Ailments of a Horseless Carriage.

My trusty automotive steed has again displayed its age and decreasing reliability. I have had to call upon the local vehicle vet to investigate its current ailment and prescribe the necessary restorative treatment.

The symptoms were obvious enough, a red light proclaiming that, "brake fluid was low." I had the reservoir topped up but to no avail. Ten days later the same warning message appeared. My very limited knowledge of the internal workings of a car suggested that new brake pads might be required, but this was not to be the diagnosis. What old Dobbin needs is a new brake calliper.

I have more or less decided that I won't be putting Dobbin through the traumas of its next MOT ,but as a new mount is not yet ready ,and as brakes are not an optional extra on a car, I am going to have to spend a few shekels on some restorative work so as to keep the steed on the road for the next few months. Some small recompense for the faithful dumb friend.

Gender Balance for Street Names!

I would like to think that I was not the only person who read the article in Saturday's Daily Telegraph concerning the naming of streets in the Torfaen Council area of Wales and thought that this was another example of political correctness gone mad.

It appears that a Labour Councillor by the name of Jessica Powell has stated that, "women are under-represented in street names," and that there needs to be gender balancing when new streets are named. Apparently this is now to become official policy for Torfaen Council!

I feel confident, (I don't think), that the electorate of Torfaen must be sleeping much more soundly in their beds knowing that their Council has decided to adopt this so progressive policy. But wait! Have the councillors not forgotten something or rather some persons? What about those of the population who are intersex individuals, or of indeterminate gender, or those in the process of a gender change? Think how upset they will feel if they cannot see street names that reflect their definition of their gender. Maybe we need quotas and maybe these quotas should also take account of ethnic origin as well. After all we do have to be politically correct, - don't we?

Government Debt - How Secure?

The global financial uncertainty has caused many people to put their savings into National Savings products due to the government backed guarantee which they attract. This is not limited to the £85,000 personal and small business limit which applies to Banks and Building Societies.

It should of course be remembered that any guarantee is just as good as the person or institution giving the guarantee. A state backed guarantee is not necessarily an absolute guarantee. If one looks back to the early years of the twentieth century, Imperial Russia was raising huge sums of money in an attempt to prop up its economy. The 1913, 4.5% Bond Loan for the Armavir-Touapse Railway Company (see photo) came with, "the absolute guarantee of the Imperial Russian Government." That was of little solace to investors in 1917 when there was a repudiation of Czar - era debt. Still the colourful engraved share certificates now provide cheap wall furniture.

Three Die in Carrigans

Dunmore House January 2013

There is a forthcoming 5k race at Carrigans in Co. Donegal so I decided to go and look at the course on Thursday afternoon. I don't think that I am doing the village a disservice by saying that it is a quiet place. Seventy four years ago, in 1938, that quietude was shattered in the most tragic of circumstances on the afternoon of Saturday 24th September.

The venue for the fatalities was Dunmore House, the ,"Big House," of the village, which belonged to Col. Robert Lyle McClintock, a career soldier and a veteran of the Niger Expeditionary Force; the Boer War and the Great War. He and his wife the former Jennie Margaret Casson-Walker had one child, a son, William. Like his father before him he was educated at Wellington College before being commissioned into the Army.

William was a keen horseman and in April 1938 he took part in the Royal Artillery Gold Cup Race at Sandown Park. He fell and unfortunately his mount fell on top of him. He was paralysed from just below the shoulders.

Shortly before this accident he had become engaged to a Miss Helen Macworth and was to have been married to her in June of that year. Due to the accident this had to be postponed. After a period of convalescence at King Edward VII Hospital William was brought home to Carrigans accompanied by Miss Macworth and two private nurses who had been engaged to look after him.

It was eventually determined that the wedding should occur at Dunmore House on Monday 26th September. On the preceding Saturday William was carried into the garden. His mother took him out his lunch. Shortly before two o'clock his father left the house to take him certain medicines. He was to find his son dead, with the top of his head blown away. One of the nurses, Dorothy Trotter seems to have taken control of the whole ghastly situation. She told the Colonel to have the gardeners come to assist in moving William's body to his bedroom and for him to go to collect the local doctor. She then broke the news to Miss Macworth before starting to search for Mrs McClintock in the company of one of the maids.

They soon found her body. She had shot herself under the chin with the murder weapon. The force of the blast was such that Miss Trotter reports that Mrs McClintock's head had been severed from the torso and was hanging in the tree occupied by the rookery. The birds were pulling at the hair. This macabre vignette unsurprisingly caused the maid to faint. She had just come round when the second housemaid came running with the news that, " Miss Helen has done it now." She was found in Williams room, unconscious and fatally wounded. She had shot herself with William's rifle.

The funeral for the mother, son and bride to be took place on 27th September the day of the intended wedding. Miss Macworth was buried in her wedding dress. The officiating clergyman, Rev David Kelly concluded that,"This was a tragedy. A triumph of love. The bond of love was stronger than the thread of life."

Tragedy on St Columb's Cathedral Choir Outing

The year was 1889. The date was 29th June. Foyle College had broken up the previous day for the summer vacation. One of the pupils, the seventeen year old Hervey Bruce, had been invited by the clergy of St. Columb's Cathedral to join them and the other cathedral choristers on an outing to Ness Woods.

It is reported that at about four in the afternoon certain of the boys and Mr Pettipice went to bathe in the pool below the waterfall. Bruce and Pettipice jumped in. Bruce clambered out complaining of having hurt his foot ,but then dived in again. The other boys' attention was drawn to Pettipice who was under the waterfall. It was a few minutes before it was realised that Bruce had not surfaced. Rather surprisingly nothing is said of Pettipice attempting any rescue.

The boys apparently ran to bring Canon Boyton and Rev Olphert and Rev Hayes to the scene of the unfolding tragedy. All three of them jumped in but were unable to find Bruce. Using a hammock ,which the party had brought with them, the clergymen dragged the pool, but again with no result. A local resident by the name of Alexander Gallagher then used a long pole to try to locate the body. This he eventually did and Canon Boyton dived in again to retrieve Bruce's body. The boy's remains were transported back to the City in The Lord Bishop's carriage.

Hervey Bruce was a son of Major Stewart Hervey Bruce a grandson of Rev. Sir Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, 1st Bt Downhill. Major Bruce resided at Crawford Square Londonderry and held the office of Governor of Londonderry County Gaol. He had gained the rank of Major with the 102 Royal Madras Fusiliers. Whilst I have not worked out the actual relationship, the deceased chorister would be related, albeit far out, to Lady Victoria Hervey and her sister Lady Isabella.

Sources: "Our School Times," September 1889; "The Peerage."

A Victorian Headmaster - Notes on Dr. Maurice C Hime

The Foyle College over which Maurice Charles Hime LL.D., J.P. and Barrister at Law presided was certainly a very different educational establishment from that which presently bears the name. As to whether the successor in title is better I leave that to be answered by those who have a much greater knowledge of the world of education than myself.

Hime entered Trinity College Dublin in 1858. His earlier education included a period at, "Mr Flynn's School," in Dublin (1852) and a subsequent period at Protora (1853) which he attended along with his brother. It appears that he toyed with the notion of ordination into what would still at that stage have been the Established Church, but ultimately viewed himself unworthy. Thoughts of a career in the Indian Civil Service also crossed his mind as more seriously did a career at the Bar. It appears to have been the approaching termination of his scholarship which prompted him to accept the head-mastership of the Monaghan Diocesan School in 1866 and enter the world of education.

The school buildings at Monaghan were at the time described as being ,"in a ruinous state." and the house, "void of furniture." Hime's position provided him with a salary of one hundred pounds per annum. Whether from these funds or school funds he purchased several ponies for his pupils to ride. His young gentlemen were frequent visitors at local hunts. Clearly the features of a rounded education have altered over the past one hundred and fifty years.

It was during his sojourn in Monaghan that Hime entered upon his literary career. In 1871 he issued a series essays by himself and others entitled, "Parting Words to Boys Leaving School." His subsequent publications included introductory texts on Latin, Greek and Logic and a publication with the jaunty title of, "Women's Superiority: On the Superiority, as Moral and Spiritual Beings, of Women to Men." Throughout his life he contributed articles to various periodicals and newspapers, including, "Our School Times," the magazine of Foyle College.

It was in 1877 that Hime was offered the head-mastership of Foyle College by the Hon. The Irish Society which position he accepted. As with his previous academic establishment "Foyle" was in need of , "a vigorous revival." Having honed his educational skills in Monaghan, Hime, who by this time had established the Schoolmasters' Association, proceeded, to attract increasing numbers of both boarders and day boys to his new scholastic care. The names of the new scholars are listed assiduously in each edition of the school magazine.

Hime had married Mary Stuart Robinson the youngest daughter of Rev George Robinson at Tartaraghan Parish Church on 24th December 1870. The ceremony was carried out by the bride's father who was the then Rector. Unfortunately she was to die in 1879 not long after the move to Londonderry. She was twenty nine years of age.

Unlike may of his contemporaries Hime was not a proponent of corporal punishment and it was not permitted during his tenure at Foyle. He was not however a lax disciplinarian and bad behaviour was not tolerated. It seems that both masters and pupils had a high regard for him. In 1888, on the occasion of his birthday they presented him with a gong together with a laudatory address. This prompted the granting of a holiday which largesse was received with, "great cheers."

Outside the world of education and his literary interests Hime seems to have had a profound interest in Freemasonry. He is recorded as being the founder Master of Sunbeam Masonic Lodge 191 with the first meeting apparently taking place in his Buncrana house.

Hime remained as Headmaster until 1896 when he was succeeded by John Clark Dick MA.

Harbinger of Spring

Many gardeners say that for them it is the humble snowdrop which heralds the possibility of spring and a new gardening year. For me however I think it is the yellow or red flowers of witch-hazel, (Hamamelis).

Christmas is still more than a memory when the flowers start to clothe this bush, bringing a welcome burst of colour to the dank dreariness of the winter garden. The spidery flowers have quite an intense spicy fragrance. This is not so noticeable out of doors, but there is no missing it if one introduces a few twigs to the heat of indoors.

The first of the 2013 seed catalogues hit the hall mat this morning. I will probably limit today's gardening to a few judicious ticks in the margins of the aforementioned catalogue. Selecting seed for the forthcoming year as I sit in front of a fire probably beats layering myself in clothing and wheeling compost.