Ruling with an Iron Fist
October 1, 2014
You wouldn’t expect to receive threatening letters from the Ku Klux Klan or to be hounded by the press in the street for doing voluntary work, but that was the experience of Eric Irons, the first black magistrate in England. His is one of several biographies featured in the pamphlet “Sitting on the Bench: experiences …
George Green and his windmill
September 30, 2014
Tomorrow sees the first of a series of lunchtime talks associated with our new exhibition, George Green: Nottingham’s Magnificent Mathematician. The brick tower mill which dominates the Sneinton skyline was built by George Green’s father in around 1807. Green worked there – with the assistance of a mill manager – until he entered Cambridge University …
Embracing serendipity at the annual archives conference
September 24, 2014
‘Survival of the fittest’ was the theme for this year’s Archives and Record Association conference. Archivists, records managers and conservators from all across the UK and beyond gathered in Newcastle to share positive stories and advice, in an era which has seen damaging cuts to services (particularly in local record offices). There was no room …
The Morning After the Nay Before
September 19, 2014
For anyone who has somehow missed the extensive – and sometimes heated – campaign, this morning the results of the Scottish Independence Referendum were announced. The Union between Scotland and England has been in force since May 1707, after both the Scottish and English Parliaments had passed their own separate Acts ratifying the Treaty of Union. …
George Green: Nottingham’s Magnificent Mathematician
September 17, 2014
Our new exhibition at the Weston Gallery focuses on a “local hero” – the miller from Sneinton whose pioneering mathematical work now underpins scientific research in areas as diverse as quantum physics, optics, radar, structural engineering and biomechanics. Sadly, George Green (1793-1841) died before his real genius was understood. As the curator, I wanted to explore …
Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside
September 10, 2014
We were inspired to write a post about all things Skeggy by the recent BBC News story featuring 104-year-old Sid Pope, who has visited Skegness every year since he was 10. A tiny fishing village of just 350 people at the time of the 1871 census, the coming of the railway a few years later boosted …
All Orders Promptly Executed
August 13, 2014
Fifty years ago today, 13 August 1964, the last two people to be executed in the United Kingdom were hanged. The victim was a 53 year old van driver named John West, who was killed during a robbery in his home that went wrong four months earlier. A neighbour had been awoken in the middle of …
Fighting Footballers
August 6, 2014
On 6th August 1914, the Nottingham Guardian reported that three Nottingham Forest players, who were Army Reservists, had been called up. Within days of Britain declaring war on Germany they had, along with many hundreds of other Nottinghamshire reservists, left their homes and families to join their regiments. William Fiske (or Fisk) was born in …
The German perspective on the First World War
July 23, 2014
The final lunchtime talk held in connection with our current exhibition ‘All Quiet in the Weston Gallery’ takes place tomorrow. With the nation gearing up to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the First World War, through exhibitions, tv and radio programmes, books and articles, debate is, unsurprisingly, focused on British involvement in the war. …
The Black Sheep
July 21, 2014
Whilst helping a visitor with an enquiry recently, I came across a slim pamphlet entitled “Young Delinquents in Nottingham” (Ref: Not 3. H40 NOT). The eye-catching cover features a series of caricatures of juvenile delinquents in a style more often associated with cartoons or parody. If criminals were as distinctive looking as some of these …
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