In Victorian and Edwardian times Hampshire, like most counties of England, was a largely rural county, depending on agriculture for much of its income. Across its varied landscape, from the chalk downs to the New Forest and along the valleys of the Itchen, its farms were suffering the fate of most of British agriculture at the time. Farmers were experiencing a serious loss of markets as cheap foreign wheat flowed into the country, following the loss of the protective Corn Laws which, altho...

This title was first published in 2000: This volume tells the fascinating story of the origins, development, growth and survival of a small country brewery in Hampshire. Employing and analyzing a wealth of original documentation, it examines the local environment both before establishment of the brewery and during the 150 years of its existence. While the performance of Gales Brewery is examined in the context of the British brewing industry as a whole, the thread of family involvement is ...

A fascinating study of successful author, pioneering aviator, and skilful engineer, Nevil Shute. Shute the Messenger traces his early life in the UK describing his lifelong passion for air travel from early airships to fixed wing machines. His engineering and organisational skills made him an asset to the growing industry and kept him grounded during the Second World War. Eventually with Shute as sole pilot he and a friend flew a tiny plane across the world to Australia where he settled wi...

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a 'T'. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks - not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and proved so popular that Jerome reunited ...

As part of the controversial Earl Grey Scheme, this is the true story of the Kerry girls who were shipped to Australia from the four Kerry workhouses of Dingle, Kenmare, Killarney and Listowel in 1849 and 1850.Leaving behind scenes of destitution and misery, the girls, some of whom spoke only Irish, set off to the other side of the world without any idea of what lay ahead. This book tells of their 'selection' and their transportation to New South Wales and Adelaide...

Collected Poems made publishing history when it first appeared, and has now sold more than two million copies, to an ever-growing readership. This newly expanded edition includes Betjeman's verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells. With a new Introduction by Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, Collected Poems is the definitive Betjeman companion.

London Labour and the London Poor is an extraordinary work of investigative journalism, a work of literature, and a groundbreaking work of sociology. It originated in a series of articles for a London newspaper and grew into a massive record of the daily life of Victorian London's underclass. Mayhew conducted hundreds of interviews with the city's street traders, entertainers, thieves and beggars which revealed that the 'two nations' of rich and poor were much closer than many people thoug...

Starting with the early origins of Campbeltown, David Stirk relates in The Distilleries of Campbeltown how the town grew from a small settlement into a Royal Burgh that depended on the herring fishery before whisky became the main trade in the town and its associated villages of Dalaruan and Dalintober. He shows how certain families such as the Colvilles, Armours and Mitchells were to be central to this trade for over a century. Ultimately the town's prosperity waned with the rise of the b...

Sir Henry Parkes: Father of Federation, Premier of NSW, Statesman, Visionary, Political Leader, Poet, HumanistMay 27, 2015 brings the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sir Henry Parkes. After he died, the London Times described him as 'a colonial colossus.'Henry Parkes received little schooling and worked on a rope-walk, breaking stones, as an ivory and bone turner, ironmonger, labourer and on the wharves before tr...

An anthology and miscellany of everything an Englishman should know:From Austen to Wordsworth,Jerusalem to the Scout’s Honour, Kings and Queens of England to Land of Hope and Glory, Savile Row tailors to Jermyn St Shirt Makers, Tying a Windsor knot to making a pot of tea, Victoria sponge to fish pie and the rules of cricket to Gilbert and Sullivan operas

Richard Paterson has Scotch whisky running through his veins. His grandfather and father were both prominent in the Scotch whisky industry in Glasgow for decades before Richard joined a competing whisky brokerage firm to start his apprenticeship. But this is no dry textbook on blending. Far from it. Humour, insight, history, a love of people and an abiding and evangelical passion inform every page. For the first time one of the world's foremost whisky blenders reveals how he rose through t...

Passionate, affectionate and indefatigably curious, In Search of England joins a tradition of writing, from William Cobbett to JB Priestley, that makes a journey around the English countryside and character. England is the most various of countries; within its borders, life changes mile on mile. Roy Hattersley celebrates crumbling churches and serene Victorian architecture, magnificent hills and wind-whipped coast, our music, theatre and local customs, and, above all, the quirky good humou...