Private William Ainger Howman, 1895–1916 AS WE HAVE learned in the previous post ― From the Farm to the Veldt ― Private Robert James Howman stepped off a train at Fakenham station in December, 1901 and returned home after almost seventeen years in the service of the Crown. His military career had carried him to …
The Military Service of a Victorian Soldier IN DECEMBER 1884, eighteen-year-old Robert James Howman left his home village of Great Ryburgh in Norfolk and travelled to Great Yarmouth, where he enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment. Like many young labourers of Victorian rural England, he sought opportunities beyond those offered by agricultural life. What followed was …
The Evolution of a Word 'Don't be silly' FEW PHRASES CAN be more familiar to parents, teachers, and grandparents than the gentle reproach: 'Don't be silly.' We say it almost without thinking. A child may be climbing where they shouldn't, making fanciful claims, or simply being frivolous at an inconvenient moment, and out comes the …
Remembering Steve Harley WHEN STEVE HARLEY emerged in the early 70s it was into an era awash with glitter, swagger and carefully-manicured personas — clichéd archetypes fashioned by record label executives. Taking the stage among the ranks of pre-packaged conformity, this newcomer occupied a space slightly apart from the mainstream. Furthermore, when he materialised in …
Wills and Continuity in the Sandall Family WHEN WE THINK of inheritance in eighteenth-century rural England, we often imagine little more than the passing of possessions after death. But the wills left behind by members of the Sandal family of Rippingale suggest something altogether more deliberate. These highly-informative documents reveal ordinary villagers thinking strategically about …
The Story of Jack Wand MBE I WAS BORN in the same south Lincolnshire village in which Jack Wand opened his first shop. As a child, I must have passed that modest storefront countless times — on my way to junior school, or when accompanying my mum on errands to the nearby Co-op — never …
IN THE COURSE of tracing my paternal family through the fenland parishes of south Lincolnshire, one crude, recurrent declaration stood out above all others: Occupation: Ag-Lab. Two blunt syllables. Generation after generation, the same entry appears in parish registers and census returns. Agricultural labourer. Not farmer. Not landowner. Not even cottager. But labourer. It is …
When a Song Disrupts Official Narratives SOME SONGS RESONATE with us through life—songs that entertain, comfort, or simply remind us who we once were. There are some, however, that do something more unsettling: they ask us to confront uncomfortable truths. Singer/songwriter, Harvey Andrews wrote one such song in 1972. It was called 'Soldier.' Its simple, …
A Warship for Uncertain Times IN MY PREVIOUS post — 'May They Both Flourish' — I looked at what it was to be sailor aboard the Royal Navy's County Class cruiser, HMS Shropshire, during World War Two. Here, in a post that will draw a curtain on the series covering my father's wartime naval experience, …
A Sailor's Life Aboard HMS Shropshire & the First Arctic Convoy IN MY RECENT post, “Wet, Cold and Always Tired,” I explored the harsh realities faced by ratings who served aboard Britain’s corvettes during the Second World War. Now, I turn to a very different warship — the Royal Navy’s County-class heavy cruiser, HMS Shropshire. …
RAVEN MOON 