Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Franklin : tragic hero of polar navigation /Andrew Lambert. A study of Captain Sir John Franklin and the expedition he led in 1845 to find the North West Passage connecting the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. Franklin, his crew and their ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, never returned - the cause of their loss a mystery. Several expeditions were launched to search for the ships in the years which followed and a number of relics discovered. Inuit evidence of the ships becoming icebound, the crew setting off on foot but succumbing to the cold and starvation and reports of cannibalism were given to the explorer John Rae in 1854. Rae's report to the Admiralty led to widespread revulsion in Victorian society, enraged Franklin's wife Jane and destroyed his own reputation. Lady Franklin's efforts to eulogise her husband and restore his reputation were supported by many leading Victorians and resulted in a number of further searches. The author re-examines Franklin's life, the background and context of the expedition and the available evidence. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92FRANKLIN

The ship asunder : a maritime history of Britain in eleven vessels /Tom Nancollas. "If Britain's seafaring history were embodied in a single ship, she might have a prehistoric prow, a mast plucked from a Victorian steamship, the hull of a modest fishing vessel, the propeller of an ocean liner and an anchor made of stone. We might call her Asunder, and, fantastical though she is, we could in fact find her today, scattered in fragments across the country's creeks and coastlines. In The Ship Asunder, Tom Nancollas goes in search of eleven relics that together tell the story of Britain at sea. From the swallowtail prow of a Bronze Age vessel to a stone ship moored at a Baroque quayside, each one illuminates a distinct phase of our adventures upon the waves, and each brings us close to the people, places and vessels that made a maritime nation. Weaving together stories of naval architects and shipwrights, fishermen and merchants, shipwrecks and superstition, pilgrimage, trade, slavery and war, The Ship Asunder surveys Britain's seafaring tradition in all its glory and tragedy, triumph and disaster, and asks how we might best memorialise it as it vanishes from our shores."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.20941

My ancestor was a woman at war / by Emma Jolly. Jolly, Emma. [2013?]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.3-055.2

Ocean liners : glamour, speed and style /edited by Daniel Finamore and Ghislaine Wood. "The golden age of ocean liners is inextricably linked with the key decorative trends of the 20th century Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Modernism. This lavish visual feast explores the technical, aesthetic, cultural, and political factors that came together to define such an iconic mode of travel, considering all aspects of the ocean liner experience, from the striking marketing images, aspirational booking offices, and landmark headquarters of the major shipping companies to the ships opulent interiors and triumphs of engineering. The fashions required for a crossing are also explored, along with the evolution of the ships social and public spaces, as once-rigid class structures and attitudes became relaxed. Closing the book is an exploration of the impact of the ocean liner on the wider art and design world an icon of modernity that influenced everyone from the Futurists to Le Corbusier."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 629.123.3

Insurgent empire : anticolonial resistance and British dissent /Priyamvada Gopal. "Insurgent Empire shows how Britain's enslaved and colonial subjects were active agents in their own liberation. Not only that, they shaped British ideas of freedom and emancipation back in the United Kingdom. Priyamvada Gopal examines dissenting politics in Britain and shows that it was influenced by rebellions and resistance among the colonies in the West Indies, East Africa, Egypt, and India. In addition, a pivotal role in fomenting resistance was played by anticolonial campaigners based in London, right at the heart of empire. Much has been written on how colonized peoples took up British and European ideas and turned them against empire when making claims to freedom and self-determination. Insurgent Empire sets the record straight in demonstrating that these people were much more than victims of imperialism or, subsequently, the passive beneficiaries of an enlightened Western conscience - they were insurgents whose legacy today benefits the culture of the nation that once oppressed them"--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 325/.341

Life in Georgian Lancaster / Andrew White. "A lively, yet authoritative account of social life and conditions, for rich and poor alike, in this important provincial town in the eighteenth century. Written by an excellent and well-known historian. We associate the Georgian period with elegance, fine furniture, confidence, prosperity and humanity. Yet in Lancaster, as elsewhere, it also had its dark side - slavery; prostitution; a savage penal code that included the death penalty for quite minor offences; social inequality; unfair political representation; and appalling conditions in early factories which made the lot of many people anything but secure and elegant. But there were also many redeeming features. The country was thinly populated; economic inequality was less marked than it was to become later in the nineteenth century; the city was less crowded and disease-ridden; society less rigid. The Georgian period in Lancaster has left us a legacy of fine buildings, furniture and art. It has also left a sense of a period more akin to our own than the intervening stuffy and pious Victorian era. It appears to us an age filled with humanity, common sense and enlightenment. In this survey of social conditions for every rank of Lancaster inhabitant in the eighteenth century, well-known local historian Andrew White examines what it was really like to work and live in the Georgian town."--Provided by the publisher. 2004. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 332.158(427.2)"17/18"

A soldier gone to sea : memoir of a Royal Marine in both world wars /Charles Frederic Jerram "In this memoir spanning nine decades, Lieutenant Colonel C.F. Jerram (1882-1969) of the Royal Marines recounts his life and military service through both world wars. Jerram describes in candid detail his late 19th-century childhood in Devon and Cornwall, the late Victorian and Edwardian Royal Navy, the Royal Navy's Far East Station, a traditional Corps of Marines, the Gallipoli Campaign, the World War I Western Front and the interwar and World War II years. His experience and insight convey two fundamental lessons: "Know thy profession and look after those for whom you are responsible." An essay by the editor, based on other sources, provides a broader perspective on Jerram, whose approach to professional military service is still pertinent today."--Provided by publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92JERRAM

Relics of the Franklin Expedition : Discovering Artifacts from the Doomed Arctic Voyage of 1845/Garth Walpole "Sir John Franklin's Arctic expedition departed England in 1845 with two Royal Navy bomb vessels, 129 men and three years worth of provisions. None were seen again until nearly a decade later, when their bleached bones, broken instruments, books, papers and personal effects began to be recovered on Canada's King William Island. These relics have since had a life of their own: photographed, analyzed, cataloged and displayed in glass cases in London. This book gives a definitive history of their preservation and exhibition from the Victorian era to the present, richly illustrated with period engravings and photographs, many never before published. Appendices provide the first comprehensive accounting of all expedition relics recovered prior to the 2014 discovery of Franklin's ship HMS Erebus."--Provided by publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 069.51

Haulbowline : the naval base & ships of Cork Harbour /Daire Brunicardi. "Cork harbour is recognised as one of the finest natural harbours in the world. It has been a naval base almost continuously for over 200 years, and druing that time it has always played a key part in Ireland's maritime affairs. In this fascinating book, Daire Brunicardi captures the way in which the harbour has helped to define Ireland's relationship with the sea. From the first development of Haulbowline Island and the construction of the Naval Dockyard, the author charts the activities of the Victorian navy in Irish waters, how during the First World War, Cork harbour became a pillar of the British defence against the German U-boats, why the first US flotillas took the harbour as their home and how, after Armistice, the British navy became based here throughout the Irish Civil War. What emerges is a thorough, engaging and insightful history of the heartland of Ireland's maritime interests."--Back cover 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.81(417.752)

After the lost Franklin expedition : Lady Franklin and John Rae /Peter Baxter. "The fate of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1847 is an enigma that has tantalised generations of historians, archaeologists and adventurers. The expedition was lost without a trace and all 129 men died in what is arguably the worst disaster in Britain's history of polar exploration. In the aftermath of the crew's disappearance, Lady Jane Franklin, Sir John's widow, maintained a crusade to secure her husband's reputation, imperiled alongside him and his crew in the frozen wastes of the Artic. Lady Franklin was an uncommon woman for her age, a socially and politically astute figure who ravaged anyone who she viewed as a threat to her husband's legacy. Meanwhile John Rae, an explorer and employee of the Hudson Bay Company, recovered deeply disturbing information from the Expedition. His shocking conclusions embroiled him in a bitter dispute with Lady Franklin which led to the ruin of his reputation and career. Against the background of Victorian society and the rise of the explorer celebrity, we learn of Lady Franklin's formidable grit to honour her husband's legacy; of John Rae being discredited and his eventual ruin, despite later being proven right. It is a fascinating assessment of the aftermath of the Franklin Expedition and its legacy."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(987)"1847/1859"

Water-colour painting in Britain Hardie, Martin 1967-1968 • FOLIO • 6 copies available. 75.035(42)

Tracing your ancestors through letters and personal writings: A guide for family historians "Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir? Researching Family History Through Ancestors' Personal Writings looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from the Victorian period onwards - a time during which writing became crucial for holding families together and managing their collective affairs. With industrialisation, improved education, and far more geographical mobility, British people of all classes were writing for new purposes, with new implements, in new styles, using new modes of expression and new methods of communication (e.g. telegrams and postcards). Our ancestors had an itch for scribbling from the most basic marks (initials, signatures and graffiti on objects as varied as trees, rafters and window ledges), through more emotionally-charged kinds of writing such as letters and diaries, to more creative works such as poetry and even fiction. This book shows family historians how to get the most out of documents written by their ancestors and, therefore, how better to understand the people behind the words."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.3

SS Great Britain : Brunel's ship, her voyages, passengers and crew /Helen Doe "In SS Great Britain, Helen Doe provides a narrative account of this famous and historically important ship. Experimental and controversial, Great Britain led the way for iron shipbuilding and screw propulsion. The book charts the ship's brilliant design and construction, and the tribulations of her owners as they battled financial crises to turn Isambard Kingdom Brunel's vision into reality. Brunel was passionate about this ship and was devastated when a navigational error stranded her in Dundrum Bay, Ireland. She was rescued in a great feat of salvage and went on to a long life at sea, carrying passengers to New York, troops to the Crimea and India, and thousands of emigrants to Australia. Helen Doe highlights the contribution of the many individuals connected to the ship, ranging from crew members to passengers, at least one grand Victorian scandal, and the mysterious disappearance of her long-serving captain. In this way, the ship's life and times are recreated and the history of a technical marvel is given a human face. The ship was salvaged a second time, when she was rescued from the Falkland Islands and towed home across the Atlantic. She now sits in splendour in her original dock in Bristol and is one of the most visited attractions in Britain. This a compelling account of an iconic ship and of an important moment in industrial history."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123GREAT BRITAIN

Warship 2008 / editor, John Jordan. 2008. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.821

Legacy of Violence : A History of the British Empire /Caroline Elkins. "A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century. Sprawling across a quarter of the world's land mass and claiming nearly seven hundred million people, Britain's empire was the largest in human history. For many, it epitomized the nation's cultural superiority, but what legacy have we delivered to the world? Spanning more than two hundred years of history, Caroline Elkins reveals an evolutionary and racialized doctrine that espoused an unrelenting deployment of violence to secure and preserve British imperial interests. She outlines how ideological foundations of violence were rooted in Victorian calls for punishing indigenous peoples who resisted subjugation, and how over time this treatment became increasingly systematised. And she makes clear that when Britain could no longer maintain control over the violence it provoked and enacted, Britain retreated from its empire, destroying and hiding incriminating evidence of its policies and practices. Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Legacy of Violence implicates all sides of the political divide regarding the creation, execution, and cover-up of imperial violence. By demonstrating how and why violence was the most salient factor underwriting both the empire and British imperial identity, Elkins explodes long-held myths and sheds a disturbing new light on empire's role in shaping the world today"--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 909.0971241082

The Deptford Royal Dockyard and Manor of Sayes Court, London : Excavations 2000-12 /Antony Francis "Deptford Royal Dockyard was established in the early 16th century and closed in 1869. Crucial to the maintenance of the nation's naval power, the dockyard grew from a single storehouse and wet and dry docks to a great complex including stores, slipways, mast docks and other structures supporting ancillary industries, such as sailmaking, timber- and ironworking. Shipbuilding was accompanied by constant repair and rebuilding as the dockyard worked to keep the navy at sea. In its time, the dockyard was visited by royalty and saw the launch of many famous ships. Most of the dockyard buildings were levelled in the 20th century, but important below-ground remains were investigated in 2000-12 in the largest-ever excavation of a naval dockyard. Integrating archaeological evidence with maps and written sources, this book traces the yard's development as it was developed and expanded to keep pace with advances in naval technology and the demands of empire, and throws light on life outside the yard for the workforce."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 623.81(421.6)

Endless forms : Charles Darwin, natural science and the visual arts /edited by Diana Donald and Jane Munro. 2009. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 576.12:7

Breaking seas, broken ships : people, shipwrecks and Britain, 1854-2007 /Ian Friel. "Following Britain and the Ocean Road, Ian Friel expertly navigates the history of Britain and the sea from the Middle Ages to modern times. With Breaking Seas, Broken Ships, we follow the story of Britain's maritime history through some of it's most dramatic shipwrecks. From the country's imperial zenith to the very different world of the early twenty-first century we encounter an extraordinary range of people, ships and events, including? the crew and passengers of a state-of-the-art Victorian steamship who vanished in the Atlantic; the sailors of a doomed collier brig in the dying days of sail - and the wives and children they left behind; a lowly ex-naval stoker who went into showbiz with his version of a disaster caused by an admiral; a First World War merchant ship captain who fought a running battle with German U-Boats; the courage and compassion shown by British sailors who escaped their dive-bombed ships; the people who confronted the 'black tide' left by the oil tanker Torrey Canyon; how the container ship has helped to make a new world for us all - for better or worse. With people at the heart of every chapter, it explores major environmental themes alongside the traditional concerns of maritime history, such as trade, social issues and naval warfare. Their experiences tell us the story of Britain's maritime past, one that is remarkable, moving and at times horrifying. Based on brand new scholarship, it is perfect for history enthusiasts, professional historians and archaeologists alike."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 387.50941

LGBT Victorians : sexuality and gender in the nineteenth-century archives /Simon Joyce. "We think of those whose primary self-definition is in terms of sexuality (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals) and those for whom it is gender identity (intersex and transgender people, genderqueers) as simultaneously in coalition and distinct from each other. Re-examining how the Victorians considered such identity categories to have produced and shaped each other can ground a more durable basis for strengthening our present LGBTQ+ coalition. LGBT Victorians reconsiders the significance of sexology and efforts to retrospectively discover transgender people in historical archives, particularly in the gap between what the nineteenth century termed the sodomite and hermaphrodite. It highlights a broad range of individuals (including Anne Lister, and the defendants in the "Fanny and Stella" trial of the 1870s), key thinkers and activists (including Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs and Edward Carpenter), and writers such as Walt Whitman and John Addington Symonds to map the complicated landscape of gender and sexuality in the Victorian period."--Page 4 of cover. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 306.7609/034

Ruskin, Turner, and the pre-Raphaelites / Robert Hewison, Ian Warrell, and Stephen Wildman. "John Ruskin was the first critic to make his reputation by championing contemporary art: first by defending Turner, in his book Modern Painters, and then by giving his decisive support to the avant-garde, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He bacame one of the defining voices of the nineteenth century, engaging not only in the discussion of art and architecture, but in the social issues of his age. Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, which marks the centenary of Ruskin's death, recovers his role as a contemporary critic by bringing together many of the masterpieces that he wrote about, and exploring his personal links with some of the greatest painters of the Victorian period. He was also an artist in his own right, and Ruskin's finest drawings are used to demonstrate the arguments of a critic for whom 'All great art is praise.' Also featured are many works that were in Ruskin's own art collection"--Provided by the publisher. 2000. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 7RUSKIN

Wisdom and war : the Royal Naval College Greenwich 1873-1998 /Harry Dickinson. "Opened in 1873, in buildings constructed by Charles II to house retired sailors, the Royal Naval College was founded with the aim of providing officers with 'the highest possible scientific instruction in all branches of study bearing upon their profession'. For more than 125 years it taught officers ranging in rank from Sub Lieutenants to Vice Admiral, providing the technical instruction that equipped a corps of naval architects to build some of the most advanced warships in the world and in later years, trained the Royal Navy's nuclear engineers. Despite the College's undoubted contribution, towards both the education of Royal Navy personnel, and technical research more broadly, this is the first book to address the history of the institution from its Victorian roots to its closure in the aftermath of the cold war. Taking a chronological approach, the book traces the history of the college from its establishment in 1873, a period during which technical training for a steam-powered navy was increasingly vital. It then shows how, during the First World War, academic staff at the College made a vital contribution to the development of naval weapons systems, and its medical school initiated a vaccine production programme that later produced major improvements in the public health of the nation. In the Second World War, damaged by enemy action that set London's docklands ablaze, the College provided the first taste of naval life for more than 27,000 men and women called from civilian life to serve on shore and at sea. Later chapters conclude with an exploration of the College's post-war role, focusing particularly on the establishment in 1959 of the Department of Nuclear Science and Technology (DNST) who ran a nuclear reactor on site until the college was closed in 1998. Both as a history of the Royal Naval College itself, and as an exploration of the Navy's attitude toward research and education, this book provides a fascinating insight into what is arguably one of Britain's most significant educational establishments."--Back cover. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.231.4(421.6)"1873/1998"

England's shipwreck heritage : from logboats to U-boats /by Serena Cant. What do characters as diverse as Alfred the Great, the architect Sir Christopher Wren, diarist Samuel Pepys and the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins have in common? All had some involvement in shipwrecks: in causing, recording or salvaging them. This book examines a variety of wrecks from logboats, Roman galleys and medieval cogs to East Indiamen, grand ocean liners, fishing boats and warships - all are woven into the history of shipwrecks along the coastline of England and in her territorial waters. Wrecks are not just physically embedded in this marine landscape - they are also an intrinsic part of a domestic cultural landscape with links that go beyond the navy, mercantile marine and fishing trade. Evidence of shipwrecks is widespread: in literature, in domestic architecture and as a major component of industrial archaeology. Shipwrecks also transcend national boundaries, forming tangible monuments to the movement of goods and people between nations in war and peace. In peacetime they link the architecture and monuments of different countries, from shipyards to factories, warehouses to processing plants; in time of war wrecks have formed a landscape scattered across the oceans, linking friend and foe in common heritage. England's Shipwreck Heritage explores the type of evidence we have for shipwrecks and their causes, including the often devastating effects fo the natural environment and human-led disaster. Ships at war, global trade and the movement of people - such as passengers, convict transports and the slave trade - are also investigated. Along the way we meet the white elephant who perished in 1730, the medieval merchant who pursued a claim for compensation for nearly 20 years, the most famous privateer for the American revolutionary wars and the men who held their nerve in the minesweeper trawls of the First World War. 2013. • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 656.61.085.3(42)"05/19"

Tracing your family history using the census : a guide for family historians /Emma Jolly. "The census is an essential survey of our population, and it is a source of basic information for local and national government and for various organizations dealing with education, housing, health and transport. Providing the researcher with a fascinating insight into who we were in the past, Emma Jolly's new handbook is a useful tool for anyone keen to discover their family history. With detailed, accessible and authoritative coverage, it is full of advice on how to explore and get the most from the records. Each census from 1841 to 1911 is described in detail, and later censuses are analyzed too. The main focus is on the census in England and Wales, but censuses in Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are all examined and the differences explained. Particular emphasis is placed on the rapidly expanding number of websites that offer census information, making the process of research far easier to carry out. The extensive appendix gathers together all the key resources in one place. Emma Jolly's guide is an ideal introduction and tool for anyone who is researching the life and times of an ancestor." --Provided by the publisher 2020. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.1072041

An American in London : Whistler and the Thames /Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort. In the 1860s and 1870s Whistler produced a body of work based on the Thames. Pivotal to his career, this beautiful group of paintings, prints and drawings permits a detailed examination of his approach to composition, subject and technique. The earliest paintings, notably Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge, produced soon after his arrival in London, mark one of his most profound and successful challenges to the art establishment of the time. As well as allowing a detailed study of the evolution of an artist, these works show the Thames under contrasting climatic conditions, from Chelsea in Ice to the lovely Nocturn: Grey and Gold - Westminster Bridge, which depicts the deep blue of warm summer evenings. They bring to life Victorian London: the workers and women who frequented the Thames-side wharves and pubs, the shipping that thronged the Pool, the barges that navigated the perilous passage under the bridges, and the steamboats and ferries crowded with daytrippers. The Nocturns of the 1870s mark an important breakthrough in Whistler's art: his shift from French Realism to sophisticated harmony, based on mood and atmosphere, but still rooted in a literal rendering of the Thames waterside. The famous Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge is the culmination of his bridge paintings; here the influence of Japanese prints reached its fullest form. This comprehensive and handsomely illustrated study presents the definitive examples of Whistler's radical new aesthetic approach to the time-honoured subject of the city and river. In addition, the works reveal to us his world - the exhibitions, the personalities, the buildings, the style, and the atmosphere which inform his art and root this American cosmopolitan securely in the ranks of artists inspired by London and the Thames. 2013. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 7WHISTLER

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