Tag Archives: History

Mother: An Unconventional History By Sarah Knott

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mother an unconventional history by sark knott, book, book reviews, mothering, being a mother

Mother: An Unconventional History By Sarah Knott is a unique and fascinating book. An intoxicating blend of history, autobiography and anthropology. I loved it and read through it as quickly as possible. It brings women from every social class and time together. Essential reading for all mothers.

What was mothering like in the past?

When acclaimed historian Sarah Knott became pregnant, she asked herself this question. But accounts of motherhood are hard to find. For centuries, historians have concerned themselves with wars, politics and revolutions, not the everyday details of carrying and caring for a baby. Much to do with becoming a mother, past or present, is lost or forgotten.

Using the arc of her own experience, from miscarriage to the birth and early babyhood of her two children, Sarah Knott explores the ever-changing habits and experiences of motherhood across the ages. Drawing on a disparate collection of fascinating material – interrupted letters, hastily written diary entries, a line from a court record or a figure in a painting – Mother vividly brings to life the lost stories of ordinary women.

From the labour pains felt by a South Carolina field slave to the triumphant smile of a royal mistress pregnant with a king’s first son; from a 1950s suburban housewife to a working-class East Ender taking her baby to the factory; from a pioneer with eight children to a 1970s feminist debating whether to have any; these remarkable tales of mothering create a moving depiction of an endlessly various human experience.

Available here.

The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past

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In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides a deeply reported, bottom-up explanation of Russia’s resurgence under Putin. By cleverly exploiting the memory of the Soviet victory over fascism in World War II, Putin’s regime has made ordinary Russians feel that their country is great again.

Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country’s troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin’s goals and the government’s official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.

The book explores why Russia, unlike Germany, has failed to come to terms with the darkest pages of its past: Stalin’s purges, the Gulag, and the war deportations. The narrative roams from the corridors of the Kremlin to the wilds of the Gulags and the trenches of East Ukraine. It puts the annexation of Crimea and the newly assertive Russia in the context of the delayed fallout of the Soviet collapse.

The Long Hangover is a book about a lost generation: the millions of Russians who lost their country and the subsequent attempts to restore to them a sense of purpose. Packed with analysis but told mainly through vibrant reportage, it is a thoughtful exploration of the legacy of the Soviet collapse and how it has affected life in Russia and Putin’s policies.

This is a brilliant and exhaustive book which tells you all you need to know about Russia and Putin. History with heart.
 

The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past is available here.

99 objects about Europe & us by Margaret Graham

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In this year when our political relationship with the continent has been so hotly debated, the National Trust have put together a selection of objects from their vast collections that help examine our nation’s rich and ancient cultural connections to our neighbours. This is a fascinating digital diary, and we’ve included a couple of excerpts here. It is a great idea to check in each weekday to find out what stories our objects have to tell.  But here are a couple to be getting on with.

Day 35. Campi phlegræi. Observations on the volcanoes of the Two Sicilies as they have been communicated to the Royal Society by Sir William Hamilton … Date 1776 Place of origin Italy. On show at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, East of England, National Trust.

Not sure that I’d hang about as a live volcano does what it likes to do, but Lady Emma Hamiliton’s husband, Sir William Hamilton was made of sterner stuff. Campi Phlegraei or ‘Flaming Fields’ is a first-hand report of the spectacular eruptions of Mount Vesuvius written by Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to the Neapolitan royal court and expert volcanologist. Perhaps he saw it as a metaphor for his wife’s raging affair with Lord Nelson which was burning strongly at the time? As a diplomat, Hamilton entertained many visitors and frequently accompanied them on the perilous ascent of the live volcano without a hard hat or flame-proof jacket in sight.  The area’s history of volcanic activity, including the recently excavated nearby classical sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, made it a popular tourist destination for wealthy travellers making the Grand Tour.   Hamilton’s text is a wonderful example of a beautifully illustrated treatise from the Age of Enlightenment – when science clearly came before health and safety.

Day 8  Harp. Sebastion Erard 1732 – 1851 On show at Lyme Park, Cheshire.

The maker of this particular harp was the Frenchman, Sébastien Erard. Prior to establishing his firm in London, Erard was closely associated with the Bourbon court including the harp-playing Marie Antoinette, whose arrival to Versailles in 1770 fuelled the rage for the instrument amongst the French elite.   But by the early 1790s, with many of his clients facing certain death by guillotine, Erard fled France for London where he established a shop on Great Marlborough Street. There he honed his craft to such a degree that by 1794 he took out the first British patent for the harp to protect his innovations. In 1800, the Princess of Wales bought one of his harps and the success of his firm was ensured; by 1810 he had sold nearly 1400 of his stringed instruments from his London outlet alone.

http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/.

 

 

In Search of the Past: A visit to the Somme Part 6 by Penny Gerrard

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Lieutenant Colonel Harry Vivian Robert Hodson

Our two day trip was drawing to a close and so, lunchtime baguettes eaten and the loo in a local café visited, our thoughts turned back to Richard’s grandfather Harry Hodson.

After the battle of Mametz Wood, Harry assumed command of the 14 Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 18 July 1916 and redeployed with the 38 Welsh Division to the Ypres salient on the Yser Canal until June 1917 when he was appointed Officer Commanding the Brigade School.  Harry took command of the 1st Battalion the North Staffordshire Regiment on 9 April 1918 to reform and retrain the battalion after it had been virtually wiped out in the area of St Quentin when the Germans first launched the Ludendorff offensive.  The battalion was deployed in the Lens area from May to late September until relieved. The regiment was then redeployed to the Cambrai area to take part in the final stages of the war and the battle of the Selle.

In Search of the Past. A visit to the Somme. Part 6 by Penny Gerrard16
 “The peaceful River Selle as it is today”

We drove down a steep hill to find the River Selle which formed the setting of this battle and were rather nonplussed to find a small, tranquil and reed-edged river winding its way in a rather chocolate box way through a pretty village.   Not at all Richard’s vision of what the River Selle would be.    It was clearly a very different place when Harry’s regiment fought for control of what was a key bridge.

In Search of the Past. A visit to the Somme. Part 6 by Penny Gerrard26 “The landscape above the River Selle where Harry’s battalion fought”

Back up the hill Richard was able to bring the area of the fighting above the village to life for us, having an instinctive grasp for the lie of the land and the direction of the fighting which the rest of us lacked.

In Search of the Past. A visit to the Somme. Part 6 by Penny Gerrard3
 “Dark clouds over the fields above the River Selle”

Harry commanded his battalion in operations from 7 October to clear the enemy from the villages of Awoingt, Cauroir, Cagnoncles, Rieux, Avesnes, St Aubert until he was wounded at 11am on 13 October 2018, very near the end of hostilities.  He was twice “Mentioned in Despatches” for gallantry.  The war ended before he was again fit for duty and so he survived and returned to his wife and three children, one of them being Robin, Richard’s father.  He commanded his regiment again in 1925 and was stationed in Calcutta until 1929.  In 1930 he was compulsorily retired due to defence cuts, living to the age of 85.

As we stood on the road trying to visualise the battle raging across the landscape, we thought about how different things could have been if the bullet which hit Harry in the hip had actually killed him.  A long life could easily have been cut short as it was for so many thousands who went off to the Somme with such high hopes of serving their country a century ago.

Our time exploring the Somme battlefields was over and we left with just a little more understanding of the experiences of Robert, Walter, Gilbert, Harry and Frederick – only two of whom lived to tell the tale.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.*

In Search of the Past. A visit to the Somme. Part 6 by Penny Gerrard4 “St Aubert British Military Cemetery – just one more example of the dedication of those looking after these very special memorials all across France and Belgium”

*From “For the Fallen” by Lawrence Binyon

 

Penny Gerrard

with information & text from Richard Hodson

 

 

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard

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Lieutenant Colonel Harry Vivian Robert Hodson

The Gerrards and the Hodsons had completed a moving but successful first day travelling round the Somme and as our schedule only allowed us two days in the battlefield area we were up and about early on our second day, ready to find another one of Richard’s family members – this time his grandfather Harry Vivian Robert Hodson – Lieutenant Colonel of the North Staffordshire Regiment.  He was second in command of the 15 Royal Welsh Fusiliers which landed in France in January 2016 and, after a period of training, deployed in trenches in the area of Laventie.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard1 Mametz Wood across the field of Oil Seed Rape

Our first destination of the morning was the infamous Mametz Wood which stands much as it always did in the middle of open rolling countryside.   What made it very different from how it would have looked on the day of the attack was the sea of yellow oil seed rape in which the wood now sat.    Then it would probably have been a sea of mud.  We walked up to the amazing red dragon memorial to the 15 Royal Welsh Fusiliers which sits on the small hill over which the battalion climbed before descending into the narrow flat area leading across to the wood.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard2 The Red Dragon Memorial to the 15 Royal Welsh Fusiliers

The battalion took part in the attack on the wood as part of the Somme offensive, in the face of fire from both sides of the valley and from the heavily fortified wood.    Even walking across the field towards the wood through the golden yellow flowers on a sunny early summer morning with birds singing all around us, I could still feel the atmosphere of that place. Standing where I was one hundred years before would have meant almost certain death.   The battalion lost 12 officers and 252 other ranks killed or wounded in that offensive.   A dreadful day.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard3“ Taken from the field the battalion crossed to reach Mametz Wood looking back at the memorial”

Lieutenant Frederick William Watkins

We had more of Harry’s Somme history to investigate later, but we had one more family member to track down first – Richard’s great uncle and the elder brother of his maternal grandmother.  Frederick William Watkins was a Lieutenant of 36 Jacobs Horse, Indian Army.    He was one of the survivors of the Great War so we were glad not to be searching for a grave or memorial.    He fought at the battle of Cambrai from 20 November to 4 December 1917 and later in 1918 with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force against the Turks in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).   He remained in the Indian Army after the war and was later discharged from the army in 1942 on medical grounds.  He died aged  86.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard4“The Canal d’Escaut as it is today”

Richard was keen to visit the site of an operation which did not work out as planned in which his great uncle was involved and we soon found ourselves at a bridge across the Canal de L’Escaut at Masnieres.   The canal was still and peaceful and we enjoyed a gentle walk along its banks before returning to the sturdy bridge near the Masnieres War Memorial to find a place to eat the baguettes we had thought to bring with us this time.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard5 “No one does baguettes like the French!”

Richard described to us how, on 20 November 2017, Frederick’s first action as second in command of a cavalry squadron was to follow up the tanks and infantry on foot and bridge the Hindenburg Line where a breach was made to allow the Cavalry Divisions to exploit any break through.  The task was completed by 11 am, under spasmodic shell fire, but the leading Cavalry Brigade appeared two hours late and the opportunity for a real breakthrough across the canal was lost.    An information board by the modern bridge shows the embarrassing image of the first of the British 28 ton Flying Fox tanks proving too much for the bridge and sinking on the broken bridge towards the water below.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 5 by Penny Gerrard6“The destruction of the bridge over the Canal d’Escaut” 

From 29 November onwards Frederick was involved in dismounted operations to halt the German counter attack between Gouzeaucourt and Epehy in the area of Vaucellette Farm.

 

 

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 4 by Penny Gerrard

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Private Gilbert Sexton

The first morning of the Gerrards and Hodsons’ Somme trip had been spent finding graves and memorials to Richard Hodson’s family members.   Now, well-fed and watered after our omelette lunch at a typical French tabac, we were up for our next challenge – this time to find the site at Fromelles where Francis’ uncle, the eighteen year old Private Gilbert Sexton, son of William Henry and Elizabeth Sexton of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, of A Company 2/1st  Buckinghamshire Battalion, The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was killed in action at on 19 July.  Gilbert’s 18th birthday was not until at least July 2016 – meaning that he must have enlisted under age as so many other keen young boys did.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 4 by Penny Gerrard1

“What we called ‘Gilbert’s Field’ at Fromelle the scene of the gas cylinder disaster”

Our research had verified the old family story.  We had found that on 18 July 1916, on the day before the battalion was involved in a key battle, an Australian battery fired high explosives shells which dropped short on the gas cylinders which A Company had stored in their trenches.  This error inflicted 78 casualties among those who were in the process of moving them back out of range of the German guns.  Gilbert was amongst those wounded by friendly fire and died the next day.   The Battalion suffered 178 casualties before the attack with a further 322 killed or wounded during the assault on 19 May.   We found it painful to stand at the roadside looking across the peaceful fields imagining the horror of that mistaken attack as so many young men were either killed by the explosion or, worse I suspect, overwhelmed by the clouds of poisonous gas as Gilbert was.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 4 by Penny Gerrard2

 “The Grave of Gilbert Sexton in Merville Town Cemetery”

We were now very keen to find Gilbert’s grave and headed for the town of Merville – several miles away from Fromelles where many of those involved in the friendly fire incident on the 18th were taken for burial.   Unlike most of the War Grave Cemeteries which seem to stand alone in the countryside, secure within their boundary walls, Gilbert’s grave lay within rows of war graves in the middle of the Merville Town Cemetery surrounded by the imposing and ornate tombs of the town’s civilian population.    Again there was a great feeling of sadness as we came to his headstone set among those of his comrades from the Buckinghamshire Battalion with whom he died.  It was somehow comforting to think that his resting place was amid the bustle of a small country town.  Blue aubrietia flourished at the bottom of the stone, almost hiding the words “Gone but not forgotten” which Francis’ grandparents must have chosen.   Gilbert was the fourth of twelve children and his little sister Flo, who was later to have Francis, was only two when he disappeared from her life, leaving her with not even a memory of the big brother she lost.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 4 by Penny Gerrard3

 “The war graves amid those of Merville’s residents”

Our time for exploring was gone for that day because we had an important engagement to fulfil.  We were to attend the Last Post Ceremony which has been part of the life of the people of Ieper (formerly Ypres) for the past 70 or so years. The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is one of the largest British and Commonwealth memorials to those whose bodies were never found in the battlefield area of the Ypres Salient in Belgian Flanders. Engraved on its walls are the names of 54,389 officers and men from the UK and some Commonwealth Forces and the nightly ceremony recognises the courage and sacrifice of those who fell in defence of their town.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 4 by Penny Gerrard4

 “The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing” at Ieper (formerly Ypres)” 

Well before the 8pm start time we joined the packed crowd clustered under the arches of the gate and as the ceremony got under way we were touched by the sound of the bugles playing the Last Post and the fleeting glimpse of the British Legion Standard Bearer taking part.  An unidentified English choir sang of war and loss and the crowd was hushed – perhaps each thinking of particular members of their family who had given their life in that awful war.   We were glad that the two members of Richard’s family whose Somme experiences we would be tracking down the next day had both survived.

 

 

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme – Part 3 by Penny Gerrard

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Captain Walter Basil Haddon-Smith

The Gerrards and the Hodsons had successfully tracked down the first of Richard’s family members and so onwards on the next stage of our journey – this time to find the Le Touret Monument to 13,400 soldiers whose families had no marked graves to visit.  On this would be carved the name of Walter Basil Haddon-Smith – a first cousin of Richard’s grandfather. Walter was a Captain in The Queen’s Regiment and was killed in action on 16 May 1915 at the battle of Festubert commanding D company.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme - Part 3 by Penny Gerrard1 “The Le Touret Monument to the Missing with its surrounding graves”  

There were no problems with navigation this time and we entered the quiet grounds of the monument which sat huge and timeless in the rolling French countryside which was unrecognisable from the devastated landscape it was 100 years ago when Walter fell. The names were faint and we struggled to photograph them but there it was –  the simple name “Haddon-Smith W.B.” among so many thousands of others. The quiet was only broken by the sound of birds singing.  How many generations of birds would have lived here since those whose song was stilled by the fighting I wondered.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme - Part 3 by Penny Gerrard2 “The name ‘Haddon-Smith W.B.’ engraved on the stone”

Richard explained to us that Walter’s Battalion plan was for A Company to lead the attack with two lead platoons followed by two remaining platoons behind with a 50 yard interval, followed by B, C and D companies in identical fashion.  The distance to the German trenches was 180 yards over uneven ground with ditches and long grass.  The attack was preceded by artillery bombardment of the enemy positions from 2.45 to 3.15 am.  Then, as daylight broke, A Company scaled the ladders and rushed towards the German position.   The enemy opened fire immediately.   After elements of C Company had gone over the top, enemy resistance was unaffected and a second artillery bombardment was requested and lasted 15 minutes.  Then the remainder of C Company and D Company attacked.   By 7.30pm the operation came to an end.   Of the 27 Officers and 963 other ranks, total casualties were 19 Officers and 416 other ranks killed or wounded.   A sad postscript was that his wife Edith had died of peritonitis ten days before Walter was killed.   Richard will never know if Walter was told of his wife’s death before he went into action.   He was posthumously “Mentioned in Despatches” for gallantry.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme - Part 3 by Penny Gerrard3 “The Le Touret Monument with its 13,400 names”

We had started to realise that time was passing by fast and lunchtime was upon us.  What we needed was a crusty baguette bursting with ripe Brie or some such appetising filling (we were remembering the tempting arrays in the boulangeries of Lille).    Not apparently to be found at lunchtime out in the wilds of the French countryside though.  The occasional tabac serving a full meal was our only choice but “Madame” whipped us up light and fluffy omelettes.   The lunchtime passed in sociable chat with other war grave pilgrims as we compared notes and family histories.  We wondered what was in store for us next as we travelled on through the French countryside.

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme - Part 3 by Penny Gerrard4“Our lunchtime tabac”

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme Part 1 by Penny Gerrard

In Search of the Past – A visit to the Somme by Penny Gerrard Part 2

 

 

Breaking news – Granny Power reigns By Margaret Graham

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Today we begin our Gransthread, a column which will be a regular feature on Frost from now on.  So let’s start with what comprises the stupid selfish old biddies as someone recently labeled grannies.

 

We might have been born during the 2nd World War in which our parents fought, or during austerity – with rationing lasting until the mid 50s. As children we were always hungry as the country determined to get back on its feet and begin recovery after our efforts to defend our essential sovereignty and democracy.

 

At school we were often taught by spinsters who had lost their men in the first or second world war. At home and at school we were taught to put ‘self’ to the rear and make sure that others were alright.

 

We lived beneath the cloud of the cold war and Armageddon, and some husbands were there, deep in the sea or up in the sky, defending us all over again.
We screamed at Beatles concerts. The pill arrived, along with the hippy revolution. We wore flowers in our hair, and kaftans, and loved wisely we thought, but probably not. We debated politics, and were always aware of world affairs.

 

We endured the IRA bombing campaign. We saved for things we needed because credit cards – ‘take the waiting out of wanting’ had not yet arrived. We wives couldn’t access our joint bank accounts into which our salaries went, without a letter from our husbands, even as late as the end of the 60s.

 

In a referendum in 1975 the UK electorate voted to stay in the EEC under renegotiated terms of entry. We trotted through Heath’s 3 day week,

 

We set up house. We sewed and knitted, because it was cheaper to make our children’s clothes. Some of us worked, or helped out with the childcare of our friends. We began to understand our parents as people, because we were tackling a changing world as indeed they had and were. We listened to their advice.

 

We became grandparents, and wondered about social media, its benefits and anonymous bullying. We resumed childcare, this time for our grandchildren, and parent care, for our own parents.  We downsized to help with children’s house   deposits, we handed over interest free loans.

 

We kept fit, ran marathons, set up and ran charities. Many of us continue to work, but as well we volunteer: charity shops, drop in centres. We keep helping, even when our 87 year old colleague is punched in the face by an irate shoplifter. We mop up the changing rooms which have, yet again,  been used as latrines.

 

We realize we have become invisible through age, as people in streets expect us to move to accommodate their passage. We are learning to stand our ground.

 

We used to stand on crowded trains while younger people sat but we increasingly force our way past spread legs to claim a seat.

 

We continue to follow politics. We respect the opinions of others, and expect that ours will be respected in turn.

 

And, most importantly, we laugh, and eat cake, or have a glass with our friends even when we our waists tell us we shouldn’t. We have dogs we walk, and make full use of our bus passes while we have them. We live every day to the full.

 

Grannies of all ages, and some are very young, are people. We are as difficult, as pleasant, and as inspiring as everyone else, plus we have with a distillation of experience which could be termed wisdom.

 

What’s more, we’ve reached the age where we feel we’ve earned our place in the world, so we’re not moving over just so others can diminish or walk through us.

 

Flower power? Forget it. Granny power reigns.

 

* We will be featuring Gransthread lives and thoughts and memories as the months go by. If you have any that you would like to share, Frost Magazine would love to hear from you:   frost@margaret-graham.com