20 April 2022: Given our recent observation of what happens in the lead up to an invasion, an interesting series of blogs from Kew have served as a reminder that they usually come as a surprise. Forty years on from the Falklands – that timespan alone is enough to make one swallow – one reads how Sir Rex Hunt, the governor of the islands, had just finished lunch with his family on April 1 when a telegram from Lord Carrington informed him of “apparently reliable evidence” that a task force from Argentina was to arrive the following day.
Many of the records from that conflict remain under cover. There is still a large body of material that is accessible, however, covering political and diplomatic affairs as well as the military operations on land, sea and air. A document relating to Rex Hunt’s meeting with the Argentine commander, General Osvaldo Garcia, makes reading pertinent to present events. “Mr Hunt refused to shake hands with the Argentine general who was angered by this. The Argentine said it was ungentlemanly to refuse to shake hands. Mr Hunt replied that it was not civilised to carry out an invasion.”
The following blog relates the build-up to the invasion, Hunt’s meeting with Garcia, his departure for Britain and later return to the Falklands:
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-3070@255315@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
Information for researchers of the Falklands records can be found at:
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-3070@255316@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
It is a month since the Friends’ last catch-up with Kew staff. Andrew Payne indicated that, in the wake of the Rebels in the Records series of films made by students, TNA may approach the Friends later this year to fund another Education Department project based on the “In Their Own Right” transcriptions of paupers’ letters from the Victorian era. Andrew said teachers had expressed interest in developing these records as a classroom resource.
Funding may also be sought at some stage to examine about 14,000 uncatalogued boxes of documents located 100 meters down a disused salt mine in Cheshire. Some of you will have knowledge of this extraordinary hoard, but it was entirely unknown to me. Considering that it is believed to include records relating to the work of Chaucer and could include some historical treasures, it seems remarkable that the boxes have so long laid there, unexplored. The fact that they are also thought to contain many duplicates or plain debris may account for what is acknowledged to be a long-standing reluctance to grasp the nettle. Experienced miners with a keen interest in history are clearly needed to come forward as volunteers.
Speaking of volunteers, further recognition is due here to the invaluable work done by Friends helping to digitalise archive records. As I posted in a blog on the FTNA website last month, Peter and Dee Helmore and Gareth Keller have, since 2020, been cataloguing boxes of First World War medical records contained in the MH 106 series. Their contribution extended to suggesting a means of streamlining and improving the process, as a result of which they were awarded the Best Team prize in the London Volunteer Heritage Awards. Peter has spoken to me about the project, which is demanding of time but brings the thrilling reward of discovery. The appreciation demonstrated by staff at TNA for such efforts is a reminder that we can serve our treasured institution in ways other than funding.
Looking ahead, staff at Kew have plans in hand for an exhibition in the autumn based on the history of treachery in Britain. The Treason Act was only passed in the 1550s, but given the carryings-on of numerous conspirators since then there is plenty to squeeze in. The recent discovery at Kew of a previously overlooked document may have spurred this idea into action.
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-2254@190894@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
For now, though, traitors begone…! Another event sure to keep TNA staff busy this year is the Platinum Jubilee of a monarch who has stood the test of time longer than any other in our history. As you may have noted, Kew is promising to release a series of newly digitised records about the Queen’s life and reign, while also revealing intriguing tales from the history of royalty. To stay in touch:
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-3102@258143@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
Women’s History Month (in March) was marked by a series of blogs from Kew drawing attention to aspects of the female past sometimes overlooked. One which caught my attention was devoted to a woman pirate named Grace O’Malley. I’d heard of another female buccaneer, Anne Bonney, but Grace was a new one – Irish, like Anne, with the difference that she buckled her swash in home waters rather than the Caribbean and with real authority. Hers is a truly extraordinary story too, fully substantiated by a range of TNA records and suited moreover to a film that would consign Jack Sparrow to the deep once and for all. No other pirate, male or female, was granted an audience by Elizabeth I.
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-2887@241788@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
This will be the last of these summaries. I have enjoyed putting them together over the past eighteen months. But in that time I have also been conducting research in my own specialisation at Kew and I am now at a point when that must be converted into a completed manuscript. For anyone wanting to stay in touch with what is going on there, TNA’s website and weekly newsletter are the obvious starting points.
To you all, best wishes,
Stephen