Miscellany

Ireland's First Railway Steam Engine The first railway in Ireland was the Dublin and Kingstown Railway a passenger service, the track was about six miles long. In 1831 an Act of Parliament was passed enabling the formation of the railway company. The first trials were not made until 4th October 1834 when the 2-2-2 steam engine "Vauxhall" with a small train of carriages "filled with ladies and gentlemen" traveled from Dublin to the Martello Tower, Williamstown, a distance of two and a half miles. The trip was made four times in either direction, at a speed of thirty-one miles an hour. The passengers were delighted with the comfort, and some said they could read and write with ease while moving at "this great speed."
Mikes Rail History website
http://www.dalkeyhomepage.ie website

Stanley, Sir Henry Morton (1841-1904) Sir Henry Morton Stanley of "Dr Livingstone I presume" fame was the MP for North Lambeth at his second attempt from 1895 to 1900. He only spoke on one or two occasions and then without much success!    The Times obituary for Sir Henry Morton Stanley

Hughes, Thomas (1822-1896) English author of children's books. Hughes was educated at Rugby and Oriel College, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1848 and was elected the Liberal Member of Parliament for Lambeth in 1865. He became a judge at Chester in 1882. He was a Christian Socialist who helped found the Working Men's College in London in 1854 and later was its principal (1872-1883). His most famous book, Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), a fictionalized account of Rugby under the headmastership of Thomas Arnold. In 1870 he went to the United States for the first time, and in 1875 tried to found a model community in Tennessee called Rugby but this was unsuccessful and Hughes soon withdrew from the project.

Mummers Mummers are bands of men and women who act out short pantomime folk plays usually around Christmas time. Their costumes are often adorned with strips of cloth or paper and the 'show' is taken from house to house (pub to pub)and a collections is made near the end of the performance which relies heavily on slapstick humour, combat, and dance. The performers used masks to disguise themselves so that they could get away with all sorts of mischief until Henry VIII issued a proclamation outlawing the wearing of them. The origin is thought to date back to Roman times and it is known that the citizens of London staged an elaborate Mummer performance for the son of the Black Prince at Kennington in 1377.

Pritchard, Charles (1808-1893) This British astronomer was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Christ's Hospital. He gained his degree from Cambridge in 1832 and turned his attention to educational reform and became the headmaster of a private school in Stockwell in 1833. He quickly moved on to be the headmaster of Clapham grammer school in 1834 which was founded to give him an opportunity to try out new educational methods. A keen amature astronomer he did some useful astronomical work at the school and in 1862 he became the Honorary Secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society and it's President in 1866. In 1870 he was elected Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford. In 1892 he was awarded a royal medal for his work on photometry and stellar parallax.

Brayley, Edward Wedlake (1773-1854) This topographer, archaeologist and writer was born in Lambeth and started his working life as an apprentice in the enameling trade but developed literary tastes. He is most often associated with his close friend John Britton (1771-1857) in producing several publications, including Beauties of England and Wales. In 1823 he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries