Today I noted that 19th January would have been the 172nd birthday of the great French post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne. I have always been a lover of his pictures and for a while had a couple of prints hanging on the wall. Surely, he was the greatest of still life painters. Why did I note his birthday? I didn't really; it was information offered by Google.
Another great man who would have had a birthday today was Henry Bessemer, born in 1813 and destined via his converter to record his name in the catalogue of great Victorian engineers and to establish an effective and efficient way of making steel. His converters were in use for well over 100 years and greatly aided the Industrial Revolution. The process that he developed into an industrial technique works by blowing air through molten pig iron to remove impurities. Elements such as silicon and manganese are removed as oxidised solids in a slag, while carbon is removed as carbon dioxide gas. It is removal of the carbon particularly that gives steel its ductile properties and increases strength and durability compared with the brittle cast irons. In my youth I used to be able to watch the bright flashes of burning gases emitted from the Bessemer converters at the British Steel plants in Irlaam. I watched from Atherton across the flat expanses of Chat Moss from 10 miles away. But, of course, all that is gone now and all that can be seen are lines of street lights on major roads.
I can also record that on January 19th 1547, Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey met his end. He was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Henry was quite a colourful character and, in spite of his Roman Catholicism, he was a generally loyal supporter of the Tudor monarchy of Henry VIII. The trouble was that being loyal to a Tudor king who behaved as Henry VIII did, was a complicated business when the king married and married again so many times with this, that or the other family in or out of favour. When Jane Seymour was queen, the Seymour family was in the ascendancy and they plotted outrageously against the Catholic Howards. The Earl of Surrey was imprisoned for a time but soon released. Later he was imprisoned again for his part in "a drunken riot" in the City of London, which resulted in "severe damage to property" - ie broken windows. He served Henry well in France and was considered an effective soldier. However, as Henry VIII's health was failing in 1546, the earl suggested that his father the Duke of Norfolk should act as Protector for the young [11 years old] and sickly Edward VI. This did not go down well at all with the Seymours - Edward VI was the son of Jane Seymour - and when they established their right to control and protect the king, they accused the Howards of treason. No real evidence was produced but the Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned and the 29 year old earl was taken to Tower Hill and executed. The Duke of Norfolk was released from prison when Edward VI died and he was succeeded as 4th Duke in 1553 by the eldest son of the Earl of Surrey. The plotting which was an essential feature of the Tudors continued apace during the reign of Queen Mary and within a couple of years, several members of the now out of favour Seymours had also been decapitated on Tower Hill. I am sure it all added to the efficient management of the government of England.
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