‘Plump’ is an interesting word. I hear you say: “Isn’t ‘plump’ just the euphemism you awkwardly use to describe that fat kid to his parents’ face?” Fairy godmothers are plump; untermenschen are clinically obese. Well, no. It carries other meanings. If you think about it, you ‘plump’ up cushions, though I guess that may be… Continue reading What are words worth?
Tag: 19th century
Who’s that (interesting) girl?
Who doesn’t love a murder mystery, right? Especially a 200-year old murder? So it was that I was drawn to All Things Georgian and the tale of Elizabeth Shepherd or Sheppard. One thing led to another. I wasn’t convinced of the author’s conclusion that this was motiveless. It did not seem to fit with the… Continue reading Who’s that (interesting) girl?
Declare your pigeon, monsieur, or else
Before the EU made all the rules, the French made all their own. They love rules so much, it’s almost pathological. It is September 1885 and Madame Defarge has been seen hanging around the pigeon loft… Can you envisage just how many civil servants were kept in work compiling and updating the record of the… Continue reading Declare your pigeon, monsieur, or else
Careful with that axe Eugenia
I recommend this blog from Strange Company about… well, as (s)he says: “For me, one of the innumerable joys of the “Illustrated Police News” is that while they did report on a lot of women who were victims of the domestic abuse, robberies, natural disasters and ‘orrible murders that were a staple of this august… Continue reading Careful with that axe Eugenia
It’s for you…
A fascinating aside into London business life in the 1880s is the assimilation of the telephone. Take this example: In a letter dated April 27 1885 from one large London solicitors, the firm printed its telephone number as part of its letterhead. The firm’s number was 1095 and genuinely there were another 1094 phones that… Continue reading It’s for you…
Indian hemp in a French café
Forgotten Books is a website that deserves accolades. Yesterday they despatched the bound volume of Medical Times for 1850. It has copious specific and detailed information covering so much of the small stuff of life and death. By that I mean narratives on operations carried out — successfully or not; anesthesia; public health; water and… Continue reading Indian hemp in a French café
Murder in Acton; the final act
My search for more information — truth if you will — about a local murder from nearly 200 years ago is ended. I wanted to find out about why a girl who once lived just yards from where I am writing should take it into her head to marry and then to kill her husband… Continue reading Murder in Acton; the final act
Catherine Foster; the inquest
Just to recap (though it may assist you if you read this and the next couple of episodes by starting from the previous blog), the God-fearing young farm worker John Foster, a one-time neighbour o’mine, swallowed poison from his wife during dinner on Tuesday night November 17, 1846. Within minutes he was sick as a… Continue reading Catherine Foster; the inquest