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LETTER OF THE MONTH
Alternative medicine
Helen Rappaport’s article on Mary Seacole (April) was fascinating, but Seacole wasn’t the only “alternative” to Florence Nightingale. Betsi Cadwaladr, from Bala in north Wales, spent many months working with the troops on the front lines, providing warm food, bandaging wounds and caring for the men.
Cadwaladr [seen above in a contemporary portrait] had travelled the world as companion and servant to various sea captains, and became convinced that cleanliness was an essential ingredient in the treatment of wounded and sick patients. She went out to Crimea as part of the second group of Nightingale Nurses, but clashed with Florence from the start. “I did not like the name Nightingale,” she wrote. “When I learn a name I know by my feelings whether I shall like the person who bears it.” The dislike was reciprocated by Nightingale, but when she visited the lines and saw the work Cadwaladr was doing – as well as the affection she was held in by the troops – she changed her mind. She begged Cadwaladr to stay on, but old age and exhaustion had taken their toll.
Cadwaladr returned to England where she died in 1860, very much a forgotten hero. She was buried in the paupers’ section of Abney cemetery in north London, and it took more than a century for a memorial to be erected over her grave. The naming of a Health Board in north Wales after the redoubtable Betsi in 2009 was an honour that she would have found more in keeping with her life and work.
Phil Carradice, St Athan
We reward the Letter of the Month writer with a copy of a new history book. This issue, that is 1945: Victory in the West by Peter Caddick-Adams. You can read our review of the book HERE
In defence of Napoleon
I feel that the article concerning Napoleon (April) was unfair to its subject. While his later career frequently saw his original ideals undermined by the reality of power, he was from the first a believer in the revolution, as his letters and general writings make clear.
After his early victories in Italy, he set up the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics, based upon the constitution of the New France, and when he occupied Malta in 1798 he abolished slavery and feudal privileges, while Jews were given equal rights to Christians.
Although his wars led to a great loss of human life, Napoleon was not a monster like some of the individuals who disfigured the following centuries. He was unquestionably one of the greatest military commanders of all time; he refused to accept the policies espoused by the extreme Jacobins and put an end to their vicious insanities; and in the lands he conquered he attempted to implement reforms aimed at bettering the lot of the ordinary people.
Colin Bullen, Kent
Imperial pride
Noting the trite heading of your review of Caroline Elkins’ book Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire (April) – “The Brutish Empire” – I should have realised the direction the article would take. True to form, it launched straight into another tirade against the British empire.
I do not claim to be able to see history in the proverbial black and white, nor know all the answers to such complex questions as “was the empire a good or bad thing?”. What I do know – along with, I expect, many of your readers – is that I am personally very proud of the contribution that our tiny island brought to so many corners of the world, and demand a level of impartiality and balance in the magazine when considering such matters.
While it cannot be denied that the empire was responsible for horrific behaviours, for every negative there is also arguably a positive – as in so many areas of history. So much of the old empire bears the legacies of legal and political frameworks, transport and commerce, education, police and civil administration established because of the dastardly British empire.
Alex von Tunzelmann’s review ignores this legacy when considering the impact of the empire on the present, as well as conveniently ignoring the impact of corruption, tyranny and, yes, violence on a genocidal level by many post-empire regimes.
Andrew Crabbe, Yorkshire
Slate and slavery
In the interview with Neil MacGregor about Britain’s museums (April), he states that the fortune the Dawkins-Pennant family made from exporting slate [in the 19th century] enabled them to build Penrhyn Castle and assemble an impressive art collection. I was surprised, however, that no mention was made of the significant wealth Richard Pennant derived from his ownership of nearly 1,000 slaves across four plantations in Jamaica, nor of the £14,683 he received in compensation for the freeing of those slaves following abolition in 1833. This wealth may well have been key in enabling the family to build the castle, extend quarrying, and pay for roads, houses and schools in north Wales.
David James, Malvern
A pluralist republic
Anna Keay’s article on the Commonwealth (The People’s Republic of Britain, April) rightly points to the plurality of religious opinion tolerated in that period, but there is one significant omission from her list of dissenting religions: Judaism. Jews had been banished from England by Edward I in 1290, once their use as financiers to the crown had dwindled. Jews in England subsequently practised their ancestral religion secretly, particularly in the early 17th century. It was only in 1656 that Oliver Cromwell – in the face of religious opposition and fear of economic competition – permitted Jews to come to England to live and worship openly.
Cromwell’s motivation appears to have been both economic and religious. Jews in the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal had built successful trading empires, particularly in the New World – an area of key interest to Cromwell, as evidenced by the capture of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. He also believed that the reintroduction of Jews to England and their conversion to Christianity would hasten the advent of the Messiah and the dawning of a new Christian golden age.
In turn, some families were attracted by the opportunity to expand their trading empires – and, in the case of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, escape religious persecution. Although their numbers were relatively small, they were increasingly influential on English society and commerce.
Anthony Rabin, London
Nasty, brutish, or short
As we watch the endless horrors unfolding in Ukraine, a recurring thought has struck me. Should some worthy academic decide to compile a history of the world excluding all mention of our inhumanity towards each other, it would result in a very slender volume. When Carl Linnaeus first coined the name homo sapiens for our deeply flawed species, I fear his perception of the human race was perhaps coloured by the Enlightenment and not by a realistic reading of the past.
Jill Stewart-Rattray, Devon
Correction
In May’s feature on the Persians, Empire of the Greats, we incorrectly stated that the date of the battle of Marathon was 499 BC whereas it was actually 490 BC. Thanks to the readers who got in touch to point out this error.
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