Striving for a world transformed by justice and peace - a TL from 1827

[pipisme]

Here is the full cabinet:
Prime Minister: Sarah Taylor
Lord Chancellor: Lord George Jessel
Lord President of the Council and leader of the House of Commons: John Ferguson
Lord Privy Seal and leader of the House of Lords: Lord Richard Ellis
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Robert Cunninghame Graham
Foreign Secretary: Ann Hewitson
Home Secretary: Robert Blatchford
First Lord of the Admiralty: Sidney Buxton
President Board of Agriculture and Fisheries: Henry Banks
Colonial Secretary: Thomas Mann
President Board of Education: Helena Born
President Health and Local Government Board: Marian Bernstein
India Secretary: John Bruce Glasier
Ireland Secretary: Roisin Allen
Chancellor Duchy of Lancaster: Will Thorne
Postmaster-General: William Jowett
Scotland Secretary: Keir Hardie
President Board of Trade: Charles Conybeare
Wales Secretary: Thomas Daronwy Isaac
War Secretary: William Abraham
First Commissioner of Works: Ann Hicks

 

[pipisme]

The South African War ended on 7 September 1902 with the surrender of the armed forces of the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State, and Transvaal. By the Treaty of Pretoria signed on 16 September 1902, the Boer Republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa. Non-whites in the former Republics were enfranchised and all discrimination against them was abolished.

 

[pipisme]

In July 1903, Aneurin and Maire Griffiths and their two youngest children, Owain aged 11 and Sorcha aged 9,
had five days holiday in the small seaside resort of Ilfracombe on the north Devon coast. (1) They travelled by steamship in the morning of Monday 20 July. The journey took about an hour and ten minutes. They stayed in guest house in the town which provided bed, breakfast and evening meal, and packed lunches. They returned home by steamship in the morning of Saturday 25 July. It was the first time Maire, and the children had been to England.

Maire, Aneurin and the children called in at the visitor information centre in Ilfracombe. There they picked up free information leaflets about the town, and footpaths from it, and the fauna and flora in the surrounding coast and countryside. The town is built on terraces on steep hills which rise from the sea. They visited St. Nicholas Chapel, which dates mostly from the fourteenth century, and climbed Hillsborough (447 feet high) and enjoyed the views from the summit.

(1) For Ilfracombe see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfracombe.

(2) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exmoor.

 

[pipisme]

Nye went to the only bookshop in Ilfracombe and asked the manager if they had any of his poetry books. The manager told him that they did not, so Nye gave him a few copies of his most recent book of poems, and asked if he would put them on sale. The manager agreed.

During their holiday in Ilfracombe, Maire, Nye, Owain, and Sorcha walked east and west along costal paths from the town. Walking east for four miles, they reached the village of Combe Martin which stretches a mile down its combe (valley) to the sea. (1)

Walking westward they came to the village of Lee in a narrow valley leading to a rocky bay. (2) Further along the coast they reached the village of Mortehoe and Morte Point with its slate cliffs, then on to the village of Woolacombe with its superb sandy beach. They sat on the beach and ate their picnic lunches, and paddled in the sea.

One day, when the sea was calm, they went on a ship to Lundy Island, 25 miles west of Ilfracombe. (3) The island is three miles long and three quarters of a mile wide. It is mostly a plateau above high cliffs which rise to 400 feet, There is grass, heather and a rich variety of wild flowers. They also saw peregrines, puffins and seals, and enjoyed the marvellous views to Devon, south Wales and westward to the Atlantic.

Going south from Ifracombe, they walked up hills and down deep valleys.

(1) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combe_Martin.

(2) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Bay,

(3) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy.