16 MAY

SLAVES IN JAMAICA REFUSE TO WORK FOR THEIR BRITISH SLAVE MASTERS. 27 December 1831 – a widespread slave strike occurred in the British administered island of Jamaica. A severe drought during the summer had brought increased hardship for the slave population which was compounded by the ruthlessness of the plantation owners, who insisted on their…

BRITISH TROOPS COMMENCE THE LOOTING AND DESTRUCTION OF BEIJING’S SUMMER PALACE [ 7 Ocobter 1860 ] On this day in 1860, British officers joined French troops in looting Peking’s legendary Summer Palace.  The complex might however have been more accurately described as palaces, as there were over two hundred summer houses and pavilions within eighty…

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MINISTER IN PHOTO OP WITH COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUADS GENERAL [ 11 February 2008 ] On 11 February 2008, The Guardian published a photo of a smiling Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells, posing alongside General Mario Montoya, head of the Colombian Army, along with soldiers from the High Mountains Battalions (HMB). These were infamous elite units…

THE ANCIENT CITY OF BENIN LOOTED AND BURNED. [ 18 February 1897 ] On 18 February 1897, a punitive expedition of 1,200 Royal Marines, bluejackets and African troops, under the command of Rear Admiral Harry Rawson seized the ancient city of Benin. INDIAN SAILORS “LOOSE CONTROL OF THEIR SENSES” IN ANTI-BRITISH MUTINY [ 18 February…

THOUSANDS MURDERED AFTER BRITISH LED IMPERIAL ARMY TAKES SUZHOU [ 9 December 1863 ] On this day in 1863, thousands of men and women in the Chinese rebel city of Suzhou were massacred,  four days after the town was seized by British and imperial Chinese forces. . . MASSACRE REPORT WHITEWASHES ROLE OF BRITISH ARMY…