Month: May 2020

History

King George I from Germany

King George I (1660-1727) was the first German monarch of Great Britain & Ireland after he skyrocketed up the line of succession, […]

King George I (1660-1727) was the first German monarch of Great Britain & Ireland after he skyrocketed up the line of succession, overtaking fifty-one Catholic claimants to the throne. This was due to the Act of Settlement of 1701 which ensured that the monarchy remained Protestant. In selecting him after the death of childless Queen Anne (1665-1714), Parliament took the unusual step of following the female line from a previous monarch, not the male.

George was born and lived in Hanover, Germany, and was unhappily married to his cousin Sophia (1666-1726), whom he incarcerated in a castle for thirty years until she died. Both of them were great-grandchildren of King James VI&I (1566-1625). George was reluctant to accept the throne as he could barely speak English and the weather was colder than in his homeland.

When he eventually arrived in London in September 1714 he was accompanied by two mistresses and eighteen cooks. His two legitimate children ensured the royal line’s continuity but they resented what he had done to their mother. He was described as stubborn, moody and unintelligent, but he ticked other important boxes. He came to depend on the Whigs in Parliament and they were largely in control by the time of his death.

(Image of painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

09/05/2020
3 min
5 years
217 words

Religion

Brethren

Londoner John Nelson Darby (1800-82) decided he wanted a purer version of Protestantism than was being practised by the Established Church and […]

Londoner John Nelson Darby (1800-82) decided he wanted a purer version of Protestantism than was being practised by the Established Church and so joined a small group that had its first meeting in Plymouth in 1831, hence the name ‘Plymouth Brethren’. They saw the world as wicked, necessitating the Second Coming of Christ, at which time true believers would be rushed up to heavenly safety.

By 1848 there were profound disagreements between them and the Brethren split into the Open and Exclusive branches. Exclusive Brethren have gained a negative reputation since they have nothing to do with outsiders, to the extent that they will not eat with them or live next-door to them. They do not own TVs, radios or music-players and do not use the internet. People who leave are barred for life, even from their families. This is justified by their literal interpretation of the Bible.

While there are only a few thousand Exclusives, there are perhaps 50,000 followers of the more progressive Open Brethren in the UK. Unlike the Exclusives, they now allow full-time pastors, although any man (not woman) can preach. The Lord’s Supper is a main focus of Brethren meetings and the family is the focus of Brethren life.

(Image of Brethren meeting unit in Wiltshire: Jaggery at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

08/05/2020
3 min
5 years
216 words

Celebrations & Holidays

V.E. Day

V.E. Day (Victory in Europe) commemorates the ending of WW2 on the European continent on Tuesday 8th May 1945. Although there were […]

V.E. Day (Victory in Europe) commemorates the ending of WW2 on the European continent on Tuesday 8th May 1945. Although there were euphoric celebrations all over the UK, people felt mixed emotions. Millions had died, including 450,000 Britons, so all subsequent anniversaries are generally quite sombre.

The milestones receive the most attention, such as the 75th, for which the Early May Bank Holiday was shifted to coincide with it. On these occasions there are various events of a military and religious nature, as well as parades of the key workers during the War, such as the Land Army girls, the Air Wardens and the Merchant Navy. Schools and other youth organisations may also have themed activities.

Queen Elizabeth II has said that the actual day was one of the most memorable of her life. Her parents, King George VI (1895-1952) and Queen Elizabeth (1900-2002), emerged onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace eight times to wave to the enormous gathering below and she and her sister, Princess Margaret (1930-2002), were allowed to go down into the crowds in time for the eighth appearance. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) spoke to the nation at 3pm on the radio and stood on the balcony himself at 5.30pm to rapturous acclaim.

(Top image of VE Day parade in 2015: John Pannell at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

05/05/2020
3 min
5 years
219 words

English language

Old English

Old English (OE) was spoken from the 6th to the 11th centuries in England and southern Scotland. Many of our most common […]

Old English (OE) was spoken from the 6th to the 11th centuries in England and southern Scotland. Many of our most common words originate in OE. It evolved from an existing base with a little influence from the Latin of the Augustine monks who arrived in 597. For example, some of the rounded letters of the Latin alphabet were incorporated into OE.

OE was more complicated than modern English. It had gendered nouns, numerous inflections and the word order was less structured. The remnants of OE poetry appear to show that our ancestors enjoyed playing with the sounds of their language.

There were four dialects: Kentish, West Saxon, Mercian and Northumbrian. Thanks to Alfred the Great, Mercian became the standard, but Northumbrian was the tongue of the early OE poets, including Cædmon of Whitby, regarded as the ‘father of English sacred song’. The following is ‘Cædmon’s Hymn’, written in the 660s/70s:-

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard
Now shall we honour heaven-kingdom’s warden
Metudæs maecti end his modgidanc
The might of the creator and his purpose
Uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes
The work of the glory-father as he for each wonder
eci dryctin or astelidæ
The eternal lord created the beginning.

(Top image [cropped]: Paul Walker at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)

03/05/2020
3 min
5 years
217 words

Law

Solicitors

Solicitors are the British citizen’s first port-of-call for any legal matter. That could be moving house, determining custody of children, dealing with […]

Solicitors are the British citizen’s first port-of-call for any legal matter. That could be moving house, determining custody of children, dealing with a deceased person’s estate or a dispute with an employer or a neighbour, for instance. Some of the simpler things can be done online nowadays, but using a solicitor is generally the preferred option for the more complex procedures, like criminal litigation.

As the range of legalities is so wide, many solicitors specialise in one field, such as conveyancing. Businesses also use solicitors and may employ them in-house to work on specific matters relating to tax or corporate regulations.

Many people choose a solicitor on recommendation by friends or family and cost is always a factor because their fees are often regarded as expensive. To counter this, since the 1990s there have been ‘no-win-no-fee’ deals which apply to cases where some kind of financial compensation is being claimed. The idea is that if the solicitor fails to extract any payment from an allegedly culpable individual or company for, say, an injury, then there is no fee charged. If the solicitor succeeds, however, then the law states that their fee must not be more than 25% of the moneys received.

(Image: Jaggery at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

01/05/2020
3 min
5 years
210 words

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Quoting Neil Oliver...

I love Britain more than anywhere else in the world. With all my heart I declare that those of us born here, or who have made a home here by choice, are the luckiest, most blessed of all people. I am British. I will always be British.