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Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022

Queen Elizabeth II and Canadian Prime Ministers
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, is the sixth sovereign since Confederation in 1867. Although her father, King George VI, was specifically asked to govern Canada and respect its laws at his coronation in 1937, Queen Elizabeth was the first to be proclaimed independently Sovereign of Canada in 1953, following her accession to the Throne in 1952, and the first to bear the title Queen of Canada. Thirty years later, the patriation of the Constitution from the United Kingdom reaffirmed the central position of the Canadian Crown in the structure of our government.
Since her accession to the throne, Her Majesty has met with nearly every Canadian Prime Minister. Read more…

Notable Items
96 rings for 96 years! Today (Friday) at 12 Noon there will be a bell ringing at Old Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Middleton, Nova Scotia in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“There is a great deal to be said and written today as we come to terms with the inconceivable fact of our late Queen’s death…But amidst our personal grief, dare we underline what we believe would be The late Queen’s dearest wish: that we give the same loyalty and allegiance to her Heir, our King, as we gave her…thus the thoughts we have for Charles, and all the Royal Family, as they mourn but, we may expect, also “carry on.” So should we. ” Monarchist League of Canada.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Tours of Canada
Queen Elizabeth II is the world’s most-travelled monarch, having visited 110 countries on six continents over the course of her 70-year-reign. As Queen of Canada, she made 22 Royal Tours here — more than any other Commonwealth nation — effectively making Canada her second home. From Canadian Geographic:

In Boston, 1976.
Read what HM The Queen said from the Old State House in 1976, 200 years after the Declaration of Independence was read from its balcony in Boston.

Her Sense of Humour
Former Royal protection officer Richard Griffin with the best memory of the Queen meeting some American tourists…

Scholarship Challenge 2022: Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities
And the final total is $9996.26. What an amazing total.
Thank you to all who took the 2022 Scholarship Endowment Fund Challenge and donated during this concentrated time called Multiplying UE Scholar Opportunities.
The Scholarship Committee was delighted to see that the goal was surpassed. Many asked: Why $8088 as a goal? It was simply four times the 2022 year date. Monday August 22nd was the closing date of the challenge, but the opportunity for donations to towards UELAC scholarships is always available to you at Donate now.
Over the whole year we are grateful for the donations that celebrate an important occasion. We each have a special reason for supporting causes close to our hearts. Do you have a friend or relative doing graduate studies in history. Please share the opportunity with them. See “Scholars Wanted” on the uelac website.
Thank you from the full Scholarship Committee: Christine Manzer, Tim Compeau, Rebecca Brannon and Stephanie Seal-Walters

Two Very Different Lives
copyright Stephen Davidson UE
On New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy, one will find a number of towns and villages that were established by the Loyalist refugees of the American Revolution. Prominent among those settlements is St. Andrews, a town settled by both civilians and military veterans. Two of the most diverse settlers who made their homes in St. Andrews were Christopher Hatch and Violet Tucker.
Both had their deaths noted in the local newspaper. Hatch died at the age of 70 in 1819. Tucker died at the age of 93 in 1852. But what both death notices failed to reveal was that Violet was a woman born in Africa who Christopher Hatch had acquired as a slave. The Loyalist had come to St. Andrew’s willingly; his female slave was compelled to make the best of a bad situation.
Christopher Hatch began life in Boston, Massachusetts in 1749. Ten to twelve years later, Violet Tucker had been just a child when men raided her village in West Africa, carried her off and put her aboard a slave ship for America. It was a day that she remembered vividly.
Hatch’s only experiences of violence occurred during his time as a captain in the Loyal American Regiment. He had been wounded while commanding the advance guard on January 10, 1781 in a battle at Fleur de Hundred (Flowerdew Hundred) in Virginia, and later received a commendation for his valour. The commander of British forces at the time noted how Hatch “with great gallantry attacked a piquet of the enemy and rove them to the main body.”
Several clues indicate that Hatch and Tucker may have first encountered one another while the Loyalist served in Virginia. First, Tucker is among the surnames of emancipated slaves found in the Book of Negroes who once toiled in that colony — and was the name of several white Virginian enslavers.
Secondly, Fleur de Hundred was the site of a plantation where a large labour force was required for the growing of corn, wheat and tobacco. General Benedict Arnold, then with the British army, ordered the plantation to be shelled. Lt. Col. Simcoe and his Queen’s Rangers spiked the guns near Hood’s Fort that was on the eastern edge of the property.
Among the crumbs of data that have survived regarding Violet Tucker is that she told “hair-raising stories of plantation days” as well as accounts of runaway slaves. As there were no plantations requiring large numbers of enslaved Africans in Hatch’s native Massachusetts or its neighbouring colonies, it seems most likely that he acquired Tucker while he was in Virginia.
Thirdly, the slaves of Patriots were often seen as prizes of war. A number of men and women listed in the Book of Negroes make mention of the fact that they were taken from their southern rebel masters by soldiers. Since Hatch’s property and possessions had been taken from him by 1781 –and since he was only drawing a captain’s commission– it seems much more likely that he took Tucker from the plantation where she was enslaved rather than buying her from her former owner. If this is so, then Violet Tucker was in her mid-twenties when she became enslaved to 40 year-old Hatch.
Prior to the American Revolution, Hatch had been a merchant in Boston. When the Royal Army evacuated the Massachusetts capital in March 1776, they left cannon, shot and shells on Hatch’s wharf, a sign to local Patriots that the merchant was a friend of the crown and a Loyalist. Two years later, Hatch was banished from Massachusetts, and faced execution if he ever returned. Whether his wife Elizabeth remained in the family home or sought refuge in New York City is unknown. The couple’s only child, Harris, was born in 1780, following Hatch’s departure from Massachusetts.
At the end of the American Revolution, Christopher Hatch, his wife, son, and Violet Tucker initially settled in what became Saint John, New Brunswick. The family and their slave then moved to Campobello Island in the Bay of Fundy, where for a time Hatch had a mercantile business. He was described as one the island’s principal dealers in plaster. Hatch later sold out to another Loyalist officer and returned to Saint John, and then finally settled in St. Andrews. Town lore recalls that the Hatches came with “Black Violet” in 1788.
As the years passed, Hatch became a magistrate, a member of the colony’s assembly, and a colonel in the local militia. Violet Tucker remained in the kitchen of the Hatch home. Town lore remembers her as “a wonderful cook, who served the most sumptuous dinners for her Master’s guests.” Another source said she was “unsurpassed as a cook”.
Life took a new direction for Violet Tucker on May 20, 1792 when she married a Black Loyalist named Rubin Alexander. Interestingly, it was also the day that Violet –then in her early 30s– was christened. No records indicate that Christopher Hatch ever set Violet free, so this was a marriage between a free man and an enslaved woman.
The extensive research of historian David Sullivan fleshes out the story of Violet and Rubin. His use of the records of All Saints Anglican Church provides valuable insights into the life of this Black family. On May 5, 1793 Rubin and Violet’s daughter Mary was christened. An unidentified son was baptized on December 20, 1795. Two years later Rev. Andrews christened Henrietta Alexander.
In June of 1799, Rubin bought a plot of land in St. Andrews, paying out one pound and six pence. An “X” stood as his signature on the deed.
In the following month Horatio Nelson Alexander was born. Another child was christened in 1800, followed by the baptism of James Rubin Alexander in September of 1801. Within nine years of their wedding, the Alexanders had six children. No doubt Violet was kept very busy as a mother to her large family and as a cook for the Hatches.
The next Alexander children may have been twins as both Andrew and Jane Alexander were christened in 1808. Kesia, born in 1810, died when she was seven and was buried in the town’s graveyard. Abigail was baptized in 1811.
Violet’s husband Rubin died at some point over the next 40 years. In the 1851 census for New Brunswick, she is listed as living in a Black neighbourhood in St. Andrews in the household of John Stewart and was reported to be 96. However, her death notice in 1852 says she was 93, while church records say she was 90. Whichever age is correct, the numbers indicate that despite her experiences in crossing the Atlantic in a slave ship, working in the heat of a Virginian plantation, and labouring in the cold and damp of the Bay of Fundy coast, Violet had an amazing constitution and lived well beyond the lifespan of her enslaver family’s members.
Christopher Hatch died suddenly of unknown causes on March 9, 1819, thirty-three years before his African cook. He was 70 years old. His wife Elizabeth lived until 1830, dying at age 75.
There are no records to indicate whether or not the Hatches made provisions to grant Violet Alexander her freedom following their deaths. Wills of the Loyalist era either bequeathed slaves to heirs or set them free. Even if Violet was not emancipated upon the death of Elizabeth Hatch in 1830, four years later the British parliament enacted the Slave Abolition Act, which outlawed the sale, ownership or purchase of humans.
Born a free child in West Africa, Violet Tucker Alexander spent the last 18 years of her life as a free woman. It is a great loss to history that Violet’s “keen memory for stories of pre-Revolutionary days” was not put down for posterity, and that most of the details of this remarkable woman’s life have been lost over time.
To secure permission to reprint this article contact the author at stephendavids@gmail.com.

The Newsletter of the Kings County Historical and Archival Society, February 2009
Barbara Pearson UE
In The Kings County Memories Newsletter of 1979, Harvey Dalling wrote about the early settlers of Mechanic Settlement., located 11 km ENE of Cedar Camp and 7.98 km ESE of South Branch, Cardwell Parish, Kings County. This tract included lands at the head of the Kennebecasis, Pollett and Little Rivers.Mechanic Settlement was founded by unemployed trades people from Saint John-a group of mechanics, carpenters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, and men skilled in other trades who were out of work due to the depression of 1839. They formed a Mechanics Association, mortgaged their homes in Saint John and applied for land grants in the hinterland of Kings County for the purpose of settling on farms. They numbered 237 persons with others picked up in Sussex Vale.
Many of these early settlers had originally come from Scotland and Ireland. Not all remained in the area as they could return to Saint John as business improved. Those industrious and adventurous people, who did stay, soon had a busy settlement with a school of fifty or more pupils, a hall in which both Orange Lodge and Temperance Lodge met, Alexander Moore’s grist and sawmill, Elias Harmer’s store, a blacksmith shop, and James Webster’s cheese factory. Both Methodist and Presbyterian services were held in the community hall until the Bethel Presbyterian Church was built in 1897. The school, named Pollett, then Mechanic, was closed in 1943 and the church was sold and torn down in 1970. The money went to the Mechanic Settlement Cemetery Fund, located on the Donegal Road in the woods.
A very important building in the settlement was the store, located on the Mechanic Lake road at Moore’s Corner. It was first owned by Elias Harmer, then sold to James Albert Webster, a son of the early settlers, William M. and Frances Jane (Mercer) Webster. William M. Webster was a grandson of Elizabeth Webster, Loyalist, who came as a widow in 1783 with one son, Edward, to settle first in Parr Town, then on a land grant in Belleisle Bay. Frances Jane was a granddaughter of Captain Joseph and Sarah Mercer, who also came as Loyalists in 1783. Her father, Joseph Jr., came to Bloomfield, married Frances Baxter, and they raised a family of 15 children. William and Frances Jane married in Norton Parish on Jan. 15th, 1846. Some time in 1855 they and three children left their home in Waterford Parish and settled in Mechanic Settlement near the then Pollett Lake.
From the Webster and Moore scrapbooks, the church, school records, and albums; we have been able bring to life those early pioneers and share in the drama, the hardships, and romance of the Webster, Moore, Harmer, Wortman, Yeomans, Bustard, Lockhart, Sprague, Kelly, McNair, and Connelly families as they worked to build a new Settlement in this wilderness.
Read the newsletter.

The Rise and Fall of John André’s Captors in Popular Culture
by Victor J. DiSanto 6 Sept 2022 Jounral of the American Revolution
David Williams, John Paulding, and Isaac Van Wart were celebrated as heroes during their lifetime, vaulted to fame by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, and lionized in popular ballads and the play The Glory of Columbia: Her Yeomanry. Historian Mercy Otis Warren adored John André’s Captors, writing in 1805 that their names “ought never to be forgotten.” Recent historians and media portrayals have not been as kind to them. Alexander Rose labeled them rebel Skinners who mugged André in his book Washington’s Spies, which spawned the television series Turn: Washington’s Spies. Robert Cray described them as irregular militiamen, an ambiguous term he did not bother to define, while implying that they belonged to the patriot guerilla force now known as Skinners. Peter R. Henriques called them “civilian roughnecks” and inferred that they might be both brigands and heroes, out to rob André but by luck catching a spy. Mark Sullivan posited that the trio belonged to the Skinners, a group that he stated had a “tenuous connection with the American cause.” John Evangelist Walsh’s book The Execution of Major Andre is an exception to the trend, describing André’s captors as patriotic New York State militiamen. My previous article about André’s captors examined of their military records and issued a clarion call for fair treatment as we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The trio continued to be celebrated as heroes throughout the nineteenth century in spite of Benjamin Tallmadge’s 1817 characterization of them as “Cow Boys,” indicating that large numbers of Americans did not take Tallmadge’s unsubstantiated accusation seriously. Ballads, theatrical performances, poems, and monuments related to André’s captors demonstrate that common folk celebrated the captors for rejecting André’s bribe, foiling Benedict Arnold’s plot and saving the American cause before and after Tallmadge’s allegations in 1817. Read more…

Observations Concerning the Yorktown Surrender Documents
by William W. Reynolds 8 September 2022 Journal of the American Revolution
The surrender of the British Army at Yorktown in 1781 was implemented by the three-party Articles of Capitulation (“the Articles”), one of the most important documents of the Revolutionary War, since the surrender eventually led to the Peace of Paris (1783) and American independence. Curiosity as to the current location of the original Articles, i.e., those inscribed and signed October 19, 1781, led the writer to search for them, further intrigued by early twentieth century assertions that the American copy could not be found. Since both Gen. George Washington and Lt. Gen. Charles, Earl Cornwallis sent their governments copies of the Articles and retained the originals, the latter should be found in the papers of the two commanders. Current repositories of those papers provide descriptions that imply or state they hold the original Articles, which warrants a comparison between the originals and their published versions.
The events of autumn 1781, leading up to the Articles set a groundwork of correspondence between the two generals. Cornwallis indicated his desire to negotiate the surrender of the British Army under his command in a letter to Washington on the morning of October 17, 1781. Read more…

Washington’s Quill: Revolutionary War Series, April-June 1776
by Lela Trainer 9 September 2022
April 1776 marked almost a year since Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental army, a critical time for the relatively untested general. Bookended by GW’s successful capture of Boston and the news of the arrival of British troops in New York, the documents in the fourth volume of the Revolutionary War Series cover topics ranging from outbreaks of smallpox among Continental soldiers to assassination attempts on influential members of the army. Perhaps most importantly, it details GW’s struggles as a man and a leader to guide his troops fairly and firmly to victory in the hard-fought battle for independence. Read more…

Benjamin Franklin Living in Passy, France
By Geri Walton 27 May 2015
Benjamin Franklin living in Passy, France happened after he began serving as that country’s Ambassador from 1776 to 1785. He lived in France from March of 1777 to July of 1785 and for much of that time chose Passy, a rural area then located about three miles outside of Paris. However, today it is an area that is included within the realms of Paris. Passy was appealing partly because it was situated on a lofty hill on the Seine’s right bank and was an area known for its expansive gardens, beautiful parks, and numerous chateaux.
Another reason Franklin may have wanted to live in Passy was that many eminent people resided in the area, such as the Princesse de Lamballe, whose home also has an interesting history. Read more…

Olympe de Gouges: One of the First Feminists 1748-1791
By Geri Walton 3 September 2018
One of the first feminists, Olympe de Gouges, began her life in 1748 when she born Marie Gouze in Montauban, Quercy in southwest France. Her mother was Olympe Mouisset and her legal father, Pierre Gouze, was a butcher, but she claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan. She was forced in 1765 to marry a man she felt great repugnance for and did not love. He was a caterer and minor official named Louis Aubry. In 1767, around the time he died, she moved with her son, Pierre, to Paris where her sister Jeanne was living.
Whether the name Gouges was a variant spelling or not is unclear. However, what is clear is that Jeanne sometimes signed her name Gouges, and so Olympe also adopted Gouges as her surname instead of taking her father’s or husband’s last name. As a single woman intent on surviving in Paris alone, her own surname helped her to establish her independence and identity. Read more…

How Love Conquered a Convent: Catholicism and Gender Disorder on the 1830s Stage
Sara Lampert Sept 2022 in Common Place
In March 1838, theatergoers in St. Louis were coaxed out into the bitter March cold with the promise of a new comedy, Pet of the Petticoats. It was set in a French convent and starred local favorite Eliza Petrie in a breeches role as Paul. He is the “pet” of the convent boarders, who are attempting to reunite with soldier husbands. Paul helps to liberate the boarders and unite the lovers, meanwhile engaging in his own adventure and making “love a la militaire” to a touring opera star. Petrie’s performance as Paul, which played on the comedy and sexual allure of the actress-as-boy role, made for an “immense” night by the standards of the dismal season.
It also generated some negative publicity in the local paper from a habitué of the theater. This critic found Pet “abominably gross in language [and] implying a slur upon one of the institutions of a numerous and highly respectable sect of Christians.” Read more…

UELAC Loyalist Directory: New Contributions
Entries which have been added, or revised, this week, with thanks:

  • Lynton “Bill” Stewart has contributed information about:
    • Captain Isaac Titus from Bedford NY married Jemima Mead born in Long Island. They resettled in Trout Cove (Centreville) Nova Scotia.
    • Capt. John Taylor served in the New Jersey Volunteers and In 1784 received a 200 acre Loyalist Land Grant in River Sisaboo E., Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.
    • James Stanton in 1787 received a 151 acre Loyalist Land Grant in Sandy Cove, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.
    • Joseph Smith from County of Westchester, Province of New York married Sarah Warne and resettled in Smith’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
    • Henry Rutherford receied a number of land grants in Digby and in Digby Township.
    • Timothy Ruggles from Hardwick, a new town outside of Worchester, Massachusetts married Bathesheba Bourne Newcomb. He served The King’s American Dragoons which were raised principally by his influence. They resettled at North Mountain, in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia.
  • Sumner Gary Hunnewell Jr. provided details about
    • Capt. William Thomas from Northampton, Bucks Co., PA. He married Mary (Rhoads) Custard by 10 Sep 1756 and later Elizabeth Clark? Came to Port Roseway in Oct, 1783 on the HMS Clinton. The family moved many times – 1784 Shelburne, NS, then 1784 Paartown, NB and 1784 Digby, NS – before finally in Digby NS in 1795.
  • Kevin Williams has provided information about
    • Capt. George Dawson from New York served in the King’s Orange Rangers; Tarleton’s Light Dragoons and resettled in St. John, NB and Charlotte Co., NB
  • From Brenda Heartwell information about
    • Jeremiah Storms resettled in North Marysburg, Prince Edward County, Upper Canada and married Mary Crane (Lloyd). They had eleven children.

If you are willing to submit some information, send a note to loyalist.trails@uelac.org
All help is appreciated. …doug

Upcoming Events

Kawartha Branch Meeting Sunday 18 Sept. 2:00 ET, Canadian Navy and Peterborough

In the lower floor of St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, at Hilliard and St. Paul’s Street, Peterborough, Ontario, Join Canadian naval author and historian, Roger Litwiller, and discover Peterborough’s connection to Canada’s Navy. His Majesty’s Canadian Ship PETERBOROUGH was a Flower class corvette that fought during the Second World War. Discover incredible personal stories and photos of Canadian Sailors from the area who served in HMCS TRENTONIAN and survived its tragic loss. Attend in-person or virtually.
Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82167567318?pwd=d3A4TzRJaEpZNFBlazB2MGlGV21KQT09
Meeting ID: 821 6756 7318; Passcode: 124256
If you plan to attend or have questions, email Grietje McBride maplegrm@gmail.com

Toronto Branch In-Person, Elaine Cougler about Col. John Butler, Sept 18 2:00

At the Toronto UEL Office, at 40 Scollard St., Toronto, meeting in person. Elaine Cougler is the award-winning author of historical novels about the lives of settlers in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. Elaine is descended from a Butler’s Ranger herself.
We ask that those who are attending consider wearing a mask for everyone’s sake.
To confirm your attendance or if you have questions, email Sally Gustin Programme Coordinator, torontouel@gmail.com

St. Alban’s Centre, Adophustown ON. A Musical Harvest, Sun. Sept 25 @1:30

The Accord Trio, featuring Kingston Community Strings musicians Fran Harkness on piano, Jennifer Tindale on cello, and Doug Handforth on violin/viola. The Trio’s eclectic repertoire spans from light classical music through to the featured works of Prince Edward County composer Gena Branscombe UE. They will also perform medleys from well-known musicals and some popular contemporary pieces.
Tickets at the Door: $20 (Children under 12 FREE)

Fort Plain: Sir William Johnson and the Wars for Empire Conference Oct 21-23

Sir William Johnson was a larger than life character who dominated the Mohawk Valley and beyond during the 18th century in warfare, politics, trade and diplomacy. This conference will address aspects of Johnson’s historical impact as well as the larger scope of the great wars for empire. This new Fort Plain Museum conference will offer a look at the colonial era when major personalities, like Sir William, dealt with overlapping cultures and the impact of war on society. At Johnstown NY
See Details and Registration.

In The News:

World Rowing Tour to move through Quinte this weekend
at InQuinte.ca 9 Sept 2022
51 different rowers from a dozen different countries.
That’s how many people are on their way to the Bay of Quinte region for the 2022 edition of the World Rowing Tour.
Ten coastal rowing boats will set off from Weller’s Bay on Sunday morning, making their way through the Bay of Quinte over the next three days to the United Empire Loyalist Heritage Centre and Park in Adolphustown before rowing on to Kingston. Read more…

Editor: Significance of 797
Just wondering how many issues of Loyalist Trails there have been. A back of the pad quick calculation suggests more than that . Say 51 issues each year from 2005 to 2021 plus 30-some in 2022 plus about 20 or so in 2004 – first issue was end of April 2004 but irregular for the first while. So about roughly 980.
One could actually count them at the Loyalist Archives, from the first short issue Loyalist Trails 2004-01 on 28 April 2004 when the feature item was “The Other Side of the ‘Freedom Trail’ Story” up to today. I wonder if the group which was featured still exists?
So what is “797”? Watch this space.

From the Twittersphere and Beyond

  • Trinity Anglican Church in Digby, NS, a national historic site, with cemetery on three sides containing graves of many of UE Loyalists who built original church in 1788.
  • Back in 1781, I was quite enthusiastic about the Franklin Stove. While named for Benjamin Franklin, the famous or infamous David Rittenhouse improved the design in 1780. I recommended it
  • This week in History
  • Clothing and Related:
    • Looking to brighten your day? Indigo dye is mixed to add a colorful hue to fabrics on the Revolution-era farm at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.
    • We dedicate this week’s post to HM Queen Elizabeth II and her quintessential style. These 2 gowns date from the start of her reign & carry labels she favoured: Horrockses Fashions and Hartnell, who designed for her for 3 decades.
    • 18th Century sack back gown rear view, purple silk, brocaded with flowers & lace, French, 1765-1770
    • 18th Century dress, Robe à l’Anglaise, printed & painted Indian export fabric, c.1783. View one; In an exhibit at the @ROMtoronto. Here’s the back view.
    • 18th Century dress, Pet-en-l’air ensemble, 1770’s
    • 18th Century embroidery sample for a man’s Court coat, this floral pattern embroidered with white silk and pieces of clear glass on black velvet with vertical green twill stripes would have been utterly resplendent under candlelight. c.1790
    • 18th Century men’s coat in shaved velvet with pink ground & vertical green and horizontal white pile, decorated with embroidered flowers in shades of cream and green, spangles & silver thread. c.1780-1790’s
    • 18th Century waistcoat or vest, silk with images of a water deity, he is shown in the style of those found on Roman mosaics. Italy and its Roman sites were popular stops on a young gentleman’s Grand Tour, 1790’s
  • Townsends:
  • Making Ice Cream.
    • Frederick Nutt (and Me) on Making ‘Damson [Plum] Ice Cream’
      “Take three ounces of preserved damsons, pound them and break the stones of them, put them into a bason, squeeze in two lemons, and a pint of cream ; press them through a sieve and freeze it.” Frederick Nutt, The Complete Confectioner 2nd edition, 1790
      We’re taking a leaf from ol’ Frederick Nutt’s book again today, this time having a look at his recipe for damson ice cream. I found a reference to this one in Sarah Conrad Gothie’s excellent book Damsons, An Ancient Fruit in the Modern Kitchen[1] when I was looking for interesting ways to use up some of this year’s haul of damsons[2] from the tree in the Plot #79 orchard. Read more…
  • Miscellaneous
    • Nell Gwyn (1650-87) had two lovers called Charles before becoming the mistress of King Charles II, so she liked to call him “Charles the Third”.
    • I have Horwood’s Plan of London from 1792 scored into my memory; it still works quite well to navigate London. This map from 1731 at Dr Johnsons House compared to Horwoods shows how much changed in the second half of the C18th. Look—one bridge across the Thames vs six!
    • SPOOKY & ENCHANTED TREES inspire their own folklore; 70ft Beech tree, Bury St Edmonds, nicknamed ‘The World’s Scariest Tree’; ‘Enchanted Pixie Tree’, Cheshire; ‘The Screaming Tree’, Epping

 

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