18 MARCH

CROMWELL’S TROOPS MASSACRE THE INHABITANTS OF WEXFORD [ 11 October 1649 ] One month earlier [ 11 September 1649 ] Oliver Cromwell, commanding British parliamentary forces in Ireland, had ordered his soldiers to offer no quarter to the royalist garrison at Drogheda, and had slaughtered almost all those who had surrendered, along with many of the town’s…

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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…

BRITAIN APPROVES THE “DILUTION TECHNIQUE” OF TORTURE IN KENYA 25 June 1957 – Kenya’s governor Evelyn Baring writes to Alan Lennox-Boyd, the British Colonial Secretary, seeking his approval for the “dilution technique” – a method of subjecting detainees to gruesome physical torture without leaving long lasting marks or causing permanent injury.  Baring explained he felt…

FIRST OF 306 FIRST WORLD WAR EXECUTIONS FOR DESERTION. [ 8 September 1914 ] [ relevance ? ] On this day in 1914, the First World War was barely a month old and the first British soldier to be found guilty of desertion was executed. Thomas Highgate was just 19 years old when he was…