#4233 Holy Ghost Chapel Hampshire Evocatively named Holy Ghost Chapel in Basingstoke, Hampshire, captured here in 1772, harbours many a secret. The cemetery it served was created during the Interdict of c1208-14, ‘when King John and all of England was excommunicated by the Pope’. It meant no English burials could be placed in consecrated ground and the chapel and cemetery were created as the ‘stop-gap’ Liten – crudely, an early ‘municipal’ graveyard. It was finally consecrate

#4501 Ashe House Devon Ashe House in Musbury Devon was once a majestic Tudor pile built in the mid-1580s but badly burned by Royalists in 1644. It was rebuilt in the subsequent decades but then partially dismantled in 1782. What survives today remains significant and perpetuates the history of a house on this site possibly since Saxon era! More recently, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough & Sir Winston’s ancestor, was baptised in the house’s neighbouring chapel, itself d

#4812 Capture of Lord Edward Fitzgerald for High Treason Lord Fitzgerald b1763, swapped nobility for revolution. From England to France and eventually to Erin, the son of the Duke of Leinster fought for change, emancipation and a nationwide and philosophical ‘levelling up’. From 1796, he became a central figure in the United Irish society and its increasingly radical militia, increasingly frustrated at the failure of diplomatic means to achieve reform. With his and the group’

#4825 Princess Charlotte of Wales Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, only daughter of the future George IV and Caroline of Brunswick, died after suffering a still-birth with her first child, a son, after 55 hours labour. She succumbed within days of the trauma and the nation’s grief was instant, palpable & long-lasting. There was anger too and the royal obstetrician, Sir Richard Croft, took his own life for what many described as his failure to ensure both mother & child ha

#4830 Spencer Perceval Assassination Britain’s only serving PM to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval, aged 49, shot though the chest on 11 May 1812. His killer, John Bellingham, an aggrieved merchant, was executed for the offence but only after his defence team had failed to secure the insanity plea. Judge Mansfield ordered the jury at his trial, held a meagre 4 days after the event, to entertain mitigation only on the 'distinct and unquestionable evidence that the prisoner

#4603 Elgin Cathedral Chapter House The romantic ruins of Elgin Cathedral in Moray Inverness never fail to rouse up the past. Founded 1224 & suffering repeated destructive acts of fire and violence, it succumbed to the Scottish Reformation of 1560 and began to collapse. Its jagged yet pleasing remains still betray its epitaph as ‘The Lantern of the North’, & here we marvel at several of its treasures, each captured in ink back in the mid-1800s. They include its Chapter House,

#4350 Gainsborough - Miss Linley & Her Brother Artist Thomas Gainsborough (d1788) needs little introduction - think of ‘Blue Boy’ or ‘Mr & Mrs Andrews’. This masterpiece of ‘Miss Linley & Her Brother’, like all his portraits, resonates with depth of character and unspoken stories withheld by those gazing out of the picture. The main subject here was Elizabeth, Bath-resident singer and eldest daughter of Thomas, composer & musician. She was one of the Blue Stocking Society and

The proud livery companies of London first touched the city nearly 900 years ago. But did you know they still thrive? Joined by modern trades unions, and numbering more than 100, the early pioneers included: Drapers (wool & cloth merchants), Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Merchant Taylors (tailoring), Mercers (general merchants) & Grocers (spice merchants). Others from the so-called Great Twelve are Skinners (fur trade), Haberdashers (silk & fine cloths), Salters. Ironmongers, Vint

#4735 Scenes (4) of Jerusalem Sadly never far from grave news, the ‘Holy City’ of Jerusalem (Yerushaláyim/Al-Quds) perpetuates its chequered, fought-over existence. Four scenes depict: the C16th Damascus Gate (Sha'ar Shkhem/Bāb al-ʿĀmūd), Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mosque of Omar and a View from the terrace of the Latin Convent.