What was it like to start out as a nurse in 1950? All tickety boo, according to this short film (9 mins) from the NLS Moving Image Archive. Click on the image to see it. It’s a public information/propaganda film… Read More ›
history on the web
Sniffers of the stench of corruption….
Three examples from the golden age of political caricature featuring Henry Dundas, the first Viscount Melville…. This one satirises the five-strong Commission of Naval Enquiry quizzing Dundas and the Navy paymaster Alexander Trotter (the guys in kilts). The Commission’s dogged… Read More ›
Venice – the first British Embassy?
A longer version of this with a focus on religious issues in Venice appeared in the August edition of Life and Work magazine: Venice November 2018: Great to see Henry Wotton still has oversight of the Foreign Office – his… Read More ›
Edinburgh still failing Elsie Inglis
I really don’t understand why Edinburgh continues to blithely trample on the memory of Elsie Inglis. It’s more through ignorance and indifference but the blundering shows no signs of abating. Last month did bring official recognition with the naming of… Read More ›
Motorcycling nurses
Meet district nurse Elizabeth McPhee with her rather splendid BSA motorcycle in 1926. She is the headline image in a stunning online collection at the US National Library of Medicine. The exhibition, curated by Julia Hallam, of Liverpool University, who talks… Read More ›
Whiz-bangs on the web – digital history and WW1
What did you do in the Great Centenary, Daddy/Mummy? It is already the UK’s most expensive commemoration in history thanks to £50 million of Government funding. War was actually declared in August but the centenary started much earlier: broadcast and publishing… Read More ›
The first hams for heroes
Unlikely as it sounds, the Longniddry Piggery provided Britain’s first purpose-built homes for heroes. The idea came from a group of concerned individuals early in 1915 who set up the Scottish Veterans’ Garden City Association. They drew inspiration from Letchworth… Read More ›
Henry Dundas – lofty hero or lowlife crook?
He’s the man I walk past every day but never get to see up close. That’s because he’s 140 feet up in St Andrew Square – easily the tallest statue in Edinburgh. Far, far above His Royal Highness (William IV)… Read More ›
War, whisky and well being
Man walks into jewellers and writes cheque for £100,000. Leaves with nothing and is very happy. This was the unlikely beginning of the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in 1896. The man was whisky distiller Andrew Usher and the jeweller was… Read More ›
The legacy of Elsie Inglis – Edinburgh’s shame
Recent controversies over the centenary of World War One sometimes overlook a key factor – how the survivors wanted it to be remembered by future generations. In the case of Dr Elsie Inglis, this was quite simple – build maternity… Read More ›
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