On this day in 1939, Operation Pied Piper, which aimed to evacuate people, especially children, out of Britain’s cities, began. The Operation’s aim was to move people away from areas most at risk from aerial bombing into more rural, less industrialised areas that were less likely to be targets.

In total over 3.5 million people were moved, although the initial aim had been to evacuate more. There was enormous variation in the level evacuated between cities, with only 15% of children evacuated from some Ares, which over 60% were evacuated from Manchester, Belfast and Liverpool.

Many children went to Devon, Cornwall and Wales. Other children moved to villages in the North, East Anglia and Scotland. A smaller number of children (perhaps 10,000) went to other countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States. Evacuees went to live with host families, in what were called billets. Evacuees and their hosts were often astonished to see how each other lived. Some evacuees flourished in their new surroundings. Others endured a miserable time away from home.

By the end of 1939, when the widely expected bombing raids on cities had failed to materialise, many parents whose children had been evacuated in September decided to bring them home again and by January 1940 almost half of the evacuees returned home. However, following the German invasion of France in May-June 1940 the Lufftwaffe was able to increase attacks on Britain and so the period known as the Blitz instigated another period of evacuation. Nevertheless, the evacuation was still voluntary and many children remained in the cities. A further late wave of evacuation began in June 1944, pushed by the introduction of the German V-weapon, which was launched against cities in the east and south-east of England.

For some children, the end of the war brought an end to a prolonged period of fear, confusion and separation. For others, it brought considerable upheaval as they returned to cities and families they barely remembered.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British important events and people in British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On this day in 793, Vikings raided the Anglo-Saxon monastery on Lindisfarne heralding the beginning of the Viking age.

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Edward the Elder (c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from October 26th 899 until his death on July 17th 924. He was crowned on June 8th 900 in Kingston upon Thames. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith.

Shortly after Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred, from who Alfred had inherited the throne of Wessex. Æthelwold seized the royal estates of Wimborne, symbolically important as the place where his father was buried, and Christchurch, both in Dorset. Edward responded by moving an arm, to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury Rings and Æthelwold thus paving the way for Edward’s coronation at Kingston upon Thames on June 8th 900.

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and the following year he persuaded the East Anglian Danes to invade English Mercia and northern Wessex, where his army looted and then returned home. He was eventually met in battle at the Battle of the Holme, where he was killed, despite his Danish allies carrying the day. Thus ended Æthelwold's threat to Edward's throne

In 910 a Mercian and West Saxon army inflicted a decisive defeat on an invading Northumbrian army, ending the threat from the northern Vikings. In the next few years, he and his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians, conquered Viking-ruled southern England and by the end of the 910s only Northumbria remained under Viking rule.

In 924 Edward faced successfully quashed a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester, but died shortly after at Farndon in Cheshire on July 17th 924. He was succeeded by his eldest son Æthelstan.

Edward's eponym the Elder was first used in the 10th century in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold, to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr. His legacy is now generally regarded as successfully destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England, and laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On June 4th 1913, the suffragette Emily Davison was killed when she was struck by Geroge V's  horse at the Epsom Derby.

Since 1906 Emily had been a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), which had been formed in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst. The Union felt strongly that militant and confrontational tactics were needed in order to achieve women's suffrage (the right for women to vote). During here activism, Emily was arrested nine times, went on hunger strike seven times and was force fed forty-nine times.

On 4 June Davison obtained two flags bearing the suffragette colours of violet, white and green from the WSPU offices. She then travelled by train to Epsom, Surrey, to attend the Derby, where she positioned herself at Tattenham Corner, the final bend before the home straight.

At this point in the race, with some of the horses having passed her, she ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course; she may have held in her hands one of the suffragette flags. She reached up to the reins of Anmer—King George V's horse, ridden by Herbert Jones—and was hit by the animal, which would have been travelling at around 35 miles (56 km) per hour, Anmer fell in the collision and partly rolled over his jockey, Herbert Jones, who had his foot momentarily caught in the stirrup. The event was captured on three news cameras.

Those watching tried unsuccessfully to revive both Davison and Jones, they were carried off by ambulances to Epsom Cottage Hospital. Emily was operated on 2 days later but died on the 8th June from a fracture at the base of her skull. She received hate mail during here time there. 

Quiet why Emily Davison attended the derby at Epsom is unknown. Theories have been suggested, including that she intended to cross the track, believing that all horses had passed; that she wanted to pull down the King's horse; that she was trying to attach one of the WSPU flags to a horse; or that she intended to throw herself in front of one of the horses.

The contemporary news media were largely unsympathetic and many publications questioned her sanity and characterised her actions as suicidal. The WSPU were quick to describe her as a martyr, part of a campaign to identify her as such. On June 14th 1913 Davison's body was transported from Epsom to London; her coffin was inscribed "Fight on. God will give the victory." Five thousand women formed a procession, followed by hundreds of male supporters,

Davison's death marked a culmination and a turning point of the militant suffragette campaign. The First World War broke out the following year and so campaigning more or less came to a halt as attention turned to the war effort. However, support for the suffragettes grew and in 1918 The Representation of the People Act was passed. The Act allowed women over the age of 30 who could pass property qualifications, to vote.n 1928 the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act extended the vote to women over 21 to put them on equal terms with male voters.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British important events and people in British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On this day in 1944, the improved Colossus Mark 2 started working just in time for the Normandy Landings on D-Day.

The Colossus was the world's first electronic digital computer that was at all programmable. It was designed by Tommy Flowers at Bletchley Park, England to solve a problem posed by a mathematician, Max Newman. In December 1943 the prototype, Colossus Mark 1, was shown to work.  The computers were used by British code breakers, giving the Allies valuable intelligence obtained from reading many encrypted high-level telegraphic messages between the German High Command and their army commands.

By the end of the Second World War, there were ten Colossus computers in use.

​This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on British history. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see them first.

Æthelred II, more commonly known as the Unready, was king of England from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 to 1016. He didn’t gain the ‘Unready’ part of his name until some 150 years after his death, so it is no indication of how he was seen at the time. Furthermore, it does not derive from the modern word ‘unredy’, but in fact comes from the Old English word ‘unræd’, which means poorly advised. This is an attempt at humour, because ‘Æthelred’ means ‘well advised’.

Æthelred came to the throne on the 18th March 978 when his older stepbrother, Edward the Martyr was assassinated. There was speculation that the plot to kill Edward was led my Æthelred mother and though there is no evidence to support this allegation, following Æthelred ascension to the throne, no one was punished for a part in the crime. Thus, Æthelred’s reign began in an atmosphere of suspicion which badly affected the prestige of the crown.
 
England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by Æthelred's father, King Edgar the Peaceful. However, early in Æthelred reign Danish Vikings began raiding the English coast, with Hampshire, Thanet and Cheshire attacked in 980, Devon and Cornwall in 981, Dorset in 982 and Devon in 988. In August 991 things became more serious when a sizeable Danish fleet began a sustained campaign in the south-east of England. Things truly came to ahead when the Danes and English met at The Battle of Maldon, resulting in a crushing defeat upon the English. Following the battle Æthelred decided that the English should grant the tribute to the Danes that they desired, and so a gafol of £10,000 was paid them for their peace. This does not seem to have worked however and the Danes continued to raid and an inconclusive battle was fought near London. Another treaty was signed with a tribute of that £22,000 of gold and silver paid for peace. These payments would become known as Danegeld.
 
Yet, this treaty was little more than a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with the leader of the raiders, Olaf Tryggvason, who subsequently entered the employ of the English crown as a mercenary. In 997 the Danes returned under different leadership. The Danes harried England until 1000, when it left for Normandy. In their absence, Æthelred attempted to reinforce his military position. He also invaded the British kingdom of Strathclyde, the motive for which is unknown. The Danes returned in 1001, ravaged west Sussex. And were only subdued with a payment of £24,000 in the Spring of 1002.

On November 13th 1002, St Brice's Day, Æthelred ordered the massacre of all Danish men in England to take place. Among the dead were Gunhilde, sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark. Probably in response, Sweyn invaded England. The English put up a stiff resistance and although the Danes were able to harry much of England, they returned to Denmark in 1005. An expedition the following year was bought off in early 1007 by tribute money of £36,000, and for the next two years England was free from attack. Conflict returned in 1009 when a Danish army under Thorkell the Tall and his brother Hemming invaded and harried England until 1012, when it was bought off by a sum of by £48,000.

In 1013 Sweyn launched an invasion with the ultimate aim of gaining the English crown. Sweeping aside any opposition he conquered the country within the year and Æthelred and his family, including the future kings Edmund and Edward, were forced into exile in Normandy. Sweyn was however unable to enjoy his victory for long, dying on February 3rd 1014 and while the Danes threw in the support for Sweyn’s son, Cnut, the English sent a deputation to Normandy to negotiate Æthelred’s restoration to the throne.

Æthelred returned to England with an army and found support for him still existed in England. Cnut and his army decided to withdraw from England, in April 1014, but would return in 1016 to find a complex and volatile situation unfolding in England. Æthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, had revolted against his father and established himself in the Danelaw. Over the next few months Cnut conquered most of England, and on 23rd April 1016 Æthelred died, leaving Edmund as the sole opposition to the Danes.

These scenes was built by James Pegrum and Dan Harris as part of a series of models on the Kings and Queens of England and British history in general. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On this day in 1834, with the HMS Beagle moored in the Rio Santa Cruz, Charles Darwin set out on 'Expedition no. 5' to discover the source of the aforementioned river.  During her voyage the Beagle had suffered some minor damage to her keel and  copper sheets, which would repaired while a group of 25 went on the expedition.

The expedition did not reach its goal due to reducing rations, but it provided Darwin with considerable information that would help form the basis of his geological theories, in particular those on plate tectonics.

Once the HMS Beagle had been repaired she re-entered the tropical waters and the expedition continued towards the Magdalen Channel.

This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on world history. ​Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

On this day in 1746 the Battle of Culloden was fought between the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stewart, also known as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a Government force under the command of William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The battle resulted in total defeat for the Jacobites and the effective end of any efforts to place a Stuart on the British Throne.

Conflict had broken out in the summer of 1745 with the Jacobites achieving a number of unexpected successes. Having defeated a large government army at the Battle of Prestonpans in September, they effectively controlled the whole of Scotland and even penetrated England as far south as Derby before returning north. The withdrawal would lead them to their last stand on Culloden Moor, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
 
On the night before the battle the government army, which was camped around 12 miles from the Jacobites to the west, celebrated Cumberland's twenty-fifth birthday by issuing two gallons of brandy to each regiment. In an attempt to take the initiative, and repeat the victory at Prestonpans, the Jacobites forced a night march with the aim of catching the Hanovarian’s by surprise. The trek however prorated arduous and having already left late, took much longer than expected.  In the dark, the right and left wings of the army became separated and by the time the leading troops had reached Culraick, still 2 miles from their objective, there was only one hour left before dawn. It was concluded that there was not enough time to mount a surprise attack and that the offensive should be aborted; the army returned in disarray.

Not long after the exhausted Jacobite forces had made it back to Culloden, reports came through of the advancing government troops. At about 11am the two armies were within sight of one another with about 2 miles (3.2 km) of open moorland between them. As the government forces steadily advanced across the moor, the driving rain and sleet blew from the north-east into the faces of the Jacobites.

The ensuing battle was brief. Unleashing their superior artillery, the government army opened by shelling the Jacobite lines. Charles, who had taken personal command of the army, left his men to endure the barrage for around 30 minutes, waiting for his opponents to move. Several clan leaders, worried about the resulting casualties, its effect on moral and angry at the lack of action, pressured Charles to issue the order to charge. Members of Clan Chattan were the first of the Jacobites to receive this order, but an area of boggy ground in front of them forced them to veer right so that they obstructed the following regiments and the attack was pushed towards the wall of the Culwhiniac enclosure. The Jacobites advanced on the left flank of the government troops, but were subjected to volleys of musket fire and the artillery which had switched from roundshot to grapeshot.

Despite taking heavy casualties the Jacobite charge met the government line, with two regiments, Barrell's 4th Foot and Dejean's 37th Foot, taking the brunt of the attack. The government’s second line was bought forward to plug any gaps and formed a five battalion strong horseshoe-shaped formation which trapped the Jacobite right wing on three sides.
 
The Jacobite left wing, which consisted of Macdonald regiments, had around 200m more to cover over much boggier ground and so engaged the government troops slightly later. As they took casualties the began to give way and sensing the advantage, Cumberland ordered his dragoons to ride them down. They too were impeded by the boggy ground and ended up engaging the French supplied Irish Picquets, who had been brought forward in an attempt to stabilise the deteriorating Jacobite left flank.

The Jacobite left collapsed and turned into a total rout. The Royal Écossais and Kilmarnock's Footguards, who had attempted an orderly retreat along the Culwhiniac enclosure were ambushed and forced into the centre of the field, where they were run down by Kerr's 11th Dragoons, though they put up a fierce fight and were able to retire. The rout would have become a massacre if it were not for the rear-guard action of the Irish Picquets who covered the Highlanders' retreat. This stand by the Royal Écossais may have given Charles Edward Stewart the time to make his escape.
 
From this point on the fleeing Jacobite forces were split into two groups: the Lowland regiments retired in order southwards, making their way to Ruthven Barracks; the Highland regiments however were cut off by the government cavalry, and forced to retreat down the road to Inverness. The result was that they were a perfect target for the government dragoons.
 
It is estimated that of the approximate 7,000 mend deployed at the outset of the battle, Jacobite casualties were around 1,500–2,000 killed or wounded. By contrast, the government only lost between 240-400 of their 8,000, while another 1,000 were wounded.

The 1,500 or so men who assembled at Ruthven Barracks in Badenoch received orders from Charles Edward Stewart to the effect that all was lost and to "shift for himself as best he could". Similar orders must have been received by the Highland units at Fort Augustus. By April 18th the Jacobite army haddisbanded. Officers and men of the units in the French service made for Inverness, where they surrendered as prisoners of war on 19 April. The rest of the army broke up, with men heading for home or attempting to escape abroad.
 
The morning following the Battle of Culloden, Cumberland issued a written order reminding his men that "the public orders of the rebels yesterday was to give us no quarter". Contemporary accounts report then that for the next two days Culloden Moor was searched and all those found wounded there were put to death. Charles Edward returned to France and so ended any realistic attempt to place him, or any other Stuart, on the British throne.

Culloden Battlefield is now owned by National Trust Scotland who have an excellent visitor centre at the site. You can find out more here:

www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/culloden

The scenes in this blog were part of our model The Jacobite Risings: The Fight for Britain's Throne which explored the history of the Risings and in particular that of the 'Forty-five'. This model was on display at Stirling Castle over the winter of 2017 and 2018 where it proved hugely popular and received considerable media attention. While the full model no longer exists, parts of it do and are often on display, so follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out where and when.

On this day in 1760 the Battle of Carrickfergus was fought when French forces under the command of Privateer François Thurot attacked and overwhelmed the small garrison of the town and captured its castle. The battle formed part of the ongoing Seven Years War, which had broken out in 1756 and engulfed Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in what was arguably the world’s first true global conflict. In the end, the war bought an effective end to French supremacy in Europe and boosted Britain's rise towards its eventual position as the world's predominant power.

The events around Carrickfergus can be seen as part of France’s planned invasion of Great Britain, which started to take shape in 1759. Thurot’s objective was to provide diversionary support for the invasion and with orders to head for Ireland he set sail from Dunkirk with five ships and 600 soldiers.

Carrickfergus presented an easy target, though the small garrison offered a fierce defense. During the siege the defenders ran out of ammunition and ended up firing buttons at the attackers. When word of the capture reached Dublin, the Lord Lieutenant Duke of Bedford went with a small force of dragoons to Carrickfergus, however Thurot was able to hold his position for five days. During this time he was able to harass Belfast and demand supplies and a ransom from the city.

It was not until General Strode mobilized a large force of local militia and the appearance of a Royal Navy squadron off the coast that the French position became untenable and Thurot was forced to flee. The little French squadron was however pursued and was caught and destroyed at the Battle of Bishops Court in the Irish Channel, with Thurot among the dead. By this time the French had been forced to abandon their planned invasion and the endeavor played little part in the course of the war.

This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on interesting events in British history. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.

Kenneth MacAlpin, or rather Cináed mac Ailpin (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Ailpein), was a king of the Picts who, according to national myth, was the first king of Scots. He is therefore known in most modern regal lists as Kenneth I and is said to have reigned from some point in 843 until his death on 13th February 858. The House of Alpin, which is an entirely modern construct, held the position of King of the Picts and subsequently King of Scotland or King of Scots for nearly 200 years. Describing Kenneth’s life is difficult because so much is wrapped up in myth and revision, however all subsequent Scottish monarchs claimed descent from him and as such, the current British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II is descended from him through Malcolm III, Robert the Bruce and James VI and I.

Kenneth's origins are uncertain as are his ties, if any, to previous kings of the Picts or the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata. Medieval genealogies are unreliable sources, but it is possible that he descended from Dál Riata’s Cenél nGabráin royal line, or at the very least from some unknown minor sept of the kingdom. According to myth, Kenneth gained the Pictish throne for the Scots through military conquest, however this is disputed, as evidence of this narrative only comes to fore during the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim), who was king from 971 to 995, when the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba was compiled. In fact, there is no firm evidence that he was even a Gael and could plausibly have been Pictish, or at least partly Pictish; there are after all four Pictish kings after him.

Perhaps a more likely scenario to Kenneth’s ascendancy is that the kingships of Gaels and Picts underwent a process of gradual fusion, perhaps starting with Kenneth, and rounded off in the reign of Constantine II, when in 906 he met Bishop Cellach at the Hill of Belief near the royal city of Scone and cemented the rights and duties of Picts on an equal basis with those of Gaels (pariter cum Scottis) and hence the change in styling from King of the Picts to King of Alba.

This does not mean that Kenneth did not have to fight for the throne, it is just that he is unlikely to have done so as an ‘outsider’. In 839 a succession crisis rose in the Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu, which is often referred to synonymously with Pictland in general, when King Uen son of Óengus, his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta and other notable members of the dynasty were killed in battle against the Vikings. This situation resulted in at least four would-be kings warring for supreme power.

Kenneth's reign is dated from 843, but it was probably not until 848 that he defeated the last of his rivals for power. The Pictish Chronicle claims that he was king in Dál Riata for two years before becoming Pictish king in 843, but this is not generally accepted. Little detail is known of his reign, although a few sources offer some insight. In 849  he had the relics of Saint Columba, which may have included the Monymusk Reliquary, transferred from Iona to Dunkeld. Apparently he also invaded Anglo-Saxon lands six times, capturing Melrose and burning Dunbar.

His reign also saw an increased degree of Norse settlement in the outlying areas of modern Scotland. Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, and part of Ross were settled. Vikings are also described as laying waste to Pictland, reaching far into the interior. This Norse activity weakened the links of the Pictish Kingdom with Ireland and effectively shut down those with southern England and the  continent. Consequently Kenneth and his successors were to consolidate their position in their kingdom and the union between the Picts and the Gaels, already progressing for several centuries, began to strengthen. 

Kenneth died on 13th February 858 at the palace of Cinnbelachoir, which is thought to have been near Scone. He left at least two sons, Constantine and Áed, who were later kings, and at least two daughters. One daughter married Rhun, king of Strathclyde, their son and future king Eochaid being the result of this marriage. His other daughter, Máel Muire married two important Irish kings of the Uí Néill. Her first husband was Aed Finliath of the Cenél nEógain, her second husband was Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmáin.

​These scenes were built by Dan Harris as part of a series of models on the Kings and Queens of Scotland. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.