Introduction In March 2024 I purchased a first generation, Birmingham-made Parker-Hale replica of a Whitworth military pattern muzzle-loading rifle of the late 1850s. These iconic rifles gained legendary status following their use in the American [more…]
Napoleon was very dismissive of Arthur Wellesley referring to him as the sepoy General from his time spent in India. In contrast Wellesley said that Napoleon’s presence on the battlefield was worth 40,000 men. In [more…]
Writing another biography of Custer (1839-1876) is, as Stiles says, a bit like walking round Grand Central Station trying to find a piece of floor someone hasn’t already stepped on. Such is the fascination with [more…]
Under a waning moon, three furtive figures make their way towards the island’s Constance Bay. Silent, gaunt and burdened, they carry two canvas bags bearing scant rations and a few petty, pilfered provisions — enough [more…]
Just as Nelson flew coloured flags above the Victory instructing the fleet afore Trafalgar that England expected every man to do his duty, so the Ministry of Defence two centuries later is festooned with white [more…]
Every once in a while I get involved with some project or other relating to my hobby of collecting and shooting antique firearms and while individually these may not justify a separate GP article, I [more…]
Autumn 1899, just weeks before the turn of a new century, saw two men released from Pentonville Prison on London’s Caledonian Road. Jailed seven years previously following an anarchist plot in Walsall, some continued to [more…]
In late February of 1894, a far-fetched tale appeared in the London penny dreadful newspapers. It concerned the untimely death of an anarchist, Martial Bourdin, blown up by his own bomb near the Royal Observatory [more…]
Only the nieve might think the nighttime streets of 1894 Soho, a den of immigrants and nere-do-goods, were not already alive with talk of the events of the previous chilly February afternoon. Passers-by investigating an [more…]
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