LNER's Mallard by Steve F E Cameron

The result of his trials was the A4 class. As well as a streamlined body shape, the A4 had improvements made to its valves and cylinders, an increased boiler pressure and subsequent changes to its exhaust and brakes. The first A4 locomotive reached a top speed of over 112mph in a demonstration between Kings Cross and Grantham on 27 September 1935.

Soon, other British railway companies were putting streamlined locomotives on the tracks, including the London Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway’s Coronation class. LMS and LNER drivers competed for the fastest speed record, often ignoring safety in pursuit of glory, until the directors of both companies stopped the rivalry. At that time the 114mph record was held by one of the LMS Coronations.

But there was to be one more attempt at breaking the record. On 3 July 1938 the A4 4468 Mallard pulled a train of seven vehicles, including a dynamometer car to measure its speed, with a total weight of 240 tons. The train, crewed by driver Joseph Duddington and fireman Thomas Bray, left Barkston, just north of Grantham, and headed south.

After passing through Grantham at 24mph, Mallard ascended an incline and had achieved 75mph by the time it reached Stoke Summit. From there it was all downhill. Mallard accelerated down from the summit and quickly exceeded the LMS record. Along one three-mile stretch of track the locomotive’s speed did not drop below 120mph, and for a very short distance the dynamometer car recorded a top speed of 126mph.

Shortly after the record was set, one of the locomotive’s three cylinders overheated and it had to return to Doncaster for repairs. Mallard continued in service after its repairs until 1963. It now has a permanent home at the National Railway Museum in York (although from 23 June 2010 it is on temporary loan to the National Railway Museum’s locomotion site in Shildon, County Durham). The record set by Mallard on 3 July 1938 for the fastest steam locomotive has remained unbroken for 72 years and looks set to endure.

LZ-1 (The First Zeppelin)

After retiring from the army at the age of 52 in 1890, Zeppelin devoted himself, and a large amount of his own money, to creating a working airship. The plans he drew up were submitted to a committee for review in 1894 and the designs were patented on 31 August 1895. US patents were filed on 14 March 1899.

Construction of Zeppelin’s first airship began in June 1898 and was completed in the winter of 1899. It was built in a floating hangar on Lake Constance in Southern Germany that could be aligned with the wind direction to make entry and exit simpler.

Designated LZ-1 (Luftschiff Zeppelin 1), the airship was 128 metres long and 12 metres in diameter. Within a rigid metal alloy skeleton were seventeen cells containing 11,298 cubic metres of hydrogen gas. The airship was powered by two Daimler engines suspended beneath it and connected to propellers. A sliding weight under the hull allowed the pitch of the airship to be altered but no other controls were provided.

Inflation of the gas cells took place in June 1900 with the maiden flight scheduled for 2 July over Lake Constance. The flight lasted just 17 minutes before technical problems forced a landing in the lake. The zeppelin reached a height of 390 metres during its 6-kilometre flight, which ended when the pitch control jammed. Also, a weakness in the metal alloy frame caused the airship to bend, with the centre rising higher than the bow or stern.

Although the first flight of a zeppelin was not a great success, the concept of the design was proved sound. Many other zeppelins were built for commercial and military purposes, some being used for bombing raids during the First World War with LZ-38 being the first to bomb London.

LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin began the first transatlantic flights in 1928 and was joined by LZ-129 Hindenburg in 1936. Confidence in the airships was damaged, however, after the Hindenburg caught fire as it landed at Lakehurst, New Jersey on 6 May 1937 causing the deaths of 36 passengers.

• Æthelstan (924-939)
• Edmund I (939-946)
• Eadred (946-955)
• Eadwig (955-959)
• Edgar (959-975)
• Edward the Martyr (975-978)
• Æthelred II (979-1013, 1014-1016)
• Swein Forkbeard (1013-1014)
• Edmund II (1016)
• Cnut (1016-1035)
• Harold I (1037-1040)
• Harthacnut (1040-1042)
• Edward the Confessor (1042-1066)

Nicolas Fouquet

Fouquet was a supporter of Cardinal Mazarin and gained through him two posts that increased his wealth and power considerably. Firstly, in 1650, Mazarin allowed him to purchase the post of Procureur-Général to the Parlement of Paris. Three years later, in 1653, Fouquet was appointed superintendent of finance.

The finances of the French government at this time were extremely complicated and allowed Fouquet to conduct the transactions of his office in an irregular manner. He used his own wealth and lines of credit to lend funds to the treasury, growing ever richer on the returns. Many of these transactions were carried out with the approval of Mazarin.

Much of this new wealth was spent on the creation of a castle at his estate of Vaux le Vicomte between 1657 and 1661. This magnificent building and the gardens surrounding it were created by the finest artists of the day. The three central designers, the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun and the landscape gardener André Lenôtre, all contributed to the first phase of the Palace of Versailles after 1661.

When Mazarin died in 1661, Fouquet thought he should succeed him as Chief Minister. But Louis XIV did not trust Fouquet’s ambition and so announced that he would be his own Chief Minister. This distrust was fuelled in part by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who sought to destroy Fouquet’s reputation and secure the position of superintendent of finance for himself.

Fouquet was arrested in September 1661 and tried for embezzlement. During the three-year trial public opinion swung in Fouquet’s favour due to his competent defence, but papers that would have shown Mazarin’s approval for the transactions in question were suppressed by Colbert.

Fouquet was found guilty on 20 December 1664 and sentenced to banishment. But Louis XIV was determined to see him locked away and so overruled the court and increased the sentence to life imprisonment. Fouquet was incarcerated at Pignerol for over fifteen years and died there on 23 March 1680.

More Biographies

The demonstration had been organised by Robert Subukwe, the leader of the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), as the first in a five-day campaign of non-violent protests against the pass laws. These laws required all black men and women (the laws had recently been extended to include women) to carry a pass book containing their personal details. Anybody found in a public place without their pass book could be arrested and detained for up to 30 days.

The aim of the demonstration was to persuade the government to abolish the laws by making them unworkable. The PAC encouraged the protesters to gather at the police station in Sharpeville without their pass books, thus offering themselves for arrest. The reasoning was that if enough people were arrested and imprisoned then the economy would be damaged by a lack of labour and the prisons would be overcrowded.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 people gathered outside the police station on the morning of 21 March 1960. Initial attempts to disperse the crowd using low flying aircraft failed and so police reinforcements were called in.

At 1:15pm 300 police officers opened fire on the crowd. The reasons for this action are still not clear, although it was claimed at the time that some of the protesters had started throwing stones.

The police continued firing as the demonstrators turned and fled “like rabbits” and many of the victims were shot in the back. The official casualty figures were 69 fatalities and 180 injuries. The injured were taken to the Baragwanath hospital near Johannesburg.

Three days later, on 24 March, public meetings in 24 districts of South Africa were banned. The PAC and the African National Congress (ANC) were banned on 8 April and a state of emergency was declared. When 224 people filed claims against the government in September 1961 the Indemnity Act was passed, absolving those involved in the massacre of any responsibility.

The Germans had invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940 and, eighteen days later, Leopold surrendered his country unconditionally. He refused to join the government in exile in London and was made a prisoner in his castle at Laken for the rest of the war. His actions led to accusations of co-operation with the Nazis.

At the end of the war the Belgian parliament exiled him. In the referendum on Sunday 12 March 1950, in which voting was compulsory, 57.7% of the votes cast were in favour of Leopold’s return. This overall majority hid differences between regions. For example, in Flanders there was a 72% majority in favour but a large majority against in the Walloon region.

The government, a Catholic-Liberal coalition, was also split. The Liberals would not accept the king’s return because there was not a majority in favour in all areas. On 18 March the Liberals pulled out of the coalition and the government collapsed.

Two days later the Belgian parliament approved Leopold’s return from exile, but strikes and protest marches were organised calling for his abdication. On Leopold’s return in July the protests turned to rioting. He finally agreed to abdicate in favour of his son, Baudouin, in July 1951.

Jewish communities had been established in London in the 11th century after William I (the Conqueror) had invited the Jews to England. The communities spread to other parts of the country, first arriving in York around 1175.

From the middle of the 12th century the Jews came under the protection of the king as Henry II accepted them as an extension to the royal household. Henry used the services of Jewish moneylenders, as did many others, but taxed their profits heavily.

Anti-Jewish riots, however, were common, and one such riot occurred in London following the coronation of Henry’s son, Richard I. A group of Jews, bearing gifts for the king, were prevented from entering the king’s presence and the citizens of London attacked the city’s Jews. One of the Jews visiting from York, Benedict, was injured during the riots and died at Northampton on the journey home.

Although Richard punished the leading rioters, he soon left the country on a crusade. In his absence riots spread around the country. In March 1190 a group of men broke into the house of Benedict in York, killed his widow and children and looted their valuables.

The leader of York’s Jewish community, Josce, who had accompanied Benedict to London, feared for his family’s safety and they sought refuge in the royal castle. The rest of the Jews in the city followed them. The castle at this time consisted of a wooden tower on a motte with an outer bailey.

The Jews remained in the tower under the protection of the constable while a mob, led by Richard Malebisse, gathered outside. When the constable left the castle he was refused re-entry and so the sheriff organised a siege to force the Jews out. Meanwhile, the mob grew angry and called for the Jews to come out and accept baptism.

A few days later, on 16 March 1190, with supplies running low and knowing that their options were either to renounce their faith or be killed by the mob, the rabbi, Yomtob of Joigny, called on the Jews to commit suicide. The men that agreed killed the women and children of their households before being killed by the rabbi. Yomtob then committed suicide.

A fire had been started in the tower which burned the bodies of the dead. Those that refused to kill themselves pleaded with the mob for mercy the following morning and were assured that they could leave safely. The promises were false and the remaining Jews were murdered as the left the castle. Following the massacre the mob, many of whom owed money to the Jews, destroyed the bonds held at York Minster thus removing the evidence of the debts.

By the time Richard’s chancellor arrived in York to investigate the massacre the ringleaders had fled. The punishments amounted to the dismissals of the constable and sheriff, fines for the leaders who could be found and the seizure of Richard Malebisse’s lands for the crown.

The State of Maine

This settlement did not suit everybody, however, especially the frontier settlers. But the merchants in the coastal towns held enough influence to resist the calls for separation. This balance continued until the start of the Anglo-American war in 1812 when Massachusetts was unable to protect Maine from British raids.

After the war the population of Maine grew rapidly, reaching 300,000 by the end of the decade, and calls for separation from Massachusetts increased. When Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd US State in 1819 the balance between free states and slave states became equal.

With Missouri, another slave state, waiting to join the Union an opportunity arose for Maine. Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820 Maine was accepted into the Union as a separate free state to balance the slave state of Missouri. Maine formally became the 23rd US state on 15 March 1820. Missouri joined the following year.

The boundaries of the new state were not finalised until 1842. Under the Peace of Paris part of the northeastern border with New Brunswick had been described as running north from the source of the St Croix river to highlands running northwest to the head of the Connecticut river. The description left the location of the actual border open to interpretation.

Arguments over the border continued for many years and a new war was only narrowly avoided. Forces from the United States and Britain took up positions around the border at Madawaska before a compromise was reached in 1839. Three years later the Webster-Ashburton Treaty agreed the location of the border, dividing the disputed territory roughly in half.

The Battle of Ivry by Rubens

Henry of Navarre had become King Henry IV in 1589 after the assassination of his cousin, Henry III, by a monk. He was the legal heir but had little support in the cities, especially Paris, due to his Protestantism. He had been excommunicated in 1585 by Pope Sixtus V, leaving him in great danger as his murder would not have been a sin.

Although the battle of Ivry was part of a fight for control of the French succession, both sides in the conflict received help from outside France. The Protestant Huguenots of Henry IV received funding from Queen Elizabeth I of England while the Catholic League was supplied with soldiers and received a monthly payment from Philip II of Spain.

When the two sides met on the plain of Épieds near Ivry Henry was outnumbered, his 8,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry faced the 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry of the Catholic League. A brief barrage by Henry’s artillery was followed by cavalry charges from both sides. Then the imbalance in the size of the opposing forces was lessened when the League’s mercenaries defected.

Henry’s determined Protestants were able to inflict terrible casualties on the Catholic forces who started to flee the field when their flanks collapsed. The departing armies were pursued and prevented from regrouping, either surrendering or being scattered through the countryside.

Following the battle of Ivry the Catholic League was in disarray and started to fight amongst itself. But Catholic France was still not ready to accept a Protestant king. Henry had temporarily converted to Catholicism after the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, but in 1593 he converted again to secure the throne. Henry received absolution from Pope Clement VIII in 1595 and the Catholic League was formally disbanded the following year.

The last nobleman submitted to Henry in 1598 and, with the signing of the Edict of Nantes in April of that year, the French Wars of Religion were brought to an end. Under the Edict Huguenots were given freedom of worship and equality with Catholics in public office.

The Salt Act had been passed in 1882 and gave a monopoly on the production of salt to the British. Even where salt was freely available the Indians had to buy it from the government and pay a tax.

When the Indian National Congress issued its Purna Swaraj, or declaration of independence, on 26 January 1930, Gandhi was called upon to organise the first act of civil disobedience. Four days later he offered to call off the campaign if the government agreed to a series of concessions including a reduction in military expenditure, the freeing of political prisoners and the end of the salt monopoly.

His demands were rejected and so the plans for the salt march to Dandi were published in the newspapers on 5 February. On 2 March Gandhi wrote to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India, informing him that he intended to break the salt laws. Irwin did not see a threat in the stand Gandhi was making and so offered no concessions.

As the marchers left Ahmedabad on 12 March around 100,000 people gathered to see them depart. At each of the forty villages and towns they passed on the route Gandhi addressed the crowds, attacking the salt tax and British rule.

After twenty-five days of marching, covering a distance of 241 miles, the marchers arrived in Dandi on 5 April. At 8:30am the following day, after swimming in the sea, Gandhi collected a handful mud from a pit which he boiled in sea water to produce salt. Brandishing the mud in front of the assembled crowds and press he claimed, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”

In the salt protests that followed, thousands of Indians were arrested and jailed for producing their own salt and refusing to pay the tax. Public opinion around the world was sympathetic to the Indian cause after almost daily reports in European and American newspapers. The march marked the first steps on the long road to independence.