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.  

Whatever happened to Chadwell Street? Notes on the history of an Ilford high road settlement

This study explores the history of Chadwell Street (sometimes simply Chadwell), a community alongside the Essex high road near Ilford in Essex. 

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Lockdown in Havering: exploring old maps and photographs online

This slightly edited version of a guide to online maps and old images formed two Heritage columns published in the Romford Recorder on 3 and 17 April 2020.

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Canadian history on www.gedmartin.net

 This is a list with outline information of Canadian history and Canadian Studies articles, chapters and essays by Ged Martin on www.gedmartin.net, as of February 2020 (updated to August 2024). The material available here represents a selection of research and comment, both published and (more recently) written for the website. 

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The fourth Earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890): towards a reconsideration

This essay argues the case for a scholarly study of Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, fourth Earl of Carnarvon (1831-1890), and suggests some themes and interpretations that a biographer might wish to examine.

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M.C. Cameron's indictment of Canada's Department of Indian Affairs, 1885-1891: the pitfalls of contemporary evidence

This discussion is a reconnaissance into a controversy between 1885 and 1891 over criticisms by a Liberal MP, Malcolm Colin Cameron, of the Canadian government's treatment of Aboriginal people. It argues that the exchanges merit study today, but warns that Cameron's use of evidence makes him an unreliable source.

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Coronavirus: the 1914 comparison

This brief comparison between the 2020 pandemic and the outbreak of War in 1914 originated in a letter to a newspaper (which did not publish it). It is published here in case others wish to carry the argument further.

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Maryland: an American place-name in east London?

The east London district of Maryland is probably best known for its station on the Liverpool Street suburban railway line.[1] It has been assumed that it owes its name to Maryland in the USA. This note offers an alternative explanation. 

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A joke about Mr Gladstone

It was customary in Victorian times for the local landowner to inspect the village school – after all, he was probably paying for it – and to quiz the children, so that he might assure himself that all was going well.

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Australian, New Zealand and Canadian newspapers as resources for research in modern British and Irish history

This note draws attention to Australian, New Zealand and Canadian online newspaper archives as resources that can support research in modern British and Irish history. The note concentrates on websites available free in February 2020.

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Treaties and textbooks: how forgotten agreements with First Nations crept back into Canadian history

Between 1871 and 1877, the Dominion of Canada negotiated seven Treaties with Aboriginal people to secure the transfer of their rights to over one million square kilometres of land stretching from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains. However, until the late nineteen-sixties, general textbooks about Canada's history barely mentioned these agreements.

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