Latest news with #18thCentury
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Talk about striking gold! Amateur metal detectorist discovers an 18th-century ring in a field in Norfolk - and it's linked to a member of the British nobility
An amateur metal detectorist has found a stunning 18th-century ring in a field in Norfolk that has links to the British nobility. Malcom Weale, 53, unearthed the gold jewellery in a field near Thetford, Norfolk, after searching the area for 18 months. The detectorist was 'shaking' when he saw the ring glinting in the sunlight. Mr Weale told the BBC: 'I knew this was something very special and I did a bit of a dance.' 'There it was, a glint of pure gold, shiny as the day it was dropped, six inches down in the mud. 'It's very rare to put a name to anything you find.' The treasure was crafted about 300 years ago to commemorate a member of the British nobility, called Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry. A hollowed-out part of the ring's exterior depicts what's thought to be a skull, while an inscription on the interior records his death date. The oval depression on the exterior contains jewellery enamel – a material made by fusing powdered glass or ceramic at high temperatures. Against the grayish background, black spots and lines have been used to create the squashed-looking skull, Live Science reports. Mr Weale made the find on August 9 last year, but it has only just been declared treasure having being studied through the Portable Antiquities Scheme by experts at the British Museum. It pays tribute to Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry, the 3rd Baronet of Harling, who died in a hunting accident in 1723, aged 56. He is described as a 'notable sportsman' who liked 'rackety exploits'. The name and date of death of the baronet are inscribed on the inside of the ring. The inscription reads 'B.G. Bart. ob: 10. Oct: 1723. aet: 56,' which means 'B.G. Baronet, died 10th October 1723, aged 56', according to historian Helen Geake. Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry likely left orders for several of these 'mourning rings' to be made when he died, but only one has been found by Mr Weale. Who was Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry? Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy (1667-1723), 3rd Baronet of Harling, was a member of the British nobility. He was son of Norfolk painter Sir John Gawdy, who was deaf all his life and an early pioneer of sign language. Bassingbourne died in a hunting accident in 1723, aged 56. Records suggest he died unmarried and that his hereditary title went extinct. But who exactly owned this particular ring 300 years ago is still something of a mystery. Records suggest Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy was unmarried and without children – so perhaps it was owned by a close friend or associate. Sir Bassingbourne Gawdry was the son of famous painter Sir John Gawdy (1639-1699) who, along with his brother Framlingham, was born deaf and mute. The brothers hold the distinction of being the first known British born deaf persons to be educated and taught to read and write through sign language. John is recorded as a handsome and intelligent man with a notable talent for painting, for which he 'attained no small degree of celebrity', according to one record. But Bassingbourne (his son) remained unmarried and upon his death from his accident on October 10, 1723 the baronetcy became extinct. Both John and Bassingbourne were part of a successful and influential family of lawyers who flourished in Norfolk and Suffolk in the 16th and 17th century. The Gawdy family is said to have descended from Sir Brews Gawdey, a French knight who was captured during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). After being taken prisoner in 1352, it appears Sir Brews Gawdey was naturalised and settled in Suffolk, although the Gawdy Hall estate in Norfolk was built by the family in the 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I is thought to have stayed in Gawdy Hall in 1578. Mr Weale, who has been a detectorist since he was seven years old, said discovery of the historic ring 'turned out to be one of my best days'. 'Over the years I've found all sorts of treasures including a hoard of late Roman coins, gold rings and jewellery,' he told the BBC. 'Last year was a particularly good year for detecting as, thanks to the rainfall, the moisture levels in the ground were very high.
Telegraph
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
BBC drama ‘rewrote history to turn scandalous aristocrat into a feminist'
The BBC rewrote the story of an 18th century heiress to wrongly paint her as a feminist heroine, the historian Hallie Rubenhold has claimed. Rubenhold, an award-winning historian, was delighted when her biography of Seymour Fleming, styled Lady Worsley, was turned into a BBC Two drama starring Natalie Dormer. In a case that scandalised society in 1781, Seymour left her husband, Sir Richard Worsley, to elope with his best friend. Sir Richard sued for damages and the case became a sensation when Seymour revealed in court that she had taken many other lovers. This 'devalued' her in the eyes of the law and Sir Richard was awarded only a shilling in compensation. The BBC told this story in The Scandalous Lady W, which aired in 2015. After years of speaking diplomatically about the adaptation, Rubenhold confided her feelings to an audience at the Hay Festival. She said it was 'spine-tingling' to see her work transferred to the screen but went on: 'It is an act of negotiation. For me, one of the most difficult things about that was the desire to make Lady Worsley into a feminist when she absolutely was not a feminist. 'She was a rich heiress who wanted her money back. And she did what she could to get it back. 'She wasn't doing these things for the good of womankind or anybody else other than herself, and there was this desire to frame her as a feminist so she could speak to a modern audience, and that made me slightly uncomfortable.' Rubenhold shared the stage with fellow historian Joshua Levine, who was a historical consultant on Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk and Steve McQueen's Blitz. The pair discussed the historical inaccuracies found in film and television period dramas. Levine singled out Downton Abbey for its 'really modern characters with modern attitudes who are very anti-racism and very inclusive, and it's really frustrating to watch. It's nice, it's cosy but it's not right.' Rubenhold reserved her greatest ire for a Hollywood blockbuster. 'I absolutely cannot stand Titanic. I hate everything about Titanic. I really was glad that Jack died,' she said. 'James Cameron was so obsessed with the technicalities of the ship – moment-by-moment, how it was sinking, how at this point it split in half, at this point that collapsed, these people slipped that way and this room flooded. 'Why did nobody pay any attention to the believability of the characters? Because these were not characters from 1912. The entire plot was just stupid.'
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
India's colonial past revealed through 200 masterful paintings
Founded in 1600 as a trading enterprise, the English East India company gradually transformed into a colonial power. By the late 18th Century, as it tightened its grip on India, company officials began commissioning Indian artists - many formerly employed by the Mughals - to create striking visual records of the land they were now ruling.A Treasury of Life: Indian Company Paintings, c. 1790 to 1835, an ongoing show in the Indian capital put together by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), features over 200 works that once lay on the margins of mainstream art history. It is India's largest exhibition of company paintings, highlighting their rich diversity and the skill of Indian by largely unnamed artists, these paintings covered a wide range of subjects, but mainly fall into three categories: natural history, like botanical studies; architecture, including monuments and scenic views of towns and landscapes; and Indian manners and customs."The focus on these three subject areas reflects European engagements with their Indian environment in an attempt to come to terms with all that was unfamiliar to Western eyes," says Giles Tillotson of DAG, who curated the show."Europeans living in India were delighted to encounter flora and fauna that were new to them, and ancient buildings in exotic styles. They met – or at least observed – multitudes of people whose dress and habits were strange but – as they began to discern – were linked to stream of religious belief and social practice." Beyond natural history, India's architectural heritage captivated European visitors. Before photography, paintings were the best way to document travels, and iconic Mughal monuments became prime subjects. Patrons soon turned to skilled local the Taj Mahal, popular subjects included Agra Fort, Jama Masjid, Buland Darwaza, Sheikh Salim Chishti's tomb at Fatehpur Sikri (above), and Delhi's Qutub Minar and Humayun's once-obscure and long-anonymous Indian artist Sita Ram, who painted the tomb, was one of them. From June 1814 to early October 1815, Sita Ram travelled extensively with Francis Rawdon, also known as the Marquess of Hastings, who had been appointed as the governor general in India in 1813 and held the position for a decade. (He is not to be confused with Warren Hastings, who served as India's first governor general much earlier.) The largest group in this collection is a set of botanical watercolours, likely from Murshidabad or Maidapur (in present-day West Bengal). While Murshidabad was the Nawab of Bengal's capital, the East India Company operated there. In the late 18th century, nearby Maidapur briefly served as a British base before Calcutta's (now Kolkata) rise eclipsed part of the Louisa Parlby Album - named after the British woman who compiled it while her husband, Colonel James Parlby, served in Bengal - the works likely date to the late 18th Century, before Louisa's return to Britain in 1801."The plants represented in the paintings are likely quite illustrative of what could be found growing in both the well-appointed gardens as well as the more marginal spaces of common greens, waysides and fields in the Murshidabad area during the late eighteenth century," writes Nicolas Roth of Harvard University. "These are familiar plants, domestic and domesticated, which helped constitute local life worlds and systems of meaning, even as European patrons may have seen them mainly as exotica to be collected." Another painting from the collection is of a temple procession showing a Shiva statue on an ornate platform carried by men, flanked by Brahmins and trumpeters. At the front, dancers with sticks perform under a temporary gateway, while holy water is poured on them from above. Labeled Ouricaty Tirounal, it depicts a ritual from Thirunallar temple in Karaikal in southern India, capturing a rare moment from a 200-year-old tradition. By the late 18th Century, company paintings had become true collaborations between European patrons and Indian artists. Art historian Mildred Archer called them a "fascinating record of Indian social life," blending the fine detail of Mughal miniatures with European realism and perspective. Regional styles added richness - Tanjore artists, for example, depicted people of various castes, shown with tools of their trade. These albums captured a range of professions - nautch girls, judges, sepoys, toddy tappers, and snake charmers."They catered to British curiosity while satisfying European audience's fascination with the 'exoticism' of Indian life," says Kanupriya Sharma of DAG. Most studies of company painting focus on British patronage, but in south India, the French were commissioning Indian artists as early as 1727. A striking example is a set of 48 paintings from Pondicherry - uniform in size and style - showing the kind of work French collectors sought by painting (above) shows 10 men in hats and loincloths rowing through surf. A French caption calls them nageurs (swimmers) and the boat a the standout images are two vivid scenes by an artist known as B, depicting boatmen navigating the rough Coromandel coast in stitched-plank no safe harbours near Madras or Pondicherry, these skilled oarsmen were vital to European trade, ferrying goods and people through dangerous surf between anchored ships and the shore. Company paintings often featured natural history studies, portraying birds, animals, and plants - especially from private menageries. As seen in the DAG show, these subjects are typically shown life-size against plain white backgrounds, with minimal surroundings - just the occasional patch of grass. The focus remains firmly on the species Anand, CEO of DAG says the the latest show proposes company paintings as the "starting point of Indian modernism".Anand says this "was the moment when Indian artists who had trained in courtly ateliers first moved outside the court (and the temple) to work for new patrons". "The agendas of those patrons were not tied up with courtly or religious concerns; they were founded on scientific enquiry and observation," he says. "Never mind that the patrons were foreigners. What should strike us now is how Indian artists responded to their demands, creating entirely new templates of Indian art."
Times
21-05-2025
- General
- Times
What you get for £625,000 in Norfolk, Kent, Shropshire and France
Pump Cottage dates from the 18th century and is nestled within the picturesque town of Shaftesbury. The grade II listed property opens up into the sitting room which then leads through to a kitchen, dining room and garden room and guest WC. Half of the first floor is dedicated to the main bedroom, which has a dressing room and en suite, while the other half has two more bedrooms and a family bathroom. The cottage is graced with stone walls, wooden beams and plenty of light throughout. EPC D (potential B)Upside Generous terraced Thatched roofing is hard to £635,000Contact North Stables has plenty of rural charm, tucked away in a pretty Buckinghamshire village, yet only ten minutes away
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
19 Extremely Rare, Mind-Blowing Photos From The 18th Century That Show Just How Wildly Different Things Used To Be
18th century fire alarm that you'd need to hit with a hammer to alert the village of a fire: 18th century machine that let researchers read up to 8 open books at once: 18th century condom: 18th century diving suit: 1740 wheelchair for Holy Roman Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel: 18th century Scottish mortsafe to stop graverobbers: Related: Women Are Sharing The Surprising Things They Discovered About Men When They Got A Boyfriend, And The Responses Range From Hilarious To Actually Kind Of Heartbreaking 18th century gaming device that came before the pinball machine: mid-1700s well that was glassed over and eventually became part of a home's kitchen: 18th century French chair for reading books: Related: "Something In My Head Said, 'Don't Get Up'": 16 Older Adults Reveal The Wildest Supernatural Encounters From Their Childhood 1700s oil lamp: 1750s wall latern: 18th century mansion's dog grave: 18th century sword-shaped Chinese coins: 18th century case of amputation instruments: 18th century lock that requires four keys to open: 18th century palace hall: 1700s graffiti on a cathedral: 18th century building in Norland, Norway: finally, this 1700s lighthouse Fresnel lens: Also in Internet Finds: People Revealed The Creepiest, Cult-Like Towns In The United States And, Jesus Christ, It's Icky Also in Internet Finds: 27 Extremely Disturbing Wikipedia Pages That Will Haunt Your Dreams Until The End Of Your Days Also in Internet Finds: 101 People Who Woke Up One Morning And Promptly Had The Most Painfully Awkward And Embarrassing Day In Human History
