News from West Cork

The red blob marks the village of Kilbrittain, population 216. I went there more than a decade ago for a birthday party which went on for three inebriated days and nights.

Published
Categorised as History

English Baroque

Butterwick House in Hammersmith was built in the early 1700s by one Edward Ferne who added a wing for his mistress, an actress. 

The Tichborne Tattoo

While America was gripped by the Lindbergh kidnapping case in the 1930s, Victorian England was obsessed by the Tichborne case in the 1860s and 70s.

Dinner was rather strained

On February 13th 1935 Harold Nicolson was again staying with Betty Morrow, Dwight Morrow’s widow, and Anne and Charles Lindbergh at Englewood, New Jersey. This is what he wrote to Vita the following day. 

Thor what it’s worth

Dwight Morrow (1873 – 1931) was an American businessman, diplomat and politician. His daughter, Anne, decided to commemorate him by commissioning a biography.

Harold Nicolson

Shortly after it was published in 2004 I was given Harold Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, 1907 – 1964 edited by his son Nigel.

Hallelujah

A few events I went to in November went unrecorded here. The rarely performed five act version of Don Carlo, sung in Italian, put on by Fulham Opera for starters.

History Matters

The Kilkenny Archaeology Society was founded in 1849. The County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society is a relative newcomer dating back only to 1903. There are hordes of other county historical societies and many of them have been publishing annual journals since their inception.

Published
Categorised as History

Dead Man’s Penny

The first I’d heard of a Dead Man’s Penny was by chance yesterday. If you know all about them you may want to skip to a digression at the end of the post.