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The vast majority of Britain’s railways were built between 1825 and 1900. By the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth century, over one-hundred different railway companies were operating in Britain on more than 22,000 miles of railway track. Although these new railways brought prosperity to the nation, and enabled goods and passengers to be speedily transported the length and breadth of the country for the first time, this remarkable feat of engineering brought with it some unwelcome side-effects, one of which was crime. A vast number of passengers travel on Britain’s railway network each day, and unfortunately, a considerable amount of crime does occur on our railways. The types of crime committed on Britain’s railways varies considerably from petty or minor crime, to more serious crimes. Most people would consider that the crimes of “murder” and “attempted murder” are amongst the most serious crimes committed in our country, irrespective of where these appalling acts take place. A substantial number of murders and attempted murders have taken place on the railway network of Britain, during its two-hundred years of operation, and details surrounding the vast majority of these cases are revealed in this book, some for the first time. The author has spent many months of research, mainly through old newspaper archives, in order to obtain establish and publish historical information about murders committed on Britain’s railways, many of which have been long forgotten, or lost in the annals of time.

No other twentieth-century political figure endured so many precipitous falls followed by unlikely resurrection. Across fifty turbulent years he enjoyed – if that is the correct term - at least four separate, high-level, political careers interspersed with periods in the doldrums. As one of his numerous enemies and detractors, of whom there was never a shortage, was to write: Winston is never down, or rather will never allow that he is down.’Whilst much has been written about Churchill at the Admiralty, and even more concerning his wartime premiership, the ups and downs in-between have received somewhat less attention. Hence this volume, which seeks to tell the tale of the period beginning with him being unceremoniously sacked in 1915. As Lloyd George’s mistress and confidante wrote: ‘It seems strange that Churchill should have been in politics all these years, & yet not have won the confidence of a single party in the country, or a single colleague in the Cabinet.’She was mistaken. One politician still valued Churchill’s gifts: the Prime Minister from 1916, David Lloyd George himself. But he had to act cautiously. Only in July 1917, during a broader reshuffle, did he dare risk appointing Churchill as Minister of Munitions. This was a courageous move. As one Tory grandee put it: ‘some of us myself included only joined L[loyd] G[eorge] on the distinct understanding that W[inston] Ch[urchill] was not to be a member of the Gov[ernmen]t.’Lloyd George got away with it however, and few would dispute that his judgement was vindicated. As the man responsible for providing the British and wider Allied cause with the munitions of war, a vast undertaking by any standards, Churchill proved both competent and effective. Indeed, he was still in post at the end of the conflict in 1918, which is where this book ends.

On 3 September 1650 Oliver Cromwell won a decisive victory over the Scottish Covenanters at the Battle of Dunbar – a victory that is often regarded as his finest hour – but the aftermath, the forced march of 5,000 prisoners from the battlefield to Durham, was one of the cruellest episodes in his career.The march took them seven days, without food and with little water, no medical care, the property of a ruthless regime determined to eradicate any possibility of further threat. Those who survived long enough to reach Durham found no refuge, only pestilence and despair. Exhausted, starving and dreadfully weakened, perhaps as many as 1,700 died from typhus and dysentery. Those who survived were condemned to hard labour and enforced exile in conditions of virtual slavery in a harsh new world across the Atlantic.Cromwell''s Convicts describes their ordeal in detail and, by using archaeological evidence, brings the story right up to date. John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville describe the battle at Dunbar, but their main focus is on the lethal week-long march of the captives that followed. They make extensive use of archive material, retrace the route taken by the prisoners and describe the recent archaeological excavations in Durham which have identified some of the victims and given us a graphic reminder of their fate.

Many aspire to serve with the Special Air Service, arguably the world’s most prestigious regiment, but few achieve their aim. In this inspiring memoir the author describes how he left school without any qualifications and embarked on a 30 year career much of it spent in Hereford, including four years in ‘The Regiment’. Against the odds he rose through the ranks before being commissioned and eventually retiring as a Major. Initially attached to 22 SAS as a signaller, he volunteered for and passed ‘Selection’, the most gruelling and demanding of tests. He was posted to D Squadron Boat Troop with whom he saw active service in the Falklands War, Northern Ireland and the UK counter-terrorist team. Thanks to the diary he kept during the Falklands War, the reader is treated to a gripping first-hand account of the intense action that he and his colleagues experienced, including recces, diversionary attacks, raids and ambushes both on South Georgia and the Falklands Islands. Later he commanded the Royal Signals troop supporting D Squadron, 22 SAS before commissioning and later on pursuing a second career as a security consultant in various Middle Eastern hotspots. It is a privilege to read this commendably modest account of one man’s unique career which provides a fascinating insight into elite special forces soldiering.

The Civil Wars of the seventeenth century had a devastating effect upon Wales and the Marches, stripping the country of its human resources and ruining whole communities. This book explores the years of conflict between 1642 and 1649, detailing the campaigns, sieges and battles which took place in every corner of the country, presenting information from a wide variety of sources to paint a wide-ranging picture of the nation at a significant turning point in its history.

The Peninsular War and the Napoleonic Wars across Europe are subjects of such enduring interest that they have prompted extensive research and writing. Yet other campaigns, in what was a global war, have been largely ignored. Such is the case for the war in India which persisted for much of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods and peaked in the years 1798-1805 with the campaigns of Arthur Wellesley – later the Duke of Wellington – and General Lake in the Deccan and Hindustan. That is why this new study by Martin Howard is so timely and important. While it fully acknowledges Wellington’s vital role, it also addresses the nature of the warring armies, the significance of the campaigns of Lake in North India, and leaves the reader with an understanding of the human experience of war in the region. For this was a brutal conflict in which British armies clashed with the formidable forces of the Sultan of Mysore and the Maratha princes. There were dramatic pitched battles at Assaye, Argaum, Delhi and Laswari, and epic sieges at Seringapatam, Gawilghur and Bhurtpore. The British success was not universal.

Why did a long time reluctant US President Wilson finally enter World War I on the side of the Allies in April 1917?In retaliation of the British naval blockade of Germany since August 1914, the German Admirals determined at the beginning of 1915 to create a counter-blockade of the British Isles with their submarines. The U-boat commanders got – without knowledge of the government - a secret order to sink Allied passenger liners. The British Admiralty discovered the hunt for passenger liners by deciphering W/T messages to the U-boats. The sinking of the Lusitania on May, 6th, 1915, was no coincidence – the Royal Navy knew about the intentions of the U-boats and, after doing everything to protect the passenger liners in the beginning, they simply left the Lusitania alone in in the first week of May, to create frictions between America and the German Empire. A diplomatic quarrel between US President Wilson and Germany about U-boat warfare commenced. In spring of 1916 the German Navy acted again against the instructions of the Kaiser and ordered secretly the sinking of allied and neutral vessels in the British Channel, thereby opening an unrestricted U-boat war. When the channel ferry Sussex was attacked, Wilson threatened to break off of diplomatic relations with Germany. Under massive diplomatic pressure the German government had to give in. Further on, their U-boats only conducted a “soft”, restricted warfare, following the internationally agreed maritime rules and tolerated by Wilson. In Germany a heated debate set in after the Sussex case. The Navy promised the quick defeat of England by unrestricted U-boat war, and the Army joined this campaign end of 1916. The intention of the “war party” was to rule out any possibility of a negotiated peace and to set the German Empire on a – risky - course for definitive victory. But the government doubted the Navy’s capability for all-out U-boat warfare and argued that the only definitive result would be an America siding the Allies, leading to ultimate defeat. In the last months of 1916 it sent out peace feelers to Wilson, warning him, that in the case of a failure of his peace mediation they would get under unbearable pressure of the “military opposition” to begin unrestricted U-boat war again. At this time Britain was – like Germany – economically with its back against the wall: it suffered terribly by the sinking of its merchant ships, the moral of its Admiralty in Anti-Submarine-Warfare had completely broken down. Collapse was threatening. But the British government got wind of the conflicts inside Germany by the deciphering of the diplomatic cables between Wilson and the Germans. The new Prime Minster, David Lloyd George, chose a risky strategy – by rebuffing all American peace efforts he wanted to encourage the radical party in Germany to enforce total U-boat war. Finally this British strategy payed out: German Navy and Army pressed the Kaiser to declare unrestricted U-boat war from 1st of February 1917 on, and Wilson broke off diplomatic relations. But he still bristled to enter the war on Allied side – as long as American ships would be treated correctly by the Germans, he wouldn’t come in, not even after the publication of the Zimmermann-telegram. The tipping point came in the middle of March, when U-boats torpedoed American vessels without warning. This forced the American Declaration of War against the German Empire on April 6, 1917.

Ewen Southby-Tailyour's lifetime involvement with small boats, both civilian and military, began with his unusual christening and lasted until he sold his final vessel on his 80th Birthday. In between these two landmarks he sailed extensively but not through 'warm water' cruising grounds rather than in colder, seldom-visited climates; most notably the Falkland Islands and among the un-surveyed fjords of north-west Iceland and northern Norway in winter. His love of the sea was instilled in him when, just four, he was taken trawling under sail. Soon, he was crewing in the classic pilot-cutter Olga in which, over 30 years of family ownership, he sailed every Easter and summer holidays, all the while learning navigation, seamanship and ships' husbandry. At the Nautical College Pangbourne he passed 'O' Level in celestial navigation, seamanship and signals then, despite being captain of sailing, he turned down an Olympic trial in preference for deep water cruising and exploring. He navigated, inter alia, six Fastnet Races and skippered six two-handed Round Britain races as well as a single-handed round Majorca and a two-handed Iceland race.. During deployments abroad he took every opportunity to sail in and to understand local vessels such as Arabian dhows, Chinese junks, Kenyan out-riggers and square-riggers. In the Falkland Islands he found that the charts had not altered since the 19th Century so he surveyed the coasts and beaches in his own time, a work that became the basis for the amphibious planning in 1982. Clearly his sailing life has not been without drama: he fell overboard twice, once when alone. Bad weather is a function of seafaring and, in his case included being caught off an Icelandic lee shore in a Force 11: an episode of survival that merited a chapter in the seminal text book Heavy Weather Sailing. AUTHOR: Ewen Southby-Tailyour is a retired Royal Marines officer who played a leading role in the Falklands campaign. From an early age he was involved in offshore sailing and inshore exploring. His involvement with small boats and the sea continued in the service when he specialised as a Landing Craft Officer often operating with other NATO amphibious forces. In the early 1960s he was attached to France's maritime Special Forces before being seconded to the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces during the Dhofar War. In 1978 he commanded the Royal Marines' 'garrison' in the Falkland Islands when he was instructed to re-write the Standard Operating Procedures in case of an invasion. This study included the charting of much of the archipelago's coasts and beaches. Following his retirement in 1992 he was employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. On his return he established an Amphibious Consultancy to help industry design the latest generation of the Royal Navy's amphibious fleet. Later he was elected Yachtsman of the Year, established the Jester Challenge, single-handed ocean races to the USA, the Azores and the Republic of Ireland for yacht under 30 feet in length and sworn as a Younger Brother of Trinity House. Among his previously published works are Amphibious Warfare Post World War II, A Life Under Sail, Reasons in Writing, Amphibious Assault Falklands, Exocet Falklands, Blondie, the Life of Lieutenant-Colonel HG Hasler of Cockleshell Heroes fame and HMS Fearless (all with Pen and Sword). 23 colour, 33 b/w illustrations

Everyone loves adventure, mystery and the notion of celebrity and this book combines all of these with new unpublished material, supported by high quality previously unpublished images. Aviation history is full of evocative stories about the evolution of aeroplanes; flying and the perils of air travel and there are many ways of looking at these. The theme of this book is to recall some of those perils through the eyes of twenty-three internationally-famous celebrity air travellers between 1919 and 2020. What brings them all together here is that, as well as presenting the personalities, the stories showcase aeroplanes from the golden age of biplanes to helicopters, biz-jets and airliners. They also illustrate the fallibility of people and technology, while giving a flavour of the social progress of air transport over the past 100 years. Sadly, the climax of these particular stories culminates in air crashes that took the lives of the celebrities involved. While the final selection of the stars might be open to debate, the breadth of celebrity representation in these stories is very wide, being drawn from the fields of aeronautics; cinema; exploration; fashion; music; politics and sport. Mysteries and myths have grown up around some of these incidents and while some of these can be debunked, others will pose unanswered questions. All, though, will demonstrate that Fame and Fortune alone are no protection from Fate.

On the night of 25 September 1829, the jewels of the Princess of Orange disappeared from her palace in Brussels. Suspicion quickly fell on her husband, Prince Willem of Orange, a Waterloo veteran known to be deeply in debt. But when the police failed to find any witnesses or leads, the investigation ground to a halt. In 1831, Anna Pavlovna’s jewels surfaced in New York in the hands of a former Napoleonic deserter named Constant Polari. Dutch officials scrambled to reclaim the jewels and extradite Polari, hoping a public trial would clear their prince’s name. But President Andrew Jackson’s customs collector preferred to confiscate the jewels, sell them, and pocket his share of the proceeds. When Polari’s lover dug up a buried portion of the gems and sailed for Europe, it triggered a race across the Atlantic, a kidnapping from Bellevue prison, and a sensational trial with a last-minute twist. True crime meets royal history in this long-forgotten caper that pitted the old world’s diplomacy against the new world’s self-determinism. Drawing on previously neglected case documents and sources in five languages, the tale of Anna Pavlovna’s stolen jewels unfolds against a backdrop of war, revolution, corruption, and betrayal.

This study reveals how the Household Division became the driving force behind Britain's special forces during the Second World War. Drawing on primary sources, Charles Trumpess traces the transformation from parade ground to battlefield, showing how Guards officers like Robert Laycock, David Stirling, and Frederick Browning leveraged social connections to create the Commandos, LRDG, SAS, and Parachute Regiment. Through character portraits, the book follows the evolution from No. 8 (Guards) Commando to modern G Squadron, 22 SAS. It reveals how Caterham's punishing training produced the self-reliance essential for special operations, how White's Club became an unofficial recruiting centre, and why the ‘old boys' network’ proved crucial to wartime innovation.

Maitland was the most able politician and diplomat during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. It was he who master-minded the Scottish Reformation by breaking the ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, which presaged Scotland’s lasting union with England. Although he gained English support to defeat French troops defending Mary’s Scottish throne, he backed her return to Scotland, as the widowed Queen of France. His attempts to gain recognition for her as heir to the English crown were thwarted by her determined adherence to Catholicism. After her re-marriage, he spearheaded the plotting to bring down her objectionable husband, Lord Darnley, leading to his murder, after concluding that English and Scottish interests were best served by creating a Protestant regency for their son, Prince James. With encouragement from Cecil in England and the Protestant Lords in Scotland, he concocted evidence to implicate her in her husband’s murder, resulting in her imprisonment and deposition from the Scottish throne. Despite her escape to England, he remained personally loyal to her and attempted to conjure Scottish support for her restoration by backing her allies holding Edinburgh Castle on her behalf. When it fell in 1573, he resorted to suicide.

Why did the Soviet Union hide the facts surrounding the death of Adolf Hitler at the end of the Second World War? Australian documentary-producer Cyril Jones provides a fascinating insight into how one woman had the courage to take on the Soviet bureaucracy to get the truth to the West, and how his ground-breaking documentary on the Führer’s death enabled her to do it. Only slowly and reluctantly did the Soviets let the light in on the events which occurred in bunker of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin in 1945; it was Elena Rzhevskaya who prised open the archival vault. Rzhevskaya was a Russian military translator who was the first to speak with those still alive in the bunker within minutes of Soviet soldiers taking control of it. Her first words to them was: ‘Where is Hitler?’ Told that he was dead and his body set alight, she demanded to know where his body was. She then set about unravelling the mystery of the death of the Führer, but as soon as she discovered the whole story Soviet leader Josef Stalin instructed her to ‘keep her mouth shut’. He wanted to keep the secret to himself. Because of that the Western Allies were fed lies, it even being suggested that Hitler might still be alive. It took another twenty years of digging for the truth to come out. Rzhevskaya herself was responsible for that, having dedicated herself to lifting the veil of secrecy and ensuring the world knew of Stalin’s duplicity. In this book Cyril Jones reveals how he managed to get previously unseen film footage from the Soviet and Russian archives, material which helped reveal the facts. The author also details interviews with Elena Rzhevskaya which shows the paths she took to tell the real story. The Hunt for Hitler expands upon our understanding of those momentous days following the end of the Second World War and provides an absorbing insight into the background surrounding the fate of Hitler’s body as the chilling blast of the Cold War swept across Europe.

Tucked away in the vaults of Somerset House lies one of Britain’s most revealing and eccentric historical treasures: a vast archive of Last Wills and Testaments. These documents, often the final words of the dead, hold more than just legal instructions; they’re windows into the character of those gone before, into their conflicts and lives. From vengeful codicils and heartfelt farewells, to wills etched on eggshells or hidden in hollow bedposts, this book uncovers a trove of bizarre and entertaining bequests. Here are men and women who used their final words to settle scores, impose odd conditions, or deliver one last laugh — sometimes at the expense of expectant heirs. For family historians, these wills offer more than just names and dates. They reveal values, relationships, secrets, and social customs that breathe life into ancestral records. Whether you're tracing your ancestors or simply enjoy tales of posthumous mischief, this journey into the strange world of testamentary history proves that death doesn’t always mean silence.

Today you’ve probably benefited from something that women generations before gave time, money, their health, liberty and in some instances even their lives, for you to enjoy. From the vote, to safer working environments, reproductive rights, infant welfare and other NHS services, every day we benefit from the sacrifices they made. Yet there are no statues, and rarely any blue plaques to many of these women. Beyond a few big names, most aren’t even in the traditional history books. These were poor women, migrant women, queer women, disabled women; young women. Alone they didn’t have the power to create change, so they worked in unions, tenants associations and other solidarity movements. Together they took on Britain's most powerful institutions, and won. Following years of archival research and oral history interviews, we now have one of the most comprehensive retellings of how women’s rights in Britain were secured. Even those familiar with women’s history will find rare gems inside; names they’ve never come across before, with some stories being published for the very first time. For those new to it all, this is an accessible walk through how women have shaped the last 150 years. Whatever your level of knowledge, get ready to be inspired and so you can keep fighting for gender equality today.

Pirates and Privateers of the Atlantic and the Caribbean is the most recent and broadest study of international privateering in the 18th and 19th centuries. It first examines ships themselves, which were privately financed and privately owned vessels designed, outfitted, and manned to locate, chase, capture, sink, or burn enemy ships under the auspices of a national or a local government. In addition to this, it also considers the officers and seamen aboard these ships, the investors who financed this legal trade, and the multi-racial makeup of some of their crews, as well as discussing the European and other women who played an indirect but nevertheless important role in privateering. Offering a worldwide sea-and-shore based coverage of the maritime, political, and economic reasons for privateering, it features privateers in the Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain; the vital role of France in this same war; privateers in the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain; privateers in the Carolinas and in the Caribbean; Latin American insurgent privateers; noted privateering figures; racial minorities and women associated with privateering; and naval gunnery in the age of sail.