Before going to Monte Carlo to break the bank, Charles Deville Wells had committed a large-scale swindle in Britain over a period of several years. In this way he had…
Before breaking the bank at Monte Carlo, Charles Deville Wells earned fame as an inventor – though notoriety might perhaps be a better word. On this day in 1891 the…
In the London Bankruptcy Court on this day a man named Carl Westergaard, the owner of racing stables in Ostend, appeared before a judge. The Yorkshire Evening Post reported on…
CROSSING THE NIAGARA FALLS ON A CABLE A man named Samuel Dixon, of Toronto, walked across the Niagara gorge over the Whirlpool Rapids to-day on a wire cable three-fourths…
I have received an enquiry about German prisoners of war in Soviet captivity during WW2. As my book, Hitler’s Last Army, is about German prisoners in the UK I’m by…
This article from the London Evening Standard of 18 July 1891 caught my eye. A NOVEL INQUIRY (From our correspondent ) Vienna, Friday Night. The question of trailing dresses, treated…
ELECTRIFYING NEWS A press report from County Carlow, Ireland, points to the growing use of electricity as a source of power: One of George Meredith’s* sons is an electric engineer,…
16 July 1891 A newspaper article this day reports a trial at Bow Street Magistrates Court. In 1891 there were stiff penalties for those accepting money on the promise that…
The German Emperor’s state visit to Britain came to an end. The Manchester Courier reported his departure on the Imperial yacht as follows: The German Emperor arrived at South Leith…
For a novelist writing a work of fiction in a familiar setting and era, the amount of research needed may be minimal – or even non-existent. But for writers of…