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19th-century view of the Scottish charge

The Battle of Halidon Hill took place on 19 July 1333 when a Scottish army under Sir Archibald Douglas attacked an English army commanded by King Edward III (reigned 1327 to 1377) and was heavily defeated. In early 1333 Edward invaded Scotland and laid siege to the strategically important border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. A large Scottish army advanced to relieve the town. Knowing Berwick was on the verge of surrender and aware they were much stronger than the English, the Scots attacked (depicted). The English had taken up a favourable defensive position and their longbowmen caused heavy Scottish casualties during their approach. When the Scots came into contact with the English infantry the fight was short. The Scottish formations collapsed and the Scots fled. The English men-at-arms mounted their horses and pursued the Scots for 8 miles (13 km) causing further heavy casualties. The Scottish commander and many of the Scots' senior nobility were killed. Berwick surrendered on terms the next day. (Full article...)

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On this day

July 19

Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll

1545 – The English warship Mary Rose (pictured) sank just outside Portsmouth during the Battle of the Solent.
1848 – The two-day Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's-rights and feminist convention held in the United States, opened in Seneca Falls, New York.
1957 – The largely autobiographical novel The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh was published.
1992 – A car bomb killed the anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino and five policemen in Palermo, Italy, less than two months after the murder of Borsellino's friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone.
1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced that it would resume its ceasefire, ending its 28-year campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.

Philippa of Lancaster (d. 1415)
William McSherry (b. 1799)
Khawaja Nazimuddin (b. 1894)

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Today's featured picture

The Hunting of the Snark is a nonsense poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll, telling the story of ten characters who cross the ocean to hunt a mysterious creature known as the Snark. The poem was published in 1876 with illustrations by Henry Holiday. This is the seventh plate from his illustrations, accompanying "Fit the Fifth: The Beaver's Lesson", in which the Butcher and the Beaver hear the song of the Jubjub bird, and this causes the Butcher to be reminded of his childhood, and begin a lengthy lesson to the Beaver:

The Beaver brought paper, portfolio, pens,
And ink in unfailing supplies:
While strange creepy creatures came out of their dens,
And watched them with wondering eyes.

So engrossed was the Butcher, he heeded them not,
As he wrote with a pen in each hand,
And explained all the while in a popular style
Which the Beaver could well understand.

Illustration credit: Henry Holiday; restored by Adam Cuerden

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