22 DECEMBER

CHINESE DESTROY BRITISH OPIUM WHICH LEADS TO THE FIRST OPIUM WAR. 3 June 1839 – Lin Zexu, an imperial commissioner of Qing China, orders the destruction of illegal opium imports which was being shipped by British traders.  China had banned the import of opium in 1800 but until 1839, traders had been able to purchase…

MILITARY COURTS ALLOWED TO ORDER THE FLOGGING OF CHILDREN [ 17 February 1939 ] On 17 February 1939, the British run mandate government in Palestine introduced a law allowing military courts to order the whipping of children ‘with a light rod or cane or birch,’ of up to twenty four strokes. CALLAGHAN – ‘I WON’T…

BLAIR FRUSTRATED AT LEGAL CONCERNS OVER KILLING INNOCENT AFGHANS. [ 19 October 2001 ] On this day in 2001, during the American and British bombing of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Tony Blair became agitated over legal objections to some of the targeting on the basis that innocent civilians might be killed. Alastair Campbell, his Director…

BRISTOL CELEBRATES THE DEFEAT OF BRITAIN’S FIRST ANTI-SLAVERY BILL [ 19 April 1791 ] On this day in 1791, the House of Commons, many of its members having close business ties to the trade and the West Indies plantations, overwhelmingly rejected a bill proposed by William Wilberforce to outlaw the slave trade. The margin of…

THOUSANDS MURDERED AFTER BRITISH LED IMPERIAL ARMY TAKES SUZHOU [ 5 December 1863 ] On this day in 1863, thousands of men and women in the Chinese rebel city of Suzhou were massacred, after the town was seized by imperial Chinese forces. Colonel Charles Gordon (later to become legendary as General Gordon of Khartoum) had…

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…