28 JANUARY

GENERAL AUTHORISES USE OF ARAB HOSTAGES TO PROTECT ARMY CONVOYS [ 18 September 1936 ] On 18 September 1936, Lieutenant General John Dill, who had arrived in Jerusalem five days earlier to take command of British forces in Palestine, informed Sir Cyril Deverell, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that he intended to use…

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…

INDIAN SOLDIERS REFUSE ORDERS TO USE CARTRIDGES GREASED WITH PIG AND COW FAT [ 24 April 1857 ] On 24 April 1857, eighty five Indian soldiers of the Third Bengal Light Cavalry stationed at Meerut, a town 40 miles north east of Delhi, refused orders to use cartridges covered by paper greased with pig and…

‘PERFIDIOUS’ HIGHLANDERS ‘MUST PERISH BY SWORD OR FAMINE’ [ 16 April 1746 ] During the autumn of 1745, Jacobite rebels, led by ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie,’ and desiring to replace the Hanoverian king George II with the prince’s catholic father, James Stuart, had marched on London, reaching as far south as Derby before they retreated to…

  THATCHER REFUSES TO DISCUSS NELSON MANDELA’S RELEASE [ 15 July 1988 ] On this day in 1988, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher replied to Bishop Trevor Huddleston, who was asking her to pressure the South African government to release Nelson Mandela.  He had requested that she might meet himself and 25 activists who were…

BRITAIN ENDS THE RIGHT OF SUSPECTS TO REMAIN SILENT. [ 20 October 1988 ] On this day in 1988  Britain ended the right of suspects to remain silent as part of its campaign against the IRA. This affected both their right to remain silent during interrogation by police and also when questioned in court.  As…