23 December 1954 Duncan McPherson, Assistant Commissioner of Kenya’s colonial police, was a rare exception to the norm of complete British indifference to the suffering of ordinary Kenyans. Britain was then engaged in a brutal campaign to crush the Mau Mau insurgency, which aimed to bring an end to colonial rule. Thousands were detained in…
31 August 1813 On 31 August 1813, British troops, under the command of the legendary Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington, ransacked, looted and burned their way into the Basque town of San Sebastian, killing an unknown number of civilians, but later estimated by historians to have been at least a thousand. A census of the…
24 May 1855 The 24 May 1855 was a day the people of Kerch would never forget. The local population had begged general Sir George Brown, who was in command of a force of 15,000 British, French and Turkish soldiers which had captured the city, to protect them from the local Tatar population. Not only…
24 January 1901 By January 1901, British troops had been engaged for over a year in a prolonged military campaign in South Africa to quell an insurgency by elusive Boer rebels who were demanding greater independence. General Lord Kitchener, who had taken over command of British forces in South Africa in November 1900, was ruthlessly…
11 January 1909 On 11 January 1909, Lord Crewe, Secretary of State for the Colonies, issued his ‘immoral relations’ memorandum. It cautioned all members of the Colonial Service on ‘the grave injury to good administration’ and ‘the disgrace and official ruin which will certainly follow’ should they become involved in ‘arrangements of concubinage with girls…
CENSORSHIP OF BRITISH SEX CRIMES IN MALAYA – PROTESTERS SHOT DEAD [ 21 October 1945 ] On 21 October 1945 in Malaya, up to ten demonstrators were shot dead in the town of Sungei Siput and three more in Ipoh, after they refused orders to disperse. British soldiers had been ordered to fire directly into…
HENRY VIII’S ORDERS – ‘BURN EDINBURGH’ – ‘PUT ALL TO FIRE AND SWORD’ 10 April 1544 The popular Ladybird History of the Kings and Queens of England acclaims Henry VIII ‘as the right kind of king needed by England at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century.’ The country had benefited from the fact that he…
THOUSANDS SLAUGHTERED AS BRITISH TROOPS SACK THE CITY OF BADAJOZ [ 7 April 1812 ] On 7 April 1812, four thousand Spanish civilians, including many women and children, were slaughtered in the city of Badajoz by victorious British troops, under the command of the legendary Lord Wellington. The soldiers had suffered many casualties while storming…
BRITISH NEWSPAPER – AMERICAN WOMEN RAPED BY OUR REDCOATS ARE ‘FORTUNATE’ [ 2 April 1777 ] During the American Revolution, tens of thousands of Redcoats were shipped to the American colonies to crush rebel forces. American women frequently became victims of their sexual violence, not just near the front lines, but also in and around…
