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10 children and 12,000 pieces of art: the remarkable life of Lady Charlotte Schreiber
She was a headstrong scholar who contributed hugely to the study of medieval literature and challenged the societal norms of the 19th century. So why isn’t she better known? Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth traces the adventures of an unsung heroine
While hunting for antiques in the Netherlands in the 1880s, the esteemed art dealer Joseph Joel Duveen received a tip-off that some “wonderful pieces of china” had come up for sale in a remote village. Getting there would involve a tediously long journey but, undeterred, Duveen set out. Several hours later, however, he spotted a carriage speeding past in the opposite direction, and was able to make out its passenger. Recognising the face of his great rival, Duveen promptly turned around, empty-handed, ruefully realising that she had beaten him to the village and “snatched the prize”. The victor on this occasion was Lady Charlotte Schreiber. Surprisingly, given her long life – she was 82 when she died, in 1895 – which included two marriages, 10 children, scandalous affairs and a celebrated translation of the medieval Welsh Mabinogion, Lady Charlotte remains relatively unknown today. Often erroneously dismissed as a mere magpie obsessed with trinkets, for decades her second husband and sons were credited for accumulating her great collection. Yet, shortly before her death, she donated a trove of some 5,000 pieces to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and the British Museum. Defiance and scandal Charlotte endured a difficult childhood. Born Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie in 1812, she lost her father, the 9th Earl of Lindsey, when she was only six years old. Her mother remarried, and her new stepfather, the Reverend Peter Pegus, turned out to be a violent alcoholic; he once drank a whole mug of lamp oil, mistaking it for beer. Read more | 5 things you (probably) didn't know about Victorian Britain At the age of 10, Charlotte started keeping a diary, in which she wrote almost every day until she lost her eyesight in her late seventies. A true polymath, she gave herself “a man’s education”, studying history and literature, and learning Arabic and Farsi (Persian) as well as Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and even Hebrew. She dedicated hours to her “oriental studies”, devouring Barthélemy d’Herbelot de Molainville’s monumental 1697 compendium Bibliothèque Orientale, and later became a subscriber to the Oriental Translation Fund. To a young woman frustrated by her privileged yet undeniably restrained upbringing, the ‘Orient’ represented an imagined place of freedom where the stagnant and gendered traditions of elite British life did not exist. Throughout her years, Charlotte defied the strict protocols of Georgian and Victorian society, causing various scandals. As a teenager she fell in love with a local squire, Augustus O’Brien, but her mother “had sooner see me in my grave than married to Augustus”. She also had a dalliance with her brother’s tutor, a Mr Martin, and shortly after became “very good friends” with Benjamin Disraeli, whom she described as “wild, enthusiastic, and very poetical”. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/02/HYB33K-fcd5698-e1771492464411.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A historical-style painting of a large industrial complex with many smokestacks releasing thick smoke into the sky. Several furnaces glow with open flames. In the foreground, workers shovel coal and operate machinery, surrounded by carts and industrial equipment. The scene conveys the intensity, pollution, and harsh labor conditions of early industrialisation." title="A painting of the Dowlais Ironworks, where Charlotte and her husband Josiah oversaw the management of over 5,000 employees (Image by Alamy)" /> In 1833, Charlotte married Welsh ironmaster and Whig politician Josiah John Guest. Although he was 27 years her senior, the two fell madly in love and had 10 children. Together they oversaw the day-to-day management of the Dowlais ironworks and its 5,000-plus employees. Charlotte managed the financial accounts, translated engineering manuals, established evening schools for the workers and their families, and even conducted business meetings. By 1839, she observed that she had successfully “schooled myself into habits of business that it is more congenial to me to calculate the advantage of half percent commission on a cargo of iron than to go to the finest ball in the world”. Welsh legend Charlotte’s marriage to John – whom she called Merthyr, Welsh for ‘martyr’ – gave her the freedom she so desperately craved. She used her autonomy to embrace her passion for history, carrying out archaeological excavations at ruins such as Morlais Castle in Glamorgan, where she discovered medieval seals and coins. Inspired by her “violent affection for Welsh castles”, Charlotte became a founding member of the Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni (Abergavenny Welsh Society), encouraging the use of the Welsh language among all social classes. Resolving to outwardly demonstrate a sense of Welsh patriotism befitting her new social position, she wore traditional Welsh dress, taught herself medieval Welsh and received the Bardic name ‘Olwen’ – a famous protagonist from Welsh folklore. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/02/AY4G19cmykwebready-8a87b35-e1771492225305.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="A black and white photograph of two women dressed in long dresses with aprons over the top, tall black hats and shawls around their shoulders. One is standing in front of a spinning wheel, and the other is to the left behind it, standing in a doorway" title="This photograph shows women in traditional Welsh dress, which Charlotte adopted on marriage to Welshman John Guest (Image by Alamy)" /> While still in her twenties, Charlotte began the colossal task of writing an English translation of the Llyfr Coch Hugest (Red Book of Hergest), a compilation of medieval Welsh ballads and oral traditions including the tales known as the Mabinogion. It was not a straightforward undertaking. Contemporaries were concerned that the work would not be taken seriously if translated by a woman, never mind an English one, and she suspected that her Welsh teachers were passing her translations on to others. Read more | She held wealth, power and prestige: so why did this Georgian aristocrat fake her daughter’s death? Her fears were realised when the French writer Théodore Hersart de La Villemarqué tried to publish her translation of the Mabinogion story Peredur, passing it off as his own work. Determined to thwart his plans, Charlotte poured all her energy into completing her version. At one point she worked on it for 12 hours straight, taking a break only to give birth to her fifth child. Thanks to these monumental efforts, she published her Mabinogion in seven parts between 1838 and 1845 to great acclaim. In the 1840s Charlotte began to assemble an art collection, seeking out works from the great European schools of the Renaissance. Her purchases included a piece by a follower of the great 16th-century portraitist Hans Holbein the Younger, which she acquired in 1842 at the ‘Great Sale’ of the celebrated 18th-century gossip and socialite Horace Walpole’s estate of Strawberry Hill, near London. Her husband, John Guest, died in 1852, and the following year Charlotte hired Charles Schreiber (1826–1884), a young Cambridge academic, to tutor her eldest son. They initially attempted to hide their affair, but it wasn’t long before Charlotte appeared with her hair dyed brown – likely to diminish the couple’s 14-year age gap – and announced their engagement. Court cases ensued, and only three of her 10 children attended the wedding. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2026/02/Credit-Common-Crow-Bookss000104757cmykwebready-e198adb-e1771492058978.jpeg" width="1500" height="1001" alt="An open book showing a colour illustration of ornate Persian glassware on the left page and a title page on the right. The illustration depicts a tall decorative bottle with a stopper and two matching cups, all with intricate floral and bird designs. The title page lists bibliographic details for “Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s Journals,” including publication information and handwritten catalog markings." title="The opening page from a copy of Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s Journals, which was originally published in 1911, detailing all 12,000 objects that Charlotte had collected (Image by Common Crow Books)" /> Making a mark With newfound joie de vivre, Charlotte spent the next few decades travelling the world with Charles, dedicating herself to forming the greatest collection of ‘ceramic art’ ever seen. She acquired more than 12,000 objects, all of which she numbered and recorded in her journal. Armed with a red velvet bag, she often spent upwards of seven hours per day in search of objects, particularly European and Asian ceramics. Back at home in London she meticulously researched everything she’d bought, transcribed archives and documentary sources, and even got her hands dirty assisting with excavations at archaeological sites. Read more | "Museums are magical places": Kavita Puri on a new initiative encouraging close encounters with history Charlotte approached collecting just as she did everything else in her life – with an unyielding commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, and an ever-growing desire to succeed and make her mark on the world. As a committed cultural philanthropist, she believed in the educational power of museums and, after Charles’ death, declared her collection “the property of the nation”. From 1885 until her death 10 years later, she gave thousands of pieces to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) and the British Museum – unprecedented bequests for a woman collector. At a social gathering one evening in the 1840s, Charlotte was perusing the ‘finest London ladies’ featured in Heath’s Book of Beauty for 1839 – an annual of contemporary fashion and style. A fellow guest, seeing that Charlotte was not listed among the women, commented that “not all the fairies are present; the Welsh fairy Olwen is missing”. “She was not a fairy,” Charlotte replied, “she was a Goddess.” Here’s to that. This article was first published in the February 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine
7 remarkable women who shaped Welsh history
From poets to pioneers, explore the lives and legacies of seven women who left their mark on Welsh history…
The 1888 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica infamously declared, for: “Wales, see England.” This statement is just one symbol that many point to as evidence of how Welsh history has often been overlooked or merged with its closest neighbour. Within that history, the contributions of women have been even more obscured. For decades, Welsh historiography has reinforced the idea – as echoed in the national anthem – that Wales is primarily the ‘land of our fathers.’ Yet Wales has long been shaped by remarkable women whose stories deserve recognition. Here are seven trailblazing Victorian Welsh women you’ve (probably!) never heard of… Elen Egryn (1807–76) Poet Elen Egryn holds the distinction of being the first woman to publish a secular book in the Welsh language. Born as Elin or Elinor Evans, she grew up in Llanegryn, a rural parish in the historic county of Merionethshire, she developed her poetic skills from a young age. Her father, John Evans, the local schoolmaster, was a highly cultured man and firmly believed in the importance of providing girls with a well-rounded education. Evans also received some poetic instruction from Gwilym Cawrdaf (William Ellis Jones, 1795–1848) in the nearby town of Dolgellau. Published in 1850, her groundbreaking Telyn Egryn (Egryn’s Harp) is a refreshingly modern anthology of poems that explore challenging themes such as grief, depression, loneliness and companionship between women. They also cover the poignant notion of hiraeth – a Welsh word with no direct English translation that captures an indescribable longing for something, especially one’s home or family. Evans also composed some politically motivated material that opposed the findings published in The Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales, a governmental investigation that publicly condemned the character and morals of Welsh women in 1847. The report, widely recognised in Wales as the Treachery of the Blue Books (due to the blue covers of all government reports), determined that the Welsh people, because of their allegiance to the Welsh language and their nonconformist religious beliefs, were a primitive and immoral nation. Welsh women in particular were shamed due to the prevalence of illegitimate births in the country and their ‘inability’ to conduct themselves as respectable wives and mothers. While details of her life are sparse, its known that Evans spent the last year of her life living with her brother and sister-in-law at Chester House in Caerleon, near Newport. She died there in 1876 and was buried in the local cemetery. Mary Jane Innes (1852–1941) Entrepreneur Mary Jane Innes was born as Mary Jane Lewis at Millbrook House Farm in Llanfaches, Monmouthshire, in 1852. She and her siblings endured the heartache of losing both parents before they reached adulthood. After inheriting the family farm, her brother Thomas opted to sell it, setting his sights on a new life with his wife and sisters in New Zealand. The group arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, aboard the Asterope in October 1870. While searching for a place to settle, Mary met Scottish businessman Charles Innes in the town of Ngaruawahia on the north island. The two tied the knot in Auckland on 30 April 1874, before relocating to Te Awamutu. Prior to this, Charles had launched a brewery, but it struggled under a hefty mortgage and a limited local clientele, leading to its eventual failure and Charles's bankruptcy. Mary Jane was instrumental in helping Charles secure funding for a new brewery, but by October 1888, Charles Innes was once again declared bankrupt. Soon after, Mary announced through a public notice that she had assumed control of the brewery, where she began brewing ale and producing sparkling waters. In the wake of her husband’s death in 1899, Innes took her involvement one step further. She cleared all his debts and launched the successful CL Innes and Company with her eldest son, Charles Lewis Innes. The Innes enterprise became distinguished for its production of alcoholic beverages and "aerated waters," laying the groundwork for the soft-drink industry in New Zealand. In recognition of her achievements, Innes was posthumously inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2013, 72 years after her death. Dorothy Bonarjee (1894–1983) Dorothy Bonarjee was born in Bareilly, India, in 1894, but her family relocated to Dulwich, south London, when she was just ten years old. In 1912, she and her brother Bertie began their studies at The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Dorothy achieved significant recognition in 1914 by becoming the first woman to win the University Eisteddfod bardic chair at Aberystwyth. During the ceremony, her father delivered an impromptu speech, proclaiming "if India had given birth to a poet, Wales had educated her". Read more | 100 women who changed the world Bonarjee played an active role in student life at Aberystwyth. She was the treasurer of the Literary and Debating Society and also served on the editorial board of the student magazine, The Dragon, where she had the opportunity to publish several of her poems. After earning her BA in French in 1916, Bonarjee continued her education at University College London, where she made history in 1917 as the first woman to receive an internal law degree from the Faculty of Laws. A passionate advocate for women's suffrage, she spoke at a 1919 meeting of the British Dominions' Women Citizens' Union (Indian Section), an international feminist organisation dedicated to promoting women's rights throughout the British Empire. Today, she is honoured with a place in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography – the only individual of Indian descent among more than 5,000 entries. Ellen Edwards (1810–89) Born in 1810 in Amlwch on the Isle of Anglesey, Ellen Edwards was the daughter of Captain William Francis, who ran a prominent navigation school at Parys Lodge Square. When she turned twenty, she moved to the thriving port town of Caernarfon, where she opened her own navigation school on New Street. Edwards was a remarkable figure in the world of navigation, teaching more than a thousand mariners during her lifetime. In the 19th century, navigation became a recognised profession, and Edwards played a pivotal role in its advancement in north Wales. Among her most distinguished students were Captain John Pritchard, who helmed the steamship RMS Mauretania, and Captain Robert Thomas, who set a world record for the fastest voyage to San Francisco and back in the 1880s. Women in maritime communities often grappled with loneliness and anxiety, as their husbands and sons often spent months, or even years, at sea. Edwards’s life took a devastating turn when her husband, Captain Owen Edwards, perished on 22 January 1860, when his vessel, The Patrick, sank during a fierce storm off Colwyn Bay beach. Following his death, Ellen was awarded a pension of £6 10s from the benevolent funds of the Shipwrecked Mariner’s Society. When Edwards turned 70, the Caernarfon Harbour Trust advocated for her to receive an honorary pension from the Government. Although she did not obtain a pension, she was honoured with a £75 award from the Royal Bounty Fund for her invaluable work in the field of navigation. Frances Hoggan (1843–1927) Frances Hoggan (born Frances Morgan) was a pioneering medical practitioner, researcher and social reformer from Aberhonddu, Brecon. Her efforts were instrumental in the battle for women in the UK to study medicine during the 19th century. In 1867, Hoggan enrolled at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, which was the only European university at the time to admit female medical students. Graduating in March 1870, she became the second woman in Europe to be awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree. After furthering her education in Vienna, Prague and Paris, she settled in London and became a member of St Mary's Dispensary in Seymour Place. In 1874, Frances married Dr George Hoggan, and together they founded the first husband-and-wife medical practice in the UK. They made significant contributions to medical literature and specialised in conditions impacting women and children. Throughout her life, Hoggan maintained a strong connection to her Welsh roots. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, she participated in discussions concerning intermediate and higher education in Wales, placing particular emphasis on the necessity of educational opportunities for women and girls. Hoggan repeatedly stressed that the existing provisions for their education were wholly inadequate. A purple plaque commemorating the birthplace of Hoggan was unveiled on Aberhonddu High Street in 2023, as part of a campaign to improve the recognition of remarkable women in Wales. Mary King Sarah (1885–1965) Mary King Sarah made history in 1906 by becoming the first individual to win three competitions at the National Eisteddfod in Caernarfon, outshining a young Ivor Novello in the process. Celebrated as ‘The Welsh Nightingale,’ songstress Sarah hailed from a musically gifted family in the slate-quarrying village of Tal-y-sarn, north Wales. Following her stunning victory at Caernarfon, she embarked on an exhilarating six-week tour throughout England and Wales. Read more | Capel Celyn: the Welsh village that became a reservoir for England In 1909 Mary agreed to join the Moelwyn Male Voice Choir from Blaenau Ffestiniog as a soloist on their upcoming tour to America. Over the course of five months, Sarah showcased her talents in venues across seven states: Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. She spent the remainder of her life in the United States, primarily residing in Wisconsin, where she became a notable figure in Welsh circles. As a dedicated member of the Oconomowoc Music Society, she also established the Cymric Choral Society, the Wisconsin Assembly Society, and the St David Society in Waukesha. Sarah’s life was also marked by considerable adversity and heartache; she was widowed three times, buried two children and had to juggle various jobs to support her family. Ruth Mynachlog (1856–1940) Not every woman has the opportunity to claim a bardic chair, relocate to New Zealand, or pursue medical studies in Switzerland, yet their stories are equally important and worthy of recognition. In 1939, at the ripe age of 83, Ruth Mynachlog (her real name was Ruth Jones) decided to write her autobiography and her community’s history during a period of abysmal poverty. Born in 1856 in a thatched cottage in the small village of Talgarreg, Ceredigion, Jones was a woman of remarkable resilience and intelligence. Despite having minimal access to formal education, she seized every opportunity to expand her knowledge through the local Chapel and the supportive network of her rural community. While her life may appear quite ordinary, Atgofion Ruth Mynachlog (Ruth Mynachlog’s Memories) serves as an essential record of the lives of women in the Welsh countryside during the 19th century. In her writing, Ruth sheds light on the roles of women in agriculture, the wave of Welsh emigration to the USA, the Liberal landslide in the 1868 general election, and the various diseases that plagued her community – including her own battle with typhoid.
Lloyd Bowen describes the ambiguities in Welsh identity and nationhood that arose in the decades following the Acts of Union in the early 16th century
In Welsh history, the period that lies between the medieval era of resistance to English occupation, and the rapid industrialisation of the 18th and 19th centuries, is often forgotten. Yet, there was much more going on in Wales in the early modern period than might initially meet the eye. Speaking with Elinor Evans, Lloyd Bowen describes the ambiguities in Welsh identity and nationhood that arose in the decades following the Acts of Union in the early 16th century, including the impact of the Reformation on the Welsh language, and Wales’s changing relationship with the monarchy. Lloyd Bowen is the author of Early Modern Wales c.1536–c.1689: Ambiguous Nationhood (University of Wales Press, 2022) Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon Buy now on Waterstones
Why does the Welsh flag feature a red dragon?
It might be synonymous with Wales now – you'll always see people dressed up as them at rugby matches as well as the daffodils and leeks – but the red dragon has much more distant roots...
The red dragon of Wales dates back to Roman times. Roman cavalry units carried a standard known as the ‘draco’, or dragon. This took the form of a metal dragon’s head with an open mouth, through which the wind would blow. The body of the dragon was made up of a tube of fabric, rather like a modern wind sock. The banners were used to serve as markers on which the riders formed into different formations, and to give orders by means of some vigorous waving. More Welsh history: 16 things you (probably) didn't know about St David’s Day traditions Q&A: Why is the leek associated with Wales? History explorer: the conquest of Wales Charles, The Prince of Wales’s investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 50 years on The British militias adopted many aspects of Roman military gear, and the impressive looking draco was among those taken up. Following the fall of Rome, British princes continued to use Roman-style dracos as battle standards. The last recorded use of the draco by a British army wasn’t until about 1250, after which the red dragon of Wales began to be embroidered onto a flag as if it were a heraldic device. The green and white background, incidentally, comes from the family colours of the Tudor dynasty and was added in 1959. Answered by one of our Q&A experts, historian and author Rupert Matthews. This article was taken from BBC History Revealed magazine
1295: Edward I consolidates English rule
Part six in our 20-part series looking at decisive moments of the last 1,000 years in British history explores 1250–1299, Here, Michael Prestwich looks at the year that Edward I of Englandasserted his power on three fronts – and persuaded the taxpayer to fund it all
As the year 1295 opened, England’s King Edward I and his troops were wintering in Conwy castle, besieged by Welsh rebels. Food was running low; all the drink that remained was one small barrel of wine, left for the king’s personal use. Edward had this distributed among his men, the action of a good commander. Wales had been in rebellion since the previous autumn; the Welsh had taken advantage of English pre-occupation with the war which had just started with France. The rising was a national one, headed by a then obscure figure, Madog ap Llywelyn. Wales had seemed conquered by 1283; now, the whole English achievement was under threat. Edward led a rapid raid from Conwy to the west, into the Lleyn peninsula, but it was elsewhere that the war was won. In March Madog was defeated in mid-Wales by forces under the earl of Warwick, at Maes Moydog. There, an English commentator noted that Madog’s forces were “the best and bravest Welsh that anyone has seen”. They met the English head on, but to no avail. English archers and men-at-arms were too powerful. Madog himself escaped. Edward went on a triumphant tour of Wales, receiving submissions from a defeated people. Eventually Madog was captured, and led to miserable captivity in the Tower of London. The end of the Welsh rebellion was marked by the start of the building of a great new castle, Beaumaris, in Anglesey, the last of the magnificent series of castles which marked Edward’s conquest. It was characterised by concentric lines of defences, two great twin-towered gatehouses, and a dock so ships could supply the fortress. Edward’s great mason from Savoy, Master James of St George, was in charge of the project. In July the king returned from his circuit of Wales to see the work under way; accounts show that one evening there he enjoyed entertainment provided by an English harpist, Adam of Clitheroe. Wales was but one of the immense problems that Edward faced. England’s war with France was another. In the previous year the French had taken over much of Edward’s duchy of Gascony in south-western France, and English forces were hanging on there with difficulty. His soldiers achieved a measure of success at the start of the year, but at Easter the French under Charles of Valois invaded. Rioms was besieged, and a sortie by the English garrison was driven back “like sheep into the fold”. English holdings in Gascony were reduced to a couple of towns near Bordeaux, and Bayonne in the south. To make things worse, the French took the war directly to the English. There was alarm in April when messengers reported that a large fleet was gathering across the Channel to attack England. In the event, attacks were more limited, but in August French galleys raided Dover, and the town of Winchelsea was assaulted. Royal proclamations declared that the English language itself was under threat from the French. 1295 in context Later 13th-century Britain had a strong economy, but was showing signs of strain, and politically, peace was making way for war England was prosperous in the 13th century, with a growing population. Great monastic estates, such as those of Winchester Cathedral Priory, or of the Cistercian monasteries of Yorkshire, were doing very well, as were the estates of earls and major barons. Some knightly families, however, found it increasingly hard to maintain their status in society. More and more land was put under the plough, as agricultural activity expanded to feed an increasing numerous populace. Fenland was drained and exploited. The wool trade was booming. Italian merchants were attracted to England; they provided credit mechanisms that helped to fuel the expansion of trade. The urban economy thrived. New towns continued to be founded, if not at quite the rate of the first half of the century, and established towns expanded. This was an economic expansion driven by a commercially-minded populace, above all in England, but also in Scotland and Wales. By 1300, however, there were beginning to be indications that population growth was no longer matched by the expansion of resources and by levels of investment. The years of prosperity were coming to an end. The major political crisis of this half-century in England began in 1258, and lasted until 1265, when the baronial leader, Simon de Montfort, was killed at Evesham. Edward I did much to restore the prestige of the crown after he came to the throne in 1272, but in his later years faced political difficulties, notably in 1297 when there was widespread opposition to his expensive military strategies and to the burden that warfare placed on the country. War meant heavy taxation, both on wool exports and on personal wealth. Growing prosperity helped enable Edward I to extend his political influence in Britain. He conquered Wales in two campaigns, in 1277 and 1282–3; rebellion in 1294–5 saw the embers of resistance flare up for the last time until Owain Glyn Dwr’s rising in the early 15th century. Scotland was a different story. Relations between England and Scotland were peaceable for most of the 13th century. Edward I oversaw the hearings of the Great Cause in 1290, which determined that John Balliol, not Robert Bruce, should be king after the death of the heiress Margaret, the Maid of Norway. Scotland’s alliance with France led to Edward I’s invasion in 1296, and Balliol’s deposition, but in the next year William Wallace led a successful rebellion. The Wars of Independence had begun. Relations with France were also peaceable until the 1290s. The war which began in 1294 was not of Edward I’s choosing. He was tricked by French diplomacy into thinking that a marriage alliance was about to be agreed; instead the French moved into his duchy of Gascony. The war, which saw heavy expenditure but no major battles, lasted until a truce was agreed in 1297. It was a precursor of the Hundred Years’ War which began in 1337, though in that conflict the English claim to the French throne provided an additional element. Spies and lies A spy scare heightened the atmosphere. A royal knight, Thomas Turberville, arrived in England claiming to have escaped from a French prison; in fact, he had been released on condition that he spied for the French. The report he wrote for them on the defenceless condition of the Isle of Wight, on English diplomacy, and on preparations to send troops to Gascony was revealed to the king, and he was arrested. After a trial he was drawn to the place of execution on an oxhide and hanged by an iron chain. Edward’s strategy was to build up a grand alliance in the Low Countries and Germany against the French. The duke of Brabant, Edward’s son-in-law, came to Wales, and in Anglesey reached agreement to serve with 2,000 cavalry. The support of the counts of Guelders and Holland was bought, though in the latter case the count soon turned to the French. Most important was the count of Flanders, who was promised a huge subsidy. The French king Philip IV, however, summoned the count to Paris, and took his daughter hostage, so nullifying any English alliance. There was little hope of launching any expedition against Philip without Flemish support. Nonetheless, Edward had to continue to pay his remaining allies substantial sums. Read more: When was the last battle between England and Scotland? Meanwhile, in Scotland, power was taken from the king, John Balliol, by his barons, and entrusted to a council. Balliol owed his throne to Edward I, who had supervised the hearings of the succession dispute between Balliol and Robert Bruce. He was distrusted as an English puppet, and the Scots now looked to France for support. The French were anxious to acquire the Scots as allies against the English, and 1295 saw the alliance forged that would lead to war in the following year. In December Edward I issued writs summoning men to muster at Newcastle, ready for yet another war. Heavy burden of taxation What Edward needed to fight his wars was money. Putting down the Welsh rebellion was an unexpected expenditure. The forces in Gascony were expensive to maintain, and the allies were hungry for English silver. The level of financial crisis is suggested by the sudden dismissal of the treasurer, William March, in August. Taxes had been granted in the previous year, but Edward needed a new instalment. Parliament was therefore summoned. It consisted of prelates and magnates, summoned from an established list, and representatives of shires and boroughs, as well as representatives of the clergy. A new formula was developed for the representatives; they were to come with full powers to represent their communities, and to do what was decided by common counsel. This would remain the standard form of summons for many years, and led later historians to dub this parliament, held at Westminster in November and early December, the Model Parliament. It was not, of course, thought of as such at the time, and did not attract much attention from chroniclers. The tax that was granted would be levied on a valuation of people’s personal property; the standard rate was an eleventh, but the towns and land that either was, or had been in the past, in the king’s possession paid at a rate of a seventh. Taxation was a major burden. Recruitment was another. When Edward requested a group of nineteen magnates to go to Gascony, several, including the earl of Arundel, refused. Angrily the king ordered the exchequer to collect any debts that they might owe to the crown. The men duly sailed. That was in August. In October orders went for the recruitment of a huge force of 25,000 infantry. The appointed commander of the English infantry was Edmund, earl of Lancaster, the king’s brother. He, however, was in bad health, and departure was long delayed, into the next year. In Norfolk, Hugh Cressingham and William Mortimer arrived to collect troops for Gascony. Men were selected, and their local communities forced to pay for white tunics, swords and knives. Villages in one region produced roughly six men each. Some were sent home from the muster at Newmarket at once, as they were judged inadequate; others stayed four days, until the planned expedition was cancelled. A further burden was the compulsory purchase of foodstuffs by the crown, in support of its military efforts. Payment of money was disliked, but loss of carefully stored grain and other commodities was bitterly resented. Read more: Why did Scotland join the 1707 Union with England? King Edward’s relationship with the church was difficult. A peace mission by two cardinals achieved nothing. In September a great ceremony took place at Canterbury, with the enthronement of a new archbishop, Robert Winchelsey, in the presence of the king and many nobles. It must have been an awkward occasion, for Edward was insistent that Winchelsey pay a substantial debt to the crown. In parliament, it proved hard to persuade the clergy to grant a tax of a tenth of their income. This was not an easy year for the economy. Grain prices stood at high levels; poor weather meant a bad harvest. The 13th century had been one of expansion, as more and more land was put under the plough, but the boom years lay in the past. The main English export was wool, grown on the backs of some ten million sheep. Heavy customs duties, introduced in the previous year, combined with the war, had a serious effect on the level of exports. Italians had controlled much of the wool trade, but the great company of the Riccardi had been bankrupted in the previous year as a result of the war. They had lent heavily to Edward I, and their depositors in Italy were rightly suspicious, and withdrew their funds. The remaining companies in England were in an uncomfortable position, emphasised when in the autumn of 1295 they were threatened with the confiscation of the wool stocks they held. This year showed how the English state could respond to the pressures of war. The need to obtain consent to taxation was important in the development of fully representative parliaments. The defeat of the Welsh rebellion marked a significant stage in the political unification of Britain, but events in Scotland pointed in a different direction, toward the Wars of Independence. History facts: 1250–1299 Population of England: Probably five million Life expectancy: Men, just over 30; women – under 30 Currency: Silver pennies. About £1,000,000 worth in circulation Key years: other important events in the second half of the 13th century 1258 – The Provisions of Oxford. There was much discontent, above all directed against Henry III’s foreign favourites, and his ambitious plan to obtain the Sicilian throne for his second son Edmund. A reform scheme was set up, which established a council of 15 to control the king’s actions. This was elected by 12 from the baronial side, and 12 from the royalists. Further important reform measures followed in the next year, with the Provisions of Westminster. 1265 – The battle of Evesham. Simon de Montfort, leader of the baronial opposition, had triumphed in the previous year at Lewes. Now, he was defeated and slain at the hands of an army led by Henry III’s son Edward. This marked the end of the reform movement, though there was some continued resistance, notably from the garrison of Kenilworth. Not all the ideas about reform, particularly of the law, were forgotten; some were to be followed up in Edward I’s legislative programme. 1270 – Edward’s crusade. Edward joined crusading forces in North Africa. From there he went to Sicily, and then on to the Holy Land. Little was achieved in this expedition. Edward escaped assassination; the wound from his attacker’s knife was sucked by his queen Eleanor (or, according to one account, by his friend Otto de Grandson). Edward did not return to England until 1274. 1275 – Institution of customs duties. It was agreed in parliament that six shillings and eight pence should be paid on each sack of wool exported from England. This provided the crown with a new, permanent financial resource. It was intended in the first instance to provide a means of repaying Italian merchants for the loans they had advanced to make the crusade possible, and was important in providing Edward I with the resources he needed for his wars. 1277 –First Welsh war. Llywellyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales, had consistently refused to come to do homage to Edward I. Edward resorted to force to bring him to heel. The campaign saw the English march along the coast of North Wales, and invade Anglesey. There were no major battles, but Edward’s show of strength was sufficient to make Llywelyn come to terms. Work began on four great new English castles, at Flint, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth and Builth. 1282 – Death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales. The Welsh rebelled in this year, and Edward embarked on full-scale conquest. He advanced along the coast of North Wales, but Llywelyn broke out of Snowdonia and marched south. At Irfon Bridge he was defeated by an army led by lords of the Welsh March, and was slain in the battle, probably by Stephen Frankton, a squire. Llywelyn was succeeded by his brother Dafydd, who was thus the last native Prince of Wales. He was captured in the following year, and was savagely executed at Shrewsbury. 1292 – The hearing of the Great Cause. The Great Cause, the succession dispute in Scotland, concluded. The main rival claimants, on the death of Alexander III’s heiress Margaret in 1290, were John Balliol and Robert Bruce. Edward I was invited to supervise the resolution of the dispute, and it was determined that the throne should go to Balliol. The decision may have been correct in law; it was also the one which suited Edward best. 1296 – Invasion of Scotland. The French looked to the Scots as allies in their war against the English. The Anglo-Scottish war began with a small cross-border raid by the Scots; Edward I launched a major invasion. Berwick was sacked, with appalling scenes of slaughter. The English were then victorious at Dunbar, took Edinburgh, marched north as far as Elgin, and deposed John Balliol. Success, however, was little more than superficial. 1297 – Political crisis. Edward I faced the opposition of the church and baronage to his campaign plans, and to the taxes and wool seizures needed for the financing of the expedition. The expedition went ahead, but the king had to concede that he would not impose such burdens again without the consent of the community of the realm. More turning points in British history Read next: 1348: The Black Death Go back: 1215: Magna Carta <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2006/11/TP-Images-with-overlay8-71d7b44.jpg" width="620" height="413" alt="The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 in England began in Brentwood, Essex as a protest at the collection of poll tax and reached a climax at Smithfield, London. Richard II (1367-1800) met the Kentish peasants who, under Watt Tyler (d1381), were demanding the end of serfdom. During the meeting William Walworth (d1385) Lord Mayor of London, wounded Wat Tyler who was taken to St Bartholomew's Hospital but was later dragged out of the hospital and beheaded. 19th century lithograph. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)" title="The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 in England began in Brentwood, Essex as a protest at the collection of poll tax and reached a climax at Smithfield, London. Richard II (1367-1800) met the Kentish peasants who, under Watt Tyler (d1381), were demanding the end of serfdom. During the meeting William Walworth (d1385) Lord Mayor of London, wounded Wat Tyler who was taken to St Bartholomew's Hospital but was later dragged out of the hospital and beheaded. 19th century lithograph. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)" /> Michael Prestwich is professor of history at the University of Durham. He has written extensively on 13th- and 14th-century history, and his books include Plantagenet England 1225–1360 (Oxford University Press, 2005) This article was first published in the September 2006 issue of BBC History Magazine
Medieval Wales: everything you wanted to know
Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
Matthew Stevens tackles listener questions on the history of the Welsh regions during the Middle Ages
Matthew Stevens tackles listener questions and popular search queries on the history of Wales and the Welsh regions during the Middle Ages, from the Norman invasion and Edward I’s conquest to the Welsh roots of the Tudor dynasty.
Charles, The Prince of Wales’s 1969 investiture at Caernarfon Castle, 50 years on
Half a century ago, in July 1969, Queen Elizabeth II invested her son Charles as the Prince of Wales in an elaborate ceremony at Caernarfon Castle. Ahead of the third season of The Crown, which dramatises the investiture, Dr Carolyn Harris explores the events of the ceremony and reveals how it was not without controversy, taking place amid the rapid social change of the 1960s and protest from a growing Welsh nationalist movement...
“I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship and faith and truth I will bear unto thee to live and die against all manner of folks.” These words, spoken by a son to his mother, may evoke a sense of the medieval, but they were in fact part of a ceremony that was very much a product of the 20th century. On 1 July 1969, Queen Elizabeth II invested her eldest son, Prince Charles, as Prince of Wales, a title that she had first conferred upon him in July 1958, when he was just nine years old. Prince Charles and Camilla: a history of their romance The Queen's "rebel sister": 8 facts about Princess Margaret Charles’s 1969 investiture ceremony took place in Caernarfon Castle, which had been commissioned by King Edward I of England in 1283 after his conquest of Wales and was the birthplace of the first English Prince of Wales, the future King Edward II, in 1284. According to legend, Edward I had promised the Welsh a prince who could speak no English and presented them with his infant son – and so began a tradition for English kings to bestow their heir with the title ‘Prince of Wales’. But while Charles’s 1969 investiture ceremony appeared to be steeped in medieval royal history, it was actually intended to address very contemporary concerns, including the increased visibility of the royal family on television; the relevance of the royal family in the modern age; and the objections of Welsh nationalists to the investiture of a Prince of Wales who seemed to have little personal connection to Wales. It was a time of political fervour stoked by events including a 1957 act of parliament that had sanctioned the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley. The inhabitants of the village of Capel Celyn were forced to move in 1965 to make way for a reservoir to supply Liverpool with water, and the 1969 investiture became a rallying cry for Welsh nationalism. During the 1969 investiture ceremony, the letters patent were read aloud in Welsh and stated that 20-year-old Charles Philip Arthur George would receive the title, style, honour and privilege of the Principality of Wales and Earldom of Chester. The Queen attired her heir with a girdle, sword, coronet, rod and mantle. The newly invested Prince of Wales then swore his oath and was applauded by the crowds who surrounded the castle. Who is Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall? Everything you need to know about Prince Charles’s wife After the ceremony and subsequent dinner on the Royal Yacht Britannia in Holyhead, the Prince recalled: “For me, by far the most moving and meaningful moment came when I put my hands between Mummy’s and swore to be her liege man of life and limb and to live and die against all manner of folks – such magnificent medieval, appropriate words, even if they were never adhered to in those old days.” The history of the title ‘Prince of Wales’ For centuries, an elaborate investiture ceremony had been considered unnecessary for the Prince of Wales. For a medieval or renaissance English Prince of Wales, the investiture itself was less of a public milestone than the extended residence on the Welsh border that followed as an apprenticeship before succeeding to the throne. The 12-year-old son of King Edward IV, the elder of the ‘Princes in the Tower’, for example, was at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire – a Welsh border stronghold and the seat of the Council in the Marches of Wales – when he succeeded to the throne as Edward V in 1483 (before he was intercepted by his uncle, the future King Richard III, on his way to London). Henry VII’s eldest son, Prince Arthur, died at Ludlow Castle in 1502, nearly five months into his marriage to Catherine of Aragon (who subsequently married Arthur’s younger brother, King Henry VIII). The future Queen Mary I also spent time in Ludlow Castle in 1525 and 1526 as ‘Princess of Wales’, though she was never formally invested with the title. Fast-forward to the 20th century and King George VI decided against the title of Princess of Wales for the future Queen Elizabeth II because it was associated with the wife of a Prince of Wales, rather than an heiress presumptive in her own right. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip: 8 milestones in their marriage Owain Glyndwr: The last Welsh Prince of Wales The Stuart, Hanover and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha princes of Wales paid little attention to Wales: there were eight princes of Wales who never even visited the principality as prince or subsequently as king. The regalia associated with the position, however, received some attention in the 17th and 18th centuries. King Charles II issued a royal warrant in 1677 stating: “The son and heir apparent of the Crown shall use and bear his coronet of crosses and fleurs-de-lis with one arch and ball and cross.” A coronet with this design was commissioned for Frederick, Prince of Wales, and later worn by his son, the future George III, and his grandson, the future King George IV. (The Georgian coronet was deemed too delicate for use in the 20th-century investitures). The investiture ceremony at Caernarfon Castle The investiture ceremony in its current form dates from 1911, when the 17-year-old future King Edward VIII was invested as part of a year of royal ceremonies that included the coronation of the prince’s father, King George V. The future prime minister David Lloyd George, then chancellor of Exchequer and constable of Caernarfon Castle, favoured a ceremony at the castle that would increase his own political capital and address the potential forWelsh nationalism – an issue that would emerge again at the investiture of Prince Charles. There had been a short-lived Welsh nationalist organisation in the 1880s and 1890s, Cymru Fydd (Young Wales), which was modelled after the Irish home rule movement. The early 20th century had also seen increased interest in the history of Wales with the establishment of the National Library of Wales and the National Museum of Wales in 1907. The 1911 ceremony designed to combat these concerns seemed medieval in its antecedents, but in fact it included newly-created regalia, costumes, and a new tradition of the prince addressing the assembled crowds in Welsh. King George V and Queen Mary, as well as the general public, were reportedly pleased with the investiture – though Edward strongly objected to the costume of white satin breeches and a purple velvet surcoat created for the occasion, stating: “What would my navy friends say if they saw me in this preposterous rig?” For Edward, the ceremony seemed artificial and reinforced his misgivings about his role as a future king. Television audiences While the investiture of the future Edward VIII took place in the aftermath of his father’s coronation, and other royal rituals steeped in tradition, the investiture of Prince Charles was organised with modern, television audiences in mind. The televised coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 had been well received throughout the Commonwealth and had increased the expectation that major royal events would now be broadcast for television audiences. The Queen’s Christmas message had been televised for the first time in 1957, starting a tradition that continues to the present day. Prince Charles’s 1969 investiture ceremony was organised by the Earl of Snowdon, a society photographer and the husband of Princess Margaret (the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II), and it was to be a spectacle that would appeal to a wide global audience watching the ceremony from home. As in 1911, fresh traditions were created for the ceremony including the creation of a new coronet (Edward VIII had taken his coronet with him to France after he abdicated in 1936 to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson) and a simplified costume considered to be more in keeping with the times. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/06/GettyImages-1135506580-1a8c9f0.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="Members of the royal family" title="At the time of the investiture, the royal family was facing additional pressures as a result of being in the public eye. Sitting in the front row (l to r), Princess Anne, The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon look on during the ceremony. (Photo by Alisdair Macdonald/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)" /> The royal family was, at this time, also facing additional pressures as a result of being in the public eye. In 1969, shortly before Charles’s investiture ceremony, the Royal Family documentary had brought television cameras into royal palaces to capture informal moments and conversations between the members of the royal family for the first time, including a barbecue at Balmoral Castle (manned by Prince Philip). The programme was a response to concerns that the royal family was increasingly remote from the rapid social and cultural change of the 1960s. As such, the investiture of the Prince of Wales was viewed by people around the world who had just had their first glimpse of the royal family behind palace doors and were interested to see the Queen and Prince Charles interact as mother and son, as well as monarch and heir. The investiture ceremony was viewed by 500 million people worldwide. ‘Royal Family’: the fly-on-the-wall documentary the Palace doesn’t want you to see “Cheap men and expensive bottles”: Princess Margaret’s love affairs A backdrop of Welsh nationalism The investiture was popular in Wales; as opinion surveys showed, around three quarters of those polled were in support of the ceremony. However, one constant between the investitures of Edward in 1911 and Charles in 1969 was concerns about Welsh nationalism, which had become more militant in the intervening decades. In 1952, a small republican organisation named Y Gweriniaethwyr had attempted to blow up a pipeline that ran from the Claerwen dam in Wales to Birmingham in England, to protest the extraction of Welsh resources for English use. Since the Queen was expected to open the dam, the bombing appeared to be a protest against the monarchy. Bombs were also targeted at government property to cause disruption, including the Temple of Peace civic building in Cardiff in July 1968. The 1969 investiture attracted fierce criticism as a symbol of centuries of English occupation of Wales. A satirical song composed by Welsh folk singer and future leader of the Plaid Cymru party, Dafydd Iwan, emphasised that Charles was rarely in Wales. The English translation of the Welsh lyrics to the chorus were: “Charlie, Charlie, Charlie’s playing polo today / Charlie, Charlie, Charlie’s playing polo with his daddy / Join in the song / Subjects big and small / We finally have a prince in the land of song.” Did Prince Charles learn Welsh? The royal family did make efforts to address this skepticism about Prince Charles as a Prince of Wales. Prior to his investiture, Charles – then an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge – spent nine weeks at the University of Aberystwyth to learn more about Welsh language and culture. He was greeted by some protestors holding signs in Welsh that read “Charlie, go home”. Charles gave Welsh speeches at the university, and the 1969 investiture was followed by a week-long tour of Wales. Despite these efforts to emphasise Charles’s personal connection with Wales, prime minister Harold Wilson was concerned that there would be violence on the day of the 1969 ceremony. In addition to the bombing attacks on pipelines and powerlines throughout the previous decades, on the eve of the investiture two men, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed by their own homemade bomb. There was widespread speculation that they intended to blow up a train carrying members of the royal family, though a subsequent inquest indicated that the intended target was in fact government offices near the Abergele library. On the day of the investiture, 250 extra police officers were deployed. England and Wales: best of enemies? The 1267 Treaty of Montgomery: a prince’s hope for the future of Wales 8 must-visit castles with Tudor connections The longest-serving Prince of Wales Following his investiture and tour of Wales in 1969, during which he was greeted by enthusiastic crowds, Charles wrote in his diary: “Last week has been an incredible one in my life and it now seems very odd not to have to wave to hundreds of people… I now seem to have a great deal to live up to and I hope I can be of assistance to Wales in constructive ways.” In 2017, Charles surpassed the future King Edward VII as the longest-serving Prince of Wales. In the 50 years since his investiture, Charles, Prince of Wales been patron to a number of Welsh charities and makes frequent visits to a Welsh residence, Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire. In March 2019, a reception at Buckingham Palace honouring the 50th anniversary of his investiture brought together Welsh public figures and representatives of the Prince’s Welsh patronages with members of the royal family. Half a century after his investiture, and though his role has not been without controversy, Prince Charles continues to strengthen his personal relationship with Wales. Dr Carolyn Harris is an instructor in history at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and the author of three books: Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada (Dundurn Press, 2015); Queenship and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: Henrietta Maria and Marie Antoinette (Palgrave MacMillan, 2015); and Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting (Dundurn Press, 2017).
NASA’s unknown Welsh hero: the story of Tecwyn Roberts
Few watching NASA’s achievement in July 1969, and even fewer today, might know that at the centre of the successful flight team was a “genius” engineer from rural north Wales. Tudur Owen, the presenter of new BBC programme Rocket Man, tells History Extra about Tec Roberts, a “humble and inspiring” man who earned the love and respect of NASA’s greats…
The remarkable achievement of putting the first man on the moon is often framed as an all-American enterprise. First announced as the brainchild of President John F Kennedy in 1961, the mission aimed to score a point against America’s Cold War foe, the Soviet Union, in the famous ‘Space Race’. So, few people might know that at the centre of the mission was a "genius" engineer from Anglesey, north Wales. Tecwyn ‘Tec’ Roberts (1925–88) joined NASA’s space programme in 1959, following an early career as an aircraft engineer. He was the first ever Flight Dynamics Officer on the Mercury project, which sent the first American man into space, and an instrumental figure in the Apollo missions. For Tudur Owen, the presenter of a new BBC documentary about Roberts’s life, he was a true pioneer. The history of the moon landing: everything you need to know Back down to Earth: the legacy of the 1969 moon landing Was the Moon landing really a great leap for mankind? “Nobody had ever done that job before,” says Owen, who followed in the engineer’s footsteps to mission control in Cape Canaveral, Florida. “As [retired NASA engineer and Mission Control manager] Christopher Columbus Kraft says in the programme, Tec was writing the instruction manual about it.” Roberts was part of an era that saw huge change and “massive technological leaps”, says Owen. When looking at the advancements that had been made within the century – from the “first powered flight by the Wright brothers in 1903, to the 1960s when they began sending men into space” – his achievements are “all the more impressive”. Roberts is all the more remarkable, says Owen, considering his modest start in life. “He was brought up in a little cottage which we visited, absolutely in the middle of nowhere and with no running water or electricity.” Listen | Kendrick Oliver explores the space race that led to the 1969 moon landing and considers the legacy of the momentous events of July 1969 Though a childhood in rural Anglesey might seem incongruous with the technological sophistication of early spaceflight and the perceived glamour of 1960s America, Roberts’s rural experiences matched those around him. “Both Gene Kranz and [retired NASA flight director] Glynn Lunney called themselves country boys,” says Owen. “Tec fit well into this scene, and [Kranz and Lunney] theorised that a reason why people from this background were so adept in this field is because they had practical knowledge and practical problem-solving skills with simple machines and aircraft. That said, it was still a massive technological leap.” <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/07/IMG_8595-e1a51d5.jpg" width="5401" height="3600" alt="BBC Radio Cymru presenter Tudur Owen in the mission control room in Houston, designed by Tecwyn Roberts. (Image by BBC/Rocket Man: NASA’s Welsh Hero)" title="BBC Radio Cymru presenter Tudur Owen in the mission control room in Houston, designed by Tecwyn Roberts. (Image by BBC/Rocket Man: NASA’s Welsh Hero)" /> Roberts worked with leading aviators and astronauts of the day, including John Glenn, the first American man to orbit the earth, who “considered Tec as almost like an uncle figure”. He was at the centre of operations – not only communicating with astronauts but crucially sending them data about the speed, position and condition of the spacecraft. He is also credited with coining the phrase ‘A-OK’ to mean ‘in perfect working order’. As well as being regarded as an engineering genius, says Owen, his colleagues remember Roberts with huge fondness. “He was a very humble man, apparently. He shunned the limelight and that possibly explains why he’s not as well-known as we think he should be.” “I hope that the programme will help young people all over the world from all backgrounds to realise that you can come from humble beginnings and make it all the way to the top,” Owen says. “And, as Tec did, take part in what was arguably one of mankind’s greatest achievements.” Rocket Man: NASA’s Welsh Hero will air on Thursday 18 July on BBC One Wales at 10.35pm, and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
Which player was 'kinapped' as he was about to open the batting at Lords? And which item of clothing was 'unsporting' when women began playing the game? We revisit an article from Oxford historian Dr Benjamin Mountford, who shares some historical cricketing curiosities...
Bodyline and 'kidnapping': it’s just not cricket! Cricket contests between England and Australia have resulted in a number of controversies, most notoriously when, during their 1932–33 tour to Australia, England deployed the infamous ‘bodyline’ technique to counter the batting of Donald Bradman. The tactic saw bowlers bowling the ball directly at the batsman's body. “When Douglas Jardine unleashed his hostile fast attack of Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, who bowled short on and outside the line of the leg stump, there was outrage… The cost to England's image was catastrophic,” says ESPN. One of the great controversies of the Victorian age was the ‘kidnapping’ of the Australian player Billy Midwinter by WG Grace. About to open the batting for Australia at Lords, Midwinter was bundled into a cab by Grace and taken to play for Gloucestershire at the Oval. When his Australian teammates hopped into their own cab and set off in pursuit, an unseemly argument took place outside the ground, with Grace branding the Australians “a nasty lot of sneaks”. After several heated letters had bounced back and forth, Grace eventually issued a written plea to “let bygones be bygones” and apologised for his “unparliamentarily language”. Read more about cricket history: Cricket, curry and cups of tea: India's influence on Victorian Britain From bats and brawls to new links between colonies: the origins of Australian cricket In pictures: the history of the Ashes The gentleman’s game? In Australia, as in England, cricket was often depicted as an exclusively male preserve during the 19th century. Yet by 1874, women in Australia had begun to play. The first match between Victoria and New South Wales took place in Sydney in 1890, and in 1891 Rosalie Dean made an impressive 195 and 104 in a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Early female players were advised to secure their hats tightly so that both hands would be free to take catches, while stopping the ball with one’s petticoats was considered unsporting. National competition developed in the 1930s, and the first test matches between Australia and England were held in the southern summer of 1934–5. All of the 16-strong English team, captained by Betty Archdale, paid for their own equipment and passage to Australia for the six-month tour. From the late 1990s, following the ceremonial burning of a bat at Lord’s, the contest between England and Australia became officially known as the ‘Woman’s Ashes’. The state of the wicket There was much talk during the 2015 Ashes series about the state of the English wickets. Likewise, in the 1870s, at hot and dusty Stawell in country Victoria, WG Grace produced one of his less glamorous performances on a field that had apparently only been plowed some three months before. “The ground was in a deplorable condition”, Grace later wrote. “Here and there were small patches of grass, but the greater part was utterly devoid of herbage”. One ball simply stuck in the dust before it reached the batsman. Having travelled over great distances, however, there was little choice but to play on the “execrable wicket”, amid a “plague of flies”. The cricket, Grace confessed, was “shockingly poor”, and the match a “ludicrous farce”. The politics of the cricket pitch Like their British counterparts, many Australian prime ministers have professed a love of cricket and stressed the game’s importance to the evolution of the relationship between Australia and Britain. For the Anglophile Robert Menzies, writing in 1963, cricket was a valuable part of Australia’s British inheritance; a reminder that “Great Britain and Australia are of the same blood and allegiance and history and instinctive mental processes”. During the 19th century, the gifted sportsman and statesman Alfred Lyttelton played four test matches for England against Australia. When he entered the British cabinet as colonial secretary in 1903, however, the Australians accused him of being little more than a disinterested nightwatchman. “Lyttelton has been a pronounced failure,” the Australian prime minister Alfred Deakin wrote in a typical evaluation, “doing less and apparently caring less than any Colonial Secretary I can remember”. Dr Benjamin Mountford is the Michael Brock fellow in modern British history at Corpus Christi College Oxford, and an honorary senior research fellow at Federation University Australia. His first book, on the coming together of the British and Chinese Empires in colonial Australia, will be published through Oxford University Press in 2016. This article was first published in August 2015
From medieval fortresses to dramatic clifftop ruins, Britain boasts countless awe-inspiring castles. Here we round up nine of the best and explore their fascinating histories...
Tintagel Castle Named by 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth as the place where King Arthur was conceived, Tintagel Castle in Cornwall is one of the most famous castles in Britain. The site of Tintagel Castle has been inhabited at least since the late Roman period, and in the fifth to seventh centuries was “economically one of the most important sites in the whole of Britain, closely involved in trade with the eastern Mediterranean”, says English Heritage. Interestingly, after the mid-seventh century there is little evidence of activity on Tintagel for more than 500 years. It wasn’t until around 1138 that Tintagel was made famous, when it was named in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain as the place where King Arthur was magically conceived. 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Scottish history The surprising place where Henry VIII is buried 8 amazing Tudor castles According to Monmouth’s book, an ancient king of Britain, Uther Pendragon, lusts after Ygerna, the wife of one of his barons, Gorlois of Cornwall. The ‘prophet’ Merlin administers a magic potion to transform Pendragon into the exact likeness of Ygerna’s absent husband and that night at Tintagel the pair conceive King Arthur. This legendary fame is thought to have inspired Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III, to build his castle at Tintagel some 100 years later, in 1233. “A cultured and literary man who would have known these legends extremely well, the overwhelming likelihood is that [Richard] built the castle at Tintagel to recreate the scene from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s story and, in so doing, write himself into the mythology of King Arthur,” says English Heritage. Today the ruins of the 13th-century castle offer dramatic views and you can visit the nearby Merlin's Cave. A bronze sculpture of King Arthur was recently unveiled at the site and the head of Merlin was carved into the rock face beneath the castle. Please note that Tintagel Castle is closed for the construction of a new footbridge. The castle will reopen in summer 2019. Stirling Castle The scene of the 1314 battle of Bannockburn and the crowning of the nine-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543, Stirling is one of Scotland's most historically important castles. Sitting atop the volcanic crag of Castle Hill, surrounded by steep cliffs, Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times and several murders have taken place within its walls, including that of William, 8th Earl of Douglas, who in February 1452 was stabbed to death at the command of James II of Scotland. The first record of Stirling Castle dates from around 1110, when King Alexander I dedicated a chapel there. The castle was seen to be of great strategic importance thanks to its position near the border of Highland and Lowland Scotland, says BBC iWonder. Consequently, in the spring of 1314 Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland, laid siege to Stirling Castle, which was then held by English forces. In retaliation Edward II, son of Edward I, marched north with an army to relieve the siege – the ensuing battle of Bannockburn, fought on 23 and 24 June, took place within sight of Stirling Castle. The infant Mary was crowned Queen of Scots in Stirling’s Chapel Royal in 1543. The only child of James V of Scotland and his French wife, Mary of Guise, Mary was betrothed to Henry VIII's son, Edward, amid tensions between English and Scottish powers. However, Mary’s Catholics guardians opposed this betrothal and took the young Mary to Stirling Castle, breaking the agreement. Henry responded by attacking Scotland, ordering a series of violent raids that later became known as ‘The Rough Wooing’. In recent years the castle grounds have been used for open-air concerts performed by the likes of Bob Dylan and R.E.M, and every year the castle hosts Stirling’s Hogmanay celebrations [on New Year’s Eve], which are broadcast live on television. Cardiff Castle Commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1081, Cardiff Castle was built on the site of a Roman fort, originally in wood. The castle was involved in a number of conflicts between Anglo-Normans and the Welsh and in 1404 was stormed by Welshman Owain Glyndŵr, who over the course of six years tried – ultimately unsuccessfully – to rebel against the English rule of Wales. Cardiff Castle changed hands multiple times following the Wars of the Roses and eventually became property of the Crown. In 1495 Henry VII revoked the castle’s Marcher lordship status [which allowed specific rights for Marcher lords – nobles appointed by the king of England to guard the border, known as the Welsh Marches, between England and Wales – exercised to some extent independently of the king] bringing the castle and its surrounding territories under English law as the County of Glamorgan. 12 facts about the Wars of the Roses Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses? (exclusive to The Library) Cardiff Castle was badly damaged during the English Civil War, being passed back and forth between the rival armies. The castle became Bute property in 1776 through the marriage of Charlotte Jane Windsor to Lord Mountstuart, who later became the 1st Marquess of Bute. The Bute family “brought power and prosperity to Cardiff, which they turned from a sleepy backwater into one of the greatest coal exporting ports in the world,” says Cardiff Castle. “They transformed the Castle into the gothic fantasy we see today, as well as revealing the castle's Roman past.” In the 1770s 'Capability' Brown and his son-in-law, Henry Holland, were employed to landscape the castle grounds and modernise the lodgings. In the years that followed the castle itself was renovated and expanded, with the clock tower, guest tower, library and banqueting hall being added in the late 19th century. In 1947 the castle was given to the people of Cardiff by the 5th Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart. Today visitors can explore the richly decorated castle apartments, a 12-sided Norman keep and tunnels within the castle walls that were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War. Carrickfergus Castle Possibly the most famous castle in Northern Ireland, Carrickfergus has been the setting of many defining moments in Irish history. Moated by the sea on three sides, the castle is situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, on the northern shore of Belfast Lough. Built on the orders of the Anglo-Norman knight John De Courcy soon after his 1177 invasion of Ulster, Carrickfergus was the only English stronghold north of 'The Pale' in the Middle Ages (that is, the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government). For many years the castle commanded Carrickfergus Bay (later known as Belfast Lough) and has changed hands multiple times, from the Normans to the Scots and then the English, after King John laid siege to it in 1210. Listen | Professor Nicholas Vincent discusses the life and reign of the infamous 13th-century monarch King John, whose reign saw military disasters abroad and the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215 The castle was besieged for more than a year in May 1315 by Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish king Robert, and during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 became a refuge for fleeing Protestants. Having changed hands throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Carrickfergus again found itself at the heart of politics in 1689 when it was captured in the weeklong Siege of Carrickfergus. As the northern rebellion against James II's rule grew, the Jacobite garrison of Carrickfergus had become a refuge for Catholic inhabitants of the region. In 1711, Carrickfergus Castle saw the last witchcraft trial in Ireland. There, eight local women were put on trial after a girl named Mary Dunbar accused them of bewitching her. The women were convicted and sentenced to a year in prison and four sessions in the pillory. Carrickfergus was also involved – albeit in a minor capacity – in the American War of Independence: in 1778 American privateer John Paul Jones, one of the founding fathers of the American Navy, lured HMS Drake from its moorings into the North Channel and won an hour-long battle off Carrickfergus Castle. The castle became a prison in 1797 and was heavily defended during the Napoleonic Wars. Carrickfergus Castle served as a British military stronghold and prison from the 18th century until the Second World War and was in constant military use until 1928. That year the state gained ownership of the castle and declared it a national monument open to the public. It remains one of the best-preserved medieval structures in Ireland. From Monday 25 March 2019 the Inner Ward and Great Tower at Carrickfergus Castle will be closed to the visiting public to enable the start of on-site works in preparation for the replacement of the roof on the Great Tower. Highclere Castle The setting of ITV’s Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle in Hampshire is one of Britain’s most breathtaking castles. Established on the site of a medieval palace built during the 12th/13th century, which was later succeeded by a red-brick Tudor house, the Highclere we recognise today was the work of the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon, who in 1838 hired famed architect Sir Charles Barry (best known for rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster) to transform his home into a resplendent mansion. Faced in Bath stone and in the Jacobethan style (inspired by the English Renaissance, with elements of Elizabethan and Jacobean), the new Highclere Castle “dominated its surroundings in a most dramatic way”, says its website. A mahogany desk and chair that once belonged to Napoleon, purchased by the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon in 1821, were positioned in the music room, and Highclere’s saloon, the heart of the house, was designed in a gothic style with rich decoration including 17th-century Spanish gold-embossed leather wallpaper brought back by Carnarvon. The 3rd Earl did not live to see the completion of Highclere in 1878, however (he died in 1849). It is said Benjamin Disraeli's first words upon seeing the new Highclere were “How scenical! How scenical!” Highclere was used as a hospital during the First World War by its owner, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, with the first patients arriving from Flanders in September 1914. The end of the First World War saw Almina’s husband, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, return to Egypt, where in 1922 he funded Howard Carter’s search and excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Back at home Highclere was returned to a private home. During the Second World War Highclere Castle briefly became a home for evacuee children from north London. Today it boasts more than 200 rooms (even the mistress of the house doesn’t know exactly how many) and opens to the public for between 60 and 70 days a year. Highclere Castle is closed on Good Friday 2019. A brief history of England 10 things you might not know about Blenheim Palace – 'the real Downton Abbey' Edinburgh Castle Built in the 11th century on Edinburgh’s Castle Rock, on the site of an Iron Age hill fort, Edinburgh Castle remained the Scottish royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Home to many kings and queens, Queen Margaret (later St Margaret) died there in 1093 and Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to the future James VI in the castle’s royal palace in 1566. The castle changed hands many times during the Scottish Wars of Independence – England’s Edward I captured the castle in 1296 and in 1314 Thomas Randolph, nephew of Robert the Bruce, retook it from the English in a daring night raid. To prevent its re-occupation by the English, Robert then had every building except St Margaret’s Chapel destroyed. Four months later, in June 1314, his army secured a landmark Scottish victory at the battle of Bannockburn. Edinburgh Castle was also the site of a witchcraft trial. In 1537 during the reign of notorious royal witch-hunter James VI and I, Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, stood trial and was later burned at the stake just outside the castle walls. Listen | Historian Ronald Hutton reveals how the witch has been a symbol of fear across the globe for more than 2,000 years The castle also saw action during the Jacobite risings: in 1715, during the first Jacobite rising (in support of James Stuart, the ‘Old Pretender’), the Jacobites tried overnight to scale the castle walls using a rope ladder. However, the ladder proved to be too short and the rebels were promptly arrested. In 1745, during the second Jacobite rising, Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) managed to capture Edinburgh but failed to secure the castle. This was the last military action seen at the castle. Over the next century Edinburgh Castle was used to hold prisoners of war during conflicts including the Seven Years' War (1756–63), the American War of Independence (1775–83) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15). More than 1,000 prisoners are thought to have been housed there before the castle’s use as a prison ceased in 1815 (after a mass-breakout by French prisoners). Edinburgh Castle was bombed by German Zeppelin airship bombs in 1916 and the Honours of Scotland (aka the Scottish crown jewels, which were first used together at the coronation of the nine-month-old Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543) were hidden in the castle’s David’s Tower during the Second World War. Today Edinburgh Castle is home to the Stone of Destiny (a stone that was used for enthroning Scottish monarchs at Iona, Dunadd and Scone), which was brought to the castle in 1996 after 700 years in Westminster Abbey. Dunluce Castle Thought to have been the inspiration for CS Lewis’s castle Cair Paravel in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–56), the dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle sit on the rugged coastal cliffs of North Antrim. Built by the McQuillan family in around 1500, the castle was seized by the MacDonnell clan in the 1550s when Sorley Boy MacDonnell travelled over from Scotland to consolidate MacDonnell territories in Ireland. Writing about Colin Breen's Dunluce Castle: History And Archaeology, the Times Higher Education supplement says: “They [the MacDonnells] reshaped and reconstructed Dunluce in line with contemporary Scottish castles. Secure in their domination by the late 1580s, the family started to add grand design features, building a loggia along the southern curtain wall. This kind of columned gallery originated in Italy but was adopted by powerful families in northern Europe, a sign that they wished to keep up with the times and flaunt their increasing sophistication to visitors.” The castle is said to have been filled with riches acquired by Sorley Boy MacDonnell’s son Randal’s visits to the royal court in London, including chairs of state and curtains from Cardinal Wolsey. In October 1588 a Spanish Armada ship the Girona was wrecked during a storm on rocks near Dunluce Castle. According to legend, Spanish treasure was hauled from boats into Mermaid’s Cave, which sits 25 metres below the castle, and some believe Armada sailors are buried at the nearby ruins of St Cuthbert’s Church. Dunluce Castle still belongs to the MacDonnell family, but it is today managed under a deed of guardianship by the Northern Irish Environment Agency. Caernarfon Castle Built in 1283 by Edward I following the English conquest of Gwynedd, Caernarfon is one of Wales’s most impressive castles. Positioned on the site of a former Roman fort and Norman motte and bailey castle overlooking the River Seiont, Caernarfon was a medieval fortress. Its significant defences included seven polygonal towers, two turrets and two great twin towered gates, all joined by huge curtain walls tracing a figure of eight, and at the other end of the castle is the imposing ten-sided Eagle Tower. While the castle was being erected, town walls were built around Caernarfon. Military historian Reginald Allen Brown argues Caernarfon Castle was “one of the most formidable concentrations of fire-power to be found in the Middle Ages”. Edward’s son, the first English prince of Wales, was born at the castle in 1284 and it became an important administrative centre; the heart of government in the northern part of the country. However, Caernarfon’s political importance gradually waned and by the time Henry VII ascended the throne in 1485 the castle had fallen into disrepair. Caernarfon Castle’s story does not end there, however. It was held by Royalists (supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II) during the English Civil War and was besieged three times by Parliamentarian forces. Caernarfon was neglected until the 1870s, when government-funded restoration work was carried out. In 1969, almost 700 years after the castle’s creation, the investiture of the current Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) took place at Caernarfon. Thornbury Castle The only Tudor castle to have been opened as a hotel, Thornbury Castle in South Gloucestershire once housed Henry VIII and his new bride Anne Boleyn. Thornbury was not designed to serve as a fortress and is better described as a Tudor country house, today recognised as “one of finest examples of Tudor domestic architecture in the country”, says Historic England. Thornbury’s history first dates to 1066, when it was recorded that the manor of Thornbury was held by Brictric, son of Aelfgar. Brictric, who served as an ambassador to the Count of Flanders, lost possession of Thornbury when he rejected the advances of the count’s daughter, Matilda of Flanders: Matilda went on to marry William I of Normandy (the future William the Conqueror), who seized Thornbury and awarded it to his bride before imprisoning Brictric. The Thornbury manor changed hands many times over the coming centuries, being held at various intervals by the crown, and was forfeited at the execution for treason of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, following the rebellion of 1483, says Historic England. Stafford had sided with Richard III’s claim to the throne but later became disaffected from Richard and, with the backing of the exiled Henry Tudor (the future king Henry VII), raised an army of rebels with the aim of overthrowing Richard. The rebellion was crushed, however, and Henry Stafford was executed without trial. The Thornbury manor house was later given back to the Stafford family, however, and was inherited by Stafford’s son Edward, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, in 1498. In 1511 “Buckingham set about building an elaborate palace-castle, which demonstrated the involvement of masons of the highest quality, and was apparently modelled on Richmond Palace, at that time England’s most splendid royal residence,” says Historic England. Like his father before him, Edward was executed – in 1521 on the orders of Henry VIII following an investigation for treason – and the confiscated Thornbury estate remained in crown ownership until 1554. Princess Mary visited Thornbury in the 1520s and Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn enjoyed a 10-day stay there as part of their honeymoon tour in 1535. Guilty or not guilty: why did Anne Boleyn have to die? (exclusive to The Library) 5 British castles with romantic histories Britain's 10 best palaces Having been restored to the Staffords in 1554 (Queen Mary granted it to Buckingham’s son, Lord Henry Stafford), Thornbury Castle fell into financial ruin after proving too expensive for the family to maintain. The castle was owned by the Howard family from 1637 until the 1960s. Now open as a high-end hotel and wedding venue, today visitors can stay in one of Thornbury’s 28 bedchambers, all decorated in Tudor style, including the Duke’s Bedchamber in which Henry and Anne slept during their 1535 visit. Emma Mason is Digital Editor of HistoryExtra.com This article was first published by History Extra in 2016