1.
Sheerness
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Sheerness /ʃɪərˈnɛs/ is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island, Sheerness began as a fort built in the 16th century to protect the River Medway from naval invasion. In 1665, plans were first laid by the Navy Board for Sheerness Dockyard, the site was favoured by Samuel Pepys, then Clerk of the Acts of the navy, for shipbuilding over Chatham. Beginning with the construction of a pier and a promenade in the 19th century, industry retains its important place in the town and the Port of Sheerness is one of the United Kingdoms leading car and fresh produce importers. The town is the site of one of the UKs first co-operative societies, the first structure in what is now Sheerness was a fort built by order of Henry VIII to prevent enemy ships from entering the River Medway and attacking the naval dockyard at Chatham. In 1666 work began to replace it with a stronger fort, however, before its completion, this second fort was destroyed during the 1667 Dutch raid on the Medway. The Secretary of the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, subsequently ordered the construction of Sheerness Dockyard as an extension to that at Chatham, by 1801 the population of the Minster-in-Sheppey parish, which included both Sheerness and the neighbouring town of Minster, reached 5,561. In 1816, one of the UKs first co-operative societies was started in Sheerness, chiefly to serve the dockyard workers, the Sheerness Economical Society began as a co-operative bakery but expanded to produce and sell a range of goods. By the middle of the 20th century, the society had spread across the Isle of Sheppey and had renamed the Sheerness. In 1863, mains water was installed in the town, towards the end of the 19th century, Sheerness achieved official town status and formed its own civil parish, separate from Minster-in-Sheppey. The 1901 Census recorded the Sheerness parish as having 18,179 residents and 2,999 houses, the towns low rainfall and ample sunshine made it popular as a seaside resort, with tourists arriving by steamboat and train. The Sheppey Light Railway opened in 1901, connecting the new Sheerness East station with the rest of the island, however, by 1950, lack of demand led to the railways closure. The Sheerness and District Tramways, which opened in 1903, only lasted until 1917, in 1944 the United States cargo ship SS Richard Montgomery ran aground and sank 1 mile off the coast of Sheerness, with large quantities of explosives on board. Due to the inherent danger and projected expense, the ship and its cargo have never been salvaged, if the wreck were to explode, a 2004 report published in New Scientist warned that an explosion could occur if sea water penetrated the bombs. In March 1960 the Royal Navy ceased operating the Sheerness dockyard, the dockyard closure led to thousands of job losses, and most of the nearby houses and shops in the Bluetown area were eventually abandoned and demolished. By the 1961 census, the population of Sheerness had fallen to 13,691, the dockyard closure also led to the decline of the Sheerness and District Cooperative Society, as many of its members were dockyard workers. At the time, the society was the main retailer. In 2003, the Beachfields Park project was organised to publicise Beachfields heritage, students of Cheyne Middle School and Minster College, with assistance from local organisations, researched the funfair, bandstands, Prisoner of the War hut, boating lake and bowling green
2.
Second Bank of the United States
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The banks formal name, according to section 9 of its charter as passed by Congress, was The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States. A private corporation with public duties, the bank handled all fiscal transactions for the U. S. Government, and was accountable to Congress, twenty percent of its capital was owned by the federal government, the banks single largest stockholder. Four thousand private investors held 80% of the capital, including one thousand Europeans. The bulk of the stocks were held by a few hundred wealthy Americans, in its time, the institution was the largest monied corporation in the world. The federal deposits endowed the BUS with its regulatory capacity, failing to secure recharter, the Second Bank of the United States became a private corporation in 1836, and underwent liquidation in 1841. A national alliance arose to legislate a central bank to address these needs, calhoun of South Carolina and Henry Clay of Kentucky was decisive in the successful chartering effort. The charter was signed into law by Madison on April 10,1816, opposition to the banks revival emanated from two interests. if Congress could incorporate a bank, it might emancipate a slave. Hostile to the effects of the central bank, private banks—proliferating with or without state charters—had scuttled rechartering of the first BUS in 1811. These interests played significant roles in undermining the institution during the administration of U. S. President Andrew Jackson, Government land sales in the West, fueled by European demand for agricultural products, ensured that a speculative bubble would form. When the U. S. Further, it transpired that branch directors for the Baltimore office had engaged in fraud and larceny. Resigning in January 1819, Jones was replaced by Langdon Cheves who continued the contraction in credit in an effort to stop inflation and stabilize the bank, the central banks reaction to the crisis—a clumsy expansion, then a sharp contraction of credit—indicated its weakness, not its strength. The effects were catastrophic, resulting in a recession with mass unemployment. The financial crisis raised doubts among the American public as to the efficacy of paper money, upon this widespread disaffection the anti-bank Jacksonian Democrats would mobilize opposition to the BUS in the 1830s. The national bank was in disrepute among most Americans when Nicholas Biddle. Under Biddles guidance, the BUS evolved into a banking institution that produced a strong and sound system of national credit. From 1823 to 1833, Biddle expanded credit steadily, but with restraint, albert Gallatin, former Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, wrote in 1831 that the BUS was fulfilling its charter expectations. By the time of Jacksons inauguration in 1829, the bank appeared to be on solid footing. Public perceptions of the bank were generally positive
3.
George Pope Morris
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George Pope Morris was an American editor, poet, and songwriter. With Nathaniel Parker Willis, he co-founded the daily New York Evening Mirror by merging his fledgling weekly New York Mirror with Williss American Monthly in August 1831. Morris also funded in advance Williss trip to Europe, for which Willis wrote several letters to be published in the Mirror, on January 29,1845, the Evening Mirror published an advance copy of Edgar Allan Poes The Raven. It was the first publication of that poem with the authors name, the publishing partners also issued an anthology called The Prose and Poetry of America in 1845. Willis and Morris left the Mirror in 1846 and founded a new weekly, the National Press, beginning in 1854 his son William, who had graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1851, resigned from the Army and worked for the newspaper as an editor. Beginning in 1901, it was published as Town and Country and is still in print under that title today and their prospectus for the publication, published November 21,1846, announced their intentions to create a magazine to circle around the family table. In addition to his publishing and editorial work, Morris was popular as a poet and songwriter, especially well-known was his poem-turned-song Woodman, Spare that Tree. His songs in particular were popular enough that Grahams Magazine in Philadelphia promised Morris $50, sight unseen, lines from the poem are often quoted by environmentalists. The poem was included in one of Morriss volumes of collected poems, The Deserted Bride and Other Poems,1838. Morris was friends with artist Robert Walter Weir to whom he dedicated his book of prose, The Little Frenchman. A collection of stories and sketches, the little Frenchman of the title story was the victim of an unscrupulous dealer in real estate bordering Wallabout Bay. Horace Binney Wallace wrote the biographical notice for Morriss posthumous collected works. Critic and writer Edgar Allan Poe acknowledged the popularity of Morriss songs, which have taken fast hold upon the taste. In April 1840, Poe wrote that Morris was very decidedly, our best writer of songs—and, in saying this, Willis wrote of Morris, He is just what poets would be if they sang like birds without criticism. Nothing can stop a song of his, Morris was one of several poets who were gently mocked by Bayard Taylor in his 1876 verse parody The Echo Club and Other Literary Diversions. P. Morris and N. P. Willis, at Google Book Search Woodman, the Deserted Bride and Other Poems by George P
4.
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
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It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas. Soon after his death in 1785, they joined with William Wilberforce, though anti-slavery sentiment was widespread by the late 18th century, the colonies and emerging nation-states that used slave labour continued to do so. The slave trade had been banned in England in 1102, in a 1569 court case involving Cartwright, who had bought a slave from Russia, the court ruled that English law could not recognise slavery, as it was never established officially. This ruling was overshadowed by later developments and it was upheld in 1700 by Lord Chief Justice Sir John Holt when he ruled that a slave became free as soon as he arrived in England. English colonists imported slaves to the North American colonies and by the 18th century, traders began to import slaves from Africa, India and East Asia to London and Edinburgh to work as servants. Men who migrated to the North American colonies often took their East Indian slaves or servants with them, some of the first freedom suits, court cases in Britain to challenge the legality of slavery, took place in Scotland in 1755 and 1769. The cases were Montgomery v. Sheddan and Spens v. Dalrymple, each of the slaves had been baptised in Scotland and challenged the legality of slavery. They set the precedent of legal procedure in British courts that would lead to success for the plaintiffs. In these cases, deaths of the plaintiff and defendant, respectively, African slaves were not bought or sold in London itself but were brought by masters from other places. Together with people from nations, especially non-Christian ones, Africans were considered foreigners. At the time, England had no naturalisation procedure, the African slaves legal status was unclear until the 1772 Somersetts Case, when the fugitive slave James Somersett forced a decision by the courts. Somersett had escaped and his master, Charles Steuart, had him captured and imprisoned on board a ship, while in London, Somersett had been baptised and three godparents issued a writ of habeas corpus. As a result, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of the Kings Bench, had to judge whether Somersetts abduction was lawful or not under English Common Law, no legislation had ever been passed to establish slavery in England. The case received national attention and five supported the action on behalf of Somersett. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England, and therefore the black must be discharged. The decision did not apply to British overseas territories, e. g. the American colonies had established slavery by positive laws, Somersetts case became a significant part of the common law of slavery in the English-speaking world and it helped launch the movement to abolish slavery. After reading about Somersetts Case, Joseph Knight, an enslaved African who had purchased by his master John Wedderburn in Jamaica and brought to Scotland. Married and with a child, he filed a freedom suit, in the case of Knight v. Wedderburn, Wedderburn said that Knight owed him perpetual servitude
5.
Temperance movement
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The Temperance movement is a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The temperance movement began in the early 19th century, before this, although there were pieces published against drunkenness and excess, total abstinence from alcohol was very rarely advocated or practiced. There was also a concentration on hard spirits rather than on abstinence from alcohol, an early temperance movement began during the American Revolution in Connecticut, Virginia and New York state, with farmers forming associations to ban whiskey distilling. The movement spread to eight states, advocating temperance rather than abstinence, the American Temperance Society was formed in 1826, within 12 years claiming more than 8,000 local groups and over 1,250,000 members. He mainly concentrated his fire on the elimination of spirits rather than wine, on 14 August 1829 he wrote a letter in the Belfast Telegraph publicizing his views on temperance. He also formed the Ulster Temperance Movement with other Presbyterian clergy, the 1830s saw a tremendous growth in temperance groups, not just in England and the United States, but also in British colonies, especially New Zealand and Australia. In the 1830s a more form of temperance emerged called teetotalism. This movement originated in Preston, England, in 1833, the Catholic temperance movement started in 1838 when the Irish priest Theobald Mathew established the Teetotal Abstinence Society in 1838. In 1838, the working class movement for universal suffrage for men, Chartism. During the Victorian period, the movement became more radical, advocating the legal prohibition of all alcohol. It was also perceived to be tied in both religious renewal and progressive politics, particularly female suffrage. In 1855, an organisation was formed amidst an explosion of Band of Hope work. Meetings were held in churches throughout the UK and included Christian teaching, the group also campaigned politically for the curtailment of the influence of pubs and brewers. In this period there was success at restricting or banning the sale of alcohol in many parts of the United States, New Zealand. The Temperance movement was a significant mass movement at this time, numerous periodicals devoted to temperance were also published and temperance theatre, which had started in the 1820s, became an important part of the American cultural landscape at this time. The Salvation Army quickly spread internationally, maintaining an emphasis on abstinence, many of the most important prohibitionist groups, such as the avowedly prohibitionist United Kingdom Alliance and the US-based Womans Christian Temperance Union, were started in this time. In 1898 the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association was formed by James Cullen, an Irish Catholic, the Anti-Saloon League was an organization that began in 1893 in Ohio. A favorite goal of the British Temperance movement was to reduce the heavy drinking by closing as many pubs as possible
6.
Mental asylum
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The rise of the lunatic asylum and its gradual transformation into, and eventual replacement by, the modern psychiatric hospital, explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry. This growth coincided with the development of alienism, now known as psychiatry, in the Islamic world, the Bimaristans were described by European travelers, who wrote about their wonder at the care and kindness shown to lunatics. In 872, Ahmad ibn Tulun built a hospital in Cairo that provided care to the insane, in Europe during the medieval era, the small subsection of the population of the mad who were housed in institutional settings were held in a variety of settings. Porter gives examples of such locales where some of the insane were cared for, a few towns had towers where madmen were kept. Dave Sheppards Development of Mental Health Law and Practice begins in 1285 with a case that linked the instigation of the devil with being frantic and mad. In Spain, other institutions for the insane were established after the Christian Reconquista, facilities included hospitals in Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Barcelona. In London, England, The Priory of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, at the start of the fifteenth century, it housed six insane men. The level of specialist institutional provision for the care and control of the insane remained extremely limited at the turn of the 18th century, madness was seen principally as a domestic problem, with families and parish authorities in Europe and England central to regimens of care. In the late 17th century, this began to change. Inmates who were deemed dangerous or disturbing were chained, but Bethlem was an open building. Its inhabitants could roam around its confines and possibly throughout the neighborhood in which the hospital was situated. In 1676, Bethlem expanded into newly built premises at Moorfields with a capacity for 100 inmates, A second public institution was opened in 1713. It was a facility which generally housed between twenty and thirty inmates. In 1728 at Guys Hospital, London, wards were established for chronic lunatics, a similar expansion took place in the British American colonies. The Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in Philadelphia in 1751 as a result of work begun in 1709 by the Religious Society of Friends, a portion of this hospital was set apart for the mentally ill, and the first patients were admitted in 1752. Virginia is recognized as the first state to establish an institution for the mentally ill, references to such institutions are limited for the seventeenth-century but it is evident that by the start of the eighteenth-century, the so-called trade in lunacy was well established. Daniel Defoe, an ardent critic of private madhouses, estimated in 1724 that there were fifteen then operating in the London area, Defoe may have exaggerated but exact figures for private metropolitan madhouses are available only from 1774, when licensing legislation was introduced, sixteen institutions were recorded. At least two of these, Hoxton House and Woods Close, Clerkenwell, had been in operation since the seventeenth century, by 1807, the number had increased to seventeen
7.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
8.
Solomon Hirschell
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Rabbi Solomon Hirschell was the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, 1802-42. He is best remembered for his attempt to stop the spread of Reform Judaism in Britain by excommunicating its leaders. His name is also spelt Hirschel and Herschell and his father was a Polish Jew from Galicia, Hirschel Levin, Chief Rabbi of London and Berlin and a friend of Moses Mendelssohn. His older brother was the Talmudist Saul Berlin and he died on 31 October 1842, and was buried in the Alderney Road cemetery, in Londons East End. Solomon Hirschel - High Priest of the Jews History of the Great Synagogue, Cecil Roth, Chapter XIII, Rabbi Solomon Hirschell and his contemporaries Rubinstein, Hilary L. Hirschell, Solomon
Edwards, Frederick George (1901). "Russell, Henry (1812-1900)". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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