I've just finished a very interesting book called Trafalgar - the biography of the battle - Roy Adkins http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trafalgar-B...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197160758&sr=1-3
One thing that was of great interest to me was that one of the very few ladies on the HMS Victory was a woman called Nancy Perriam. (she was the wife of a sailor on board which usually wasn't allowed except for the odd occasion of officers unless it was a skilled sailor such as the ship wright) She worked on board as a 'powder monkey' which was someone who used to run backwards and forward getting the powder and shot for the gunners during a battle from the ships magazine, and other menial duties when not in battle. Most of the powder monkeys were young boys. Anyway this lady was from Exmouth in Devon which is where I'm from originally,
. She survived the battle lived to be 93 years old which was pretty impressive now, let alone in the 1800's She lived as a minor celebrity after her return from the battle and lived out her days selling fish from a wooden hand cart that she pushed through the streets of Exmouth.
Exmouth was a small village /town then (it's not that big now) and she was probably the only one from Exmouth at the battle, let alone serving on the same ship as Nelson. She also served at the battles of the Nile, L'orient, and Cape St Vincent. She was only one of four women awarded a pension by the Navy at £10 a year.
There's a pub in Exmouth called 'The Powder Monkey' which now makes sense as I didn't know the origin of the name until I read it in the book.
It's a fantastic book if you're interested in history and full of letters from lower rank seamen to officers. The reviews on the links tells you all about it, and I won't go on too much about it as it's not the main point of the thread.
There's a few interesting phrase origins in it. 'A good square meal' comes from the fact that the sailors used to eat their meals from square wooden plates as they were easier to store on a ship that was constantly being thrown about by the sea.
Another is 'Grog' as in cheap or watery nasty booze or 'feeling groggy' comes from an Admiral who used to order the watering down of the rum ration. The sailors of course didn't appreciate this and started to call the Admiral 'Old Grog' (probably not to his face I'd imagine) because of the woolen Grogram coats he wore. After some time the word 'grog' was used to refer to the drink itself and if you got ratted on the watered down drink you were 'groggy'.
Another not from the book is 'One for the road' - During the middle ages and mediaeval period, the condemned were taken from London city gaols to Tyburn Hill for execution. En route, along what is today’s Oxford Street, the cart stopped and they were allowed one final drink at a country inn situated on the road. The ‘one’ they were drinking was for the road to death.
There are a few more which I can't recall now but has anyone got any other interesting origins of commonly used phrases or sayings from history?
One thing that was of great interest to me was that one of the very few ladies on the HMS Victory was a woman called Nancy Perriam. (she was the wife of a sailor on board which usually wasn't allowed except for the odd occasion of officers unless it was a skilled sailor such as the ship wright) She worked on board as a 'powder monkey' which was someone who used to run backwards and forward getting the powder and shot for the gunners during a battle from the ships magazine, and other menial duties when not in battle. Most of the powder monkeys were young boys. Anyway this lady was from Exmouth in Devon which is where I'm from originally,
. She survived the battle lived to be 93 years old which was pretty impressive now, let alone in the 1800's She lived as a minor celebrity after her return from the battle and lived out her days selling fish from a wooden hand cart that she pushed through the streets of Exmouth. Exmouth was a small village /town then (it's not that big now) and she was probably the only one from Exmouth at the battle, let alone serving on the same ship as Nelson. She also served at the battles of the Nile, L'orient, and Cape St Vincent. She was only one of four women awarded a pension by the Navy at £10 a year.
There's a pub in Exmouth called 'The Powder Monkey' which now makes sense as I didn't know the origin of the name until I read it in the book.
It's a fantastic book if you're interested in history and full of letters from lower rank seamen to officers. The reviews on the links tells you all about it, and I won't go on too much about it as it's not the main point of the thread.
There's a few interesting phrase origins in it. 'A good square meal' comes from the fact that the sailors used to eat their meals from square wooden plates as they were easier to store on a ship that was constantly being thrown about by the sea.
Another is 'Grog' as in cheap or watery nasty booze or 'feeling groggy' comes from an Admiral who used to order the watering down of the rum ration. The sailors of course didn't appreciate this and started to call the Admiral 'Old Grog' (probably not to his face I'd imagine) because of the woolen Grogram coats he wore. After some time the word 'grog' was used to refer to the drink itself and if you got ratted on the watered down drink you were 'groggy'.
Another not from the book is 'One for the road' - During the middle ages and mediaeval period, the condemned were taken from London city gaols to Tyburn Hill for execution. En route, along what is today’s Oxford Street, the cart stopped and they were allowed one final drink at a country inn situated on the road. The ‘one’ they were drinking was for the road to death.
There are a few more which I can't recall now but has anyone got any other interesting origins of commonly used phrases or sayings from history?
