Dan
@fraternalwriter.bsky.social
Researcher, author, mostly UK & 18th-20thC social history especially friendly societies, banners, the Open University, the Labour Party and the history of local history. Escapes through running.
As UK birth rate falls having more people around to work & pay taxes may have some benefits
August 31, 2025 at 11:44 AM
As UK birth rate falls having more people around to work & pay taxes may have some benefits
Peter Scott (Pres & CEO Commonwealth of Learning calls Handbook of Open Universities Around the World
(eds Sanjaya Mishra & Santosh Panda) 'a significant piece of work'. It includes my chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social & contributions by ex-VCE member Alan Tait & ex-OU VC Sir John Daniel.
(eds Sanjaya Mishra & Santosh Panda) 'a significant piece of work'. It includes my chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social & contributions by ex-VCE member Alan Tait & ex-OU VC Sir John Daniel.
July 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Peter Scott (Pres & CEO Commonwealth of Learning calls Handbook of Open Universities Around the World
(eds Sanjaya Mishra & Santosh Panda) 'a significant piece of work'. It includes my chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social & contributions by ex-VCE member Alan Tait & ex-OU VC Sir John Daniel.
(eds Sanjaya Mishra & Santosh Panda) 'a significant piece of work'. It includes my chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social & contributions by ex-VCE member Alan Tait & ex-OU VC Sir John Daniel.
The laconic 'pretty freely' suggests that on this 'fine day' 1915 GF was under almost constant attack from the 7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 neuer Art, a field gun from which whizzbangs (high-explosive shells filled with TNT & sometimes shrapnel and bullets) were fired.
July 16, 2025 at 11:19 AM
The laconic 'pretty freely' suggests that on this 'fine day' 1915 GF was under almost constant attack from the 7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 neuer Art, a field gun from which whizzbangs (high-explosive shells filled with TNT & sometimes shrapnel and bullets) were fired.
OTD 1915 the use of the word “cushie” (ie easy, from Hindi khush pleasant) is a reminder of the Empire. Fighting for King & Country (but not democracy as few had right to vote) alongside George & often in supporting roles were many from India, Canada & many other lands. These men from West Indies.
July 15, 2025 at 7:59 AM
OTD 1915 the use of the word “cushie” (ie easy, from Hindi khush pleasant) is a reminder of the Empire. Fighting for King & Country (but not democracy as few had right to vote) alongside George & often in supporting roles were many from India, Canada & many other lands. These men from West Indies.
Publication! Chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social features in this new text which also has chapters by former OU VC Sir John Daniel and OU VCE member Prof Alan Tait www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...
July 14, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Publication! Chapter on @openuniversity.bsky.social features in this new text which also has chapters by former OU VC Sir John Daniel and OU VCE member Prof Alan Tait www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...
Picking apples, labouring and having a pep talk from a high ranking officer make the last few days appear relatively idyllic but then came news of imminent change for the worse. Sassoon's 'The General' indicates the bitterness which some felt.
July 13, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Picking apples, labouring and having a pep talk from a high ranking officer make the last few days appear relatively idyllic but then came news of imminent change for the worse. Sassoon's 'The General' indicates the bitterness which some felt.
OTD 1915 GF recalled Lord Derby. Oct 18 Sassoon, served 1914-18, used a poem about Lord Derby to try ‘to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realise.’
June 26, 2025 at 8:17 AM
OTD 1915 GF recalled Lord Derby. Oct 18 Sassoon, served 1914-18, used a poem about Lord Derby to try ‘to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realise.’
George often recorded football match results in diary. The game was used to recruit & aid morale. Daily Mail poem of Captain ‘Billie’ Nevill, who led men over the top kicking footballs, fails to say that Nevill was killed in No Man’s Land, one of the 60,000 British soldiers who died on that day.
June 25, 2025 at 8:40 AM
George often recorded football match results in diary. The game was used to recruit & aid morale. Daily Mail poem of Captain ‘Billie’ Nevill, who led men over the top kicking footballs, fails to say that Nevill was killed in No Man’s Land, one of the 60,000 British soldiers who died on that day.
Little known about 'shell shock' (post-traumatic stress disorder) in 1915. The solution offered was exercise, football, marching, drill.
June 22, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Little known about 'shell shock' (post-traumatic stress disorder) in 1915. The solution offered was exercise, football, marching, drill.
Blackwood Mag, 1915 serial (later book ‘The 1st Hundred Thousand’ 1916) by Cpt ‘Ian Hay’, [John Hay Beith] Argyll &Sutherland Highlanders, presents (as this chat in mess indicates) trench life as a joyous round of schoolboy nicknames, japes & unwashed knees beneath kilts:
June 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Blackwood Mag, 1915 serial (later book ‘The 1st Hundred Thousand’ 1916) by Cpt ‘Ian Hay’, [John Hay Beith] Argyll &Sutherland Highlanders, presents (as this chat in mess indicates) trench life as a joyous round of schoolboy nicknames, japes & unwashed knees beneath kilts:
Liverpool Scottish sent to seize Bellewaarde Ridge, gained ground & then, due to mist, smoke, confusion, got shelled by own side. On 1 day among the dead were c151 Liverpool Scottish men with no known graves. Their names are among the 54,389 on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
June 18, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Liverpool Scottish sent to seize Bellewaarde Ridge, gained ground & then, due to mist, smoke, confusion, got shelled by own side. On 1 day among the dead were c151 Liverpool Scottish men with no known graves. Their names are among the 54,389 on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
from Benjamin Wilson, The struggles of an old Chartist,
Halifax, 1887, pp. 22–3; in J. F. C. Harrison (ed.),
Society and politics in England, 1780–1960, Harper &
Row, New York, 1965, pp. 167–70. Robert
Gammage, was Chartist
insurance agent. Pic: Weinbren The Oddfellows 2010 @markcrail.bsky.social
Halifax, 1887, pp. 22–3; in J. F. C. Harrison (ed.),
Society and politics in England, 1780–1960, Harper &
Row, New York, 1965, pp. 167–70. Robert
Gammage, was Chartist
insurance agent. Pic: Weinbren The Oddfellows 2010 @markcrail.bsky.social
June 17, 2025 at 11:52 AM
from Benjamin Wilson, The struggles of an old Chartist,
Halifax, 1887, pp. 22–3; in J. F. C. Harrison (ed.),
Society and politics in England, 1780–1960, Harper &
Row, New York, 1965, pp. 167–70. Robert
Gammage, was Chartist
insurance agent. Pic: Weinbren The Oddfellows 2010 @markcrail.bsky.social
Halifax, 1887, pp. 22–3; in J. F. C. Harrison (ed.),
Society and politics in England, 1780–1960, Harper &
Row, New York, 1965, pp. 167–70. Robert
Gammage, was Chartist
insurance agent. Pic: Weinbren The Oddfellows 2010 @markcrail.bsky.social
Memorial to the Liverpool Scottish, Hooge. The village was soon in ruins and the site changed hands several times during the war. There are 5,916 burials in the cemetery, over 3,500 of the burials are of unidentified soldiers www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders/hoo...
June 17, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Memorial to the Liverpool Scottish, Hooge. The village was soon in ruins and the site changed hands several times during the war. There are 5,916 burials in the cemetery, over 3,500 of the burials are of unidentified soldiers www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders/hoo...
Drew the short straw, so it fell to me to be the one who told you @andrewcandish.bsky.social
June 17, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Drew the short straw, so it fell to me to be the one who told you @andrewcandish.bsky.social
2 poems by Royal Artillery bombardier Spike Milligan. 1 after his battery was hit leaving 2 survivors & 1 on Korea:
The Young Soldiers
Why are they lying in some distant land
Why did they go, did they understand?
Young men they were
Young men they stay
But why did we send them away, away?
The Young Soldiers
Why are they lying in some distant land
Why did they go, did they understand?
Young men they were
Young men they stay
But why did we send them away, away?
June 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
2 poems by Royal Artillery bombardier Spike Milligan. 1 after his battery was hit leaving 2 survivors & 1 on Korea:
The Young Soldiers
Why are they lying in some distant land
Why did they go, did they understand?
Young men they were
Young men they stay
But why did we send them away, away?
The Young Soldiers
Why are they lying in some distant land
Why did they go, did they understand?
Young men they were
Young men they stay
But why did we send them away, away?
King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish) 10th Battalion with short, magazine-loaded Lee-Enfield (SMLE) Mark I rifles. Named after designer of bolt (JP Lee) & place where rifling design created. On the latter see Putman & Weinbren. 1992. A Short History of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield.
June 14, 2025 at 7:31 AM
King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish) 10th Battalion with short, magazine-loaded Lee-Enfield (SMLE) Mark I rifles. Named after designer of bolt (JP Lee) & place where rifling design created. On the latter see Putman & Weinbren. 1992. A Short History of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield.
GF's 10th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish) badge features St Andrew’s cross & white horse of the House of Hanover. In 1714 Georg Ludwig, ruler of the German duchy of Hanover, became George I & his descendants, Brit monarchs until 1901. 1915: Gmy & Brit kings = 1st cousins.
June 13, 2025 at 7:47 AM
GF's 10th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Scottish) badge features St Andrew’s cross & white horse of the House of Hanover. In 1714 Georg Ludwig, ruler of the German duchy of Hanover, became George I & his descendants, Brit monarchs until 1901. 1915: Gmy & Brit kings = 1st cousins.
Health & Safety. If lightning seems likely please check that you have earthed all the metals pole heads.
June 12, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Health & Safety. If lightning seems likely please check that you have earthed all the metals pole heads.
Shell shortage led to crisis in government, new coalition & Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. Back in Liverpool women did the hard, dangerous work of arms production, work which might otherwise have been done by men.
June 12, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Shell shortage led to crisis in government, new coalition & Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions. Back in Liverpool women did the hard, dangerous work of arms production, work which might otherwise have been done by men.
OTD 1915. Under the headline ‘Liverpools at the seaside’ the Liverpool Echo carried a photo of a practice final assault by a 6th Batt Liverpool Regiment. On the Flanders frontline the Germans, unlike the straw figures in the practice, fought back. killing many of George's comrades.
June 11, 2025 at 1:51 PM
OTD 1915. Under the headline ‘Liverpools at the seaside’ the Liverpool Echo carried a photo of a practice final assault by a 6th Batt Liverpool Regiment. On the Flanders frontline the Germans, unlike the straw figures in the practice, fought back. killing many of George's comrades.
GF’s old firm founder: David Rollo. Son George (GR) partner in 1877 & snr ptner 1890. Joined Liverpool Pals aged 62. Promoted civilian to Brig-Gen in 4yrs +CMG DSO. Post-war firm became ltd & GR= Man Dir. GF didn’t return to Rollo. It amalgamated with Grayson 1927. Advert for the firms 1910.
June 10, 2025 at 11:06 AM
GF’s old firm founder: David Rollo. Son George (GR) partner in 1877 & snr ptner 1890. Joined Liverpool Pals aged 62. Promoted civilian to Brig-Gen in 4yrs +CMG DSO. Post-war firm became ltd & GR= Man Dir. GF didn’t return to Rollo. It amalgamated with Grayson 1927. Advert for the firms 1910.
www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-...
A handbook for planners, managers, administrators, instructional designers, teachers,government policymakers, training organizations, technology providers education think tanks. It situates @openuniversity.bsky.social in context of other #openuniversities
A handbook for planners, managers, administrators, instructional designers, teachers,government policymakers, training organizations, technology providers education think tanks. It situates @openuniversity.bsky.social in context of other #openuniversities
June 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM
www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-...
A handbook for planners, managers, administrators, instructional designers, teachers,government policymakers, training organizations, technology providers education think tanks. It situates @openuniversity.bsky.social in context of other #openuniversities
A handbook for planners, managers, administrators, instructional designers, teachers,government policymakers, training organizations, technology providers education think tanks. It situates @openuniversity.bsky.social in context of other #openuniversities
The ship repair & engineering firm for whom George worked, said it'd pay ‘a liberal allowance’ to the dependants of men who joined up & work mates pledged (Liverpool Journal of Commerce 11 Sept 1914 p5). Prob. George, living with parents, wouldn't have qualified. Not clear for how long payments made
June 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The ship repair & engineering firm for whom George worked, said it'd pay ‘a liberal allowance’ to the dependants of men who joined up & work mates pledged (Liverpool Journal of Commerce 11 Sept 1914 p5). Prob. George, living with parents, wouldn't have qualified. Not clear for how long payments made
Hospital food might have been better than usual Army rations which were limited, monotonous, prepared in difficult conditions, often out of same dixie as last meal. George received occasional parcels, but noted in a letter that the fags and chocolate had gone missing en route.
June 8, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Hospital food might have been better than usual Army rations which were limited, monotonous, prepared in difficult conditions, often out of same dixie as last meal. George received occasional parcels, but noted in a letter that the fags and chocolate had gone missing en route.
Free concert (but pls donate) wi' The Grand Union; Yiddish singer Barbara Borts; Tunisian oud player Mo Grab; Turkish band Anatolie Club; Flautist David Rennie; Kyrgyz kamuz player Cholpon.
Standing Together: grassroots movement of Palestinian & Jewish Israel citizens anti war, occupation & racism.
Standing Together: grassroots movement of Palestinian & Jewish Israel citizens anti war, occupation & racism.
June 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Free concert (but pls donate) wi' The Grand Union; Yiddish singer Barbara Borts; Tunisian oud player Mo Grab; Turkish band Anatolie Club; Flautist David Rennie; Kyrgyz kamuz player Cholpon.
Standing Together: grassroots movement of Palestinian & Jewish Israel citizens anti war, occupation & racism.
Standing Together: grassroots movement of Palestinian & Jewish Israel citizens anti war, occupation & racism.