Vanessa Collingridge and the team answer listener’s historical queries and celebrate the way in which we all ‘make’ history.
Programme 6
6 May 2008
Vanessa Collingridge and the team discuss listeners' historical queries and celebrate the many ways in which we all 'make' history.
Empire Settlement Act
An email from one of our listeners to Making History has uncovered a tale of state-sponsored child migration to the furthest reaches of the British Empire. The listener's father was born around 1914 and orphaned but ended up at public school in Cambridge from where he was sent to Canada. Dr Marjory Harper, an expert on migration at the University of Aberdeen, explained that far from being a one-off, it seems the listener's father was one of about 100,000 children sent to the British dominions from around 1870 to the 1930s. Originally organised and paid for by charities such as Barnardo’s and the Salvation Army, from 1922 this juvenile migration received some of the £3 million a year the government made available through the Empire Settlement Act.
Dr Marjory Harper has written extensively on this subject. Details of her books can be found on the -
Useful links
Victoria Hall Disaster
A Making History listener has discovered that an ancestor perished in the Victoria Hall disaster in Sunderland in 1883. He was only 8 and one of over 180 children who were trampled to death as they rushed from an upstairs gallery. The following links give more information on the tragedy:
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Making History consulted Phil Hall at the
David Wilmore, theatre historian, conservator and member of theÌýÌý
Local WEA lecturer Dr Stuart Miller
Further reading:
Geoffrey E. Milburn and Stuart Miller
Sunderland, River, Town and People: A history from the 1780s
Hiding Places
Who built the ‘Priest Holes’ at Boscobel House in Staffordshire?
Nicholas Owen is our best known architect of ‘hiding places’ but there is no documentary evidence to link him with Boscobel House. Owen died under torture in 1606 and we know from the writings of Father Gerard details of some of the houses where he worked. Michael Hodgetts, our leading authority on the subject and historical consultant at Harvington Hall near Kidderminster, thinks there are some similarities between one hiding place at Boscobel and others built by Owen – but this remains an educated guess.
The following links will provide more information on hiding places and the people they concealed:
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Further Reading
Michael Hodgetts is currently revising his 1990 book Secret Hiding Places.
Veritas Publications (1990) ISBN-10: 1853900796 ISBN-13: 978-1853900792
Sporting graves and memorials
In response to a plea from Dr Mike Huggins at the University of Cumbria, Making History listener’s have been sending us details of the graves and memorials marking the lives of our Victorian and Edwardian sporting heroes. Graves like this one spotted by listener Richard Stone
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý
Contact Making History
Send your comments and questions for future programmes to:
Making History
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4
PO Box 3096 Brighton
BN1 1PL
Vanessa has presentedÌýscience and current affairs programmes for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.Ìý