Amazing & Extraordinary Facts About Great Britain (14 page)

I
n the 17th century the ability amongst prosperous citizens to be able to serve seasonal foods before one’s neighbours was a sign that one was well-connected. Joan Cromwell, wife of Oliver Cromwell, had a reputation as a fine cook with a nose for a bargain. During the period that Joan’s husband was Lord Protector a countrywoman brought a bag of peas to London, the first peas of the season, and turned down the substantial sum of five shillings offered by a cook in the Strand (close to the present site of the Savoy Hotel) in the hope of obtaining a better price from Joan Cromwell. She was disappointed, being offered only half the sum by the thrifty Joan whose husband would no doubt have disapproved of any unpuritanical extravagance.

T
he efficient prevention of disease and the provision of nutrition to hard-toiling naval crews occupied many leading minds in the 17th and 18th centuries. In both fields the British Admiralty could call on truly groundbreaking pioneers whose unglamorous but vital contribution to British naval mastery is difficult to overstate. Portable soup was invented in the 18th century as a means of victualling the ships of the Royal Navy on long voyages. A recipe for it was included in
The Art of Cookery
in 1747. A broth of lean meat was created, the fat having been removed to prevent rancidity. Bones and vegetables would be added, together with salt to act as a preservative. The mixture would be repeatedly boiled and strained for hours until it had the constituency of jelly which would be cut into slabs. These could be reconstituted by immersion in hot water and provided a palatable meal, though lacking in vitamins. Portable soup was routinely carried in Royal Navy ships from about 1750, including those of Captain Cook in his explorations of the South Seas.

However the most beneficial product that Cook carried was undoubtedly pickled cabbage, also known as sauerkraut. The great scourge of the seamen of the 18
^th
century and earlier was scurvy, symptoms of which were described by a naval doctor of the time: ‘Swelled legs, putrid gums, extraordinary lassitude of the whole body, ulcers of the worst kind, attended with rotten bones and a luxuriancy of fungous flesh as yielded to no remedy.’ Although the existence of vitamin C and its antiscorbutic role in preventing scurvy was not understood at the time, several seafarers had noted that consumption of certain products such as citrus fruits and pickled cabbage appeared to prevent or cure the condition. When Cook set off on his first voyage in 1768 on HMS
Endeavour
it was victualled with sauerkraut. The seamen did not care for the sauerkraut so he resorted to psychology to overcome their aversion:

HMS Endeavour

‘I had some of it dressed every day for the officers’ cabin table and left it to the option of the men to take as much as they pleased or none at all … before a week I found it necessary to put everyone on board to an allowance.’

On his return Cook gave an account of his voyages to the Royal Society whose future President, Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) had accompanied Cook. He reported that ‘Sour Kraut, of which we had a large provision, is not only a wholesome vegetable food but, in my judgement, highly antiscorbutic and spoils not by keeping.’ For his account Cook was awarded the Royal Society’s Copley Medal, its highest accolade, later awarded to Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. From that time seamen of the Royal Navy were less vulnerable to scurvy than were those of other navies, which gave the fleets of Nelson and others a great strategic advantage in protecting British shipping and the expansion of British trading networks in what was an era of growing worldwide empire of colonies and commercial hubs. Nelson’s fleet which blockaded French ports before Trafalgar carried 30,000 gallons of citrus juice to enable sailors to remain at sea without developing symptoms of scurvy.

‘T
ories and Whigs’ were expressions which developed during the late 17th century to describe political opponents. Neither was complimentary. The word ‘Tory’ was derived from an Irish expression meaning a bandit or outlaw and referred to those who were sympathetic to the legitimate claims of the catholic James, Duke of York to succeed his brother Charles II as king. The word ‘Whig’ was derived from a Scottish expression ‘whiggamore’, which had been used to describe Scottish covenanters who in the reign of Charles I had defended the rights of the Scottish Presbyterian church against the attempts by Archbishop Laud to reform their practices and bring them into line with those of the Anglican church. Over the following three centuries the term ‘Tory’ came to be associated with the Conservative party and ‘Whig’ was attached to the Liberal Party, particularly to its wealthy landowning supporters.

W
hy is the Speaker of the House of Commons (and of many other legislative assemblies including the US House of Representatives) called ‘Mr Speaker’ or ‘The Speaker’ when he doesn’t speak in debates? And why, when he or she is elected to the post, does the candidate have to be dragged, ‘protesting’ to the Speaker’s chair? The answers may be found in the behaviour of the first recorded holder of the post. This was Sir Peter de la Mare who, before entering Parliament, had been Sheriff of Herefordshire. The Good Parliament of 1376 instituted proceedings against some of the advisers of Edward III who was ailing, shortly to die and unduly influenced by corrupt courtiers. Peter de la Mare, having presided over the debate that led to the indictments, then had to communicate the decisions of the Commons to the king’s son, John of Gaunt, thereby acting as ‘Spokesman’ or ‘Speaker’ on their behalf. John of Gaunt was furious and had de la Mare arrested and imprisoned. He was later released and compensated by Richard II when he ascended the throne the following year in 1377 but de la Mare’s ordeal illustrated the perils that could arise from carrying unpopular messages to a powerful king. Hence the need to drag him or her to the chair.

‘I have nether eyes to see nor tongue to speak’

A critical incident occurred in January 1642 when King Charles I, enraged by the refusal of Parliament to allow him to raise taxes without its authority, entered the House of Commons to arrest five members who had been his most resolute opponents. They had made good their escape. The king commented ‘the birds have flown’ and when the king asked the Speaker, William Lenthall, where they were, Lenthall famously replied: ‘May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.’ From that day no monarch has entered the House of Commons.

When the Queen opens Parliament she sends her messenger, Black Rod, to summon the Commons to attend her in the House of Lords. As Black Rod approaches the House of Commons the door is slammed in his face as an assertion of the House’s authority. When they obey his summons the MPs walk slowly and casually to the Lords, chatting amongst themselves to indicate that they are obeying the summons by choice rather than compulsion of the monarch.

T
here is some evidence for the existence of a Jewish community in Britain before 1066 (apart from the legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought Jesus to England and established a religious community on Glastonbury Tor). For instance there is a record from the time of Edward the Confessor which states that ‘the Jews and all theirs belong to the King’. William the Conqueror certainly encouraged Jews from Rouen in France to settle in England. It has even been suggested that William’s mother Arlette (also known as Herleva), a tanner’s daughter who was seduced by William’s father Duke Robert, was herself of Jewish ancestry. From the time of William, the Jewish community was known as ‘the King’s Jews’ and had to reside in places specified by the monarch. For two centuries their affairs were supervised by a special department of government, the Exchequer of the Jews, whose main concern was to ensure the welfare of the community and its availability as a source of finance. For a Jewish community had one major advantage for a medieval king: money. The prohibition on usury (i.e. loans for interest, or banking) by the medieval church did not apply to Jews who were thus able to enjoy a virtual monopoly of this profitable activity.