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200'S BLUE BACK PAGES FAST FORWARD US TO 2022 FOR NEWS AND VIEWS FROM NOW
1822’S PEOPLE
Fast facts on news-makers from 200 years ago
Michael Faraday, Scientist
b: 22 Sept 1791, Newington Butts, London | Age now in 1822: 30 d: 25 Aug 1867, Hampton Court, London, aged 75 | Buried: Highgate Cemetery, London
Chemist and physicist | One of the most influential scientists in history | Admirers included Albert Einstein who bracketed him with Shakespeare, Newton and Goethe | Assistant to Sir Humphrey Davy in 1810s | Discoverer of electromagnetic induction | Inventor of electric motor | Founded Christmas lectures for young people
Wikipedia National Portrait Gallery Royal Institution RI Christmas Lectures Royal Society of Chemistry (including video) Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge Books: Faraday, The Life / James Hamilton
Marie Tussaud, Artist & Sculptress
b: 1 Dec 1761, Strasbourg, France | Age now in 1822: 60 d: 16 Apr 1850, London, aged 88 | Buried: St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, London
French-born founder of Madame Tussaud’s wax museum | Produced first wax model (of Voltaire) in 1777 | Art tutor to Louis XVI’s sister | Imprisoned as royalist during French revolution | Made death masks of its victims, including Louis and Robespierre | Moved to UK in 1802 | Toured Britain for 33 years before establishing permanent exhibition in Baker Street
Wikipedia National Portrait Gallery, London Madame Tussauds, London Science Museum, London Books: Waxing Mythical, The Life & Legend of Madame Tussaud | Kate Berridge Madame Tussaud | Leonard Cottrell Memoirs of Madame Tussaud (1878), Internet Archive
Richard & Jane Carlile, Campaigners
Richard Carlile: b: 8 Dec 1790, Ashburton, Devon | Age now in 1822: 31 d: 10 Feb 1843, London, aged 52 | Buried: Kensal Green Cemetery, London Jane Carlile: not known
Richard Carlile was a journalist, publisher and campaigner who with his wife Jane produced The Republican | He sold and published works of Thomas Paine | Scheduled to speak at Peterloo meeting and published one of first eyewitness accounts | Richard spent nine years in prison for political activities | Couple are both in gaol in June 1822 with Jane giving birth | Advocate for freedom of speech & religion
Wikipedia National Portrait Gallery, London The Republican - editions in 2nd half of 1822 (Hathi Trust) National Secular Society
NOTES FROM NOW
Observations about the news from 1822
I
n 2022, the sinking of a ship with the loss of approaching 2,000 lives would make global headlines quickly. In 1822, it took 10 months for news of the disaster in February that befell the Tek Sing in the South China Sea, off modern Indonesia, to reach Britain, via a report carried in the Calcutta Gazette in May. The Tek Sing, a century later (for obvious reasons), would become known as the 'Titanic of the East'. It was carrying 1,600 Chinese migrants. and a huge cargo of porcelain from China. The wreck site was discovered in 1999, and about 350,000 pieces of porcelain salvaged. Two centuries later, a Google search shows just how many of these still are available to buy, even on eBay. Thankfully, 200 or so survivors were rescued by a British vessel, the Indiana and a Chinese junk. Indiana's captain, James Pearl, remarked, "It was not for me to enquire who they were. They were in distress and must perish but for my aid." The famine hitting Ireland's western counties in summer 1822 was a tragic portent of the much bigger disaster to come in the 1840s, remembered in the revamped Irish National Famine Museum due to re-open in July. Much less well-known is how relief efforts and fund-raising in Britain saved lives and out-stripped what was done by the government, the UK administration in Dublin, and fund-raising there. Little has been written about the events in 1822, but Gerard MacAtasney's excellent account of the 'other famine' in Co. Leitrim, does fully acknowledge the role of the London Tavern Committee which we report on page 3.
A porcelain box from the Tek Sing, showing a flowering orchid and two-line inscription
Oysters in June? An aquatic anachronism, say the fact-checkers of 1822.
It is reassuring to know that fact-checking, if not pedantry, was alive and well in 1822. When David Wilkie's painting of the news of Waterloo reaching London in 1815 was first shown in May 1822 at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition, approval was universal. Well, almost. A columnist in The Englishman newspaper said he would not be petty and would 'pass unnoticed' (but then mentioned) the 'glaring inconsistency' (shown above) of making oysters a feature of a picture showing an event in June. It seems they should only be eaten from September to April. An 'even greater absurdity,' he said, was giving the 'sturdy veteran' a fork.
ILLUSTRATIONS: TOP: © TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM | CREATIVE COMMONS (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) LICENSE | BOTTOM: HISTORIC ENGLAND PHOTO LIBRARY | FROM THE WELLINGTON COLLECTION AT APSLEY HOUSE, CARED FOR BY ENGLISH HERITAGE
