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Issue 13: March 2014
Manchester Historian
Hung, Drawn and Waterboarded History in Features
The Historical Precedent for Independence and for Union History Behind the Headlines
Issue 12: February 2014
What’s Inside HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES 4...Has the Cold War Really Ended? 5...Pacifying the IRA 5...Scandal! The Extended History of the Tabloid HISTORY IN FEATURES 6...Lawyer, Lover, Lyncher 6...From Government, With Love 7...The Ones That Got Away 8...The Heat of the Moment 9...Hung, Drawn and Waterboarded 9...A Well-Respected Hangman 10...A Crime Before Its Time 11...Criminal Minds A YEAR IN PHOTOS 12...1974 HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES 14...The Historical Precedent for Independence 15...The Historical Precedent for Union HISTORY IN CULTURE 16...The Monuments Men in History and Film 17...Lucy Worsley’s A Very British Murder HISTORY IN MANCHESTER 18...Gangs of Manchester by Andrew Davies 20...The Real Sherlock Holmes by Angela Buckley HISTORY YOU SHOULD KNOW 22...Irish Independence HISTORY SOCIETY & DEPARTMENT 23...History Society Update 23...Advice from the Peer Mentors 24...History Updates
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Issue 12: February 2014
A Note from the Editors Last month, we discovered that gang culture is almost as native to Manchester as Corrie and football. Inspired by this, we have delved into history’s murky underworld and uncovered the criminal activities that have marred society throughout the centuries. From crimes of passion to the history of the mob mentality, we have reviewed the misdeeds of decades past, revealing some surprising connections with the crimes we see today. Our fascination, though, is often with the criminals themselves and so you’ll find profiles of everyone from serial killers to ‘the ones that got away’ in this issue. Of course, not all crimes are committed by criminals; we’ve looked at government sanctioned surveillance and even forms of torture to cover ‘crime’ from every perspective. Our theme has extended to History in Culture in this issue. We’ve interviewed the author of The Gangs of Manchester, reviewed A Very British Murder and covered The Real Sherlock Holmes so that should you wish to continue investigating, we have pointed you in the right direction. As in every issue, we have gone Behind the Headlines to reveal the context for some of the most pressing issues of today. We ask whether the cold war has really ended and what the historical precedent is for Scotland being both in and out of union. Less polemically, we’ve reviewed the historical background to the tabloid newspaper trade and considered the process of IRA pacification. Of course, our regular features are ever present in this issue. The History You Should Know this month is the story of independence in Ireland and our Year in Photos is 1974. As usual, you’ll be able to find updates from the History Society and history in Manchester more widely at the back of your issue. We hope you enjoy perusing the sordid tales of transgression our writers have located in the breaks from seemingly endless essay deadlines. As ever, thanks must go to our various contributors and editorial teams. If you are interested in getting involved with the Historian, we have one issue remaining for this year so don’t hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, don’t have nightmares. Enjoy, Alice and Charlotte
Read it, write it The Manchester Historian is a growing magazine seeking writers studying a single or joint honours History degree to write articles, interviews and reviews with an historical slant to chronicle our vibrant and fast-changing world. No experience is necessary; we are simply looking for an interested and enthusiastic team of writers and contributors. We welcome article suggestions too, so whether you’d like to write it or not, please contact us at any time during the year with your ideas. @TheMcrHistorian
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History in Features
Has the Cold War Really Ended? Vivienne Delliou- Daly One could easily be forgiven for confusing the recent events in the Ukraine with the plot of a John le Carré novel published long ago. It’s fair to say that, in this day and age, we are inclined to look back on the Cold War era as a very different time. Our parents’ generation may sometimes look back upon the ‘60s and ‘70s with rose tinted spectacles, thinking wistfully upon a time of vinyl records and phone boxes, when everything was simple and the only thing that people had to worry about was total nuclear annihilation. Nevertheless, for good or ill, it feels like a chapter that has very much closed. It was slightly surprising when the membership of the Intelligence and Security Committee questioned the heads of the UK’s intelligence agencies last November regarding their failure to predict the end of the Cold War. It felt slightly anachronistic to bring up a matter that was meant to have been done and dusted before most of us university students were even born. Surely the select committee should be concentrating on more current issues, such Edward’s Snowden’s NSA leaks, the men and women travelling from Britain to Syria as ‘terrorism tourists’, and whether or not the staff at GCHQ do in fact spend their days trolling through the personal emails of ordinary members of the public. But is the Cold War really over? Recent events would suggest otherwise. The Cold War was a conflict constructed across definitively East-West lines and was marked by a struggle for influence in various so called satellite — a situation that seems achingly familiar in the light of the current crisis. The imbroglio in Ukraine has even brought its own colourful cast of spy novel like characters. Vladimir Putin is a former KGB officer with a black belt in judo who has been slowly eroding the democratic foundations of the Russian Federation. The media are increasingly portraying Putin as a kind of caricature, an avaricious political chess master who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of his ambition to restore the influence and pride of Russia. The most worrying thing about the situation is that this caricature may well be entirely accurate.
diplomats, such as Sir Rodric Braithwaite, have made their way out of the woodwork and onto to the airwaves, clocking up various media appearances in order to share their Foreign Office expertise with the public. It was Braithwaite, writing in The Independent, who was one of the first to criticise the British media’s coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, arguing it is marked by an ignorance of the history, politics and culture of the country and an over-willingness to blame the crisis on Putin. Yet he also drew attention to Putin’s ambitions to increase Russia’s influence with her neighbours. Braithwaite argues that Putin looks incapable of calm calculation. This may be true. However, he has certainly made some deft geopolitical calculations in the past, gaining territory as a result of the Russo-Georgian war in 2008 but stopping short of creating further outrage by entering the capital, Tbilisi. Vladimir Putin seems to be the man driving this crisis, and given his deeply held conviction that the collapse of the Soviet Union was ‘the greatest geopolitical tragedy’ of the 20th century, it is patently the case that the Cold War is still very relevant indeed. Many commentators have pointed out the rich and complex history between Russia and the Ukraine, and the right to self-determination held by the majority Russian-speaking population of Crimea. Others have argued that events in Kiev indicate that the democratic will of the Ukrainian people is to live in a Western-looking state, and to sign the EU Association Agreement that triggered the crisis in the first place. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious resolution to the crisis, and relations between Russia and the West seem as frosty as ever. Only one thing seems clear - that East-West antagonism looks like it is very much here to stay.
It is certainly Mr. Putin who is doing the acting on the international stage. Meanwhile, Western leaders are the ones having to react. It looks like it is very much the case that the West hasn’t yet been able to field a political leader who seems to share Putin’s determination. President Obama lacks the fire and brimstone displayed by his Russian counterpart and our own Prime Ministerseems concerned first and foremost with protecting the interests of the City of London. However, various wizened Wikimedia Commons
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Issue 13: March 2014
Pacifying the IRA Ben Beach On July 20th 1982, Michael Pedersen was a Household Cavalry sergeant, taking part in the Changing of the Guard procession in London’s Hyde Park. That morning, at 10:40am, a remote-controlled nail bomb was detonated. Four of Pedersen’s comrades, along with seven of their horses, were killed by the blast. Pedersen survived and in the years that followed became a national celebrity. However, thirty years later, in September 2012, the formerly proud soldier was a broken man. In a desperate act, having separated from his wife, Pederson stabbed his two young children to death before taking his own life. He had been suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The long aftermath of the Hyde Park bombing had been as brutally destructive as the event itself. The man believed to be responsible for the attack, John Downey, walked free from the Old Bailey last month. Why? Due to an assurance – given in error – that he could not be prosecuted. Downey’s lawyers stated that he could not face trial as he was one of a vast number of IRA suspects who had been provided with an indisputable guarantee that they were no longer wanted by any UK police force. The ongoing appeasement of the IRA is a process which has caused much controversy.
movement, would be granted amnesty. Blair’s government agreed so that to maintain ‘a complete and unequivocal ceasefire.’ However, given that amongst the complex provisions set out by The Agreement there is a mutual commitment to equality and human rights, where did the victims’ families feature in the decision to grant ‘get out of jail free cards’ to suspected terrorists? In light of Downey’s release, Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary under Blair, has stated that allowing ‘on-the-runs’ to go free was all part of the peace deal, and that the conclusion of bitter conflict is always incredibly difficult. To many it seems perverse that the rights of an IRA fugitive were considered, by the British government, to be more important than the soldiers who were murdered in 1982. Yet pacification in Ireland is shown consistently to be a balance of cost and benefit – historic and painful compromises are felt on both sides.
Since Good Friday 1998, the situation in Northern Ireland has improved considerably – it cannot be allowed for The Agreement to be unpicked. But the families of those who perished at Hyde Park, The Good Friday Agreement of 1998, orchestrated by Tony Blair’s and in other IRA campaigns, must have their questions answered. government, was signed by Sinn Féin on the condition that all Those who endured the horrendous horrors of the past are at least 187 IRA fugitives, who were still influential in the wider republican owed that.
Scandal! The Extended History of the Tabloid Megan Dina Garlick The history of tabloid press finds its origins in the chapbooks of the early modern period. Johannes Gutenberg’s 1450 invention of the printing press introduced printing to the Western World, although the first ever movable type printing technology is credited to Bi Sheng, who developed the technology in c. 1041-1048 China. Gutenberg’s western invention remained relatively the unaltered until the Industrial Revolution, when steam power was used to run the press, whereupon the press became a gigantic institution. In the early modern era, however, chapbooks were the main product of early printing. Chapbooks were very popular amongst rural workers and were a medium of entertainment and popular culture, rather like tabloids today. With the Age of Enlightenment came increased readership of chapbooks until the mid-nineteenth century onwards with the mass production of newspapers.
came to denote ‘concentrated, easily assimilable’ information - as is the nature of tabloid papers. The tabloid press today includes The Sun, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail, and is often regarded as sensationalist and entertainment-focused, rather than fact-oriented.
The surge in newspaper printing which accompanied the Industrial Revolution began mostly philanthropically. There were hopes that newspapers could educate the industrial masses on moral and political issues. The War of the Unstamped demonstrates the power that the press could have on national politics. However, with the start of the 20th century came tabloid journalism which has, arguably, since damaged the press’s image as a righteous, honourable and educational institution. The word ‘tabloid’ originates from the words ‘tablet’ and ‘oid’ as they joined to describe medicine sold in tablets. Hence ‘tabloid’
However, as much as certain aspects of tabloid press may be abhorrent, it is in the very nature of tabloids, such as the Daily Mail and The Sun, to be sensationalist. They aren’t a big reading commitment, no Thomas Hardy novel. Tabloids in Britain are just ‘easily assimilable information’, which is often incorrect, repugnant, morally redundant and which provides the fuel for many racist/sexist/homophobic/xenophobic rants by the Katie Hopkins and English Defence Leagues of the British Isles. However, tabloid press’s cheap and entertaining nature has great appeal today and seemingly consistently will do in the future.
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The Daily Mail is currently the subject of a change.org campaign orchestrated by Owen Jones, who is calling for an end to the sexualisation of children by the right-wing tabloid paper. He has highlighted their descriptions of a number of well-known teenagers. Heidi Klum’s eight-year-old daughter has been described as a ‘leggy beauty’ in the paper. Actress Elle Fanning has also been described as showing off her ‘womanly curves’ and as being unafraid to ‘flaunt her curves for the camera’. It’s maybe worth pointing out that Elle Fanning was fourteen when this description went to print.
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History in Features
Lawyer, Lover, Lyncher Gina Castellheim
The criminal justice system is all too easily taken for granted. This form of social control is a beacon to developed societies all over the world. It operates to protect from human rights abuse, whilst maintaining some sort of cohesion amongst citizens on a wider scale. However, we are inclined to see crime in terms of cops and robbers. Yet, throughout history, people have taken it upon themselves to pursue justice, often with tragic consequences. Lynching for instance, still resonates in contemporary society due to its far from archaic relevance, taking place within the last 50 years. This is where the post-civil war Southern United States saw ‘mob justice’, in the form of murdered black men in the name of white supremacy, from the late 18th century through to the 1960s. The brutality that disenfranchised African Americans met with, in order to re-establish segregation, is evidence of how crime left in the hands of locals can lead to horror and further turmoil. Such disastrous consequences underline the irrational nature of people taking justice into their own hands, with a clearly obscured sense of right and wrong. In Italy however, ‘The Mafia’ is an organized crime secret society which goes against the usual ‘herd-like’ nature of mobs. Despite their efficiency, these notorious burglars, counterfeiters and murderers contribute much unrest to society. Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone springs to mind, with a Godfather-esque willingness to resort to violence, minus the tendency to leave decapitated horse
heads in beds. Thus, family orientated mobs restore ‘order’ in the very unofficial sense of the word, and as a result, widespread corruption still plagues Italy to this day. However, unofficial justice can adopt a much more personal justification - in the name of love. Honour killings exemplify the dreadfulness of citizens pursuing self-perceived justice. This is due to love-related issues believed to bring shame upon one’s family, being seen as the justification of homicide by family members. In 2008, a woman was killed by her father in Saudi Arabia for ‘chatting’ to a man on Facebook. From having sex outside marriage to refusing an arranged marriage, these not only result in murder disguised as ‘suicide’, but can include acid attacks and mutilations. Yet damage to reputation should not legitimise savagery, so how is such inhumaneness acceptable? These cases are much more widespread in Islamic countries given their patriarchal nature. Female subjugation in the face of male superiority means honour killings are carried out, whilst viewed an oddity in the West. Thus, looking at the history of lynching and love we see that the rocky terrain of personal bias is best left unexplored, as ‘justice’ continues to be served in twisted ways. However, as history unfolds, we must learn that we are not the cops, and by playing cop we are merely making matters worse.
From Government, With Love Keir Forde For many, the idea of government surveillance immediately sparks thoughts of vicious and opaque attacks on citizens during the Cold War, particularly in the Soviet Union and throughout the rest of the Eastern Bloc. However, I want to consider the significance of secret police as a wider topic and gain an understanding of the broad nature of these institutions in history and around the world, looking at both their role as protectors and reputation as instigators of violence.
out in history due to their unquestionable dominance, brutality and influence.
The existence of secret police or organisations within society is usually related to a minority having authority over the majority, and the desire of that powerful group to maintain their influence. The first occurrence of an organised secret police force occurred in Sparta around the 10th century BC where they were used to repress rebellious factions. Similarly, in Caesar’s Rome, a pyramid of informers enabled persecutions to take place. Consequently, these rinsed people of their assets should they question the authority of the state. In the more contemporary era, the Venetian Inquisition and the dreaded Oprichina of Czar Ivan IV stand out as turning points in the history of secret police, as improved technology made intelligence transmission both neater and easier.
‘Truth never damages a cause that is just’, said Ghandi. This highlights the ethical questions surrounding the integrity of these organisations. It could be suggested that undisclosed surveillance of citizens must surely be unethical, as if the purpose was morally sound then there would be complete transparency. It could even be purported that it is wrong to credit these institutions as ‘protectors within society’, as any evidence to support that claim is locked behind closed Forbes doors.
It could be argued that the FBI and MI5 could be considered as secret police forces; working for the government and guarding their operations with the utmost secrecy. The custom of secret police has become increasingly ominous during the twentieth century with the rise of technology coupled with the mounting scope of government. The NAZI Gestapo and the Soviet KGB are now synonymous with these ever powerful surveillance agencies, and they stand
The organisations themselves, however, rarely keep their existence a secret, often using the aforementioned theme of protection and loyalty to the people as their resolve. For many, this is discredited as mere propaganda. However, there is a common goal amongst the people in the organisations to guard the values they see as being productive to society, with this, the organisations are inherently constructive.
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Issue 13: March 2014
The Ones That Got Away Laura Robinson They say you can run but you can’t hide - but that old adage certainly hasn’t stopped some notorious fugitives from trying. Fugitives can range from bank robbers and racketeers to murderers and rapists, some of whom have previously been arrested and imprisoned but subsequently escaped. It is not uncommon to come across fugitives in the media or in popular culture thanks to their peculiar cultish appeal. But what makes these people so interesting? We’ve all heard of Bonnie and Clyde, the two American outlaws from the Great Depression era of the 1930s, which was itself a primetime of sorts for public enemies in the US. Their story has been told many times in the form of Broadway musicals, films and television documentaries, cementing them as two of the most notorious fugitives of the twentieth century. Their appearances in popular culture since their death have depicted them as two wild young criminals who were supposedly engaging in a sexual relationship while fighting against the poverty they had been born into. It is possible that one of the reasons for the fascination with this unlawful partnership is the reputation they earned during their lifetimes. Over the course of two years, Bonnie and Clyde together took part in one hundred or more crimes. Contemporary newspapers and newsreels portrayed Bonnie as a gun-wielding murderer in her early twenties, at a time when most women her age were expected to marry and start a family.
down, and this may have led to sympathetic accounts, especially as both sets of criminals were operating at a time when it would have been immensely difficult to find employment. Their crimes have been said by some to have resonated with poorer members of society in that they could somewhat understand the motives behind the crimes. Nowadays the issue of fugitives is still prevalent, as the FBI’s Most Wanted List, established in 1950, can illustrate. Looking at the list reveals that armed robbery is still a significant problem; the longest occupant of the list, Víctor Manuel Gerena, is wanted in association with the armed robbery of approximately $7 million, in a crime somewhat reminiscent of John Dillinger’s exploits. Individuals are usually only removed from the list if the fugitive is captured, dies, or the charges against them are dropped. It is clear that fugitives have endured throughout history; June 17th 2013 saw the list reach the milestone of having listed 500 fugitives over the years, and it is clearly still a very real problem.
Although it has since been considered likely that their contemporary portrayals in newspapers were inaccurate, particularly in the case of Bonnie, their reputation grew into a cultish celebrity legend. The historian Jeff Guinn has stated that this was influenced in part by the infamous group of photos found by police at one of their abandoned hideouts in Joplin, Missouri. The photos in question depicted the pair in playful poses while carrying pistols and rifles and ensured their notoriety across the country. Guinn also suggests that their ‘illicit sex’ was the trademark that led to their enduring legend. Bonnie and Clyde were killed in an ambush in Louisiana on 23rd May, 1934 having evaded the law for approximately two years. Interestingly, the infamous bank robber John Dillinger was killed in Illinois two months after Bonnie and Clyde following a yearlong chase by police. Dillinger has been considered the most notorious outlaw of the Great Depression era and has remained in popular culture in recent years, the most notable example being the 2009 film Public Enemies in which Dillinger, the lead character, is portrayed by Johnny Depp. Dillinger’s influence on American law is apparent in that bank robbery was not considered a federal crime at the time that Dillinger and his gang were operating and only became so in the year that Dillinger was killed. This allowed them to escape across state lines without police officers being able to follow them. It is notable that the FBI, then named the ‘Division’, was able to identify all of the suspects using fingerprint matching technology and subsequently Bonnie and Clyde in March 1933. Wikimedia Commons issued nationwide bulletins to aid in their search. His enduring cult popularity may be attributed to the fact that Dillinger was able to rob banks of tens of thousands of dollars and subsequently escape with the money despite several close run-ins with the police. As well as this, a similarity between both Dillinger’s case and the case of Bonnie in Clyde is the way they were ultimately dealt with. In both cases the suspects were ambushed and gunned @TheMcrHistorian
21-30 March 2014 See pages 19, 21 and 23 for a taster of What’s On during the final weekend Page 7
History in Features
The Heat of the Moment Katherine Almond The 14th Century poem Inferno commits to hell the adulterous lovers, Francesca and Paolo, by the hand of her husband Giovanni. Their violent death in the name of love is typical of a crime of passion or crime passionnel (from the French). Although these crimes have typically been associated with France, they have always been prevalent in most societies in history and in the present day. The perpetrators of crime passionnel were often acquitted, adding to the intrigue and public fascination with the cases, which still exists today. Moreover, contrary to America, in France men were more often acquitted than women, except in rare examples such as the Caillaux Case.
production. Blaming media images seems a little far-fetched. Far from being an indicator of disintegrating society, crimes of passion are a much more personal affair. Nevertheless defence pleas have used ‘temporary insanity’,which Daniel Sickles first filed in 1859. Sickles shot his wife’s lover, Philip Barton Key in Lafayette Park. His defense told the jury that he was driven insane by his wife’s infidelities and he was later acquitted of his crime of passion.
Sickles was involved in a number of personal scandals. He escorted June 20, 1914: The threat of war was brewing in the Balkans and a known prostitute into the New York State Assembly Chambers the French public were fixated on the murder of Gaston Calmette, and also reportedly took her to England, presenting her to Queen editor of Le Figaro by Madame Henriette Caillaux. Victoria under an alias, whilst leaving his pregnant wife at home. Afterwards, attempting to repair his public image, he was active Joseph Caillaux was appointed prime minister of France in 1911, in raising volunteers in New York at the outbreak of the Civil War. but was subsequently ousted after being accused of being too He was appointed Colonel but ended his career in disgrace by accommodating to the Germans. Being the leader of the radicals, disobeying orders at the battle of Gettysburg, and putting the Union he was under constant attack from the right. Furthermore, Caillaux army in jeopardy. had been relatively indiscreet in his personal life, displaying his mistresses around as a bachelor. He also continued his secret love Acquittal for crimes of passion has been a feature from the 19th affair with Henriette (who became his second wife in 1911), after his century to the present day. Crimes of passion have been intrinsically marriage to his first wife. linked with the love triangle. Moreover in some countries, notably France, crime passionnel was a valid defense during murder cases Caillaux’s opposition to legislation aimed at increasing French in the 19th century until the 1970s. This defense has been thrust into military strength meant he became the object of a major smear the headlines again, with ‘a crime of passion’ for Oscar Pistorius’s campaign led by Gaston Calmette. He threatened the publication of killing of Reeva Steenkamp not being ruled out. Crimes of passion certain documents that would prove Caillaux had been personally look set to hold the public interest for years to come. involved in a financial scandal in 1911, but also private letters. Believing that Calmette would publish secret love letters that would demonstrate their intimate relationship, Henriette Caillaux made the decision to protect her husband. She took a taxi to the offices of Le Figaro, waited patiently for an hour to see Calmette, walked into his office, and shot him six times. Calmette died later that evening. Henriette Caillaux’s trial for Calmette’s murder began on July 20, 1914. She was acquitted eight days later on the grounds that hers was a crime passionnel. Meanwhile Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The obsession with crime and the rise of the murder mystery novel had the effect of trivializing crimes. More common causes were alcoholism, abusive relationships and poverty. In more recent history, one of the most bizarre and unforgettable crimes of passion occurred in 1993, when Lorena Bobbitt attacked her husband and cut off approximately 2.5 cm of his penis, which she then threw across the highway. The jury found Lorena not guilty due to her husband’s sexual abuse. The popular daily press have used crimes of passion to formulate theories about criminality and social disorder. Many have blamed these crimes on a loss of rational control caused by suggestive media images. Video games have been used as a scapegoat in more recent media, more than any TV show, film or musical Wikimedia Commons
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Issue 13: March 2014
Hung, Drawn and Waterboarded James Brannan Although the most common use of torture throughout history has been as an interrogation technique of law enforcement, the practice has been used in many different ways over the years, with other purposes of torture found in inducing public terror, a means of reform, and most uncommonly, as satisfying sadistic pleasure.
‘hanging, drawing and quartering’, by which a victim would be dragged through the streets by a horse, hung until just before the point of death and then disembowelled and beheaded before their body was cut into quarters, were carried out publically to insight fear into others who dared to cross the establishment.
During the period of antiquity, interrogation was seen to be the most popular form of torture, especially in ancient Greece and Rome, and until the 2nd century AD, torture was only used on slaves, as it was the general consensus that a slave couldn’t be trusted to voluntarily reveal the truth, and were thought to be incapable of lying under torture. It was in this period that the ‘breaking wheel’ was invented, whereby the victim would be stretched out onto a wooden wheel and an iron bar would be used to break each of their limbs until they succumbed and admitted to whatever they were accused of.
One of the most infamous torture devices that many associate with this period is the rack, a rectangular wooden frame fit with ropes and wheels which would stretch the victim, breaking bones and dislocating joints, sometimes adding inches to an individual’s height from the sheer pressure it exerted on their bodies. The most infamous confession stretched out of an individual via this means is Guy Fawkes’ role in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, however this was more used to prove his guilt rather than as an initial confession, and it was 35 years later in around 1640 that torture was to be abolished in England.
In medieval and early modern Europe, torture was permitted by law only if there was already half-proof against the accused, however such ‘proof’ was subjective, and so it was common practice for evidence to be planted in order to allow for torture and to achieve a confession, be the individuals guilty or not. In this period torture was usually conducted in secret, in underground dungeons, yet contradictorily torturous executions such as the grizzly act of
Unfortunately, even though the de-jure outlawing of torture has long since passed in most of the western world, the practice continues to occur in secret even to this day, with the waterboarding of suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay by the CIA being a source of many human rights protests in the recent years, showing that torture is not just a facet of a long-gone medieval society.
A Well-Respected Hangman George Scrafton We have lived in the shadow of execution and capital punishment for almost all of human history. Its practice can be traced to all regions of the world, through many eras up to the present day where it is now practiced in 58 countries. In varying cultures and ages this form of public deterrence has manifested itself in the form of hanging, dismemberment and immolation, with horrific and deadly consequences for those deemed guilty. The significance of the gallows has often been underplayed by the concentrated attention on the victims of the death penalty over the centuries. It is the hangman himself who represents the importance of capital punishment, the embodiment of terror, blood-lust, and an actor on behalf of the state.
the regime in the Ottoman Empire and parts of Japan, gypsies and the maligned Burakumin class respectively, had to endure a lifetime ostracized from their communities for conducting the work that they were ordered and generally expected as under-classes to carry out. Well-respected hangmen they were not.
The experience of repressed ‘undesirables’ in Ottoman Turkey and Japan can be contrasted with the mild respect that the Pierrepont dynasty of executioners commanded in the 20th Century. The killing of the condemned has also historically been carried out professionally by the police force or armed forces, men who had earned trust and respect for their role in defending the state. The killings performed in post-Revolutionary France illustrate an History provides a smorgasbord of reasons as to why a given especially gory example of this in history. regime might want to provide tacit licensure to killing. Explanations range from repressing dissenting elements to upholding systems Nevertheless, in highlighting this discrepancy it is important to of retributive justice, but a common denominator in most forms note the commonality amongst all executioners - that they play of capital punishment is an executioner who is, for the most part, a role. The executioner, whether respected or denigrated, acts independent of the governing body whilst carrying out killings at independently of him or herself to lessen the burden of shame on their behest. The ordeal of the hangman is often portrayed, perhaps the regime itself. The state kills and intimidates vicariously through accurately, as an internal wrestling match between morality and the looming figure of the hangman and not the potentially morally justice. However, depending on the context of the execution, the compromised individual himself. In this sense, the wooden frame of reality of the job for the executioner can evidently be seen as more the gallows becomes a stage on which the executioner performs to harrowing. The treatment of people enlisted to do the dirty work of his greatest ability, independent of any moral compass. @TheMcrHistorian
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History in Features
A Crime Before Its Time Helen Chapman Belgium achieved a definitive moment in the changing understanding of suicide when it legalised euthanasia with a vote of 86-44 in parliament last month. Euthanasia in Belgium, which has been legal for the past 12 years, has now been extended to include children, advocating ‘the right to die’ for all ages.
homosexual rights generally trend towards liberalism, the Ugandan president recently signed a law that imposes a 14 year prison sentence for homosexual acts. In Malaysia, Mr Anwar, who was leader of the opposition movement, has been charged with sodomy and corruption and given a 6 year jail term for abuse of power. Russia passed a law imposing heavy fines against ‘gay propaganda’ or providing information about homosexuality to people under the age of 18. President Putin claimed ‘we have a ban on promoting homosexuality and paedophilia among minors’, striking resonance with the 19th century British laws against sodomy by linking it to the corruption of the young.
This radical debate over euthanasia split many politicians, paediatricians and other professionals in Belgium. Opposition was led by the Catholic Church, with Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard arguing that children are not expected to make important decisions on economic or emotional issues, so why ‘the right to die’? In spite of this, opinion polls have suggested broad support for the changes in Belgium, which is a majority Catholic country. ‘The right to love’ shows how the definition of crime changes through time due to differing social attitudes and an increased public The conditions of the law show that to proceed with a case of understanding of issues. The fight for a pro-choice attitude to love, euthanasia, each proposal has to be agreed by a treating physician and the shift in what is seen as acceptable, echoes the changes and a second opinion. Children will also have to be interviewed by made in pro-choice attitudes to life and death. The debates over a paediatric psychiatrist or psychologist who must determine that abortion in the USA also represent the stigma attached to ending a the child processes ‘the capacity of discernment’. The importance life ‘unnaturally’, hindering the progress of rights to abortion. Human of consent is crucial here; some believe a child is not able to and civil rights activists fight for quality of life across a broad range give discernment, leaving it as a largely subjective assessment, of issues, where, in some cases, removing the crime also removes especially as there are no age limits set in the new law. It is also the idea of ‘sin’ and stigma attached to these life choices. unclear what happens if two parents of a child disagree. However, supporters of the legislation argue that in practice the law will affect an extremely small number of children, who would mostly be in their teens. The Netherlands is another country which allows euthanasia for children, with the conditions that the child is over the age of 12 and has parental consent. Euthanasia itself is only legal in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, not to be confused with assisted suicide which is legal in 6 other countries. Efforts to change government policies on euthanasia in 20th century Western countries have met limited success. But will Belgium’s recent law encourage new decisions? The UK parliament is now preparing to examine a bill on assisted suicide in the next four months, suggesting new possibilities already. But what makes a crime a crime? And would euthanasia be viewed differently if it was legal worldwide? Legal discourse is central in underlining the idea of ‘sin’ and stigma attached to all sorts of issues. The ‘right to love’ is another human rights issue which has been fought over worldwide. Interracial marriage only became legal in parts of the USA after the 1967 Supreme Court ruling that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional after the campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Before this, anti-miscegenation laws played a large role in defining racial identity and enforcing racial hierarchy in the USA. Additionally, the gay rights movement is now making advances in the 21st century. The laws against sodomy in England made slow changes through the centuries; its punishment gradually changed from death to imprisonment and then hard labour. Ignorance about homosexuality led some to believe that sodomy was an act of an older man seducing an innocent child. Homosexual activity has only been legal in England and Wales since 1967. However, although this is now history for the UK, LGBT rights remain non-existent in many countries worldwide today. Change does not only happen in one direction. Although in the UK
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Oscar Wilde on trial for sodomy and gross indecency in 1895. Wikimedia Commons
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Issue 13: March 2014
Criminal Minds Evie Hull ‘The Monster of the Andes’, ‘The Butcher of Rostov’, ‘The Wolf of Moscow’, The ‘Rippers’, Jack, Camden and Yorkshire. Serial killers, the very embodiment of brutality, bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses of the baying public like no other criminal type. Throughout history, serial killers have been sensationalised, their crimes detailed in explicit detail and even their nicknames are generated to invoke fear and panic. Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed, the ‘Blood Lady’, is perhaps one of the most prolific killers in history. Born in Hungary in 1560, her years from 1590-1610 saw a murder spree arguably still unrivalled in ferocity and scale. A true narcissist, she is rumoured to have tortured and murdered as many as 650 young women and bathed in their blood to enhance her beauty. Practices such as beating, burning, starving and the insertion of needles into the victims’ bodies were all noted by the court when her aides were tried for murder. Hundreds of bodies were found in her palatial home when raided, and as a consequence, she was walled up for the remainder of her life in the confines of her killing fields - her own room. She became a legend upon publication of her story in the 1700s; although her sadism was well-documented, subsequent exaggeration resulted in speculation that she was a vampire. This culminated in comparisons with Vlad the Impaler, an influence on the modern-day Dracula we all know.
show similar to Blind Date - The Dating Game - and won. Despite only being prosecuted for eight murders due to a lack of evidence, Alcala has been compared to Ted Bundy in terms of ferocity and scale. His trial has continued for over thirty years; he was convicted for three additional murders in 2010. Perhaps even more chilling are cases of sanctioned, yet brutal, murder. Souflikar, a ‘gardener’ (executioner) during the Ottoman Empire, was credited with the execution of 5,000 individuals. Rejecting traditional methods of hanging or beheading, Souflikar challenged his victims to a race to determine if their outcome would be death or banishment, and then strangled the unlucky with his bare hands.
Serials killers have a significant presence in literature due to the morbid fascination they incite, and perhaps the most famous is Hannibal Lecter. However his real-life counterpart is even more horrific, not least as he was incarcerated for fewer than ten years and is subsequently free, albeit rehabilitated. Nikolai Dzhumagaliev, or ‘Metal Fang’, is said to have killed and consumed over 50 women in 1980 in the former Soviet Union, and was so named for the set of metal teeth replacing his real ones. Much like Lecter, he is also said to have fed his victims to his friends. Similarly, Jeffrey Dahmer is notorious for the consumption, torture and sexual abuse of his The mystery of Jack the Ripper (also known at the time as ‘Leather victims, as well as the preservation of their skeletons. Apron’) has been fascinating Londoners and tourists alike since 1888. The allure of Jack, it is supposed, lies primarily in his anonymity Arguably, however, the most terrifying of all are the killers in the and the shroud of mystery that cloaks his every action. From the medical profession. The horror of killers lies in their anonymity; how number of potential victims - only five have been confirmed - to his then can a trusted doctor or nurse metamorphose into a murderer? motivation and even his name, few killers have reached his level of Hospital orderly Donald Harvey - the self-professed ‘Angel of Death’ notoriety without an indication of their true identity. Theories about - murdered 87 patients. He initially claimed to be ‘easing suffering’ the ‘true’ Jack have stretched from members of the royal family, to before, by his own admission, confessing to finding enjoyment in a doctor (the precision of his murders suggested medical training), murder. And what of Miyuki Ishikawa, a maternity nurse who killed but despite the best efforts of ‘Ripperologists’, it is entirely possible newborn babies without proper care facilities? that the mystery will continue. The horror of the serial killer prevails throughout history, and the Somewhat more obscure is Rodney Alcala - ‘The Game Show central fear is of the anonymous, the everyman, the killer who is a Killer’. Amidst a rampage in California that may have left as many as neighbour, a friend or a passer-by on the street. The silent, invisible 130 women dead during the late 1970s, Alcala appeared in a game and yet ubiquitous criminal.
Wikimedia Commons
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Page 11
West Germany wins the World Cup on home soil, defeating the Netherlands 2-1. Creative Commons
1974 A Year in Photos
Sarah King
Following a hung parliament, Conservative Edward Heath resigns and is succeeded by Labour’s Harold Wilson for his second term in office. Wikimedia Commons
ABBA wins the Eurovision song contest in Brighton with Waterloo, beginning a path to worldwide fame. Wikimedia Commons
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The ‘Super Outbreak’ produces 148 tornadoes in 13 US states killing over three hundred people. Public domain
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Richard Nixon resigns as President of the USA over the Watergate scandal, Wikimedia Commons
The Terracotta army, a collection of sculptures depicting the First Emperor of China’s army is discovered by local farmers. Wikimedia Commons
Willy Brandt resigns as West German Chancellor over the Guillaume Affair, where an East German spy, Günter Guillaume, pictured above with Brandt, had infiltrated the West German government. Wikimedia Commons
Lucy is discovered in Ethiopia. Estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago, the small skull capacity appears apelike whilst the stance is similar to humans. Public domain
The Carnation Revolution commences – a military coup which overthrows the regime of Estado Novo. No shots were fired, but carnations were placed down the barrels of the guns. Creative Commons
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The Communist ‘Derg’ group pictured above, overthrows Emperor Haile Selassie, bringing an end to the ruling line of King Solomon that had existed since 1270 in Ethiopia. Wikimedia Commons
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History Behind the Headlines
The Historical Precedence for Independence Stephen Wears Independence is often the goal of those who feel subjugated by a greater power. Throughout history there are many high profile examples of nations achieving independence, often beginning a domino effect. The two great independence events of the 20th century provide an excellent snapshot of how independence occurs, and the consequences.
Scottish Independence. Autumn 2014 will be a decisive time for the United Kingdom as it faces what may be the greatest constitutional crisis since 1910. Granting independence will have massive repercussions both sides of the border as the division of state assets begins, particularly with the removal of nuclear weapons to a location in what is left of the UK.
Take, for example, the fate of the British Empire. What was once an entity which occupied vast swathes of the world and a quarter of its population was convulsed by independence movements during the 20th century. States formerly under the imperial yoke achieved independence with varying degrees of success. While many of these states retained British models of government, some descended into political and economic stagnation, and even dictatorship.
Successful independence may also have an effect in Northern Ireland and Wales as nationalists there may be encouraged to push for their own sovereignty. But newly independent states must also be aware of the consequent problems of international recognition; Spain has famously refused to recognise break away states for fear of encouraging nationalists in Catalonia and the Basque country.
Perhaps the most successful independence movement would be that of the thirteen colonies which removed themselves from the rule of George III between 1775 and 1783. Over the next two hundred years the United States of America would grow to reach from Atlantic to Pacific, and subsequently become the most powerful nation on Earth. Yet the US was not immune to independence movements either, with the secession of the Confederacy in 1861 plunging the country into civil war.
It must be said, though, that independence in the 21st century is not what it was in the 19th and 20th centuries. With the relentless march of globalisation and the proliferation of super and supranational organisations such as the EU, UN and NATO, coupled with greater interdependence with regard to security and climate, it is likely that independence will continue to reduce in practical importance. However it is extremely unlikely to reduce in its emotional potency.
The reverberations of a second great independence event are still being felt across much of Europe. The breakup of the USSR in 1991 spawned a number of independent states in Central and Eastern Europe. This event also freed many other states from the Soviet sphere, countries such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which were previously afforded only as much independence as the Kremlin would allow. The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968 bear witness to the ease with which the Red Army (under the auspices of the Warsaw Pact) could be used to suppress any inkling of divergence from the Soviet model. But there had been other cases where independence proved not quite as liberating. Between the World Wars, a number of states became independent after the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire following their defeat after 1918. These newly independent countries, such as Poland and the Baltic states, were soon carved up and swallowed by the Third Reich and the USSR. Here, independence had been fleeting, and left them vulnerable to the new, rising empires. Independence, then, is not a black and white term. Even after it has been achieved there are repercussions which can provide diplomatic headaches for years afterward. If we take the example of the collapse of the USSR and the status of its nuclear arsenal, some of which was located in Ukraine along with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, both of which were inherited by the Russian Federation. Russia has in recent years been accused of interfering with the affairs of neighbouring sovereign and independent states most notably in Ukraine in early 2014 but also Georgia in 2008. Many of the former Soviet Republics are dependent on Moscow for financial support and security, leaving their independence questionable. A little bit closer to home is of course the ongoing debate surrounding Wikimedia Commons
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Issue 13: March 2014
The Historical Precedence for Union Tom Oliver
On 18th September 2014 the Scottish National Party finally gets its referendum on independence. Arguments for and against this notion have been going on for months now, and it is difficult to tell whether or not it will be successful. However since the Act of Union in 1707, the notion of an independent Scotland is only remembered through past literature. So would an independent Scotland be able to function? The first time that England and Scotland were joined together in union was in 1603, with the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the English throne, where he became James I. Whilst the two countries shared a monarch, they were still very different nations. Two separate parliaments remained with completely different laws, different currencies and even two different languages. This led to some rather bizarre situations where James I as king of England would ban Scottish merchant ships from trading in English ports because of Scotland’s Auld Alliance with France. Final union was brought about for a number of reasons, but the main catalyst came from the abject failure of the Darien scheme in the 1690s. During the period of rapid colonial expansion, a Scottish trading company was formed and its sights were soon set on forming a colony in Panama, which could provide a shorter and safer route to the Pacific. This mission was a failure, however, due to a lack of preparation. For example, they failed to take into account the large mountains that made overseas trading impossible. But the biggest problem was that the capital raised for the venture was about a quarter of all the money in circulation in Scotland at the time, which greatly impoverished the country and weakened the resolve of Scottish MPs who had previously been in opposition to the Act of Union. After this, whilst Scottish representation in Westminster was limited to about 40 MPs, a great deal of the success of Britain’s colonial ventures was down to the efforts of Scottish soldiers and statesmen. The two countries worked best after their union, and the Scottish economy vastly improved after Scottish ships were given unlimited access to English trading posts around the world. Maybe it is time for Scotland to regain full independence, but the precedent is there for a successful union between what used to be ancient rivals.
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Independence Since 1990
(In no particular order) Belarus
Tajikistan
Kazakhstan
Czech Republic
Kyrgyzstan
Turkmenistan
Slovak Republic
Latvia
Eritrea
Serbia
Estonia
Armenia
Montenegro
Lithuania
Georgia
Kosovo
Timor-Leste
Azerbaijan
Bosnia-Herzegovina
South Sudan
Namibia
Croatia
Moldova
FYR Macedonia
Slovenia
Uzbekistan
Ukraine
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21-30 March 2014 See pages 19, 21 and 23 for a taster of What’s On during the final weekend Page 15
History in Culture
The Monuments Men: In History and Film Lloyd Hammett During the Second World War, Adolf Hitler and Nazi leaders began to systematically remove historical pieces of art from occupied areas. The orders were to transfer the most precious pieces of European art to the Führermuseum, an unrealized museum in the Austrian city of Linz.
There were devastating effects to art, architecture and culture as the war progressed to cities all over Europe, and as countries were being subjected to occupation by both sides. Occupation alone is sometimes enough to destroy a cultural heritage. This has been illustrated recently by the occupation of the Babylon Palace by US troops, followed by Polish troops in 2003 and 2004 during the Iraq war. To make it a site of military operations, they dug up ground to make temporary buildings, causing lasting damage with graffiti on walls and scattering equipment across the site. In the modern day, armies have little idea of why it is so important to maintain these sites, resulting in irreversible damage to architectural sites.
Yet the war was beginning to strain the resources of all its participants, which begs the question: why would Hitler continue this struggle for art? For Hitler, the destruction or removal of art was a means of damaging the culture and identity of his new kingdom, while also creating a blank canvas for his own ideological doctrine. It was with the prevention of this in mind that saw the formation of ‘The Monuments Men’, a platoon tasked with rescuing the masterpieces As we, in this generation, have never truly faced the issues that of Europe from the Nazis. those in World War II faced, the idea of saving this art is foreign to us. We are ignorant of the cause, and for the film to pull an audience This is where the film adaptation of this hugely important moment into its world it needs to cement the reason that these men found it in history begins, with seven men risking their lives for the art of so important that they risked their lives for it. It is a weakness of the Europe. Yet the problems of the film are seen from the very outset film that this importance is never properly conveyed, or given any with the tagline, ‘It was the greatest art heist in history’. The word deeper exploration. ‘heist’ automatically transforms it into a caper, an Ocean’s Eleven style period drama, completely at odds with the serious subject In the First World War, the German army targeted Notre-Dame de matter at hand. Reims because of its national importance. The aim was to destroy something that had no military significance due to its importance There is some recognition of the trauma of war, with the occasional to French morale. Cultural sites like this are the cornerstones of moment alluding to it, but these are always accompanied by a nation’s heritage, and wars have often destroyed these both a comedic setting. Whenever George Clooney’s character, accidentally and systematically. Frank Stokes (a pseudonym for George Stout, one of the real life Monuments Men), looks to raise his men to their challenge, The destruction of war on this level, and on a human level, can alter there is always an air of mirth from everyone else. This discord is the way people look at the world. This was seen no more clearly than problematic when considering the context of the film. in the First World War. The problems after the war were continued to be felt far beyond its conclusion, leading to a change visually to darker fragmented societies. The artists that had championed honor and glory had now been part of the horrors of such a destructive war and there was a move away from such glamorization of heroic warfare.
The real monuments men. Radio Times
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The question of the importance of art is no doubt one that needs answering, but The Monuments Men was let down by its uneven take on the subject matter that allowed little or no connection from the audience. Its best bits came in the light-hearted interaction between the cast members in brief moments away from the plot. In Before Sunset, Ethan Hawkes’ character tells a story of how NotreDame was supposed to be destroyed but the man responsible could not bring himself to destroy something so beautiful. In this smallest of stories the idea of art, architecture and cultural heritage are brought to life with more sentiment than in the whole of The Monuments Men. www.manchesterhistorian.com
Issue 13: March 2014
Armchair Detectives: LucyWorsley’s A Very British Murder Caroline Bishop Recent cries of anger over the BBC’s decision to axe BBC Three instead of BBC Four have been coupled with mass mourning over the loss of television staples such as my personal favourite Don’t Tell the Bride, in favour of BBC Four’s partiality for many a documentary. Yet, through the dense cloud of predominantly military facts there emerges a remarkably likeable blonde with a penchant for hair clips; Lucy Worsley. Curator and writer by day, Worsley’s TV programmes are a mere segment of her historical repertoire. Her TV work focuses on social history from the last 500 years and offers an insight into the foods, clothing and homes of those before us whilst being complemented by her friendly television persona. Without patronising the viewer with dull and obvious facts, Worsley offers a fresh and engaging view of social history. Worsley’s recent three part series A Very British Murder was first aired at the beginning of the year (yet can still be viewed via Bob National) and accompanies her 2013 book of the same name. The programmes span from the early 19th century up to the Second World War, covering some significant changes. Worsley highlights Victorian society’s obsession with violence in the first half of the 19th century before progressing to the rise of detective work and finishing with an investigation into the popularity of the armchair detective. Worsley encapsulates a niche British obsession with all aspects surrounding murder; from the criminal identity, to the violence of the murder itself and to the investigation afterwards. Murder has evolved into our national psyche without us realizing it and Worsley reveals how this happened with the engaging charisma of a talented TV presenter.
special of Sherlock); Doyle was the first and most influential writer of the detective genre. The first of the Sherlock Holmes series, A Study in Scarlet (1886) was both hugely popular and important to the British police force. The methodology Doyle attributes to his Detective Holmes of observation, thought and deduction, was highly relevant to contemporary events in the emerging field of forensic science. The early 19th century saw a broadening public interest in the criminal, encouraged by the increasing number of trials and circulation of the Penny dreadful. Criminals were seen as savages and society for the first time was willing to understand and take responsibility for them. Work on the identity of the criminal sought to explain criminal behaviour through establishing differences between criminals and the ‘average’ person. Advances in photography enabled a photographic identity for the criminal and marked a movement away from 19th century theories of criminality within phrenology. After taking thousands of pictures of criminals the police force had a problem: how to organize and draw a theory of criminality from the mass of data they had accumulated. Here, French detective Alphonse Bertillon’s ‘Bertillonage’ system became vital. He standardized the lighting, frame and dimension of the pictures, as well as recording key focal points of the face to easily distinguish one individual from another. Yet still there was no explanation for criminal behaviour. Works from Frances Galton characterize peculiarities in criminals and Cesare Lombruso tried to establish a ‘criminal type’, yet this physiological identity of criminals is now more associated with offensive theories of degeneration.
The throne of the Armchair Detective can belong to no one other The interests of the detectives moved on from identifying the than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His works remain amazingly popular criminal to crime scene investigation. Observation of the victim could today (just ask one of the 10 million viewers of the New Year’s Day now be stated as evidence in court, the expert observation now overrode the common observation. However detectives had no ‘rules’ of observation or investigation. Hans Gross’s handbook of the Principles of CSI (1893) proved famously popular and established the field of criminalistics. Gross clarified what the fictional Sherlock Holmes seemingly already knew: the importance of incorporating human psychology with scientific observation. The unusual influence of hugely popular detective fiction on the police force is what makes Worsley’s series so engaging. She provides not just a narrative of a literary genre but offers a core insight into the contemporary discussions of both the everyday man and the professional. That she does this whilst being highly watchable can only lead the viewer to think that perhaps BBC Four has the potential to offer entertainment as riveting as BBC Three. BBC
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Page 17
History Reviews & Interviews
Gangs of Manchester by Andrew Davies Charlotte Johnson Andrew Davies is a social historian and senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool. His book, Gangs of Manchester, explores the underworld of the scuttler, violent youths who formed neighbour-hood based gangs in working-class areas of Manchester. Following his lecture at the Manchester Art Gallery earlier in the year, we talked to Andrew about his cameo appearance in a play based on his book, his historical interests in crime, and the importance of history to explore present social issues. Milo Books
How did you come to study the social history of Manchester?
and crime and disorder so I’ve got a cluster of interests there. The other sort of research interest I’ve got is in the social history of leisure and what we might call popular culture. My PHD project was actually on leisure in everyday life, going right back to some things that I picked up in the Robert Roberts book, and I retained an interest in that, and the projects overlap all the time. When I was reading about Manchester and the Salford scuttlers, some of the episodes I was reading about had taken place in music halls so that interest in leisure and interest in crime overlaps in lots of interesting ways. Although you’re a historian of crime, you don’t seem to use the word crime or criminal to describe scuttlers or scuttling in your book, Gangs of Manchester. Do you think scuttlers were criminals, or were they products of their environment, or a bit of both? I think the problem with the word criminal is that it’s so loaded and if we only write about people of the past as criminals, we tend to produce a one-dimensional portrait of them. It’s a real issue if you’re doing this kind of research because lots of the records that we have were generated within the criminal justice system so we are getting glimpses of peoples lives at the moment they’re in trouble.
I grew up in Northwich, 25 miles outside of Manchester. My family I always tried to do the research baring in mind that this young person became very friendly with some of the Manchester families round who was before the magistrates in 1894 was also somebody’s son, about so I developed that kind of affiliation. somebody’s brother, somebody’s workmate, possibly somebody’s sweetheart. Although the sources don’t always give you easy ways I did my history degree at Cambridge in the early 1980s and decided in to finding out that additional information I think it’s important to to stay there to do my PHD. I really wanted to work on a modern look and to flesh out the portraits where you can. The risk if you don’t social history project and I decided that I wanted to do some oral is that you end up reproducing some very negative stereotypes. So history, which I had never done before, but I really liked the prospect avoiding that sort of loaded language is deliberate. of it. I thought I’d better pick a city as a case study and so it was partly a sense that I quite fancied living in Manchester for a couple of years doing the academic work during my PHD. You mentioned at the end of your lecture about the wider community engagements you are involved in, what kind of I was also very influenced by a book called The Classic Slum by projects have you worked on? Robert Roberts. Roberts was born in Salford in 1905 and wrote an astonishing book, which was part special history based on his own The most exciting project that I’ve done was the play Angels with research, part memoir, and part oral history. My mum had given me Manky Faces. The group that wrote and produced the play are that book when I was eighteen and she had grown up in a dockland called MaD Theatre Company, who are based in Moston in North community very much like the one that Roberts grew up in and she Manchester. gave me this book and said, ‘Read that, that’s like my childhood’. Even though she’d grown up in the fifties she said that the book I went along to see a MaD performance for the first time and was captured what it was like. So there were lots of personal reasons for absolutely blown away by it because they styled themselves as a picking the research topic as well as a little bit of an academic way working-class theatre company who write and perform the plays for in through Robert Roberts. other working class people, and I thought that was quite interesting as a way of defining yourself and your intended audience. They clearly had really strong Manchester roots and the first play that I Your lecture at the Manchester Art Gallery was centred on your saw I thought was really hilarious, I thought it was politically very book, Gangs of Manchester, and you painted a rounded picture acute, was absolutely filthy; I hadn’t seen anything quite like it. of your interest in working-class crime in the late 19th century, where do your other historical interests lie? That was around the time that I’d just finished the manuscripts for the Gangs of Manchester so it hadn’t been published yet but I had In recent years my work has been very much in the history of youth this 500-page typescript. I approached Rob Lees from MaD Theatre
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Issue 13: March 2014 Company at a FC United game and said, I’ve seen this production and I really liked it and I’ve got this history book that you might be interested in taking a look at. We ended up working together for a year or less during the academic year 2008-9.
Friday 28
Their two scriptwriters wrote the play and then I was on hand to talk about all the historical detail, work with the costume designer, talk to the young people in the group about the research and where it had come from so they got a sense of it. They coaxed me into performing in one of the films which was hilarious so I played this slightly hoity-toity journalist who’d come up from London and who had been horrified by sights of revelry on the Oldham Road on a Sunday night. They got me typing on an old typewriter in the props department, and they got me bashing out this commentary in time with the drumbeat of New Order’s Blue Monday, which is the soundtrack at the opening. It was daft on one level but it was really funny on another. Do you think history has a current and relevant role in young people’s lives today? I think that if you can present history in a way that students of all ages can relate to I think it’s a really good way of fostering that interest. It’s also a chance to tap into a pride in place, people have a sort of pride in the community that they come from, history is a way of fostering that but that sense of identity is a way of promoting and engaging with history as well. That was very noticeable with some of the younger people in MaD. Some of them said to me very frankly that they really didn’t enjoy history at school; they just didn’t think it had anything to do with them, whereas they could use Angels with Manky Faces and see the historical-modern connections with it. What are you working on at the moment? I’m doing a bit more work on the late 19th century and what I’m interested in now is what happens when young people from socially elite backgrounds get in trouble. I’m particularly interested in an episode involved in the Bullingdon Club in the 1890s, a group of students get involved in something that’s basically window smashing in the quad of their own Oxford College. Had they been young people from Ancoats smashing windows at the mill where some of them worked they would have been jailed. I’m interested in what happens when these elite young men break the law by committing criminal damage. At the moment what’s fascinating me is an intervention by the Lord Chief Justice Clark who’s one of the most senior figures in the legal establishment who intervenes on behalf of these young people saying they really shouldn’t suffer criminal sanction because they’ve got a great future ahead of them and the criminal justice system shouldn’t want to damage that.
For the full list of events: http://www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk/ whatson/guide/default.aspx?d=28+Mar+2014
I’m interested in how punishments are often shaped according to the person as well as the criminal act they have committed, and how punishments are tailored accordingly. I think that social history is useful because these cases have a lot of resonance today, and I think it can help you to ask some difficult questions about the present. Historical antecedence is in itself a way of asking some difficult questions that need to be asked now. To find out more about Andrew Davies and the Gangs of Manchester: www.gangsofmanchester.com/ @TheMcrHistorian
Angels with Manky Faces. MaD Theatre Comapny
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History Reviews & Interviews
The Real Sherlock Holmes by Angela Buckley Amelia Fletcher-Jones The Real Sherlock Holmes is a chronological and detailed account of the life of Victorian detective Jerome Caminada, Manchester’s first Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Superintendent. Finally revealing his story in full, author Angela Buckley traces back deep into the heart of Victorian Manchester’s criminal underworld. The biography begins with the birth of Caminada in Deansgate in 1844, which ironically, at the time, was the hub of crime in Manchester.
I spoke with author Angela Buckley to ask some questions about The Real Sherlock Holmes: What is it about the Victorian period that fascinates you? I find the contrasts and contradictions of the Victorian period endlessly intriguing. The Victorians embraced new inventions and groundbreaking scientific and technological developments, yet they believed in the supernatural and loved nothing more than a mystery. They were innovative, acquisitive and dogmatic, yet at the same time they could be fearful and anxious; there were often secret betrayals, hidden sins and even crime. I also love the feeling that the Victorians are just within our reach: they created our modern world and you don’t have to travel very far back in time to ‘meet’ them.
From a 24 year old officer first starting on the beat in 1868, to getting his hand bitten by a man with no teeth, there was no shortage of drama in Caminada’s working life, as with Conan-Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The famous ‘Manchester Cab Mystery’ was the case which proved Caminada to be the ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes whereby a Manchester businessman entered a cab with another passenger, only to be found dead in the back of the cab by the driver later on that evening. Caminada persuaded a witness to provide damning evidence which led to the accused being found guilty, one of his Who do you consider your audience for the book to be? I hope anyone and everyone who has an interest in history, crime most notable achievements. and detective stories will enjoy the book. My aim was to recount Each chapter flows with ease, charting different cases or years in Detective Caminada’s extraordinary adventures with all the colourful Caminada’s life. My own personal favourite was Chapter 7: ‘Gin detail of Manchester’s Victorian underworld, so that it would be an Palaces, Gambling Dens and a Cross-Dressing Ball’, within which entertaining, as well as informative, insight into the city’s past and Buckley informs the reader of what a typical Saturday night was the life of this great super-sleuth. like in Manchester - filled with excessive drinking, debauchery and violence (not much different from today!). Will you be attending the Manchester Histories festival and The Real Sherlock Holmes not only narrates the life of Caminada, what sort of events will you be involved in there? but provides an interesting insight into the general and criminal I’m delighted to be attending the Manchester Histories Festival and history of Manchester in the Victorian Period. Buckley provides I’ll be giving a talk about Jerome Caminada during the Celebration great context to Caminada’s story, educating the reader of how it Day, on Saturday 29 March. There will also be a tour of the city was possible to rise from financial hardship to wealth in inner city centre, based on the book, at 1pm on the same day, led by Emma Manchester. The book is thoroughly interesting - a leisurely, yet well Fox of Manchester Guided Tours. informed read. After ‘decades of silence’, Buckley has certainly voiced Caminada’s story again. What was the main difference between producing say an article and producing a book? I think one of the main differences of a book is the sheer effort required to keep going, especially through the middle part, where it’s easy to let the dramatic tension slip. I was lucky with Detective Caminada’s story, as his life fell naturally into a clear narrative arc. A very positive difference from article writing is having the space to explore themes and ideas in more detail and I’ve focused on specific aspects of his work in each chapter. There is so much detail in your book, how long did it take you to research? Where did you mainly draw your sources from? The initial research took about six months. I started with Caminada’s own memoirs, published in 1895 and 1901, and then I used contemporary newspaper accounts and court records. The online newspapers at the British Newspaper Archive were invaluable and formed the basis of my work. I also used the court records, prison registers and city council minutes at the Greater Manchester County Records Office, in addition to the archive at the Greater Manchester Police Museum, which was my favourite place to work! Photo courtesy of Angela Buckley
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Issue 13: March 2014 After writing your book, do you now feel some sort of attachment to Caminada? Spending so much time with one person inevitably brings you very close to them and I feel a very deep attachment to Jerome Caminada, despite the fact that we’re not related. Visiting his grave for the first time, in Southern Cemetery, was an emotional experience, and when his real family got in touch from South Africa I had an instant connection with them, as if they were long-lost cousins.
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What is it like to track the history of one specific person rather than specific period of time or an event? Tracking the life of one individual is an enriching and hugely informative experience. By exploring their family life, work conditions and social environment, it’s possible to gain a much deeper insight into the time in which they lived. It can be frustrating though, especially when you hit a brick wall, such as with Caminada’s siblings, but it’s well worth the effort. It’s one of the aspects of my work on Jerome Caminada that I’ve enjoyed the most, as it really does bring the history to life. The Real Sherlock Holmes: The Hidden Story of Jerome Caminada by Angela Buckley is published by Pen & Sword Books, RRP £19.99. To order a copy visit www.pen-and-sword.co.uk or call 01226 734222. Quote 421217 to receive 20% off and free p&p (UK customers only).
Pen and Sword Books
@TheMcrHistorian
For the full list of events: http://www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk/whatson/ guide/default.aspx?d=29+Mar+2014&tags= Page 21
History You Should Know But Don’t
Irish Independence Alice Rigby For the British population in the first two decades of the twentieth century, there were few issues as important as the question of Ireland and Irish governance. Over the previous centuries, Irish nationalism had continued to grow and since 1870 the Home Rule movement had gained increasing legitimacy and support, in both Ireland and Britain. By the outbreak of World War One, the reduction of British power in Ireland was inevitable. The concepts associated with Home Rule will be all too familiar to us living in the increasingly federal UK of today. The proponents of Home Rule, which included William Gladstone, argued that Ireland should have its own parliament with some power over governing the Irish counties, while much power would still be retained by Westminster.
conscription for Ireland. This was met by avid backlash in Ireland, particularly since conscription had previously been controversially linked to Home Rule. While the British response to this backlash was disastrous, the leadership of Sinn Féin in Ireland was guaranteed, with them achieving a landslide in the 1918 election. Sinn Féin was a markedly republican party. On the 21st January 1919 they formed the First Dáil(Irish Parliament), adopting a Declaration of Independence. It was in the shadow of this government formation that the Irish Volunteers declared their decision to treat the British Army as an invading force, justifying their decision to fight back. This was the instigation of the Irish War of Independence, known at the times as the Anglo-Irish War.
While this may seem a reasonable request to us today, Home Rule did not come without its challengers. Despite 85 of 103 Irish seats being held by the Parliamentary Party (alongside one from Liverpool) and Gladstone attempting twice to introduce Home Rule bills, Westminster politics remained obstinately anti-Home Rule.
The Dáil Éireann employed a variety of tactics to achieve their goal. We are familiar with the guerrilla warfare they engaged in, with the IRA being formed in 1919 and the British reprimanding the republicans violently. However, the Dáil also appealed to diplomatic measures, writing to the Paris Peace Conference to deny the British representatives of Ireland and gaining the support of the United This changed in 1914, thanks largely to political engineering. In States Senate to send their own delegation. Following the British 1911 the Liberals ended the unlimited veto of the House of Lords, outlawing of the Dáil, they began publishing the Irish Bulletin to meaning that any Home Rule bill passed by the commons would market the Irish side of the events. While these peaceful measures come into effect within two years. were effective, it was the work of the “squad”, Michael Collins’ group of political assassins that had the most ongoing impact. However, despite this positive movement towards independence, it was during this period that the ‘Ulster question’ first became a Throughout the war of independence the British continued to prominent issue. In the first explicit display of internal divisions support the idea of an Ireland governed by two councils, one in the in Ireland, Ulster unionists formed the Ulster Volunteers and North East and one for the rest of Ireland. As a direct result of this, in threatened physical action should Home Rule be enacted. In May 1921 Northern Ireland was established. The war concluded in response, the Irish nationalists formed the Irish Volunteers and both the December of that year with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty sides began sourcing weapons. It was only the outbreak of World and the establishment of the Irish Free State – the first independent War One that prevented civil war. An amendment was proposed for Irish state. the bill, which would keep the 6 Ulster counties in the UK temporarily. World War One also resulted in the indefinite freeze of the Government of Ireland Act 194, despite the fact it had already received royal assent. It is possible that little would have changed over the years of war had it not been for the Easter Rising of 1916. This insurrection led by Irish Nationalists was the first major rebellion by the Irish for centuries. Key locations in Dublin were seized for six days and an Irish Republic was declared. The British devastatingly crushed the Rising, executing almost all of its leaders. But the Easter Rising is key to events in Ireland as the point at which physical force republicanism came to the fore of Irish politics again. The Rising is also cited as the cause of an increasingly republican population, fervent in their political participation. It was another controversial political decision by Westminster that provided the catalyst for Irish independence. In 1918, in the midst of the recruitment crisis that had plagued the First World War, British politicians proposed United Ireland
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History Society
Advice from the History Society Peer Mentors Update Sophie Praill
Becky Hennel-Smith, Media Secretary
It has now reached the time of year when your focus will primarily be on Long Essay or Dissertation writing. It is also the time when, if you have not yet devised a game-plan for your writing, you should be starting to think about drawing one up.
Hopefully you are enjoying Semester Two, and the pressures of Long Essay and Dissertation deadlines aren’t getting you down too much!
It is important to make a plan, and stick to it, when it comes to writing long pieces of work. This is because time will begin to run out without you realising, and you can end up rushing the writing and editing process, which may lose you valuable marks. Breaking an essay up into smaller, more manageable chunks can really help to make the task a lot less daunting, and may help you to clarify your argument and what direction you want your essay to be going in.
A quick reminder to everyone, if you haven’t yet become a member of the History Society and you still want to, then you can head over to the union website, search for us under societies and click ‘join’. It’s not too late and it’s free so please do register! A lot of you have been asking about hoodies, and we are pleased to announce that they have finally arrived (courtesy of PieBoy). Committee members will be around to sell hoodies in the coming weeks, make sure you check the society Facebook and Twitter for more details.
As well as planning socials, we also have some great careers events lined up this term. We will be holding a careers event specifically aimed at anyone interested in Teach First. Come along for more information about what the scheme involves and how to apply. The event will be held on the 15th May, and we will circulate an email Perhaps the most important thing for you to do when writing a Long before the event with more details. Essay or Dissertation is maintain communication with your advisor. Ultimately, their help and opinions count the most as they will be the Also look forward to a summer employment talk just before Easter. ones who will mark your essay. Thus, ensure you are 100% clear on what they expect from your essay, such as particular sources, Best Wishes, debates and the style you should be using.Don’t be afraid to email them sections of your work – in fact they will probably encourage History Society Committee you to do so as it will give them a better indication of whether you are on track, or need extra guidance. A further important piece of advice would be to familiarise yourself with the History in Practice Handbook. There is vital information in there about the fundamental layout of the essay, and how to best structure it in order to include the key signposts that the marker will look out for when awarding marks, such as making your argument clear. It is much easier to mark a piece of work that is laid out clearly and concisely, and the argument of your essay must be made very early on, in order to help the marker understand what approach your essay will be taking.
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The Peer Mentor Scheme is still here to help you out if you have any questions which you may not want to ask your lecturer. Please make use of your mentors as they will have gone through the assessment process many times before, and will have a lot of experience in writing longer pieces of work!
2014/15 Peer Mentoring Scheme is open for applicants Peer Mentors make up an important part of the History department at Manchester, and they are central to helping first years find their feet. The experience and skills learnt look great on your CV, and can provide other opportunities such as paid work or volunteering at the university. If you are interested in being part of the Mentor team email: sophie.praill@student.manchester.ac.uk georgina.calle@student.manchester.ac.uk
@TheMcrHistorian
For the full list of events: http://www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk/whatson/ guide/default.aspx?d=30+Mar+2014&tags= Page 23
History Updates
We’re recruiting! We are looking for next year’s team. No specific experience is necessary. Roles include: editors copy editors web editors layout marketing We will be circulating application forms before Easter (the deadline will be after Easter) or get in touch directly if you have any specific questions: manchesterhistorian@gmail.com
Issue 13: March 2014
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Manchester Historian
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The History of Great Heists: Smash and Grab at Selfridges
History in the Headlines p.10
1963: A Year in Photos From ‘I have a dream’ to the shooting of JFK p.23
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THE CELEBRATION OF ROYAL BABIES
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Issue 9 October ‘13
Victoria, Queen of Christmas
Corrupting Crack
History in the Headlines p.8
History in Features p.8
Remembering Royal Babies through the ages
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Issue 10 November ‘13
Issue 12: February 2014
Manchester Historian
Manchester Historian
Commercialising Christmas Your Country Needs You
Shop fronts and Christmas Lights through History
History in Features
In Defence of History
What made the Herald Angels sing?
History Behind the Headlines
The history of Christmas carolling Issue 11 December ‘13
For the full list of events and for tickets: www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk/whatson/
History in Culture p.16
Manchester Historian
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Rageh Omar’s Ottoman Empire Documentary