Nonsuch HP is 12!

 

Today is Nonsuch HP's 12th birthday. To celebrate this, the blog has been tidied up a bit and the the internet safety policy updated to reflect the substantial changes in the internet and social media that have taken place recently.

This also seemed a good opportunity to look back over the hundreds of articles that have been published over the years. Many still remain relevant and of interest, and can be found easily using the "tags" which you can find on the right hand side. Over time we will re-tag or highlight those articles that are particularly worth reading. Here are some tags that we recommend:

• Black History
• Cold War
• Middle East
• Tudors

We also recommend our "pages" on special subjects which you can see on the right hand side, in particular:

• Nonsuch Palace
• Historical Fiction (although this needs some serious updating)

Please let us know if there are any topics you think the blog should be covering in the next 12 years!

Nonsuch HP Internet Safety Policy

Updated: May 2021

Nonsuch HP is obviously very concerned about that its readers and contributors keep safe when using the internet and social media and recommends sites such as: 

Think U Know

Internet Matters

UK Safer Internet Centre

Net Aware from the NSPCC

These include the latest advice and guides on how to use social media safely and keep settings up to date.

We have therefore set up a Safeguarding Policy to protect our readers which is published below. Please take time to read it.

The Nonsuch HP Blog: Safeguarding Policy
nonsuchhp.blogspot.com

Since it was created in May 2009, the Nonsuch HP Blog has been very successful at creating interest in historical and political topics and sharing useful information and resources. Clearly as the blog is a public website accessible by all it is important to ensure the safety of everyone using it to prevent personal details being passed on to a third party. These are the steps we have put in concerning safeguarding:

1. We do not publish pictures or specific details of contributors or their names on the blog. If a contributor’s work is highlighted on the blog (such as a powerpoint or a poster) it will not contain personal information about its author.

2. We do not post articles focusing on individual contributors and their activities.

3. Anyone who makes a comment is published anonymously and must not include personal information about themselves.

4. All comments are read and can be deleted by the blog’s editors.

5. Comments should not reveal extra personal information about their authors.

6. Contributors are strongly encouraged not to reveal information about themselves to anyone who makes contact with them via the internet.

Clearly the internet is a continually-changing environment and we will continue to monitor and adapt the blog if further changes are required in the future.

Twitter:

www.twitter.com/nonsuchhp


Nonsuch HP has an occasional presence on Twitter. The steps mentioned above will also be applied to any posts or comments made where relevant. Furthermore…

1. We will accept followers to our Twitter feed, but will not follow personal accounts of students.

2. We will not use the Twitter feed to express personal or private opinions, but to raise awareness of historical or political issues.

3. We encourage users of Twitter and all other forms of social media to act responsibly and to refrain from making any comments that are derogatory towards other users

 

This Week in the Middle East - The Sykes-Picot Agreement

 

This Week’s Historical Theme: The Middle East 

 

19 May 1916 

 

A significant event throughout the history of the Middle East is the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The First World War was a turning point in the Arab struggle for independence against their Turkish rulers under the Ottoman empire. Turkey fought on the German side against Britian and its allies. As the British navy were beginning to make more use out of oil, they were afraid that their supplies of oil from Persia might be cut off by the Turks and also wished to protect the Suez Canal. As a result, they decided to encourage the Arabs to rebel against their Turkish rulers and seek independence. The British high commissioner in Egypt, Sir Herbert McMahon, exchanged several letters with Hussein, the sharif of Mecca, promising that if the Arabs fought against the Turks, the British would support Arab independence. As a result, in 1916 an Arab army was raised and led by Emir (Prince) Faisal, the son of Hussein. In 1917, British troops entered Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, driving out the Turks. 

 

Having fought for their independence from the Turks, the Arabs were determined to be completely self-governed. British and French colonial interests got in the way of this as they wished to maintain their power and influence in the Middle East. They had made a secret agreement in 1916 to carve up Turkey’s Arab lands after the war and share them out between themselves. This is known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. After the conclusion of WWI, The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 gave Britain mandates to govern Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq, and France mandates to govern Syria and Lebanon. These regions were divided by the Sykes-Picot borders which divided the Middle East into spheres of influence with little regard for the problems this would subsequently cause. 

 

Want to find out more about the Sykes-Picot Agreement? Click here for more information, or here for more about Mandatory Palestine. 

 

 

This Week in Crime - The Queen of Poison

This Week's Historical Theme: Crime

11 May 1949

A significant event throughout the history of crime that occurred in May is the evidence found against French serial killer, Marie Besnard. On this day, the body of Leon Besnard was exhumed by the French authorities searching for evidence of poison. Marie had married Leon Besnard in 1928 and the couple resented that they lived modest lives compared to their rich relatives. When Leon's great aunts passed away, all their money was left to Leon's parents. The couple hatched a plan, inviting Leon's parents to live with them and shortly after, Leon's father died from eating a bad mushroom, followed by his mother's death 3 months later. The inheritance was split between Leon and his sister, Lucie, who shortly died after having supposedly taken her own life.

The Besnards then began looking outside their immediate family, targeting their cousins as well as boarders they had taken in. For years, the locals were suspicious of the couple as nearly their whole family mysteriously died around them. After Marie fell in love with another man in 1947, Leon was found dead. Early in 1949, law enforcement began to investigate Marie after the death of her mother and on 11 May Leon's body was exhumed by the authorities searching for evidence of poison. Traces of arsenic were found in his body. Arsenic was also found in the rest of her family's corpses but she managed to escape prison as trace evidence was lost. On December 12 1961, she was acquitted and "The Queen of Poison", as the French call her, got away with 13 murders.

Want to find out more information about the history of murder by poison? Click here for more information, or here to find out about 17th century professional poisoner, Giulia Tofana.

This Week in the United Kingdom - Election of Margaret Thatcher

This Week's Historical Theme: The United Kingdom

 

3 May 1979

A significant event throughout the history of the United Kingdom that occurred in May was the election of Margaret Thatcher. Her rise to power started in 1959 when she was elected to Parliament as Conservative MP for Finchley. During the 60s she rose rapidly through the party ranks and in 1970, under Conservative PM Edward Heath, she became Secretary of State for Education and Science. After the Labour Party returned to power in 1974, she replaced Edward Heath as leader of the Conservative Party. The May 3 1979 general election gave Thatcher a majority in Parliament and she became Britain's first female Prime Minister.

She served as Prime Minster from 1979 to 1990, with her 11-year tenure characterised by the privatisation of national industries; cutbacks to government expenditure; and reducing the rights of trade unions. A landmark of her career was the decisive British victory in the 1982 Falkland War with Argentina. This contributed to her image as the "Iron Lady" as she cultivated a reputation for her hard-line politics. Coming to the end of her tenure in 1990, she failed to receive a majority in the Conservative Party's annual vote to select a leader. She subsequently resigned and was made a baroness in 1993. Her three consecutive terms in office marked the longest continuous tenure of a British PM since 1870.

Want to find out more about Margaret Thatcher's political career? Click here for more information, or here for more about the Falkland War.