Tag: 1905

Dead Confederate sharpshooters of Hood's Division among the rocks in Devil's Den in front of Little Round Top.

CSA: Remembering the Bravery of “Irish” Company “K” – 15th Alabama – Little Round-Top [2.7.1863] – Gettysburg! (3.4.2025)

The weather was hot – and the Confederates had to advance over open ground before storming an inclined slope (in the form of a steep hill) – with the intention of sweeping the Federals off its top and consolidating the victory. The previous day had seen the Confederates sweep the Federals out of West and Central Gettysburg – and into the hills to its East. Washington was just 80 miles to the South – and legend has it that Lincoln was packing his belongings to flee! I have audio-typed part of a chapter from Stephen Sears’ book – carefully reproducing the text from an Audible edition (in my native British English). This provides a general background to the battle – but does not mention the Irish specifically – other than one or two fighting for the Union. For the story of “Company K” of the 15th Alabama Regiment of the Confederate States of America (CSA) – we must turn to the excellent work of Phillip Thomas Tucker – who has produced an excellent book examining the contribution to the Confederate cause made by the Irish!

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Unique UK Fotball League - Bristol

England: The 120-Year-Old Bristol Downs Football League – Every Game a “Home” Match! (7.11.2024)

How many football leagues can count a former England cricket idol, an England football captain, an EFL referee, and a serving councillor among its past and present players?

Dating back almost 120 years, the Bristol Downs League, in many ways, is just like every other amateur Saturday afternoon league played up and down the country.

But it is unique in that all four divisions play on the same set of pitches at 14:00 every Saturday afternoon. Every game is a home game.

The sprawling 442-acre open parkland of the Clifton Downs on top of the city’s Avon Gorge hosts 41 teams, more than 1,500 players, and over 400 matches a season.

BBC Radio Bristol spent the 2023-24 campaign there to find out about the people, players, officials and teams that make the league so special and part of the sporting fabric of the city.

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China Commemorates 91st Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression! (18.9.2022)

China resounds with the hashtag – 牢记九一八#！(#Keep in mind 918#!) – to remember the millions of Chinese people (and Allies) that were killed or maimed in China’s War Against International Fascism (which lasted between 1931-1945 and included the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945)! Imperial Japan was copying the Western model of imperialist and colonial aggression – and had invaded and occupied Northeast China in 1894-1895 (First Sino-Japanese War) and this aggressive behaviour eventually led to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) – a conflict between an encroaching Czarist Russia an an ever-increasingly confident (modernising) Japan! Japan ended the conflict with controlling parts of Shenyang (formerly controlled by Czarist Russia) – but decided to launch a ‘War of Aggression’ from this platform on September 18th, 1931! Ironically, it would be the Soviet Red Army that would come to the aid of the Chinese people in 1945 and ‘crush’ the occupying Japanese Forces whilst completely ‘Liberating’ Northeast China – handing the captured territory (and material resources) to the control of the Communist Party of China!

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Lenin's Plaque - 1908

Lenin in Tavistock Place (1908) and Great Percy Street (1905) London WC1 (6.4.2018)

We travelled from West Sutton to King’s Cross St Pancreas Station in West Central London, on the hunt for two blue plaques commemorating Lenin’s visits to London in 1905 and 1908. They are affixed to buildings where he stayed (possibly with other Revolutionaries such as Joseph Stalin). My partner Gee used the GPS on her mobile phone and the first plaque we located was in Tavistock Place:

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