Today is the anniversary of the Mud March in 1907. It was a peaceful demonstration in London organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), in which more than three thousand women marched from Hyde Park Corner to the Strand in support of women’s suffrage. Women from all classes participated in the largest public demonstration supporting women’s suffrage seen up to that date. It acquired the name “Mud March” from the day’s weather; incessant heavy rain left the marchers drenched and mud-spattered.
The proponents of women’s suffrage were divided between those, known as suffragists, who favored constitutional methods and those who supported direct action, who became known as suffragettes; the NUWSS were constitutional suffragists. The split between the two factions was formalized in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, who formed the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). This organization held demonstrations, heckled politicians and, from 1905, saw several of its members imprisoned for their increasingly militant actions, which gained press attention and increased support from women.
To maintain that momentum and to create support for a new suffrage bill in the House of Commons, the NUWSS and other groups organized the Mud March to coincide with the opening of Parliament. The event attracted much public interest and broadly sympathetic press coverage, but when the bill was presented the following month, it was “talked out” without a vote.
At the head of the march (left to right), Lady Frances Balfour in the light coat, Millicent Garrett Fawcett and Lady Strachey
too bad the driver didn’t have something that could put out flames…
Today is the birthday, in 1818, of Emperor Norton. Joshua Abraham Norton was a resident of San Francisco, California, who in 1859 declared himself “Emperor of these United States” in a proclamation that he signed “Norton I., Emperor of the United States“. Commonly known as Emperor Norton, he took the secondary title “Protector of Mexico” in 1866.
Born in England and raised in South Africa, Norton left Cape Town in late 1845, sailing from Liverpool to Boston and eventually arriving in San Francisco in late 1849. After a brief period of prosperity, Norton made a business gambit in late 1852 that played out poorly, ultimately forcing him to declare bankruptcy in 1856.
on September 17, 1859, Norton hand-delivered the following letter declaring himself “Emperor of these United States” to the offices of the San Francisco Bulletin:
At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.
— NORTON I., Emperor of the United States.
Norton issued numerous decrees on matters of state, including a decree on October 12, 1859, to formally abolish the United States Congress. Norton issued a mandate in 1862 ordering both the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches to publicly ordain him as “Emperor,” hoping to resolve the many disputes that had resulted in the Civil War. Norton then turned his attention to other matters, both political and social. In a proclamation dated August 12, 1869, and published in the San Francisco Daily Herald, he declared the abolition of the Democratic and Republican parties, explaining that he was “desirous of allaying the dissensions of party strife now existing within our realm.”
When he wasn’t reading newspapers and writing proclamations, Norton spent most of his days as Emperor walking the streets, spending time in parks and libraries, and paying visits to newspaper offices and old friends in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. In the evenings, he often was seen at political gatherings or at theatrical or musical performances. He wore an elaborate blue uniform with gold-plated epaulettes, at some time given to him secondhand by officers of the United States Army post at the Presidio of San Francisco. He embellished that with a variety of accoutrements, including a beaver hat decorated with a peacock or ostrich feathers and a rosette, a walking stick, and an umbrella.
Norton did receive some tokens of recognition for his position. The 1870 U.S. census lists Joshua Norton as 50 years old and residing at 624 Commercial Street, with his occupation listed as “Emperor.” Norton issued his own money in the form of scrip, or promissory notes, which were accepted from him by some restaurants in San Francisco. Norton wrote many letters to Queen Victoria, including a suggestion that they marry to strengthen ties between their nations. That proved futile because the queen never responded.
By 1865 — and for the remainder of his life — Norton lived in a small room on the top floor of the Eureka Lodgings, a 3-story rooming house at 624 Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny Streets. On the evening of Thursday, January 8, 1880, Norton collapsed on the corner of California Street and Dupont Street. according to the next day’s obituary in the San Francisco Morning Call. Norton died before a carriage could arrive. The Call reported: “On the reeking pavement, in the darkness of a moonless night, under the dripping rain … Norton I, by the grace of God, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, departed this life.” Two days later, the San Francisco Chronicle led its article on Norton’s funeral with the headline “Le Roi Est Mort.”
Emperor Norton in full dress uniform and military regalia
Kids…
Housework…
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of Margie and Mary Ann Ganser, vocalists for The Shangri-Las, who had a 1964 US No.1 & UK No.11 single with ‘Leader Of The Pack’. Mary Ann died in New York on March 15, 1970, aged 22, of a drug overdose. Margie died of breast cancer on July 28th 1996 age 48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8UKf65NOzM
On this day in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. the amendment allows Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among states on the basis of population. The amendment is sometimes wrongly interpreted as the basis for imposition of an income tax, but Congress had always had that power. the Constitution required, however, that direct taxes be apportioned among the states on the basis of population.
Prior to the early 20th century, most federal revenue came from tariffs rather than taxes, although Congress had often imposed excise taxes on various goods. From well before 1894, Democrats, Progressives, Populists and other left-oriented parties argued that tariffs disproportionately affected the poor, interfered with prices, were unpredictable, and were an intrinsically limited source of revenue. The South and the West tended to support income taxes because their residents were generally less prosperous, more agricultural and more sensitive to fluctuations in commodity prices. A sharp rise in the cost of living between 1897 and 1913 greatly increased support for the idea of income taxes, including in the urban Northeast.
On June 16, 1909, President William Howard Taft, in an address to the Sixty-first Congress, proposed a two percent federal income tax on corporations and a constitutional amendment to allow income tax. On July 12, 1909, the resolution proposing the Sixteenth Amendment was passed by the Congress and was submitted to the state legislatures. Support for the income tax was strongest in the western and southern states, while opposition was strongest in the northeastern states.
A growing number of Republicans also began supporting the idea, notably Theodore Roosevelt and the “Insurgent” Republicans (who would go on to form the Progressive Party). These Republicans were driven mainly by a fear of the increasingly large and sophisticated military forces of Japan, Britain and the European powers, their own imperial ambitions, and the perceived need to defend American merchant ships. Moreover, these progressive Republicans were convinced that central governments could play a positive role in national economies. A bigger government and a bigger military, they argued, required a correspondingly larger and steadier source of revenue to support it.
Ratification (by the requisite 36 states) was completed on February 3, 1913, with the ratification by Delaware. The Revenue Act of 1913, which greatly lowered tariffs and implemented a federal income tax, was enacted shortly after the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified.
President William Howard Taft
BADA BADA BADA BING!!
H1 – What’s an orgasm? H2 – When you fold paper to look like birds and stuff. H3 – Gurl, that’s oregano.
Who knew that in America’s ugly divorce, the liberals would get custody of the NFL, the true teachings of Jesus, and the second amendment.
I should do something with my life… maybe tomorrow.
In a recent interview, tRUMP paused, tapped his head, and struggled to recall the word Alzheimer’s.
How many chefs do you think were executed in medieval times because the King’s food tester had a food allergy?
Let’s do a drone light show over an uncontacted tribe and become their gods.
Sign on door to classroom: The spider infestation has been mostly resolved.
I feel like I’ve experienced more historical events since 2025 than we were actually required to learn about in school.
MAGAts are caught in a loop. Climate change is a hoax but we need Greenland because of climate change which a hoax.
Wind chimes are made from the metallic bones of robots that tried to overthrow us. Hang them outside as a warning to others.
How prior authorizations work… My doctor: You need this medicine. Dr. to pharmacy: She needs this medicine. Pharmacy to insurance: Her doctor says she needs this medicine. Insurance: Does she really? Let’s ask her doctor.
The five-second rule does not apply if you have a two-second dog.
The internet used to come through the phone and it sounded like screaming robots. Sure grandpa, let’s get you to bed.
Cause and Effect???
Ouch
Schrödinger’s Dumpster …
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of American singer-songwriter Melanie Safka. She scored the 1971 US No.1 & 1972 UK No.4 single ‘Brand New Key’, and had hits with her 1970 version of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’, her composition ‘What Have They Done to My Song Ma’ and her 1970 international breakthrough hit ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’, which was inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. In 2007, Melanie was invited by Jarvis Cocker to perform at the Meltdown Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. She died on 23 January 2024, at the age of 76. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCTMTflcuug
Today is the birthday, in 1650, of Nell Gwyn, an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a longtime mistress of King Charles II of England. Called “pretty, witty Nell” by Pepys, she has been regarded as a living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England, and has come to be considered a folk heroine, with a story echoing the rags-to-royalty tale of Cinderella.
She was thought to be born in London, since Gwyn’s mother was born there and that is where she raised her children. Old Madam Gwyn was by most accounts an alcoholic whose business was running a bawdy house (or brothel). There, or in the bawdy house of one Madam Ross, Nell spent at least some time. She experimented with cross-dressing between 1663 and 1667, going under the name “William Nell” and adopting a false beard; her observations informed a most successful and hilarious character interpretation acting as a man on the stage in March 1667.
When theaters were once again legalized, Mary Meggs, a former prostitute nicknamed “Orange Moll” and a friend of Madam Gwyn’s, had been granted the licence to “vend, utter and sell oranges, lemons, fruit, sweetmeats and all manner of fruiterers and confectioners wares” within the theater. Orange Moll hired Nell and her elder sister Rose as scantily-clad “orange-girls”, selling small, sweet “china” oranges to the audience inside the theater for a sixpence each. The new theaters were the first in England to feature actresses; earlier, women’s parts had been played by boys or men. Gwyn joined the rank of actresses at Bridges Street when she was 14, less than a year after becoming an orange-girl.
Whatever her first role as an actress may have been, it is evident that she had become a more prominent actress by 1665. It is around this time when she is first mentioned in Samuel Pepys’ diary, specifically on 3 April 1665, while attending a play, where the description “pretty, witty Nell” is first recorded. The Maiden Queen featured breeches roles, where an actress appeared in men’s clothes under one pretense or another, and as Bax supposes “was one of the first occasions upon which a woman appeared in the disguise of a man”; if nothing else this could draw an audience eager to see women show off their figures in the more form-fitting male attire. The attraction had another dynamic: the theaters sometimes had a hard time holding onto their actresses, as they were swept up to become kept mistresses of the aristocracy. In 1667, Gwyn made such a match with Charles Sackville, titled Lord Buckhurst at that time.
Late in 1667, George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, took on the role of unofficial manager for Gwyn’s love affairs. He aimed to provide King Charles with someone who would supplant Barbara Palmer. The plan failed; reportedly, Gwyn asked £500 a year to be kept and this was rejected as too expensive. Buckingham had an alternative plan, which was to set the King up with Moll Davis, an actress with the rival Duke’s Company. Davis was Gwyn’s first rival for the King. Gwyn slipped a powerful laxative into Davis’ tea-time cakes before an evening when she was expected in the King’s bed.
Having previously been the mistress of Charles Hart and Charles Sackville, Gwyn jokingly called the King “her Charles the Third”. Several months later, Louise de Kérouaille (Duchess of Portsmouth) came to England from France, ostensibly to serve as a maid of honor to Queen Catherine, but also to become another mistress to King Charles, probably by design on both the French and English sides. She and Gwyn were rivals for many years to come. They were opposites in personality and mannerism; Louise a proud woman of noble birth used to the sophistication of Versailles, Gwyn a spirited and pranking ex-orange-wench. Gwyn nicknamed Louise “Squintabella” for her looks and the “Weeping Willow” for her tendency to sob.
She had two children by the king and the king granted her houses and money. Gwyn died in November of 1687. Though Gwyn was often caricatured as an empty-headed woman, John Dryden said that her greatest attribute was her native wit, and she certainly became a hostess who was able to keep the friendship of Dryden, the playwright Aphra Behn, William Ley, 4th Earl of Marlborough (a lover of hers), John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and the King’s other mistresses.
She was one day passing through the streets of Oxford, in her coach, when the mob mistaking her for her rival, the Duchess of Portsmouth, commenced hooting and loading her with every opprobrious epithet. Putting her head out of the coach window, “Good people”, she said, smiling, “you are mistaken; I am the Protestant whore.
Portrait of Nell Gwyn as Venus with her son, Charles, as Cupid, by Peter Lely. Charles II had this hung behind a landscape, which he swung back to allow favored guests to peer at.
On this day in1889, Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling. Rudolf was was the only son and third child of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. He was heir apparent to the imperial throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from birth. In 1889, he died in a suicide pact with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera at the Mayerling hunting lodge. The ensuing scandal made international headlines.
Rudolf was raised together with his older sister Gisela and the two were very close. At the age of six, Rudolf was separated from his sister as he began his education to become a future Emperor of Austria. This did not change their relationship and Gisela remained close to him until she left Vienna upon her marriage to Prince Leopold of Bavaria. Rudolf’s initial education under Leopold Gondrecourt was physically and emotionally abusive, and likely a contributing factor in his later suicide.
In Vienna, on 10 May 1881, Rudolf married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, a daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium, at the Augustinian Church in Vienna. Although their marriage was initially a happy one, by the time their only child, the Archduchess Elisabeth (“Erzsi”), was born on 2 September 1883, the couple had drifted apart.
In 1886, Rudolf became seriously ill and the couple was directed to the island of Lacroma (off present day Croatia) for his treatment. In transit, Stéphanie also became seriously ill and described “suffering terrible pain”. Stéphanie’s symptoms and outcome indicate Rudolf had most likely infected her with gonorrhoea. Rudolf himself did not improve with treatment and grew increasingly ill. It is likely he had contracted syphilis in addition to gonorrhoea. In order to cope with the effects of the disease, Rudolf began taking large doses of morphine.
In 1886, Rudolf bought Mayerling, a hunting lodge. In late 1888, the 30-year-old Crown Prince met the 17-year-old Baroness Marie von Vetsera, and began an affair with her. On 30 January 1889, he and the young baroness were discovered dead in the lodge as a result of an apparent joint suicide. As suicide would prevent him from being given a church burial, Rudolf was officially declared to have been in a state of “mental unbalance”, and he was buried in the Imperial Crypt of the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Vetsera’s body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and secretly buried in the village cemetery at Heiligenkreuz.
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