21 MARCH

AFRICANS SACRIFICED TO SAVE THE BESIEGED CITY OF MAFEKING [ 17 May 1900 ] On this day in 1900, a British army relieved the besieged city of Mafeking during the Second Boer War. It led to street celebrations across Britain and the commander of the besieged troops, Robert Baden-Powell, became a national hero, even though…

THE FIRST LIVERPOOL SLAVE SHIP SETS SALE [ 3 October 1699 ] On 3 October 1699, the first slave ship set sail from Liverpool. The Liverpool Merchant, under the command of Captain William Webster, sailed down the Mersey headed for the coast of West Africa where she picked up her captive human cargo. BRITISH SPECIAL NIGHT…

NEW LONDON BURNED AND THE GARRISON SLAUGHTERED [ 6 September 1781 ] In the late eighteenth century, New London was a small port at the mouth of the river Thames on the Connecticut coast connecting American agricultural communities with the outside world. During the American Revolutionary War, the rebels used it as a base to…

LORD MANSFIELD – THROWING SLAVES OVERBOARD CANNOT BE MURDER. [ 22 May 1783 ] On this day in 1783, Lord Mansfied, the presiding judge at an appeal hearing, issued his verdict on the case of  132 men, women and children thrown overboard from a British owned slave ship, the Zong, on 29 November 1871.  It…

CABINET APPROVES SALE OF ADVANCED AERO ENGINES TO NAZI GERMANY [ 28 July 1933 ] On 28 July 1933, six months after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, the British Cabinet decided against implementing any regulations on the sales of British aircraft or advanced aero engines to Germany.  RAF FIRE BOMBING DESTROYS HAMBURG, KILLING OVER 18,000 […

BLAIR  – NO PAUSE IN THE BOMBING FOR RAMADAN 27 October 2001 – At a meeting of the War Cabinet, three weeks into the United States and UK bombing of Afghanistan, Tony Blair emphasized that their was a misunderstanding about Ramadan and “it was important not to let the sense build that there would be…