Author Archives: dgm

I was on a beach a few days ago, birdwatching, when I noticed a small corroded metal disk stuck in a crack. “Wow, a coin!” I thought, and did what anyone else would and picked it up. Well the face … Continue reading →

First snow: Camp Hill pic.twitter.com/89UxYb3KfC — Dead In Halifax (@deadinHalifax) November 24, 2021 I was idly surfing twitter this morning and almost proved that I was as much of a gonk as J says that I am. I’d seen the … Continue reading →

A few days ago I posted the following to twitter: There was a major post Napoleonic wars re coinage in 1816 making the idea of 1814 coins being found interesting:Coin stash discovered at Port Arthur archaeology dig gives rare insight … Continue reading →

A long time ago, nearly forty years ago now, I lived for a time in a village called Newbridge on Wye almost slap bang in the centre of Wales. At the time, further up the hill from where I lived, … Continue reading →

Piecing together the outline of his life was absurdly easy, in part because the UK National Archives hold the UK army records from the period, the activities of local history societies and the deep interest of military historians in the … Continue reading →

Today was clock change day, when the clocks went forward for summer. Typically it was a damp day, threatening rain, so we went for a walk up to the town cemetery. As Beechworth’s an old town, the cemetery’s pretty old … Continue reading →

Yesterday, when I was working dow in Dow’s I found an old bottle of a patent medicine called Phosferrin in a cupboard and from the label you can see that it was a complete cure all. As well as the … Continue reading →

Back in 2019, I came across the intriguing story that a James Moncur had been a master mariner working out of Sydney in the 1840’s and had has a Maori wife, and two daughters who had both European and Maori … Continue reading →

About a year ago I blogged about Mary Shelley and her trip by sea to Dundee. At the time I made the point that before railways, travel by sea was considerably more comfortable that overland travel by coach. In much … Continue reading →

As part of my background reading about the roles of nineteenth century pharmacists in Victoria (roles such as opticians or dentists) I’ve been reading about the nineteenth century anti vaccination movement in England. No one seems to have studied the … Continue reading →