All articles in Biography & Memoir
15th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Maritime
Titanic’s captain
Shortly after 5 a.m., on Wednesday 10 April 1912, dawn broke over Southampton with the promise of calm weather. At the docks, the Titanic, securely warped into White Star’s berth number 44, showed a little more activity aboard her than there had been over the last six days. The s…
15th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Maritime
The story of Wallace Hartley, Titanic bandmaster
One of the most lingering images of the sinking of the Titanic is that of the band playing, regardless of their own safety, while all the lifeboats sailed away. All eight band members perished that night. Their leader was Wallace Hartley, who had not been famous, but had lived a…
15th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Military, Women in History
Elaine Madden: Unsung heroine of the SOE
Why, after more than 70 years, are we still so fascinated by the wartime women agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE)? Probably because they were so exceptional. By convention women were never used in combat roles. Even the doughty ATS women working on anti-aircraft gun…
15th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Women in History
Mrs Zigzag: A double agent’s wife
Betty Chapman is best known as ‘Mrs Zigzag’ the wife of Eddie Chapman or ‘Agent Zigzag’, the most infamous double agent of the Second World War, but she was an extraordinary woman in her own right. Ron Bonewitz is a close friend of Betty Chapman and knew both her and her lat…
14th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, Military
CSM Stanley Hollis VC: D-Day hero
Middlesbrough-born Stanley Hollis, the only man to win a Victoria Cross (VC) on D-Day, should have been the most famous soldier of World War II – but his natural modesty got in the way! The superb soldier and leader of men, who was uniquely recommended twice for the VC in bl…
14th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
Why is King Arthur a giant of history?
King Arthur is today an iconic figure of the Western World, a giant of literature, art, theatre, film and history. Debate continues, though, as to whether or not the Arthur familiar to us today derives from a ‘real’ figure of the past. If so, can we recover anything about that in…
14th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History, Society & Culture
Harry Clarke: Modernising a medieval art
Born in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day in 1889, Henry Patrick (Harry) Clarke would grow up to both take over his father’s respected stained glass and interior décor business and to become one of Ireland’s greatest artists and craftsmen. Working with a variety of media, Harry Clarke…