Here’s a tale about one of the soldiers of the Queen, one Edwin Kempson Mole (1847-1937). For a few months in 1897 this soldier became famous in a Kiplingesque Tommy Atkins sort of way, after his reminiscences of army service were published. But it is worth looking at what parts of the story the book did not… Continue reading Tommy this and Tommy that
Tag: research
More from the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things
More real life from the 1880s as told to readers of the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things, (see a previous post for more about the book), brought to you this time by the letter P. Every one a winner for historical novelists. First up is a listing for Paint. There wasn’t much in paint then… Continue reading More from the Little Cyclopedia of Common Things
A tinker’s dam and history’s bunk
I guarantee that you have yet to read a history book which, no matter how well-researched, recorded and double-checked, does not contain error. That is the very nature of the sources of history and biography. The protagonists themselves get simple things like dates wrong, even when they record such details at the time. Reminiscence messes… Continue reading A tinker’s dam and history’s bunk
History is the Pitts
For those who love the discoveries of history as I do, you have almost certainly at some time in your life been closer to the slough of despond than an exit off the M4 between Windsor and Reading. History looking like a schoolboy Sisyphus pushing his bike up a one-in-four began for me with the… Continue reading History is the Pitts