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crossdreamers · 9 months

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Dr James Barry, the Transgender Man who Became British Colonial Medical Inspector in 1822

The Vagina Museum tells the story of the transgender man who became a famous military surgeon in Britain in the 19th century.

Dr James Barry (circa 1789-1865) was a renowned military surgeon who is probably better known for the speculation about his gender than his illustrious career. So let's set the record straight about the work of this brilliant healer.

A famous surgeon outed after death

James Barry was assigned female at birth. This was only revealed after his death. The fact was made public as the woman who laid his body out after his death was disgruntled at not being paid for her work, so she ended up taking a story about his body to the press.

The story was somewhat newsworthy because in his lifetime, Barry was a famous surgeon, something of a rockstar in the military and surgical worlds.

It's hard to tease out details of Barry's early life due to posthumous speculation - once the news broke, several people claimed they'd known all along, or told stories about his supposed femininity, and the whole story was viewed through the lens of 19th century gender politics.

Even Barry's precise date of birth is not known - the likely date seems to be around 1789, but it may have been as late as 1799. Barry is known to have lied about his age, because his appearance was very youthful, and he sometimes passed himself off as younger than he was.

His life

Barry studied at the University of Edinburgh, and received his qualification as a doctor of medicine in 1812, when he would have been about 19 or 20 years old (or 10, according to his own account of his age!). After this, he studied in London and qualified as a surgeon in 1813.

He proceeded to join the British army, enlisting as a hospital assistant just four days after qualifying as a surgeon. During his 46 years of service, he gained huge renown as a surgeon and a doctor.

Surgeon in South Africa

In 1816, Barry went on his first overseas posting as an assistant surgeon. He was posted to Cape Town, and quickly became friends with the governor, Lord Charles Somerset. The friendship began because Barry treated Somerset's sick daughter spectacularly well.

Later in his life, in 1829, Barry went absent without leave from the army when Somerset himself became sick. He spent two years treating his friend until Somerset's death.

Colonial Medical Inspector

In 1822, Somerset promoted Barry to the role of Colonial Medical Inspector, which was an astronomical leap in Barry's career. Sometimes, though, the friendship raised eyebrows. In 1824, Somerset and Barry were accused of having sex with each other.

Barry's renown grew hugely during the ten years he spent in South Africa. He is sometimes credited as the first doctor to successfully perform a C-section in Africa where both survived, though that credit may better go to indigenous Africans

Throughout his long surgical career, Barry was posted all around the world, serving in the West Indies, Europe, America, and Africa. Following him was a reputation for excellence. Wherever he went, sanitation greatly improved, and soldiers and local people alike became healthier.

A bit of a jerk

Barry achieved all of this by being kind of a jerk. He was known to be quick-tempered, heavy-handed, argumentative and tactless. He rubbed his colleagues up the wrong way.

Barry's career wasn't a completely upward trajectory, because he sometimes got himself court-martialed or demoted due to his behaviour. He famously won a duel against a colleague, and shot the man's hat clean off his head.

Quarreling with Florence Nightingale

One of his most famous arguments was with Florence Nightingale herself during the Crimean War. When writing about it, years later, Nightingale doesn't specify the cause of the argument, but Barry lived rent-free in her head following it.

[Florence Nightingale was an very famous English social reformer, a statistician and the founder of modern nursing.]

Loved by his patients

Barry's patients loved him, though. As well as being a talented physician and surgeon, he reputedly had a good bedside manner.

Barry's military career came to an end in 1859. He didn't leave, and he wasn't sacked for being a difficult person to work with. He was forcibly retired because he was old, and his health was failing. Six years later, he died in London, from dysentery.

In the century and a half since his death, discussion of James Barry has mostly focused on speculation about his gender. But that, perhaps, is one of the least interesting things about this remarkable doctor.

Top photo of Barry (centre), his dog and John, his servant, circa 1862, via Wellcome Images. Second photo: Portrait claimed to be of Barry, ca. 1820s

Thread from twitter (which we refuse to call X as long as Elon Musk is deadnaming his transgender daughter).

#transgender #trans #lgbt #lgbtqa #queer #ftm #history #trans man

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theoutcastrogue · 22 days

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8 Fancy Pocket Knives

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Silver / mother of pearl Victorian fruit knife, England

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Inlaid Toledo knife, Germany

Silver-plated fruit knife, USA

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Mother of pearl pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

@victoriansword [details after the cut]

1) Swedish pocket knife by EKA (Eskilstuna Kniffabriks AB), c. 1980-2000. Model 6 GS (1967-2010), with main blade, bottle opener/screwdriver, pen blade, and nail file. Tang stamp "EKA / SWEDEN" (from 1967), etched handle, 7 cm closed.

These were very popular in the 2nd half of the 20th century as gift knives or advertising knives. They were manufactured by many cutlers in Eskilstuna, and widely exported. The decorative pattern appears, with variations, on Swedish knives from at least the 19th century, and is inspired by Norse / Viking art, which often features twisted serpents/dragons. The interlacing perhaps also borrows from Celtic knots.

2) English fruit knife by Martin Bros & Co, 1848. Silver blade with 4 hallmarks (for Queen Victoria, the year, sterling silver, and Sheffield) and maker's mark, mother of pearl scales, 9.5 cm closed.

This is the posh version of what used to be an incredibly useful tool, a knife (and sometimes a multi-tool knife and fork) for eating on the road. The fancier ones were also status symbols, and very popular gifts – millions of silver fruit knives were manufactured in Britain from the 18th to the 20th century, mostly in Sheffield, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

3) Spanish Toledo knife, as it's sometimes called, a damascened penknife of recent manufacture. Two pen blades, tang stamp "TOLEDO", 6.7 cm closed.

Not to be confused with Damascus blades! The handle is damascened – decorated with gold inlaid into oxidized steel (see here for details). Reminder that gold is a highly ductile metal (you can stretch it real thin before it breaks), so that impressive aesthetic result comes from a tiny amount of gold. It's a cheap knife, is what I'm saying, for tourists basically.

4) German pocket knife, confusingly also called Toledo, by Hartkopf. With main blade, pen blade and nail file. Brass handle inlaid with oxidised steel. Tang stamp "Hartkopf&Co / Solingen", 8cm closed.

It's "damascened" in the broad sense of inlaying, hence the name "Toledo": it supposedly emulates the Spanish style, and perhaps pretends to be Spanish, but both the metals and the geometric patterns are different. Knives of this type were popular in Germany all through the 20th century as gifts and advertising knives.

5) American fruit knife by William Rogers Mfg, made in Hartford, Connecticut c.1865-1898. Main blade, seedpick [also called nut-pick or nut-picker *snickers*], silver-plated nickel silver, decorated with flowers and apples. Tang stamp: an anchor logo and "Wm ROGERS & SON AA", 8.2 cm closed.

Sometimes fruit knives like this were bought by fruit shops/groceries (relatively fancy ones, presumably) in bulk, and sold or given to customers as gifts.

6) Spanish Toledo penknife (another one). With pen blade and damascened handle, different pattern, probably a bit older. Tang stamp again "TOLEDO", 6.8 cm closed.

7) Swedish pocket knife by Emil Olsson, c. 1920-1950. Blade, pen blade and corkscrew. Tang stamp "EMIL OLSSON / [star logo] / ESKILSTUNA", 9.2 cm closed.

Another etched serpent pattern on the handle, though by now you have to squint to see it. This knife has seen some shit. Until ~1940, pocket knives were widely sold and used in Sweden because they came with corkscrews, and all the bottles had corks, and everyone needed to open bottles. After the war, bottle caps replaced corks for everything except wine, and the pocket knife's utility plummeted, and cutleries started closing. There used to be hundreds, and by now only EKA's left. So statistically, if it's from before ~1950 it saw a lot of use, and if it's after ~1950 it did not, it was a gift or something.

8) Swedish pocket knife by EKA, c.1935-1965. Model 38 PB, with blade, pen blade, flat screwdriver, and corkscrew. Handle with mother of pearl scales and nickel silver bolsters, tang stamp "E.K.A. / ESKILSTUNA / SWEDEN", 8.3 cm closed.

The corkscrew is a quirky one, known as Gottlieb Hammesfahr patent: it pivots on the pin and opens perpendicular to the handle, not pulled downwards as in most pocket knives.

#tools of the trade #folding knife #sweden #sheffield #spain #germany #toledo #eskilstuna #solingen #usa #trs #trp #trc #how to stab #<- the knife nerd tag

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officiallordvetinari · 4 months

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I know you've all been waiting eagerly for it, and here it is: the first Wikipedia poll of the new year! Links and summaries below the cut as always.

On 29 September 1940, a mid-air collision occurred over Brocklesby, New South Wales, Australia. The accident was unusual in that the aircraft involved, two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Avro Ansons of No. 2 Service Flying Training School, remained locked together after colliding, and then landed safely.

On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained; four days after the murder, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

The Dorset Ooser (/ˈoʊsər/) is a wooden head that featured in the 19th-century folk culture of Melbury Osmond, a village in the southwestern English county of Dorset. The head was hollow, thus perhaps serving as a mask, and included a humanoid face with horns, a beard, and a hinged jaw which allowed the mouth to open and close.

The Ediacaran (/ˌiːdiˈækərən/; formerly Vendian) biota is a taxonomic period classification that consists of all life forms that were present on Earth during the Ediacaran Period (c. 635–538.8 Mya). These were enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile, organisms. Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms.

John Rykener, also known as Eleanor, was a 14th-century sex worker arrested in December 1394 for performing a sex act with John Britby, a man who was a former chaplain of the St Margaret Pattens church, in London's Cheapside while wearing female attire. Although historians tentatively link Rykener, who was male, to a prisoner of the same name, the only known facts of the sex worker's life come from an interrogation made by the mayor of London.

Norwich Market (also known as Norwich Provision Market) is an outdoor market consisting of around 200 stalls in central Norwich, England. Founded in the latter part of the 11th century to supply Norman merchants and settlers moving to the area following the Norman conquest of England, it replaced an earlier market a short distance away. It has been in operation on the present site for over 900 years.

Olive Elaine Morris (26 June 1952 – 12 July 1979) was a Jamaican-born British-based community leader and activist in the feminist, black nationalist, and squatters' rights campaigns of the 1970s. At the age of 17, she claimed she was assaulted by Metropolitan Police officers following an incident involving a Nigerian diplomat in Brixton, South London. She joined the British Black Panthers, becoming a Marxist–Leninist communist and a radical feminist.

Paul Palaiologos Tagaris (Greek: Παῦλος Παλαιολόγος Τάγαρις, c. 1320/1340 – after 1394) was a Byzantine Greek monk and impostor. A scion of the Tagaris family, Paul also claimed a somewhat dubious connection with the Palaiologos dynasty that ruled the Byzantine Empire at the time. He fled his marriage as a teenager and became a monk, but soon his fraudulent practices embroiled him in scandal.

The Royal baccarat scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft affair, was a British gambling scandal of the late 19th century involving the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VII. The scandal started during a house party in September 1890, when Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a lieutenant colonel in the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating at baccarat.

In a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish colonisers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. Before the conquest, this territory contained a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which were Maya.

#Wikipedia polls

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pwlanier · 7 months

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A 19th Century photograph of Harry 'Brusher' Mills (1840-1905). Brusher Mills was Britains last professional snake catcher. He lived as hermit in a charcoal burners cottage in the New Forest, Hampshire, making a living ridding local properties of adders and grass snakes, then selling them to London Zoo. He became a draw to visitors to the New Forest, an object of curiosity and local folk hero, He sold snake ointments and their skeletons to passing tourists. A regular at local cricket matches he was paid to sweep the pitch between innings; hence the name 'Brusher'. In 1905 his cottage was badly vandalised and he was left homeless. The culprits were never found. Robbed of his home, Mills died a short time after.

Silver gelatin print photograph C.1890

Stothert and Trice

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victoriansecret · 10 months

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Vails

I haven't actually talked about it here a lot, partly because I try not to do heavy history stuff here - this blog is meant to be a hobby, after all - and it's something I'm frankly too passionate (obsessed) about, but my main area of historic interest and focus, especially when it comes to my own personal research, is the history of domestic service. It is not an exaggeration to say it is my life's work. Another reason I don't write about it often is I don't really know where to start. My breadth of knowledge on the subject is quite broad, so there's a lot I could say, but I think I'll try to write some small things about specific aspects of it. Vails were, in the 18th (and I believe also 19th) century, basically what we could today call tips, often paid to servants. And when you read things written by the 'master class' of people being served, while they're obviously biased and exaggerating, it does become clear that servants rather enforced them. There wasn't a guild system for servants like there were for trades, but there were informal clubs and groups, and this is one of the ways they seem to have acted together, almost as a form of unionization. There's a letter to a British newspaper where the write says that he estimates many servants are doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling their annual salaries through vails. I could write more but I'll just transcribe some of my favourite passages on this subject from the book Life in the Country House in Georgian Ireland by Patricia McCarthy: I will add too, while this is specifically talking about paid servants in Britain, you do see vails paid to enslaved people in America as well. Probably not as often, but Philip Vickers Fithian, who wrote a diary about his experiences in Virginia in the 1770s, writes about similar things of the enslaved people at the plantation he's staying at expecting their "Christmas boxes" of vails, although they weren't quite as beholden to the actual date of Boxing Day.

... The customary scene in the hall, as their guests waited for their carriages or horses to be brought to the door, embarrassed many. [Marshall, Domestic Servants] Hosts feigned ignorance of their guests' fumbling in their pockets to find shillings and half-crowns to distribute to the servants, who had lined themselves up expectantly. Whether the motive for allowing the practice was to salve the collective conscience of the employers at paying such low wages is not clear. [Bridget Hill, Servants: English Domestics in the 18thc.] It was not confined to great houses, but was also expected in more modest establishments, although the amounts given were less. It was also not only expected on departure from the house of a friend: vails were disbursed by 'house tourists' to whichever servant showed them around - in most cases an upper servant.

...

An army officer described how much his visit to the house of a friend would cost him: 'The moment your departure is known, all the domestics are on the qui vive; the house-maid hopes you have forgotten nothing in packing up, if so, she will take care of it till you come again; this piece of civility costs you three ten-pennies; the footman carries your portmanteau .. to the hall, three more; the butler wishes you a pleasant journey - his greate kindness in so doing of course extracts a crown-piece; the groom brings your horse, assuring you 'tis an ilegant baste, and has fed well' - three more ten-pennies go; the helper runs after you with the curb-chain, which he has 'till this moment carefull secreted - two more; making a total of seventeen, or, in English money, upwards of fourteen shillings. A heavy tax for visiting a friend!' [Benson Earle Hill, Recollections of an Artillery Officervol. 1]

...

Richard Griffith from Bennetsbridge, Co. Kilkenny, complained in c.1760 in a letter to hise wife that 'an heavy and unprofitable Tax still subsists upon the Hospitality of this Neighbourhood .. in short while this Perquisite continues, a Country Gentleman may be considered but as a generous Kind of Inn-holder, who keeps open House, at his own Expence, for the sole Emolument of his Servants .. this Extravagance is not confined, at present, solely to the Country .. ; for a Dinner in Dublin, and all the Towns in Ireland, is even in a Morning, with a Person who keeps his Port, you may levee him fifty Times, without being admitted by his Swiss Porter. So... I shall consider a great Man as a Monster, who may not be seen, 'till you have fee'd his Keppers.' [R. and E. Griffith, A Series of Genuine Letters Between Henry and Frances, vol. 4]

...

Swift gives similar suggestions in Directions to Servants: 'By these, and like Expedients, you may probably be a better Man by Half a Crown before he leaves the House.' He further urges those servants who expect vails 'always to stand Rank and File when a Stranger is taking his Leave; so that he must of Necessity pass between you; and he must have more Confidence or less Money than usual, if any of you let him escape, and according as he behaves himself, remember to treat him the next Time he comes.'

...

Card money was particularly lucrative for butlers and footmen - so much so that, in London at least, such menservants refused service in houses where gaming parties were not held. [Marshall, Domestic Servants - Two footmen at the court of Queen Anne, Fortnum and Mason, used this perquisite as capital to begin their grocery business in London. Country House Lighting 1660-1890, Temple Newsam Country House Series No. 4] But it was vails that finally undermined the authority of the employers, who virtually allowed servants to dictate whom should be received, and then pretended not to notice when the servants extracted money from the departing guests.

...

In the London Chronicle a correspondent wrote in 1762 that 'Masters in England seldom pay their servants but in lieu of wages suffer them prey upon their guests'. George Mathew of Thomastown, Co. Tipperary, a man famous for his hospitality, was one of the first employers to ban the 'inhospitable custom' of giving vails to servants, and to compensate them by increasing their wages. This was apparently as early as the 1730s. His servants were warned that, if they disobeyed, they would be discharged. He also informed his guests that he would 'consider it as the highest affront if any offer of that sort were made'. [Anthologia Hibernica, I - No date given for this account, by 'Grand George' Mathew, who died in 1737, was the man described, who was host to Jonathan Swift at Thomastown in the 1720s, a visit described by Thomas Sheridan in A Life of the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Swift] A crusade against the giving of vails began in 1760 in Scotland, where seventeen counties issued appeals to abolish them. Four years later the movement had spread to London, resulting in riots there by footmen, the servants who stood to lose the most. [Marshall, Domestic Servants] It was probably at about the same time that employers from a number of counties in Ireland agreed among themselves to abolish vails. [Griffith, Series of Letters..., IV, 'An Agreement entered into among the Gentlemen of several Counties in Ireland, not to give Vails to Servants'] Like George Mathew before them, they decided to increase staff wages in an effort to compensate them for loss of earnings. One of them was Lord Kildare: in March 1765 he issued a directive from Carton to members of his household, stating that 'In Consideration of Vails &c, which I will not permit for the future to be received in any of my Houses upon any Account whatsoever from Company lying there or otherwise I shall give in lieu thereof... five pounds per annum each to the housekeeper, Maitre D'Hotel, cook and confectioner; three pounds per annum each to the steward at Carton, the butler, valet de chambre and groom of the chambers, and two pounds to the Gentleman of Horse. ...

And I will conclude with this funny account, about the penalty for being known amongst the staff to be a spendthrift, from the same book: ...

An unfortunate guest in England in 1754 found his punishment [for not giving vails] truly humiliating. 'I am a marked man,' he wrote, 'if I ask for beer I am presented with a piece of bread. If I am bold enough to call for wine, after a delay which would take its relish away were it good, I receive a mixture of the whole sideboard in a greasy glass. If I hold up my plate nobody sees me; so that I am forced to eat mutton with fish sauce, and pickles with my apple pie.' [Quoted in Marshall, Domestic Servants]

feel free to tip here (and yes the irony of this is not lost on me, although it did not occur to me until about halfway through writing this)

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jeannepompadour · 6 months

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Portrait of Annie Gambart by William Powell Frith, c. 1851

#William Powell Frith #19th century #mdp19th c.#1850s #Britain #19th c. Britain

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werewolfetone · 1 year

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Funniest thing is when white liberal usamericans make anti-england memes & say they hate england as a historical insitution & then in the next breath they mock irish names & say scots is a funny silly joke & talk about how disgusting food created by british poc is & say that actually immigrants to england aren't english they're Other & get mad when people talk about how britain colonised their country & make fun of the dialects of working class & poc english people & idolise the aesthetics of 19th century colonisers &c &c. like can u pick a side please lol

#uk politics #kind of #politics #jory.txt

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engineer-gunzelpunk · 10 months

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Locomotive Rights in Australia (Victoria): Part 1

(One of the patron saints of the Locomotive Rights movement in Victoria, VR S-Class Pacific S300 Matthew Flinders, who was scrapped before he could be saved. The scrapping of the S-classes spurred the IRL steam preservation movement in Victoria)

Here I am, riffing off @joezworld's posts about Locomotive Rights as they developed around the world. Here is my personal take on what happened in Australia in regards to this issue.

(Disclaimer: Needless to say this is all fictionalised and not to be taken as a comment on any historical personage or real life locomotive. No slander is intended, this is a headcanon extrapolating Locomotive Rights in the GunzelVerse, and the TTTE/RWS AUs I write about in them, "This Is Sodor: The Iron Age" and "Red And Black Steam on Southern Metals".)

(I use the term “Lokodammerung”, literally meaning “Twilight of the Locomotives” in regards to the mass scrapping of locomotives. The Great Scrapping seems too cold, while “Dammerung” has a sad and apocalyptic timbre, which I what I wish to convey.)

If I don’t cover WAGR(Western Australia), SAR (South Australia) or QR (Queensland) , its because they are not my special interest in locomotives and I don’t know all that much about them. My apologies for the exclusion and I will try to rectify it in the future with time and research.

The situation of the railway and locomotive rights in Australia is a very strange and complex one, coded in State’s rights, custom and ideology more than anything systematic. It would be best dealt with State by State.

In spite of the celebrity of NSWGR C-38 Pacific 3801, it didn’t translate into a proper acknowledgement of non-faceless vehicles as people in of themselves until the 60’s. And even then, it was not an even process. The push actually began in the States of Victoria and New South Wales separately and converged later.

Prehistory

Upon Federation, every single State had their own specific gauge, an expression of the fervent desire for independence of the colonies before they were brought together as one nation when Australia was made into a Federation in 1901. Attempts to bring the country to a single gauge failed as each state battled with open hostility to the idea.

In the specific case of the colony of Victoria, the Broad Gauge (known widely as the “Irish’ Gague at 5’3’’) had been decided upon but as BG rolling stock and locomotives were purchased, a change of leadership brought a change of decision as to what sort of railway gauges would be used. NSW decided upon Standard Gauge of 4 ft 8 ½ inches like what was used in Britain. Victoria in a fit of pique having already paid for their goods, refused to reconsider a change of gauge.

(The Victorian terrain also suited the BG quite well, the long, broad and steep inclines requiring a more stable kind of gauge provided by the BG).

Oz is also an enormous place compared to the UK. The State of Victoria alone is the size of Great Britain and around 2700 times the size of the Island of Sodor; the states themselves cover a lot of territory compared with states in the USA. Each is its own country virtually, which makes it difficult to organise, and with the difficulties in the per-internet age toward reliable communication between engines of different states (the old break-of-gauge problem!) , it was remarkable that a resistance movement got started… and started it did.

I will now speak mainly of the State of Victoria and it’s locomotives, as this is my tendency. Without rail, Victoria could have never have been the State power that it was.

***

It was said that by the late 19th century, a Victorian human was never more than 25 kilometers from a railway line, and this was thanks to lobbying by politicans promising lines to voters… and the locomotives that requested them. As the state and the railway companies were flush with Gold Rush money, they had plenty of cash to spend to do so. The famous “Octopus Act” allowed a virtual spiderweb of iron to embrace the State, creating a near total domination of goods and passenger traffic.

Thus the locomotive was able to range quite freely within Victoria wherever they pleased, and combined with strongly built depots the sizes of which eclipsed the fleets of the NWR (the North Melbourne Locomotive Depot alone shedded 120 locomotives, compared the the total number of locos at the NWR, which was around 80 at the same time before the Norf depot was demolished) developed a certain state of educated consciousness that meshed quite nicely with the tendency towards radicalism and trade unionism.

This was aided by the amalgamation of private lines post the Railway Mania era into the governments aegis, so branchlines remained open and ready until the local version of Beeching later on turned a lot of them into tramways.

Encased within their little Broad Gauge bubble imposed by the patriotic fervor of the colonies pre-Federation, locomotives could not be as easily replaced by out-of-state loaners. The early days tended towards foreign imports that were then used as templates to be built locally… and built locally they were as a matter of state pride. A lot of VR locomotives were built at Newport Works and at Phoenix Foundary, Ballarat.

The standardization plan brought forth under the reign of Chairman of Commissioners Richard Speight in the 1880's introduced five new classes of locos (A, D, E, the so called New R-class later renamed RY, and Y) that were built locally with the aid of Kitson and Co. of Leeds, England involved in the design phase, with the view that parts could be used interchangeably across classes.

This contributed to create a certain kind of mentality within the VR locomotives of a sense of separateness and self-sufficiency which cleaved with the ever present state rivalry with their Northern neighbor, New South Wales. The overall treatment of locomotives was one of a certain kind of affection, they were tools to be sure, but more than that. It was somewhat better than the British tendency to treat the locomotives as nothing more than iron pack mules, but this was not coded into law. Status of the locomotives was by custom rather than law, which was to have consequences later on.

For a time, things were very, very good for locomotives within Victoria. An American-railways inspired Railway Commissioner , Sir Harold Clapp (the Oz equivalent to a Director, as the VR was run by a board of Commissioners spoken for by a Chairman of Commissioners), the First Thin Commissioner, had been Vice President of the Southern Pacific railways in the US and brought heavy reforms to a VR seemingly stuck in the 19th century; amongst his ideas were the integration of American design principles to VR locomotives and rolling stock, creating a distinctly rugged look to the locos with their bar-frames and pilots as well as a general increase in size, to better fit the uneven terrain of Victoria with its regular inclines of 1-50, 1-44 and even 1-30.

The amiable K-class Consolidations and the sturdy, hard working Xs and N Mikado classes were introduced in this period.

This reached the peak of design with the creation of the mighty 3 cylinder S-class Pacifics of the "Spirit of Progress" fame and then Heavy Harry at Newport, who was meant to be the first of three other H-classes built for express passenger work across Victoria. The American inspiration can be seen in his rugged bar plate frame imported from the US, the specific use of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railway's name for the 4-8-4 wheel configuration, "Pocono" for him and his very strong resemblance in appearance to fellow 4-8-4s the NYC Niagara and Union Pacific 844 Living Legend. (The other two H-classes were partially built, then scrapped during the war. So Harry had two stillborn brothers, a point of lingering grief for the big engine.)

(For more info on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 4-8-4 "Poconos"", see here)

Classes tended to be modified rather than outright replaced, like the A and D classes (each went through at least 2-3 waves of modifications and were marked with special names designating them as such, such as A1 , A2 and Dd ) as a cost-saving measure and often lasted a long time relative to their cousins in Britain, such as the 1915 built A2 -class 4-6-0 No 986 “Pluto”, who was only withdrawn in 1963, even though the R-class Hudsons were sent from Glasgow to replace them in 1951. In their naivety, they never thought the humans could ever turn against them.

Unfortunately, Victoria with a change of Commissioners was to echo Great Britain in the bizarre way that steam was phased out and reforms brought in. Wartime Austerity and the increasing costs of running the railways were used as excuses for local "mad choppery".

Country lines deemed unprofitable were cut, maintenance was reduced and fewer and fewer services were run, which tended to alienate people from the railways.

The VR also had some people within it that like their UK equivalents, had a deep suspicion of socialism and thus sought to break the back of the trade union of drivers and firemen by literally taking away their locomotives, and replacing them with easy to drive diesels and electrics with easy to train drivers, with the excuse that they were cheaper to run, cleaner and just overall better.

(The railwaymen’s strike in 1950 was supported wholeheartedly by the locomotives of the VR, who’s maintenance had been sorely neglected in the post war austerities; the strong presence of the unions and their relationship with the bitter, fallen prince of the fleet-turned-radical Heavy Harry and the fact that an entire depot was claimed by the Communist Party at the country town of Donald gave them more impetus to phase out steam power).

Others genuinely did believe that the time of steam was passing and the future needed to be embraced. They didn’t hate the locomotives personally, it was just that they were deemed obsolete. The steam locomotives were relics, and relics didn’t deserve a place at the main table in a rapidly changing world.

So they had to go.

With no real legal protections that other locomotives had in other countries like the USA, Europe and the Soviet Union, the Victorian locomotives were vulnerable to the encroaching end. Custom and public affection by itself cannot protect against sanctioned injustice.

14th of July 1952 was the beginning of the end for steam in Victoria. The first diesels, the pug-nosed B-class had arrived in Victoria, were built by Clyde Engineering in NSW (ironically, the same home Works that birthed the mighty NSWGR C-38 Pacifics) from an American design. The complacent VR locomotives were caught by surprise by the lean and hungry diesels who were now bedecked in the same blue and gold livery as the S-class Pacifics, who’s time was running out quickly.

The Lokodammerung had reached the Broad-Gauge southern fiefdom and showed no mercy.

The fact that this left a lot of people unemployed, destroyed a lot of side industries that made up the railway (workshops, suppliers, etc) and the costs of conversion left them unmoved. If they didn’t care about humans, they sure as hell weren’t going to care about locomotives, even if they talked and thought as humans.

As if to underline the point with extreme sadism, the mighty S-class locomotives were withdrawn and scrapped with not a hint of ceremony or acknowledgement of their hard work. That the diesels were painted in their old livery served to underline the viciousness of the insult to the VR steam locomotives.

It was an ideological point clearly made even to the humans. The enginemen seemed to read it correctly and the locomotives felt it deeply, shocked that their lieges were to be the ones sacrificed as an example to the hungry god of Modernisation.

(The R-Class was often blamed in railway enthusiast circles for giving the VR an excuse to introduce diesels, but this is backwards logic placing blame on a convenient foreign imported scapegoat. They were ordered and then the decision to bring in diesels was made and excuses were built around their seeming lack of performance when they were abused and poorly treated.

As locomotives, they did not get the chance to show their virtues… as they were deliberately worked into ruin on grain haulage jobs they were never suited for by the VR, so by the time the preservation movement got their act together, only two of their number were actually in operating condition and only 7 of 70 were saved. That the R-class clan thrived in restoration clearly indicates they have had the last laugh, they outlasted the VR!)

To Be Continued...

#ttte #rws #thomasallgrownup #victorian railways #GunzelVerse #GunzelVerse Headcanons #weird train rants #ttte extended universe headcanons #ttte alternate universe headcanons #Red And Black Steam On Southern Metals #This Is Sodor: The Iron Age #ttte headcanons #ttte headcanon #thomas the tank engine #ttte au

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ltwilliammowett · 9 months

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A little Naval History Beginners Guide

Books I like to recommend because they are really well written, have a high information content and I personally work with them. This is only a small list, there are of course many more, but for a start these are good to begin with.

B. Lavery, Nelson’s Navy. The Ships, Men and Organisation. 1793-1815 New Edition (London 2012) B. Ireland, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail. War at Sea 1756-1815 ( London 2000) N. Tracy, Nelson’s Battles. The Art of Victory in the Age of Sail (London 1996) D.Davies, A brief history of Figthing Ships (London 1996) A. Lambert, War at Sea in the Age of Sail 1650- 1850 (London 2000) G. Wells, Naval Customs and traditions (London 1930) P. Goodwin, HMS Victory, Pocket Manuel 1805 (London 2015) J. Eastland a. I. Ballantyne, HMS Victory. First Rate 1765 (London 2011) J. Bennett, Sailing into the Past. Learning from replica Ships (London 2009) M. P. Smith, Terror at Sea. True Tales of shipwrecks, cannibalism, pirates, fire at sea & otherdire disasters in the 18th& 19th centuries (Maine, 1995) J. Lowry, Fiddlers and whores. the candid memoirs of a surgeon in Nelson’s fleet, James Lowry, 1798 (London 2006) B. Lavery, Royal Tars. The lower deck of the royal navy, 875-1850 (London 2010) R. and L. Adkins, Jack Tar. Life in Nelson’s Navy (London 2008) A. Bruce, Encyclopedia of Naval History (London 1998) J. Black, Naval Power: A History of Warfare and the Sea from 1500 (London 2009) N.A. M Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 (London 1997) C. L. Symonds, The U.S. Navy: A Concise History (New York 2015)

https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ C. G. Davis, American Sailing Ships: Their Plans and History (University of Michigan 1984) B. Greenhill, The Evolution of the Wooden Ship (1988) R. Woodman, The History of the Ship: The Comprehensive Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (1998)

Admiral W. E. Smith, The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms (England 1867)

#naval history #books

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souurcitrus · 3 months

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Earth-18104

Since I started getting more into Marvel I made a bunch of OCs for the media, and with time I created a whole universe to insert them in the stories. So I'm gonna start posting here my personal time-line.

These events include stories from the comics, a bit of the cartoons and the movies. Many events or characters have their backstories changed and I will include my ocs here.

It's just a project I do for fun (and has been taking my mind in the last years help). It's not complete. There's still a lot to work but I got the basics.

Time-line

B. C - Events

• Okkara and the Enriched

• Birth of Apocalypse

• The Clan Akkaba

A. C. - Events

• Thanos' birth

• Creation of the Ten Rings

• Fall of Titan

15th / 16th / 17th Century - Events

• Odin brings the Tesseract to Earth

• Rise of Count Dracula

• Apocalypse and the Army of Darkness defeat Dracula

• Fall of Tenochtitlán

• Creation of Talokan and birth of K'uk'ultan

• Selene Essex becomes Lady Sinister

• Trial of Agatha Harkness

• Apocalypse is sealed by his subordinates

18th / 19th Century - Events

• Mystique's birth

• Victor Creed's birth

• Logan's birth

• Victor Creed and Tereza Márquez (OC) meet

• Howlett's Tragedy

• Irene Adler and Raven Darkholme meet

• Fall of Akkaba Clan

• Origins: Wolverine I

20th Century

1900 - 1930 - Events

• Origins: Wolverine II

• Wolrd War I

1940 - Events

• World War II

• Johann Schmist finds the Tesseract

• Steve Rogers becomes Captain America

• Bucky Barnes becomes his partner

• Phineas Horton creates the original Torch

• Sgt. Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos

• Foundation of Weapon X by Dr. Abraham Cornelius Truett

• Captain America dissappears and Bucky Barnes is taken by HYDRA

• Logan marries Itsu. Later she is murdered by the Winter Soldider and his son is taken

• Cain Marko and Charles Xavier become stepbrothers

• Wong starts his training in Kamar-Taj

• Howard Stak works for SHIELD

1950 - Events

• Cain Marko and Charles Xavier fight in the Korean War. Marko dissapears after finding the Temple of Cyttorak

• Max Eisenhardt marries Magda

• The original Torch dissapears / dies

• Logan meets Silverfox

• Magda and their daughter dies, Max Eisenhardt changes his name to Erik Lehnsherr

• 1950 Avengers

1960 - Events

• Charles Xavier meets Moira Mactaggert and Gabrielle Haller

• Sabretooth and Wolverine join Team X

• Adam Brashear becomes Blue Marvel

1970 - Events

• Professor X, Magneto, Mystique and Destiny create the first team of X-Men

1980 - Events

• Captain Marvel

• Ghost Rider

• The Incredible Hulk

• Iron Man

• Ant-Man and Wasp

• Hawkeye and Mockingbird

Age of Heroes - The first famous groups of heroes start to rise, the first conflicts earth went through after FF, the Avengers, the X-Men, the Decenders and the others formed.

1989 - Events

• The Fantastic Four

• Puppet Master

1990 -

• The Avengers

1991 -

• Jessica Drew works for SHIELD as Arachne

• Logan adopts Amiko Kobayashi

• Matt Murdock debuts as Daredevil

1992 -

• The X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Beast)

• The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

• X-Men VS Juggernaut

• Sam Wilson becomes the Falcon

1993 -

• Simon Williams joins the Masters of Evil as Wonder Man

• New Avengers (Black Panther, Hercules, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkerye, Falcon)

• Jennifer Walters becomes She-Hulk

1994 -

• Sue Storm and Reed Richards Wending

• The Fantastic Four meets Black Panther

• Dane Withman becomes Black Knigt

• Z'Nox attack

• Wade Wilson becomes Deadpool

• Silver Sufer and Galactus

• Alex Summers becomes an X-Man

• Betsy Braddock becomes Captain Britain

1995 -

• Mesmero attacks Krakoa. Lorna Dane joins the X-Men as Polaris

• Patsy Walker becomes Hellcat

• Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man

• Jessica Jones becomes Jewel

• Heroes for Hire (Luke Cage and Danny Rand)

• Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin

• Natasha Romanoff leaves the Red Room and joins SHIELD, working alongside Mockingbird and Hawkeye

• Frankie Raye joins the Fantastic Four as Photon.

• The Avengers battle against Ultron and Vision

• Among us stalk the Sentinels! Ororo Muroe and Sean Cassidy join the X-Men

• Frank Castle becomes the Punisher

• Jean Grey absorbed the power of the Phoenix

1996 -

• Hank McCoy joins the Avengers

• Greer Nelson becomes Tigra

• Secret Empire

• Avengers / Defenders War

• Flint Marko becomes Sandman

• Second Genesis.

• Hulk VS Wolverine

• Cyclops starts a new team of X-Men (Wolverine, Storm, Thunderbird, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Sunfire)

• X-Men VS Erik the Red and D'Ken

• Wanda Maximoff and the Darkhold

• Darren Cross becomes Yellow Jacket

• Wanda uses her magic to create her sons

• Mystique and Destiny start a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

• Kitty Pryde and Alison Blaire join Xavier's Institue

• Dark Phoenix and death of Jean Grey. Cyclops leaves the team

• Kree / Skrull War

1997 -

• Days of Future Past. Rachel Summers and Lucas Bishop join the X-Men

• Cyclops meets Madelyne Prior.

• Rogue absorves Carol Danvers powers

• Rhino VS Spider-Man

• The trial of Hank Pym

• X-Men VS the Brood

• She-Hulk joins the Avengers

• Wanda and Vision find out their sons are magic creations of the Darkhold

• Illyana Rasputin is captured and taken to the Limbo

• New Mutants

• The Morlocks

• Rogue joins the X-Men. Logan marries Mariko.

• Beta Ray Bill!

• Venom arrives at Earth

• Hawkeye creates the West Coast Avengers

• Forge joins the X-Men

• Curtis Connors becomes the Lizard

1998 -

• Jean Grey returns

• Nathan Summers is born

• Mutant Massacre

• Madelyne is corrupted by the demon N'Astirh, becoming the Goblin Queen

• Asteroid M

• Fall of the Mutants

• Franklin Richards is born

• The Punisher took over the Assassins' Guild, and later became a substitute teacher while investigating drug trafficking at a school

• Wolverine and Jubilee work together against the Hand

• Gambit joins the X-Men

• Genosha X-Tinction Agenda

• Legacy Virus

1999 -

• Kree/Shi'ar War

• X–Cutioner Song

• Rise of Midnight's Children

• Maximum Carnage

• Fatal Attractions

• Bloodties. Fabian Cortez kidnaps Luna Maximoff

• Sabretooth goes to the X-Men after he starts losing control of his feral side

• Cyclops and Marvel Girl marry

• Generation Next and Phalanx events. Emma Frosts takes the new mutants as her students. Blink dissapears.

• The Hellions die

• Peter Parker meets Olivia Octavius, who later becomes Dr. Octopus

• Sabretooth escapes. Angel loses his wings

• Ozyamndias comes to warn the X-Men about the return of Apocalypse

2000 -

• Jessica Drew joins the Heroes for Hire

• Graydon Creed's assassination

• Apocalypse returns with his Knights

2001 -

• Mantis creates Adam Warlock. Later Gamora is sent to kill them, but decides to betray Thanos. With Drax, Groot and Rocket, they become the Guardians of Galaxy.

• The Thunderbolts

2002 -

• Sepent Crown's arc. Lemuria and Talokan are revealed to the world

2003 -

• Jessica Drew returns as a heroes and joins the Heroes for Hire with Cage and Rand

2004 -

• The start of Infinity Gaulent arc. Earth's heroes lose the battle to Thanos. Half of the Universe dissapears.

• The X-Men split in Team Gold and Team Blue

2005 -

2006 -

• Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson marry

2007 -

2008 -

2009 -

• Mayday Parker is born

2010 -

• The Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians of Galaxy and Denfenders join forces to fight Thanos once more

• Thor becomes king of Asgard

2011 -

• The Avengers rebuilt their base.

• Scott Lang joins the team as the new Ant-Man.

• Emma Frost and Scott Summers re-open the Academy X

2012 -

• E is for Extinction

• Runaways!

• Jean Grey dies fighting Xorn

• Gitfted / The Mutant Cure

• Ana Corazon becomes Spider-Girl

• Logan meets Laura Kinney

• The Winter Soldier Returns

2013 -

• M Day happens

• Vulcan takes the throne from Lilandra

• Peter Quill joins the Guardians of Galaxy

2014 -

• The Young Avengers!

° Iron Lad (16), Kate Bishop (17/18), Wiccan, Speed (16), Patriot (16), Hulking (16), Sting (14), Jonas (??)

• The New X-Men

° Armor, Loa, Prodigy, Cuckoos, (15), Rockslide, Pixie Hellion, Flubber, Gentle, Wind Dancer, Surge, Wallflower, Onyxx, Quill, Network, Wither (14),

° Mercury, Indra, Dust, Ink, Laura, Elixir, Kidogo, Trance, Dryad, Icarus, Tag, Preview, DJ (13), Wing, Wolf Cub, Rubber Maid, Bling!, Anole, Match, Specter (12)

• Stryker attacks Xavier's Institue

2015 -

• World War Hulk

• Birth of the Mutant Messiah

• The Avengers and other heroes fight Kang. Sam becomes Captain America

2016 -

• Skrull Invansion

• Dark Reign

• The X-Men move to Utopia

• The Inner Circle attacks Genosha

• Hope returns as the Messiah

• Hank Pym opens the Avengers Academy

2017 -

• Children's crusade

• Hope and the Lights

• Apocalypse Solution. Warren Worthington III becomes heir of Apocalypse

• Fear Itself

• The Schism between the X-Men happens

2018 -

• Miles Morales (13) becomes Spider-Man

• Logan opens the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning

• Jean Foster is diagnosed with cancer

2019 -

• The Phoenix returns

• Rage of Ultron. Hank Pym dies

• Khamala Khan (16) becomes Ms. Marvel

2020 -

• Ms. Marvel, Nova and Spider-Man create the new Champions

2021 -

2022 -

2023 -

• The Mutants create Krakoaland

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clove-pinks · 2 years

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One of the more inexplicable decisions of the 19th century Royal Navy is... that time they stopped caring about having an educational institution for properly educating midshipmen to be competent and knowledgeable officers? During the Pax Britannica, when Britain ruled the waves with a growing empire, and there was no need to cut corners this way??

Standards weren’t relaxed, and young gentlemen still had to pass their exam for lieutenant with six years of sea service, but the Royal Naval College to train them was abolished in 1837.

By 1838 educational provisions for young gentlemen had regressed to pre-1733 levels; circumstances that did not bode well for the academic (and professional) future of the officer corps. No significant improvements to the system took place until 1857, when Captain Robert Harris offered up his own son as a test case in order to experiment with officer training aboard HMS Illustrious. The success of Harris’s efforts saw ‘naval cadets’ (the new title for aspirants which superseded that of ‘1st-class volunteer’ in 1843) presented with the first programme of standardized education and training offered since the closure of the College.

— S.A. Cavell, Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771-1831

HMS Illustrious (1803) heading out of Table Bay in choppy conditions and a stiff breeze, by Thomas Whitcombe c. 1811 (detail) (Wikimedia Commons)

#midshipman monday #age of sail #midshipmen #royal navy #naval history #military history #great britain #age of steam #hms illustrious #thomas whitcombe #naval art #the sea #samantha a cavell #midshipmen and quarterdeck boys in the royal navy #education

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briarcrawford · 6 months

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Food for Adventures Part 1: Hardtack

If you need an easy travel food for characters, there is a historic solution that might help with that.

Hardtack is a type of bread or cracker made from flour, water, and (sometimes) salt. Due to their long shelf life and how easy and inexpensive they are to make, hardtack is a travel food that has a very long human history.

Reproduced 19th century army (left) and navy (right) hard tack. Image Source

The hardtack was typically baked twice at a low temperature, though sometimes more than twice if the journey would be long. The goal was to dry it out as much as possible, so that (if stored well) it would not go bad. Under ideal conditions, they can last years. However, while on the road, that could not always be possible, so people would get the extra protein of eating weevils(which are harmless to eat…though still likely unwanted).

Due to how dry they are, most people hydrated them in some way, such as by dipping them in a beverage like tea, or crumpling them for use in foods like chowders. Others would crush them, add water, and fry them into a odd pancake.

Hardtack was even called “sea biscuits,” “ship bread,” or “navy bread,” due to their long history of being used aboard ships. For the ancient Romans, however, they were called “Bucellatum,” and each soldier would carry their rations.

“The Codex Theodosius(7.4.11) dating from 360 states that troops on the move should receive hardtack biscuits (buccellatum), bread, ordinary wine (vinum) and sour wine (acetum), salted pork and mutton. It seems that hardtack and acetum would be consumed for two days, and on the third day the decent wine and bread would be eaten. Troops were ordered to collect twenty days rations from the state warehouses before a long campaign, and carry these rations themselves.” The Romans in Britain

Through the centuries, travellers and soldiers relied on the dried bread, which lead to J.R.R. Tolkien eating it while he served in WW1. Some theorize hardtack could be one possible inspiration for the “Lembas” that J.R.R Tolkien has the characters eat in The Lord of the Rings.

Even today, you may find a modern day version of hardtack in ready-made military food packs (often called IMP’s or MRE’s). Thanks to the ability to air seal, the modern ones are not quite as dry, but — speaking from experience from my teen years eating them in cadets — they still certainly make you want to drink a lot of water.

So, this bread has a long history for a good reason, which also could make it the perfect travel food for your adventurer characters.

Mix 5 cups of flour to 1 cup of water containing a 1/2-tablespoon of salt. Knead into a dough and roll out to 3/8-inch thickness. Cut into approximately 3-inch squares and pierce each with a fork or ice pick several times. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes or until slightly brown.” “A Taste For War: The Culinary History of the Blue and the Gray” by William C. Davis (2003)

Ad for a Ship Bread Bakehouse in 1832

#writing fantasy #fantasy world #fantasy novel #fantasy #fantasy writer #fantasy writing #fantasy worldbuilding #writing #writing tips #writing advice #Fantasy food #hardtack #WorldBuildingFood #food

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