Martinalia
Welcome to Martinalia. An academic career generates material which for one reason or another does not get into print. There are public lectures and keynote addresses. Some are never intended for publication. Others are commissioned for projects which never get off the ground. There is material prepared for teaching, which may be useful to colleagues and students involved in similar courses. Some projects seem worth sharing with interested readers even though they remain unfinished, lacking the final polish needed for conventional academic publication. Since 2014 I have used Martinalia to publish essays and research reports.
The term "Martinalia" was coined by my friend Jim Sturgis.
Evolution and discussion of the Presidential power of pardon in the United States, 1787-88
This Note collects comments and opinions from 1787-8 on the proposal to give the President of the United States (a newly invented office) the authority to grant reprieves and pardons.
Parnell and the Registrar 1891: Parnell's last words on politics and personalities?
Shortly before his death in 1891, Charles Stewart Parnell had a wide-ranging conversation about British politics and Irish personalities with Edward Cripps, the Superintendent Registrar in the small Sussex town who had recently conducted his civil wedding to Katharine O'Shea. The Registrar's account of their talk, in a previously overlooked newspaper report, offers what may be the last opportunity to hear Parnell in private conversation on public issues.
The intention of Charles Stewart Parnell to marry Katharine O'Shea in an Anglican church, 1891
The expressed wish of Charles Stewart Parnell to marry Katharine O'Shea in an Anglican church ceremony has been generally ignored by his biographers. Given the opposition of the Church of England to the remarriage of divorcees throughout the twentieth century, his intention – presumably shared by his bride – merits investigation.
From Poblacht to Saorstát: describing the Irish State, 1916-1949
The Proclamation issued by the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin used the phrase "Poblacht na hÉireann" to describe their Irish Republic. However, three years later, the First Dáil switched to "Saorstát Éireann". Why was this change made, and what were its implications?
The Colchester Excavations Appeal, 1938
In 1938, the Colchester Excavation Committee sought funds to support the ninth year (and eighth of active digging) of its investigations into life in Camulodunum on the eve of the Roman occupation of 43 AD. An urgent appeal was issued for funds. The document seems worth preserving as a record of a notable project.
William Howard Taft on the Presidential pardoning power in the United States
Three years after he left the White House, William Howard Taft published his thoughts on the Presidential pardoning power.
Henry Harrison on Charles Stewart Parnell, 1951
In a BBC radio talk broadcast in 1951, Henry Harrison recalled his memories of Charles Stewart Parnell.
John A. Macdonald: graveside oration, Kingston 6 June 2009
On 6 June 2009, the anniversary of the death of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, I had the honour of delivering the annual graveside oration in his memory at Kingston's Cataraqui Cemetery.
Gidea Park: a suburb and its syllables
For six and a half centuries, a mansion at Romford in Essex was known (under various spellings) as 'Giddy Hall'. In the early twentieth century, the estate was developed for housing, and the resulting suburb acquired the trisyllabic name 'Gidea Park'. Because English spelling is often approximate and sometimes arbitrary, it is difficult to trace the process by which the pronunciation changed, and harder still to explain it.
Snoreham: a sad loss to the map of Essex
The near-total disappearance of the charmingly named Snoreham from the map of Essex may seem regrettable. In fact, as a fully-fledged parish, it barely clung to an independent existence for two hundred years. Despite the initiative of two eighteenth-century cartographers, there was never any village of that name, and Snoreham's half share in the scattered settlement that eventually became Latchingdon was never fully recognised.
More Articles …
- Dedications of Essex churches to St Peter: a glacial hypothesis
- Corporal Alfred Wheel, died 14 March 1945
- Empire Federalism and Imperial Parliamentary Union, 1820-1870
- Archbishop Davidson, the General Strike and the Revised Prayer Book, 1926-1928: a Victorian stranded out of his time?
- Romford's Garden Suburb: the origins of Gidea Park
- The idealised homes of Gidea Park: some images from the 1911 Exhibition
- Queen Victoria defended, 1926
- Protestants, Presbyterians and Partition: a discussion of Ulster terminology
- The death of Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, November 1944: a conjectural explanation
- Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven – or was it Hivven?
- Magdalene College Cambridge Notes: Election Night, 15 October 1964
- Social interaction of Canadian and British political elites, 1849-1894
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