America/United States
The 11 June 1880 Tragedy: Stonington and Narragansett
Disasters, no matter how slight, are of public interest, and the 11 June 1880 tragedy between two American passenger steamers was no exception. The accident happened between 11:30pm and midnight in dense fog. At the time, the SS Stonington was west bound heading to New York as its sister ship the SS Narragansett was sailing…
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Jean-Victor Moreau and His Exile in America
Jean-Victor Moreau was exiled to America after Napoleon Bonaparte banished him to the United States. Moreau, who was a friend to Madame Récamier and Madame de Staël, had served as a general under Napoleon and had helped him gain power. However, Moreau’s alleged involvement in a plot against Napoleon (the “Pichegru Conspiracy” or “Cadoudal Affair”)…
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The Spa Town of Aix-les-Bains in the 1700s and 1800s
The spa town of Aix-les-Bains is situated about ten miles from Chambery, about three quarters of a mile from the lake of Bourget, and between two spectacular mountains: Revard and the Mont du Chat. Even though the medicinal waters became popular in Roman times, beginning in the 17th century people became more fully aware of…
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Voltaire’s Coffee Obsession in the 18th Century
Many Frenchmen were addicted to coffee, but Voltaire’s coffee obsession was one of the most enthusiastic of the eighteenth century. Perhaps his extraordinary desire for coffee occurred because of what some people claimed were its extraordinary benefits. Many people reported that he drank an inordinate amount of coffee each day, yet despite his obvious overindulgence…
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Buffalo Bill’s 1889 visit to France
William Frederick Cody, better known as “Buffalo Bill,” was an American scout, bison hunter, frontiersman, and showman who took his show on tour in Europe during the late 1800s. He had supplied Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat and was purported to have killed 4,282 buffalo in eighteen months between 1867 and 1868, which…
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The History of Goody Two-Shoes
The History of Goody Two-Shoes (with or without a hyphen) was a children’s story written anonymously in 1765, published by John Newbery, and a variation of the story of Cinderella. Goody Two-Shoes was the nickname of a poor orphan named Margery Meanwell who goes through life with one shoe until a rich gentleman gives her…
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The Cold or Catarrh in the Late 1800s
Many doctors of the late 1800s wrote about and investigated the cold, or at it was often called, catarrh. Nineteenth-century doctors also had advice about the best ways to avoid or prevent a cold. Of course, that was not always possible and so when a cold happened, doctors and even quacks wanted to cure it…
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Nice’s Promenade des Anglais or the Avenue of the English in the 1800s
First called the Camin deis Anglés (the English Way) by the Niçois, it was rechristened Promenade des Anglais or the Avenue of the English in 1860. Its origins began in the eighteenth century when rich English aristocrats began to winter in Nice for their health. Water cures were popular at the time and people thought…
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Tea Glossary and Tea Terms of the 18th and 19th Centuries
Samuel Pepys was the first person in Britain who documented drinking a cup tea, which he noted in his diary on 25 September 1660. At the time, it was an exotic drink and was in fact so exotic sometimes people didn’t really understand how to prepare it. A case in point is shown in the…
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Napoleon Bonaparte’s Youngest Brother Jerome Bonaparte
Jerome Bonaparte was Napoleon‘s youngest sibling. He was born on the island of Corsica on 15 November 1784 and was barely three months old when his father died. Napoleon soon became responsible for his education, something that Jerome was unwilling to apply himself to as everything other than his studies was of more interest to…
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