How Far We've Come?

I finally got time to sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy BBC 4's She-Wolves: England's Early Queens.  Rather annoyingly, I did miss the first episode in the series, as the other half only thought to mention that he had seen it advertised, a few minutes before the second episode and thought it was right up my street.  However for those of you with fast enough internet and who missed the second episode, you will be glad to know you have 11 days still to watch it on BBC I Player or its repeated tonight at 11pm.

In the programme Helen Castor tells the story of Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou, who through marriage became Queens of England, and due to circumstances both women found themselves having to lead in a mans world.  Helen explains, how history has dealt with these two women is not fair. Had they been men their behaviour would have been more than acceptable.

Going slightly off subject, as only a rambling wee lassie can, I have to say well done to BBC4, just lately they have been producing some very interesting programmes.  I'm starting to think that the smaller the budget for the programme, the better the programme is?

To live in hearts, we leave behind, is not to die

This week I found myself down at Olympia at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event.  Hundreds of people, over a three day event wander the aisles searching for clues to answer the question 'Where did I come from?' whilst various companies flog their wares.   Watching I wondered how important it was for people to know where they came from or was it just an interesting hobby.

I am fortunate that on my Fathers side at least there has been a very good family tree produced, which dates the family back for several hundred years.  Even my Mothers side I have a good idea of where they came from.  I suspect I've always just taken the knowledge of my family history for granted, forgetting that others have no knowledge other than their immediate families names.

If I stopped taking it for granted, would I hold it as important knowledge to have?  Stories of the family member who met his maker, having rolled into the river drunk at lunch time or the unmarried 'seamstress' with seven children in an area known for its bars and brothels, are of course interesting.  They provide a snapshot of social history that I am personally connected to, that capture my attention far more than the facts and figures in some books.  

Women who Murder and Remembered

I've just been reading with interest an article on Mary Ann Cotton in the Daily Mail.  Mary Ann Cotton was a serial killer.  She killed 21 people altogether. My reading of women's history, I confess, tends to be the people on the right side of the law, so this article caught my eye. 

A man called David Wilson has just written a book on her (due to be published later in the year) and the article claims she is the first serial killer but no one has heard of her.  Putting aside the fact that I am sure the Victorians were not the first to have serial killers (I suspect they just didn't get caught as often, with death rates and medical knowledge?), it did make me think about fame, how we remember some criminals and not others. 

In the article, I got the impression that it is partly because she is female that she has been forgotten in history whilst Jack the Ripper gripped a nation.  We find it uncomfortable that some one who is a wife, mother and even a nurse for a time should have an evil streak. A woman that brings life, should also take life would not sit well with the Victorians or with ourselves today.  We find it easier I suspect to think of men as murderers.

Inspiring History- Helen Colijn

One of my aims in starting this blog was to highlight some of the people and events that really inspire me.  While speaking to a woman who was studying history at Uni I was surprised she had never heard of the SOE.  It got me thinking what other gems of history are being missed, especially history about women which seems to have completely missed by the Education system today.  We have so much great history that should inspire us, instead of what the chatter mags give us.  So as a start to re-address this omission in our society I give you Helen Colijn and the women interned by the Japanese during the 2nd World War.

I have just recently finished reading Helen Colijns account Song of Survival - Women Interned , so it seemed like a good place to begin.  Helen's was one of the many women and children taken prisoner in South East Asia during the Second World War by the Japanese.  They were held for several years in camps not fit for human occupation often on starvation rations.  Japanese culture at the time looked down upon women and on enemy that had been captured.  So to be both made these women the lowest of the low in their culture.