History, anything goes, including pictures

February 16
1659 1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey)

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The history of the cheque dates back to the 13th century in Venice when the bill of exchange was developed as a legal device to allow international trade without the need to carry around large amounts of gold and silver. Their use was subsequently adopted in France, and from there the practice was brought to England.

In 1659 the first known English cheque was made payable to Mr Delboe for the grand sum of £400 by merchant Nicholas Vanacker, to be drawn on City bankers Messrs Morris and Clayton. (on display at Westminster Abbey)

And in the not too distant future, history will document that the cheque will no longer exist.
 

16 February 1793 – The first free settlers arrive in New South Wales.
Prior to leaving England, Governor Arthur Phillip had suggested that convicts with experience in farming, building and crafts be included in the First Fleet, but his proposal was rejected, and this made the establishment of a workable colony difficult in the early years. Phillip maintained his campaign for more farmers, as the colony faced near-starvation in the early years, due to difficulties with growing crops. In response to Governor Phillip’s repeated requests to the British Authorities for farmers, the first free settlers arrived in New South Wales aboard the transport ship Bellona on 16 February 1793, lured by the promise of land grants.

A pen and ink drawing of Sydney Cove seen from the Rocks circa 1793. State Library of NSW.
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The first free settlers were: Thomas Rose, a farmer from Dorset, his wife and four children; he was allowed a grant of 120 acres; Frederic Meredith, who had formerly been at Sydney with HMS Sirius; Thomas Webb who had also been formerly at Sydney with the Sirius, his wife, and his nephew, Joseph Webb; Edward Powell, who had formerly been at Sydney with the Juliana transport, and who married a free woman after his arrival. Thomas Webb and Edward Powell each received a grant of 80 acres; and Joseph Webb and Frederic Meredith received 60 acres each.
 

16 February 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
In 1914 Lord Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, Carter was employed to lead the work. On 26 November 1922, Carter made a “tiny breach in the top left hand corner” of the doorway, with Carnarvon, his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert, and others in attendance, using a chisel that his grandmother had given him for his 17th birthday. He was able to peer in by the light of a candle and see that many of the gold and ebony treasures were still in place.

Lord Carnavron and Howard Carter at the entry. Carnarvon asked, “Can you see anything?” Carter replied with the famous words: “Yes, wonderful things!”
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The next several months were spent cataloguing the contents of the antechamber under the “often stressful” supervision of Pierre Lacau, director general of the Department of Antiquities of Egypt. By February 1923 the antechamber had been cleared of everything but two sentinel statues. A day and time were selected to unseal the tomb with about twenty appointed witnesses that included Lord Carnarvon, several Egyptian officials, museum representatives and the staff of the Government Press Bureau.

On 16 February 1923 at just after two o’clock, the seal was broken.

Carter opened the sealed doorway and found that it did indeed lead to a burial chamber, and he got his first glimpse of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. The tomb was considered the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.
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16 February 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
In 1914 Lord Carnarvon received the concession to dig in the Valley of the Kings, Carter was employed to lead the work. On 26 November 1922, Carter made a “tiny breach in the top left hand corner” of the doorway, with Carnarvon, his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert, and others in attendance, using a chisel that his grandmother had given him for his 17th birthday. He was able to peer in by the light of a candle and see that many of the gold and ebony treasures were still in place.

Lord Carnavron and Howard Carter at the entry. Carnarvon asked, “Can you see anything?” Carter replied with the famous words: “Yes, wonderful things!”
prhnhj3.jpg

The next several months were spent cataloguing the contents of the antechamber under the “often stressful” supervision of Pierre Lacau, director general of the Department of Antiquities of Egypt. By February 1923 the antechamber had been cleared of everything but two sentinel statues. A day and time were selected to unseal the tomb with about twenty appointed witnesses that included Lord Carnarvon, several Egyptian officials, museum representatives and the staff of the Government Press Bureau.

On 16 February 1923 at just after two o’clock, the seal was broken.

Carter opened the sealed doorway and found that it did indeed lead to a burial chamber, and he got his first glimpse of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. The tomb was considered the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.
25408632797_fe116fbe34_o.jpg
The Times in London and New York World magazine published the best-selling novelist Marie Corelli’s speculations that ‘the most dire punishment follows any rash intruder into a sealed tomb’. It was not long before Lord Carnarvon died in Cairo aged 56 and the lights in the city went out, which set off a frenzy of speculation. Arthur Conan Doyle told the American press that ‘an evil elemental’ spirit created by priests to protect the mummy could have caused Carnarvon’s death.

No curse had actually been found in the tomb, but deaths in succeeding years of various members of Carter’s team and real or supposed visitors to the site kept the story alive, especially in cases of death by violence or in odd circumstances. Alleged victims of the curse included Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey of Egypt, shot dead by his wife in 1923; Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, who supposedly X-rayed the mummy and died mysteriously in 1924; Sir Lee Stack, the governor-general of the Sudan, who was assassinated in Cairo in 1924; Arthur Mace of Carter’s excavation team, said to have died of arsenic poisoning in 1928; Carter’s secretary Richard Bethell, who supposedly died smothered in his bed in 1929; and his father, who committed suicide in 1930………

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/tutankhamuns-curse
 
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Margaret Thatcher campaigning to stay in Europe during the 1975 referendum

February 17 1972 - The British Parliament voted on this day to join the European Communities, as it was then known.

After battling European nations had twice dragged the world into horrific global conflict, strong voices called out in the mid-twentieth century for unity.

But military stability was only one side of the coin. European economies were threatened both by the giant trade market of the United States and by the vast economic resources of the Soviet Union.

On top of that, by 1950 it was obvious that centuries of world supremacy by Western Europe was at an end. The answer to these problems, according to a number of economists and politicians, was European economic integration.
 
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Margaret Thatcher campaigning to stay in Europe during the 1975 referendum

February 17 1972 - The British Parliament voted on this day to join the European Communities, as it was then known.

After battling European nations had twice dragged the world into horrific global conflict, strong voices called out in the mid-twentieth century for unity.

But military stability was only one side of the coin. European economies were threatened both by the giant trade market of the United States and by the vast economic resources of the Soviet Union.

On top of that, by 1950 it was obvious that centuries of world supremacy by Western Europe was at an end. The answer to these problems, according to a number of economists and politicians, was European economic integration.
How things have changed.

In a UK-wide referendum in June 2016, 52% voted in favour of leaving the EU and 48% voted to remain a member.

On 31 January 2020 at 11.00pm GMT, the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union ended 47 years after it joined.
 
How things have changed.

In a UK-wide referendum in June 2016, 52% voted in favour of leaving the EU and 48% voted to remain a member.

On 31 January 2020 at 11.00pm GMT, the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union ended 47 years after it joined.
Things sure have changed RnR, I hope things work out for England, they deserve a break.
 
17 February 1863 – A group of citizens of Geneva founded an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In June 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant travelled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III to discuss business matters in French Algeria. When he arrived in the small Italian town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June 1859, Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Dunant completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. On 9 February 1863 in Geneva, Henry Dunant founded the “Committee of the Five” as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare to guarantee the neutrality and protection of those wounded on the battlefield as well as medics and field hospitals.

Eight days later, on 17 February 1863, the five men decided to rename the committee to the “International Committee for Relief to the Wounded”. This organisation was later renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Red Cross in action in 1864.
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17 February 1864 – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author and poet is born.

Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, CBE (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941) was an Australian solicitor, bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas.

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February 18
2014 Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 begins as protesters, riot police and unknown shooters take part in violent events in the capital, Kiev, culminating after five days in the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych who refused to sign a new treaty with the European Union in favour of one with Russia.

On 18 February 2014 the protests turned into a revolution with widespread clashes at the square. This would lead the to the ouster of Yanukovych on 22 February and to the present crisis in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
 
18 February 1294 — Kublai Khan founder of the Yuan dynasty and fifth Emperor of the Mongol Empire dies.

In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China, Korea, and some adjacent areas, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-native emperor to conquer all of China.

A miniature painting of Marco Polo before Kublai Khan.

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Under Kublai Khan, direct contact between East Asia and Europe was established, made possible by Mongol control of the central Asian trade routes and facilitated by the presence of efficient postal services. In the beginning of the 13th century, Europeans and Central Asians – merchants, travellers, and missionaries of different orders – made their way to China. The presence of Mongol power allowed large numbers of Chinese, intent on warfare or trade, to travel to other parts of the Mongol Empire, all the way to Russia, Persia, and Mesopotamia.
 
18 February 1478 – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

Depiction of the execution of Clarence, who according to rumour, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

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Clarence was imprisoned in the Tower of London and put on trial for treason against his brother Edward IV. Clarence was not present. Following his conviction, Clarence was “privately executed” at the Tower on 18 February 1478, by tradition in the Bowyer Tower. Soon after the event a rumour gained ground that he had been drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. Clarence appears as a character in William Shakespeare’s plays Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III, in which his death is attributed to the machinations of Richard.
 
18 February 1478 – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

Depiction of the execution of Clarence, who according to rumour, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

x83XPJi.jpg


Clarence was imprisoned in the Tower of London and put on trial for treason against his brother Edward IV. Clarence was not present. Following his conviction, Clarence was “privately executed” at the Tower on 18 February 1478, by tradition in the Bowyer Tower. Soon after the event a rumour gained ground that he had been drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. Clarence appears as a character in William Shakespeare’s plays Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III, in which his death is attributed to the machinations of Richard.
That's the thing about history, there were too many rumours floating around, we need to update some of the stories.
 
18 February 1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist who invented the battery, is born.

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian physicist, chemist, and a pioneer of electricity and power, who is credited as the inventor of the electrical battery and the discoverer of methane.

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18 February 1478 – George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.

Depiction of the execution of Clarence, who according to rumour, was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

x83XPJi.jpg


Clarence was imprisoned in the Tower of London and put on trial for treason against his brother Edward IV. Clarence was not present. Following his conviction, Clarence was “privately executed” at the Tower on 18 February 1478, by tradition in the Bowyer Tower. Soon after the event a rumour gained ground that he had been drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. Clarence appears as a character in William Shakespeare’s plays Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III, in which his death is attributed to the machinations of Richard.
This is one of those historical mysteries that probably will always remain a mystery. A butt is a very large barrel which holds over 100 gallons which means it would have been pretty difficult to move around. Also it's said that the doors of the Bowyer Tower are too narrow to get a butt of wine through. Possibly he was given poisoned wine or quietly killed in some other way. It's interesting anyway.
 
February 19
1942
About 150 Japanese warplanes attack the Australian city of Darwin
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid his respects at a war memorial in Darwin last year. The city was devastated by Japanese bombing in 1942. It was the first formal visit from a Japanese leader to Darwin since during World War II.
 
19 February 1473 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer is born.

Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) of Torun was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the universe, likely independently of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier.

The “Torun portrait” circa 1580, kept in Torun town hall. Engraving of Copernicus, author unknown.

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The publication of Copernicus’ model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making an important contribution to the Scientific Revolution.
 


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