2012, 1944, 1913

I want to jump back in time twice today: first let’s go back to 1944. John Betjeman was broadcasting to a war-time audience, and had in fact been asked to talk about how paper rationing was affecting publishing and reading habits. (The text of the broadcast can be found in the book pictured here: Trains and buttered toast.) Instead Betjeman encouraged people to re-read the older books thay already owned, launching into an enthusiastic review of his favourite Edwardian literature: the detective story Trent’s last case by E.C. Bentley and Red pottage by Mary Cholmondeley (about “family life and mental cruelty amid the lush and uncaring landscape of Shropshire”.) Betjeman listed his favourite Edwardian authors as: Miss S. Macnaughtan, Booth Tarkington, Q, Leonard Merrick. No, never heard of them. But read Betjeman’s talk and you may find, as I did, that you can’t wait to try them. Most striking is the way Betjeman can take you back to Edwardian times in a jump. Ready?

“Think yourself back into a time when elk horns were a feature of every large entrance hall and a flowered paper was a feature of every small one, when electric lights were in ‘pear shaped globes’ … and these books were on a shelf in the sitting room, small red-bound volumes, on good paper, in Nelson’s Sevenpenny editions”

I found it characteristic of Betjeman that he remembered the past in terms of light fittings and wallpaper. But what impressed me when reading Betjeman’s article was that all these Edwardian books had “second lives” for many years after they were published. They survived and were lent to friends, or sold at jumble sales until by 1944 they were still on many bookshelves, even if not often read. And now here we are in 2012, resurrecting them again. Interestingly, many are still flourishing: Trent’s last case has 41 reviews on the Good reads site. The dust-jacket of Trent’s last case temptingly describes it as “the best detective story of the century” (in 1913 the century had still some way to go) and I settled down to read it last month and enjoyed it very much. True, the pace of story-telling is slower than I’m used to, and the attitude to women almost as strange as Dickens’, but it’s a gripping mystery.  You can see how it led Dorothy Sayers to create Peter Wimsey, with his eccentric manners and addiction to literary quotations. It’s inspired me to read other popular novels published  around 1913 – and thus extend their lives even further.

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Aircraft in War and Commerce

What has struck me about the University Library Tower Collection is how quickly new technologies were embraced in the early 20thCentury and how detailed, well informed books were quickly published. One of the most exciting new technologies of the day was aircraft. Early aircraft technology is represented in the tower collection in both fiction and non-fiction. An example of non-fiction is ‘Aircraft in War and Commerce’, written by William Hibbert Berry, which was produced in at least three editions starting in 1918. It focusses on the development of the aircraft during the First World War and its post war potential as a commercial tool.

Cover of "Aircraft in War and Commerce" 1918.

Aircraft in War and Commerce 1918.

“Wonderful as the work of the aircraft in war has been, informed opinion throughout the world holds to the view that the aeroplane has most promise for humanity in its commercial development.”

What started out as a toy for wealthy adventurers soon became a viable piece of military technology with the advent of the war. Trials were carried out by the British military in 1914 to find the best aircraft for reconnaissance (spotting and photography) and bombing. At this time the familiar fixed wing aircraft was not the only technology in the sky, there was also the airship. Aircraft in War and Commerce also looks at the airship as an example of military technology, especially the German Zeppelins used to bomb London.  Military aircraft soon became much more advanced with the development of specialist fighter planes and larger bombers and an arms race developed between the allies and the Germans. Sea planes were also developed by the principle navies, to be launched from ships.

Diagram of the interior of a Zeppelin.

Diagram of a Zeppelin.

The third edition published in 1920 includes extra chapters on the commercial development of aircraft since the First World War. An early use featured was international air mail. It was soon realised that the commercial air travel should exploit the speed of aircraft over the bulk carrying abilities of rival forms of transport such as trains or ships.
There is also exploration of the use of aircraft for passenger travel:

“No doubt during the first years of after the war aeroplane services will be inter town, but with the creation of an aerodrome system and the bringing into being of international rules and regulations of the air these schemes will become much more ambitious. With machines actually in existence Ceylon is a matter of just under three days from London; Tokyo could be reached in four and a half days, Sydney in five days…”

Illustration of early British aircraft in flight 1914.

Specimens of aircraft in the British military trials of 1914.

Apart from the rudimentary comfort of aircraft, early passengers faced familiar problems with air travel we face today. Aircraft in War and Commerce foresees that long haul flights would require many landings along the way to refuel and of course the weather plays an important part in whether the plane can fly in the first place. And this is still a problem in the 21st century as any passenger whose flight has been cancelled due to snow would testify.

Photographs of two First World War bombers adapted for civilian use.

A First World War bomber adapted as a mail aircraft and the machine entered into the "Daily Mail" £10,000 trans-Atlantic flight.

Then there was the air travel infrastructure. By 1920 a new feature of the countryside had appeared, the aerodrome:

“Commercial enterprise and foresight will, in the course of a few years, build many thousands of elaborate aerodromes, but, in the first place, very simple and inexpensive affairs would be found sufficient. A flat field with some sort of wind-indicating appliance, even if be only a streamer and a telephone box would suffice”

It is hard to imagine these early airports without any duty free, win-this-car competitions or sock and tie shops! Of course the author is aware that air travel would realistically be only available to the very wealthy for the foreseeable future.

Another fascinating feature of these volumes is the early advertising for companies concerned with air travel. Names synonymous with aircraft such as Rolls-Royce were producing aircraft engines by 1918 as well as another motor car manufacturer Austin. Another fascinating advert is that for designer clothing label Burberry, with the Burberry Carapace Air-suit, “Sheath armour for the knights of the air…”

Advert featuring illustration of a gentleman modelling the Burberry Carapace air suit.

Burberry Carapace air suit “Sheath armour for knights of the air.”

Finally Aircraft in War and Commerce accepts that air travel is one of the fastest changing industries in the world and that commercial demands would probably lead to rapid expansion in a very short time and this has proved correct over the rest of the 20th century.

“In the world of aircraft things very quickly become out of date. A few months make all the difference, and when it is remembered that thousands of millions of pounds are now invested in the aircraft industry it seems reasonable to assume that we are only in the beginning.”

Posted in Aircraft, First World War, Transport, War | 1 Comment

Women

There are no ugly women ; there are only women who do not know how to look pretty – Berryer.

Recently, I catalogued a short book titled “Woman” [1919.9.84], which was made up of quotations from a variety of authors and poets. The book was illustrated by a famous, self-taught artist: Starr Wood (1870-1944).

Book cover

My first impression of the book was that it portrayed women in a wonderful way and at the same time I realised that my thoughts coincided with the 8th of March, which is International Women’s Day. This is a global day celebrating the life of women and their economic, political and social achievements past, present and future.

A woman is the essence of life. She is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a lover, a wife…

Portrait of woman

Quotes  from Don Lemon  about The Perfect Woman:

A perfectly formed woman will stand at the average  height of 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 7 inches. She will weigh from 125 to 140 pounds.

Her bust will measure from 28 to 36 inches ; her hips will measure from 6 to 10 inches more than this, and her waist will call for a belt from 22 to 28 inches.

The well-proportioned woman wears a shoe one half the size of the glove that her hand calls for. Thus, if a woman wears a six glove she should wear a three shoe.

Perfect woman?

Perfect woman?

The book also tells us what women will be like based on their month of birth. Not the most scientific method, but fun nevertheless :

Woman’s Birthday:

If  in January.       A flirt, good-tempered, but not to be trusted

If  in February.     Good-looking, discreet, and likely to  marry young.

If  in March.          Quarrelsome and moody.

If  in April.              Very intelligent. A good housewife.

If  in May               Given to melancholy but good-tempered.

If  in June               Frivolous, pretty and much liked.

If  in July.               Extravagant, but likely to marry rich.

If  in August.         Coquettish, a favourite with men.

If  in September.   An affectionate wife and good mother.

If  in October.        Impetuous; likely to be unhappy.

If  in November.    Passionate in love ; inconstant.

If  in December.    Well-proportioned ; practical and matter-of-fact

Happy International Women’s Day! (8th March)

 

Photo credit: Aime Wheaton/Mazer Design, Christy-2 catnipstudio, Eoin C. (Flickr)

 

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Improve yourself

It’s that time of year again, spring is nearly sprung, and we are beginning to feel a change in the air, that breath of optimism, inspiring us to look ahead to new beginnings, sloughing off the torpid despond of the dark winter months, well, something like that, anyway. The other day I picked up a book to catalogue and realised I’d found the very volume I needed to galvanise me into a seasonal surge of energy, written by George H. Knox, founder of the wonderfully named Knox Institute of Individual Efficiency.

We tend to forget that all those self-improvement books that dominate our bookshops, enjoining us to diet, get fit, practise meditation, improve our memories, be successful and generally stop being so pathetic, are part of a trend that started in the 19th century with Samuel Smiles’ book “Self-help,” published by John Murray in 1859. By 1904, the year of his death, Smiles’ book had sold over a quarter of a million copies. We all know its opening line:

“Heaven helps those who help themselves.”

Smiles’ emphasis was on the education and improvement of ordinary working people, and the importance of character as a driving force to success. This tells us something about the cultural context in which Smiles wrote, and the impact of his upbringing, influenced as it was by many and various radical people and beliefs, including the Cameronians, the Anti-Burghers, Calvinism and Unitarianism. In a speech to a Mutual Improvement Society in Leeds in 1845, entitled “The education of the working classes,” he said:

“Every human being has a great mission to perform, noble faculties to cultivate, a vast destiny to accomplish. He should have the means of education, and of exerting freely all the powers of his godlike nature.”

My book by George H. Knox, entitled “The new education,” was published in 1920 in Los Angeles, California, and there is a definite change in tone from that of the Victorian self-help literature that preceded it. Knox’s book bears the hallmark of an unfailing faith in human progress:

“The history of the world is the history of man’s progress from ignorance, fear, poverty and despair to the dawn of a new civilization.”

He proclaims:

“It is everyone’s privilege as well as duty to live in the sunlight of Twentieth Century achievement.”

Knox’s use of “Twentieth Century” (capitalised for emphasis)as a positive value makes clear his intention that readers must break free from the oppressive confines of the 19th century and forge ahead into the bright new future of the 20th century, where possibilities and self-realisation are readily attainable.

There are slogans scattered all over the covers of the book: “You can if you will,” “Business Leadership,” Personal Power,” “ Twentieth Century Ability,” “Inefficiency is the most expensive thing in the world.”

Much of the typeface in “The new education” is capitalised and in bold, paragraphs have headings such as “Any man can be superior,” “No patent on progress,” and “No limit.” This book is bursting with boundless optimism and snappy aphorisms:

“Man is worth three dollars a day from his chin down, but he may be worth a thousand dollars a day from his chin up.”

“Turn on the switch. Start the machinery of the mind. Do a little prospecting.”

And my personal favourite:

“Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!”

Knox’s main argument is that most of us seriously under-use our brain capacity:

“It is said that the great American desert is not located in New Mexico, and Arizona, but under the average man’s hat.”

His imagery is drawn from the New World: ranches in Cripple Creek, rolling hills in South Africa, boulders in Australia filled with hidden gold, likening the potential of the human brain to undiscovered terrain rich in natural resources:

“The desert of the mind is a Paradise of possibilities.”

This gives us a sense of expanding horizons and the merit of hard work and determination, that pioneering, can-do spirit that helped settlers carve out a life for themselves in exacting circumstances.

I soon realised though that “The new education,” while full of pithy maxims and sweeping statements, wasn’t actually going to tell me how to increase my brain capacity, and that in order to do so you had to join a course  (advertised at the back of the book) at the Knox Institute of Individual Efficiency for proper training:

“The Knox Institute of Individual Efficiency is helping men and women to find their gold mine.”

and as far as I am aware, this laudable institution no longer exists.

After a while, I did start to feel a trifle inadequate and, quite simply, tired, after reading all these exhortations, so I leave it to you to ponder whether you are using your brain capacity to its fullest potential as you read George H. Knox’s inspiring (or hectoring, according to your temperament) prose:

“What have you to offer? Are you offering your best, your next best, or your worst? Are you really wanted on your job or suffered to stay? Could the firm get along just as well without you? Would your resignation make a hole in the concern hard to fill; or are there twenty men ready to fill it just as well as you can?”

 

 

The new education/ by George H. Knox       Classmark  1920.9.180

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Law for the million

The home front in World War One  has been rather neglected by researchers, but as we saw from last week’s post on cookery in war-time,  the Tower collection contains a wealth of material on the subject.  

This 1917 edition of the News of the World’s Law for the Million, with its special section on the emergency war legislation does give us a flavour of the time. Interestingly, much of the legislation introduced during the war remained in force for many years, and some is still affecting us today.

This is the ninth edition of a title first published in 1905.  In those days the News of the World used to give advice on what to do if libelled in a newspaper! Even then they were using the public interest defence – that there could be no action against “fair and reasonable comment and criticism … on the actions of public men such as politicians and actors”.

The War-time law” section runs to just 30 pages in a 350 page volume, arranged alphabetically from Advertisements to Yachting. The new laws would have affected almost everyone, especially those living in big cities and the major ports.

The best known piece of wartime legislation is the infamous Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), passed in August 1914. It gave the government wide ranging powers to requisition land and buildings, and introduced a range of new offences including kite flying, lighting bonfires, buying binoculars, and keeping carrier pigeons. There were strict controls on the sale of alcoholic drinks – pubs could only open for six hours a day (12.00 to 3.00 and 6.30-9.30). The ridiculous afternoon gap in opening hours remained in force until the 1980s.

Drugs – Early in the war it was possible to send gifts of cocaine and opiates to soldiers and sailors. From 1916 a doctor’s prescription was required, and illegal possession was made an offence punishable by six months imprisonment and/or a fine of £100.

Food control – By 1917 the effects of three years of war can be clearly seen.  There was no official rationing until 1918, but there were strict rules on the production and sale of food.  The Bread Order (1917) was particularly draconian. No sugar could be used in the making of bread, and currant bread, sultana bread and milk bread could not be sold. The sale of light pastry, muffins, crumpets and tea-cakes was entirely prohibited, and the amount of flour used in buns, scones, and biscuits was strictly limited.  Cakes and pastries could not be covered or coated in sugar or chocolate.  Hotels and restaurants had to have meatless days – no meat, poultry or game could be served in London on Tuesdays, or on Wednesdays in other parts of the country. Potatoes could only be served on meatless days and Fridays – so the Government wasn’t brave enough to deprive people of their fish and chips on a Friday!

Although these  laws did not apply to home cooking, the library has many books on vegetarian and meatless cookery from this dating from this period.

Paper money – although banknotes had been issued since the seventeenth century, they were only used for sums of over £5 (about £400 at today’s prices), so ordinary folk didn’t see them very often.  In 1914 the Treasury issued £1 and 10 shilling (50p) notes to replace the gold sovereign and half-sovereign.  The 10s note remained legal tender until 1970, and the £1 note soldiered on until 1988

Air raids – In 1916 new laws were introduced to counter the effects of air raids. Stringent blackout regulations came into force, and there was even a law against the acquisition of air raid souvenirs.  The finder of any item (including bombs) dropped, or lost from a hostile aircraft had to report the find to the police or the military, and “give up the article if required”. 

It would be interesting to learn how rigorously some of these laws were enforced. Was it possible to buy chocolate cake?  How did the British public react to meatless days, and what alternatives did they find to the potato?

Posted in First World War, Law | 2 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Tower Project!

Valentine's Day Card

Posted in Ephemera | Tagged | 1 Comment

Hunger is the best sauce: the British diet in war time

Here in the Tower Project we are currently cataloguing books which were published during World War One. There are plenty of handbooks and manuals offering advice to those on the ‘Home Front’, especially in the key areas of domestic economy and cookery. There had been some panic buying of food at the beginning of the war, when people began to hoard food, fearing it would run out, but fortunately things calmed down and rationing only had to be introduced towards the end of the war, in early 1918. Most of the books we have come across so far contain a combination of cheap recipes and advice on saving money in the home.

Whilst perusing a selection of these books I remembered that I have often read that the British diet was actually healthier during the two world wars when food was valued more as it was in short supply, forcing people to eat less and more wholesome food. There is evidence that this fact didn’t escape unnoticed even at the time of the First World War; Nellie R. de Lissa writes in her book War-Time Cookery, “All that I would teach you should hold good after war is over, for there is not a doubt that we are more often than not too kind to our inner man.” (p. 11). We can see here that people were encouraged to reassess their eating habits not just for economic but also health reasons. The price of sugar soared during the war and sweet treats were a rare treat rather than a daily occurrence, which they are for many people today! The authors of these books encouraged their readers to eat only what they needed for energy, rather than viewing food as a source of pleasure and enjoyment which was common before the war. Some authors even encourage people to forego one of the three daily mails altogether and reduce their consumption to two meals a day.

One of the main focuses in these books is the drive to prevent waste. The old proverb “waste not, want not” was in common use during the difficult war years. People were also encouraged to make their food last longer: “Each mouthful of soup (which should be turned many times in the mouth and not swallowed hastily as a drink) […] thus less soup will be required by the consumer, its flavour will be savoured and enjoyed to the full.” (War-Time Cookery, p. 10). In fact, many of the recipe books provide a copious number of recipes for soup, which became a very popular meal as it is warming and filling and less food is needed afterwards if you begin your meal with soup. The idea was to have a basic staple soup ready and then to add any available pulses or grains to it along with vegetables. Any leftovers, even bread, were added to soup in order to bulk it out and make it more nourishing.

Foods which were once available quite easily to the average home such as meat, fish, eggs and cheese became much more expensive during the war. Foodstuffs like OXO became invaluable in the kitchen as they provided the flavour of meat without the cost, and it was common for shoppers to buy bones from the butcher for breaking up and boiling down for stock and gravy, rather than buying a whole joint of meat.

There was a big drive on growing your own fruit and veg, even if you only had a small garden. People were encouraged to buy seasonal fruit and vegetables for maximum freshness but also because produce is cheaper when it is more plentiful. Vegetable bottling and fruit preserving without sugar became extremely popular and we have many books on how to make your own at home. These could then be used to sweeten dishes which would ordinarily call for sugar.

Lots of the recipes included in these books are very stodgy so as to be as filling as possible. I couldn’t believe how many varieties of porridge existed! I listed recipes for Scot’s Porage Oats, hominy porridge, wheatmeal porridge, milk porridge, semolina porridge, maize porridge and oatmeal porridge! Porridge was the warmest, most filling and a nutritious way to start the day and could also be made for the most part with water, and a little goes a long way.

But it seems the greatest change for most people and the change that was hardest to make and work around was the shortage of meat. There seemed to be quite a furore over whether it was possible to survive without meat in one’s diet. “People are asking, “Is it safe for me to give up all flesh-foods […] shall I not starve without it?”” (Health without meat, p. vi). Similarly, there seemed to be a stigma attached to the word ‘vegetarian’: “I hope that, just because people are anxious to eat less flesh-foods on account of the increased prices of meat, fish, etc., they will not be labelled “vegetarian”!” (Health without meat, p. v).

 Finally,  a recipe that left me highly confused: ‘Cheese soufflé without cheese’. Bizarrely the recipe actually calls for 4 oz. of good, strong dry cheese. The author then goes on to say “This soufflé should have the full flavour of cheese, without the actual cheese itself”. (Health without meat, p. 81). I can only conclude that the author may have been a little hungry by this point!

Select bibliography

  • Health without meat / Hallie Eustace Miles. Class mark 1917.6.434
  • War-time cookery / Nellie R. de Lissa. 1915.6.500
  • British Red Cross Society cookery manual / edited by Ch. Herman Senn. 1916.6.586
  • Cheap recipes for war time / Rose Brown. 1916.8.570
  • May Byron’s how-to-save cookery. 1916.8.177
  • Vegetable bottling and fruit preserving without sugar / Mr. Vincent and Mrs. Georgina Banks. 1918.8.61
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A Boy’s Book of Battleships

A Boy’s Book of Battleships by Gordon Stables, pictures by Charles Robinson.

William Gordon Stables was a Scottish-born medical doctor in the Royal Navy and a prolific author of adventure fiction, primarily for boys.

He wrote over 130 books. The bulk of his extensive works belong to the genre of boys’ adventure fiction, often with a nautical or historical setting.

One book of notable interest is A Boy’s Book of Battleships, which is a beautifully illustrated history of battleships. The illustrator, Charles Robinson, presents the vessels using both simple line, and strikingly coloured, drawings that immediately attract the eye to this book. The text is written in an easily digestible format that concisely documents the evolution of the design of battleships throughout history. The author starts by describing a humble ‘War Canoe’, used by Head Hunters in the days of Homer, and then works through to the vessels of the Roman Empire, the Viking Age and up to the modern day, including battleships used in the First World War.

The book only lightly concerns itself with technical matters such as ship construction methods and materials, and focuses largely on the cultural history, usage, means of propellant and weaponry of the battleships. Early designs of battleships were powered by oarsmen, in contrast with modern ships powered by steam and mechanical power.

[Click on images to enlarge]

Warship of Ancient Greece

 

“The Greeks of the Homeric age were one of the first of maritime nations….”

Roman Trireme 

 “Even when at her Zenith, no one would ever have thought of accusing Rome of being a great naval power, nor her sons of being sailors in the true sense of the word; but nevertheless more than once she made an attempt to rule the waves.”


Phoenician Battleship

 “The Phoenicians were great traders and they visited every port of the Mediterranean. They even crossed the Bay of Biscay and bartered with the ancient Britons on the coast of Cornwall”

Viking Ship

 

“There is hardly a boy in Britain to whom the brave doings of the ancient Vikings do not appeal.”


H.M.S. Dreadnought
 

 “The Dreadnoughts are the most powerful battleships in the world. Not only are their guns terrible engines of war, but they are so well protected as to be invincible and unsinkable”

Classmark : 1910.11.10

Posted in Children's books, Friday feature | 3 Comments

A London Murder Mystery: Doctor H.H. Crippen and Ethel Le Neve

Now it’s getting slightly wintery (and foggy) I thought a nice murder mystery would be the best sort of read. I had looked at some of the tower’s classic authors like Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan-Doyle, but then I came across the real thing….

I had not previously heard of the infamous Dr. Crippen and his lover Ethel Le Neve. But the case appears to have drawn massive interest at the time and is still well-known today, especially with new evidence coming to light strangely in 2007!

The delight the Edwardians took in the case is highlighted by the tabloid-esque flyer I catalogued a few weeks ago. Its bold headline was horrific and showy: London murder mystery : Dr. H.H. Crippen committed for trial for the alleged murder of Belle Elmore (Mrs. Crippen) whose mutilated body was found in a cellar in London. Its contents were a mixture of court statements given by the accused and a selections of jolly songs composed about the case. One being the grossly understated “Naughty doctor”, which went along to the tune of “Lets all go down to the Strand”. If anyone knows it, here’s a taster:

Some time ago a naughty doctor
Had made a decent name, I do declare
They seemed to say a murder it was planned,
And Doctor Crippen he had the job in hand….
 

The nation was obviously gripped by the case. So much so that Ethel Le Neve produced a pamphlet of her own version of events  Ethel Le Neve : her life story ; with the true account of their flight and her friendship with Dr. Crippen ; also startling particulars of her life at Hilldrop Crescent / told by herself  hoping she claimed, to convince the public of her innocence.

The mystery goes as follows:  In 1900 Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, a homeopathic physician from Michigan, came to England with his much younger, music-hall performer wife, Belle Elmore. After a few years here their relationship began to sour and Crippen began to suspect that his wife had started entertaining a certain gentleman called Bruce Miller. Yet in 1905 they moved to Hilldrop Crescent, Holloway in London and remained living there together until, after a dinner party on the 31st of January 1910, Belle Elmore vanished. When the police came to investigate, Crippen and Ethel fled, and fled in disguise, her as a boy and he without his moustache! This caused further suspicions and led to the uncovering of incriminating evidence.

Crippen claimed to the courts, that Belle who was openly conducting an affair, had flown into a rage, threatened to leave with her lover and preceded to do so the next day instructing him to cover up the scandal. This he did by spreading the word that she had returned to America. He later developed on this by adding that she had died there of pneumonia.

Ethel, according to her version, had also been told this and this she believed, being in love with Crippen and deeply trusting of him. She knew nothing about the post dinner fight at the time and reported that the day after the dinner party Dr. Crippen was at work as usual, calm and normal, not like someone who had poisoned, murdered and mutilated his wife.

Her landlady however reported to the judge that on that day Miss Le Neve returned home in a state of great agitation, trembling, fingers twitching and being unable to dress her hair. This Ethel assures us is fairly common: ‘the life of a typist-secretary is always a hard one’ and that she had many responsibilities mentally harassing to a girl of her age (27) and temperament.

Innocently Ethel then moved into Hilldrop. She noticed no sign of violence and though all Belle’s jewellery, clothes and furs remained in the house she was not suspicious for someone running away to a new life would not take such things with her would she? She admits she maybe made a mistake in wearing Belle’s jewellery out in public and persuading the Doctor to pawn the rest (though this was for safety not financial gain).

Their reason for flight was quite innocent, she tells us: Crippen forced to admit publically that he lied about Belle’s location and death feared a massive scandal and convinced her that leaving immediately and unnoticed was the only way to avoid it. She found this odd but went along with him. Ethel is shocked that some people suspected her guilt from these actions, I myself am not that surprised.

Yet were they all that innocent? For during their flight the remains of a body (non-identifiable remains) are found under the floor of the basement. The pathologist Bernard Spilsbury only identified the remains from a found piece of scarred skin which he claimed matched Belle’s medical history. Also large quantities of hyoscine were found in the remains, a drug Crippen had recently bought from a local chemist.

 Now this artful gay fellar he had a coal cellar.
And we hear it was covered in bricks
Twas the scene of the crime if they’d bold him in time
Twould have put a stop to his tricks ….
 

Due to these findings Crippen and Ethel were pursued by the Inspector Drew across the ocean to  Canada. Scotland Yard used wireless communications for the first time to aid the chase, signaling and slowing the boat, which allowed officers to board and apprehend the pair on July 31 1910. They were then later tried in England with Ethel being acquitted and Crippen sentenced to death by hanging.

To the tune of Yip-i-addy-i-ay:
Crippen, my laddie they’ll make you pay,
Whatever made you run away?
And pop off with your lover right over the sea,
Dressed as a boy, and so smart was she.
Soon the piper you’ll have to pay, hooray,
They’ll give you some physic one day,
At a end of a string, some day you might sing,
Yip-i-addy-i-ay
 

It’s hard to judge what really happened. Crippen showed no remorse while Ethel claimed innocence and also cleverly avoided any accusations or attribution of guilt or emotions about the murder. Nothing really identifiable of the body was ever found and recent DNA tests have shown it not to be that of Belle. Motives of money or syphilis have been put forward and alternatives about illegal abortions suggested. There is a lot out there on the web, more than this blog can handle, but it’s definitely worth a bit of research on a wintery night. On that note I leave you with a less than conclusive argument, all together now ….

What made him kill his darling wife,
To us it seems so funny,
I suppose it’s like a lot more things,
She had a little money.
He found that he was going wrong,
His crime he tried to smother,
He chopped her up and buried her
Then hooked it with another ….
Posted in Crime, Murder mystery | Tagged | 3 Comments

Know your nose

The nose is the most prominent feature of the face, and the art of reading character by the nose is one of the most interesting of human studies

Noses and What They Indicate is one of many books that were published on physiognomy, or the art of understanding personalities based on facial features. This blog has already covered books on moles and moustaches but this work obviously concentrates just on the nose.

Noses and What They Indicate

The author claims that the nose is the one facial feature which can’t be hidden (by either a large hat or facial hair) and is always on show for the world to see.  Therefore it is one of the most important indicators of character and its study should not be taken lightly.

Examples of noses

Examples of noses

The Roman nose is described as being “the nose of a conqueror” and people who have this type of nose often make natural leaders, with examples such as Queen Elizabeth and Gladstone. The cognitive nose is found “among men of all pursuits” but especially those who “gain the highest kind of excellence in every department”. Famous theologians Luther and Wesley are prime examples of this type of nose. Celestial noses, which are often slightly upturned at the end, are admired in the fairer sex but not very popular in men due to their somewhat feminine appearance.

 The book also points out the importance of nose breathing in order to prevent disease. It talks about the small hairs inside the nose which help to trap germs and can be particularly useful in preventing consumption. Proper and full breathing is advocated as is drawing water up the nostril, although to be honest I’m not sure that last one is very healthy…!

Although volunteers were sought from the Tower Project office to have their noses analysed, sadly there were no takers. Instead we’ve decided to look at some famous noses, based on the principles laid out in the book:

Barry Manilow: his slightly hooked nose indicates that he’s a talkative individual whilst the rounded tip equals a good character

Barbra Streisand: her famous nose indicates tenderness and shows that she’s a sensitive soul

Stephen Fry: the shape of his nostrils show that he has a high I.Q. whilst the wings of his nose show that he’s a curious individual

So far I would like to think that these books seem pretty accurate. Next time you are sizing someone up (for whatever reason!) maybe you should pay more attention to the shape of their nose. It could be telling you more than you think…

Noses and What They Indicate: 1912.7.3037

Image credits: ladybugbkt, JCT(loves)Streisand, lewishamdreamer on Flickr

Posted in Ephemera, Friday feature, Oddities | Tagged , , | 2 Comments