Morning, Clunkers! Morning, Lifestooshort and Cat!
On this day in 1492, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria made landfall in the Americas. Yes, it’s Columbus Day, the anniversary of the day that Christopher Columbus set foot in America.
In 1537, Jane Seymour gave birth to Henry VIII’s much yearned-for son, Edward VI. She was in labour for two days and three nights because the baby was in breach and died thirteen days later, probably of puerperal fever. She was the only one of Henry’s wives to receive a queen's funeral, and the only one to be buried beside him in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Elizabeth Fry died on this day in 1845 in Ramsgate at the age of 65. She was a social reformer who worked tirelessly to improve the lot of the homeless as well as women and children in prison. On the suggestion of a friend, she visited the women’s section in Newgate Prison in 1813 and found women and children in small overcrowded cells where they had to manage washing, cooking, toilet functions and sleep on straw. Some hadn’t even been tried in court. She was horrified.
Elizabeth returned the following day with food and clothing for them but family finances prevented her from doing more until 1816 when she funded a school inside the prison for the children, and started the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. This provided materials to women so that they could learn to sew and knit which calmed them and could help them find paid employment on release. She campaigned for legislation to improve conditions for prisoners and promoted the idea of rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Elizabeth established a "nightly shelter" for the homeless in London after seeing the body of a boy who had frozen in winter and set up a system of volunteers to visit the poor and homeless and provide help and comfort to them. She campaigned against the slave trade and in 1840, opened a training school for nurses. Florence Nightingale took a team of Fry nurses to the Crimea.
Somewhere along the way, Elizabeth managed to bear eleven children too. Her abiding principles of kindness and fairness sprang from her Quaker faith - I find it striking how often Quakers were at the forefront of social reform - and she was the first woman (other than the Queen, of course) to be depicted on a BoE banknote.
Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, led an anti-Jewish march down the Mile End Road in London (a Jewish area) on this day in 1936. About 100,000 residents petitioned John Simon, Home Secretary, to ban the march because of the strong likelihood of violence but he refused, sending a police escort instead to stop anti-fascist protesters from disrupting the march. In the event, 20,000 anti-fascists turned up to confront about 3000 Blackshirts, and the 6,000 police sent by the Met couldn’t maintain control. Around 175 people were injured including police, women and children, in The Battle of Cable Street.
On this day in 1915 and despite international protests, Edith Cavell of Norwich was shot by a German firing squad in Brussels for helping Allied prisoners to escape from occupied Belgium. Edith was a nurse caring for both Allied and German soldiers with complete impartiality in accordance with her vocation but she sheltered Allied servicemen as well as Belgian civilians wanting to escape from the Nazis. She was actually found guilty of treason; the German Military Code applied to foreigners "present in the zone of war". Incredibly, this was in line with the Geneva Convention and so the UK could do nothing. The US, as a neutral country at the time, tried to intercede on her behalf but Germany refused.
Edith Cavell was just 49. The night before her execution, she said "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." Brave woman.
In 1984, PM Margaret Thatcher escaped an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA when a bomb exploded during the Conservative Party Conference at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. Five people were murdered and 30 injured, including Employment Secretary Norman Tebbit and his wife Margaret, who was left permanently disabled. Maggie re-opened the conference at 9.30am sharp the next day, as planned, saying: “The fact that we are gathered here now - shocked, but composed and determined - is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.” Spine of steel, Maggie.
But today belongs to Elizabeth Fry and Edith Cavell, women of great kindness and great fortitude. Here’s you, Elizabeth 🥂 and to you, Edith 💐