Blossom Alley, Portsmouth 1923

An unsolved murder happened in Portsea, Portsmouth in 1923. The victim was Mary Frances Pelham, aged 37. According to newspaper reports she was born in 'the north of England'. During the First World War, she moved to Brighton and later to Portsmouth. She was separated from her husband. Mary was a kind woman, especially to local children. She sold herself although she also sold flowers. She was known as Brighton Mary.

On 27 January 1923, a neighbour found her dead in bed in her hovel. The unfortunate woman had been strangled with a scarf or handkerchief. She was also stabbed or slashed with a broken bottle. A neighbour had seen Mary with a sailor the previous night. The navy held an identity parade and a woman picked out one sailor but he had an alibi and was never arrested. The killer was never found.

The public was shocked, not just by the murder but by her living conditions. She lived in Blossom Alley, an alley 300 yards long and only 4 feet wide. Her home was a 'one-up-one down'. Built in the 18th century it was one room over another joined by a ladder. The floors were sagging so the ceiling of the bottom room was 6 feet high at one end and 10 feet high at the other. Five houses shared three outside toilets and one water tap. Following the horrific murder, a great deal of slum clearance took place in Portsea.

Gladys Moss

 Gladys Moss was the first female police officer in Sussex, in 1919

The End of Corporal Punishment

 On 25 February 1982, in a case brought by two Scottish mothers, Grace Campbell and Jane Cosans Grace Campbell the European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools if it was against the parent's wishes was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It was then an untenable situation that teachers could hit certain children but not others so in 1986 the British parliament voted to end corporal punishment in state schools. It became illegal in 1987. Well done ladies.

Arangela Tarbotti

 Arangela Tarbotti was born on 24 February 1604. She was a famous writer who vigorously attacked the condition of women in the 17th century. We don't often hear about her today but in her own time she was highly respected and she corresponded with famous scholars in Europe.

Warrington

 I wrote a brief history of the town of Warrington in Cheshire 

Wrexham

 I wrote a history of the Welsh town of Wrexham 

The Well of Loneliness

 Lesbianism has never been illegal in England. In 1921 an act to make it illegal was introduced into parliament but it was rejected by the House of Lords. But in 1928 a lesbian novel called The Well of Loneliness was banned in Britain on the grounds it was obscene. It was banned in Britain until 1959. In the USA in 1929 the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice tried to have the book banned but they lost the court case.

Quacksalver

 Why do we call doctors quacks? A quacksalver was a man who sold potions or salves that he claimed could heal diseases. He 'quacked' or made a loud noise about his salves and potions.

Stafford

 I wrote a history of the old English town of Stafford 

Killed by a Tiger

 In 1703 Hannah Twynnoy became the first known person in Britain to be killed by a tiger. It was with a travelling fair and it was chained to a staple in the ground. Twynnoy kept annoying the tiger and eventually, it pulled up the staple and mauled her to death.

Chester

 I wrote about the town of Chester 

Wigan

 I wrote a history of Wigan 

Wedding Flower Bouquet

At a wedding, a bride throws a bouquet into the air and according to tradition the woman who catches it will be the next to get married. It was once thought that touching the bride would bring good luck. People also tried to rip off pieces of her dress to bring them luck.

Throwing the bouquet into the air began as a way of distracting the crowd. People thought if you caught the bouquet she carried it would pass on her luck to you. In time, that meant that you would be the next to get married. 

Petersfield Museum

 I went to Petersfield Museum. It's very good. Petersfield was once St Peters Feld an area of open land by St Peters Church. They built a church because there were several villages all too small for their own church so they built one they could share. A market began in the shadow of the church and a town grew up.

The Museum of Farnham

I visited the Museum of Farnham. It's very good. I recommend it to everyone. 

Charles Dickens

 Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812

Women Outlaws

Some of the most notorious outlaws of the Wild West were women 

Dirt poor

 I made a video about a myth about the phrase dirt poor 

Tamworth

 I wrote about the English town of Tamworth 

Lichfield

 I wrote about the cathedral city of Lichfield 

Escape from the Tower of London

 For centuries the Tower of London was used to hold important prisoners. The first was Ranulf Flambard the Bishop of Durham. When King William Rufus was killed in 1100 his brother became Henry I. The new king promptly arrested the bishop for simony (selling positions in the church for money).

However, the bishop escaped. He was allowed certain privileges such as being able to buy his own food and wine. On 2 February 1101, the bishop generously invited his guards to a feast. When the guards became drunk he managed to squeeze through a window and climb down a rope. However, the rope was not long enough and he had to drop the final distance. The bishop was met by friends who rowed him across the river and he then rode a horse to the coast where he escaped on a ship.

Wolverhampton

 I wrote a brief history of Wolverhampton in the Midlands

Sit-in

 On 1 February 1960 four African American men staged a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina after they were refused service. They stayed till the store closed and then returned the next day. More people joined the sit-in the next day. Woolworths was eventually forced to give in, at the end of July. Meanwhile, the sit-in movement spread across the USA.