20 JANUARY

BRITISH KILL HUNDREDS OF VIETNAMESE AND BURN LARGE AREAS OF SAIGON. 23 September 1945 – The British army in Vietnam backed a French coup in Saigon.  General Douglas Gracey with a force of British troops had arrived two weeks earlier on 6 September.  He immediately introduced martial law, disarming the Viet Minh nationalists and arming…

BRITAIN BLOCKS SFO INVESTIGATION INTO HUGE BRIBES PAID TO SAUDI PRINCE 14 December 2006 – The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith announced that it was not in the public interest for the Serious Fraud Office to be allowed to continue its investigation into allegations of enormous bribes paid to Saudi officials and royals to secure an…

“EVERY NATIVE IS SHOT DOWN LIKE A DOG” [ 5 September 1857 ] On this day in 1857, an account appeared in the Illustrated Times of London by a British junior officer stationed at Allahabad. It was just one of many accounts of indiscriminate slaughter during the suppression of the Indian mutiny.  He recalled how…

CYPRIOT BOYS BIRCHED UNDER EMERGENCY REGULATIONS [ 13 January 1956 ] On 13 January 1956, six Greek Cypriot boys from Famagusta were birched under one of several emergency regulations introduced the previous month to stamp out an island wide rebellion against British rule. Please feel welcome to post comments below.  If you have any questions…

LORD ELGIN’S NOTES ON “LIVING AMONG INFERIOR RACES” [ 21 August 1857 ] On this day in 1857 Lord Elgin makes some observations in his diary about British attitudes to Indians in the Raj – “It is a terrible business, however, this living among inferior races… There are some three or four hundred servants in…

REBEL SLAVE PLOTTERS SEIZED, HUNG AND THEIR HEADS IMPALED ON POLES [ 25 December 1801 ] About 120 slaves on two Tobago plantations, Bacolet and Belvedere, planned to launch a surprise uprising on Christmas Day evening 1801. A BLEAK FAMINE CHRISTMAS UNDER BRITISH RULE IN IRELAND [ 25 December 1847 ] Historians refer to the…