutenant or below, yeomanry, militia, fencibles, and volunteers. 


A father with more than two unmarried daughters could buy two certificates that would be valid for any number he stated at the stamp office. The master of a household could buy a certificate for a number of his servants, and that certificate would also be valid for their successors within that year.


In 1812 46,684 people were stumping up the tax. In 1855 it was only 997 - mostly for servants.





  • Comforts for the Troops


I always imagine women knitting endless balaclavas for troops in the Trenches of the Great War. During the French Wars of the 1790s winter clothing appeals for the troops were being arranged for the men’s ‘Health and Comfort’.






  • Not Guiltish



Historically Scottish Juries were instructed to find a case ‘proven’ or ‘not proven.’ In 1728, during the trial of James Carnegie for the murder of Charles Lyon, Earl of Strathmore - who put himself between a drunken sword and its intended, the jury were persuaded to reassert its ancient right to find Carnegie not guilty, even though the facts had been proven. From that point, although not proven was available, it started to be used increasingly in the sense of not proved, as opposed to not guilty.


The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform [Scotland[ Bill, included a provision to abolish the not proven verdict and as of 1st January 2026 it is no longer available for new trials.



Charles Lyon, 6th Earl of Strathmore & Kinghorne


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze8elpzz40o



  • The Shortest Canal in England


The Wardle Canal is the shortest canal in England, stretching a mighty 47m. It connects the Trent & Mersey Canal to the Shropshire Union and was constructed in 1829 so the T&M authorities could control the junction between the canals and charge the tolls. https://trentandmerseycanalsociety.org.uk/archive-pages/wardle-canal/ 

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