Slave Fugitive: Mary Price

Mary Price was not an American Slave.  She was part of the British Empire, her family living in Bermuda.  She was the play mate of her master's daughter.  She was too young to understand her condition as a slave, but the master's daughter would call her "my little nigger."  At twelve, the family was short of money, and Mary  and two of her sisters were to be sole.  Her mother said, "See, I am shrouding my poor children." Mary and her sisters were sold like cattle.
She now belonged to Captain and Mrs. I.  She received 100 lashes for breaking a jar.  She befriended another slave, who milked the cow.  The cow got loss and the friend was beaten to death.  Then it fell to Mary to milk the cow.  This lead to several more beatings.  She was hipped and badly injured, so she ran away home to her mother.  Her father took her back a few days later, asking that they not beat her.  This only changed their behavior for a few days.
She was sold after five years to Mr. D. who took her to Turks Islands, where she worked in salt ponds.  This was terrible labor.  The salt caused great boils.  If they did not work fast enough, he would hang them by the wrists for a beating.  This finished with salt water being splashed on the wounds which caused greater pain.  "Oh--the horrors of slavery" she said of this time.  Mr. D's son served as overseer, and was crueler than her father. 
Mr. D returned to Bermuda with Mr. D.  She was able to see her mother (her father had passed away).  However Mr. D. now began using her for sex, raping her as he wanted.
She eventually convinced Mr. D. to sell her.  She was moved to Antigua, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wood.  She was over worked.  She suffered from arthritis due to past miss treatment, but was still expected to do her work.  She developed a skin infection, and couldn't walk.  She was kicked out of the home to the shed, to live or die.  A neighbor heard her moans and procured medical attention for her.
She married a free man, and her owners were disappointed they had not been asked for permission.  Her husband lived in the shed.  She asked about purchasing her freedom, and was laughed at. 
Her owners too her to England, perhaps to end her marriage.  She was still invalid but required to work.  Three times the family mocked her, if you don't like it, leave.  On the fourth invitation, she shocked them by leaving. 
She found help from religious groups as well as from anti-slavery groups.  The idea of emancipation was being debated in England at the time.  Mary was helped to publish her history, and this history was  read by many in Parliament.  In 1833 a law abolishing slavery the next year was passed.  Mary had a part in this.

Civil War: Trent Affair

As early as 1861 it must have been clear to many of the leaders of the Confederacy that victory would be difficult, unless someone in Europe intervened on their behalf.  The Union had started effecting the blockade of the South, establishing a base of operations at Point Royal which the Confederacy was helpless to oppose without a much greater presence in the sea.
The best chance for Great Britain was the Trent Affair.  The Confederacy was sending diplomats to Europe to seek recognition.  However the U.S. Navy intervened.  The USS San Jacinto under command of Captain Charles Wilkes, stopped the British mail packet RMS Trent and removed the diplomats by force, James Mason and John Slidell. 
The initial reactions of the citizenry of Great Britain was very different.  In the U.S. Captain Wilkes was seen as a hero, while in Britain the stopping of a British ship was seen as an act of war, which could have lead to open hostilities.  Those in the know found hope in the prospects of a British/American war.
The time it took to communicate in those days allowed for both sides to rethink their initial reactions.  The British demanded an apology and the release of the diplomats.  The U.S. rethought their position, knowing that a war on two fronts would have been disastrous.  The U.S. did not issue a formal apology, but explained the move as the removal of contraband which was within the laws of the sea.  The U.S. explained that Captain Wilkes acted without orders, and released the men.  They continued their journey to England, but could never win recognition of the Confederacy which had been their goal.

Movie Review: A Story of Strength

This is a 1987 LDS Church movie to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Church in England.  Heber C. Kimball and a group of missionaries were the first missionaries in England in 1837.  They achieved significant success in the Preston area.  This movie tells the story of Wilford Woordruff who was inspired to go south.  There he is introduced to the Brethren, who had been a group in Herefordshire of about 600 people.  They mostly all joined the church as a group.  The local vicar sent a magistrate arrest to Woodruff for preaching.  The magistrate was baptized.  Next a couple Elders from the church were sent to see what was going on.  They were both baptized as well.  The movie concludes this period by pointing out a couple interesting facts.  There was a time when there were more members in England than the United States.  England contributed almost 100,000 to Utah.  The movie follows a group of pioneers, beginning with the critique of Charles Dickens of a group of Mormons on ship in London.
The presentation does not end here.  During the World Wars, the Church in England was on its own.  After WWII converts were instructed to remain in England, and build the church in their home country.  This included the establishment of a temple in England, and continued Church growth.        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPF7R3ejBa0

Book Review: Boy: Tales of Childhood, Roald Dahl

This is an autobiographical history by Roald Dahl.  It was published in 1984.  He tells of his early life, particularly the British school system.  The most remarkable thing about this book is the use of corporal punishment used by the head masters, and then later the prefects.  Dahl was raised mostly by his mother.  His father and older sister both passed away when he was young.  While attending Llandiff Cathedral School in Carduff in 1924, he would have been eight, he and his buddies performed a trick on the lady at the local candy shop.  They distracted her, and put a dead mouse in the jar of gobstoppers.  The lady showed up at the school the next day, which lead to he and his four companions being caned by the headmaster while the candy lady looked on, encouraging harder blows.  The caning was done by requiring the boys to bend over and drop their drawers.  The cane was then brought to bear four times across the buttocks, drawing blood.  The blows were struck slowly so they would have he most effect.
His mother, when she saw the damage done, determined to remove him from the school, and the next year he attended boarding school.  However the canings didn't stop.  At his next school, St. Peters in Weston Super-Mare, he was also caned.  However this time, there was really no reason for his being caned.  he was accused falsely of trying to cheat.  When he tried to explain this to the head master, the head master only asked if he was calling the teacher a liar.  As he couldn't say this, he received six blows with the cane.  In this case the blows were farther apart for more pain effect, and included a lecture in between blows.
He attended Repton School in Derbyshire for secundary education.  In this school, the Boars (prefects) took care of discipline.  They made the younger students do many degrading things.  Dahl had to warm the seat for a Boar, sitting on it 15 minutes to make sure it was warm.
The book is not only about school life.  We also see Dahl's yearly family vacations Norway, where they would see family, but also go into the fjord where they would spend a month recreating, swimming and fishing and sun bathing on rocks.  On one trip Dahl played a trick on his older sister's fiance, as he put goat droppings in his pipe in place of tobacco.  The fiance noticed and said he was poisoned, but before he could extract revenge everyone jumped in and went swimming.
This was an enjoyable read.  The book pretty much ends after his school years, but he mentions that he was a pilot in WWII

Movie Review: Road to Zion; British Isles

http://www.byutv.org/watch/801-209
The link may not always work, but it is shown periodically on BYUtv

This is a three part series of movies made for KBYU.  I know they are going to be shown on KBYU over the next week.  However I watched them from the KBYU website.
These movies helped me get a better sense of the conditions in England surrounding Isaac Wardle and his family.
The first movie took us to Preston, where the first missionaries to England traveled after landing at Liverpool.  The movie first presents the conditions in Preston, which was crowded having doubled in population over the last several years.  It also presented working in a textile mill.  It presented the story of the vision the missionaries had of the evil spirits which were determined to stop the work.  I had heard of this, but not heard the actual story.
It talked about the first baptisms in the River Ribble.  It also talked about the one of the first meeting sites, the cockpit which had been used for cock fights before they were outlawed. branch, The ward in Preston is the longest existing unit in the church.

The next film presented the second apostolic mission to England.  It presented Wilford Woodruff and the conversion of the group United Brethren.  The United Brethren had a chapel, which they gave to the church, the first chapel owned by the church.
This movie also told the early story of the Church to Wales.  Although Dan Jones wasn't the first missionary there, he had great success.  He was with Joseph Smith the night before Joseph was murdered.  Joseph asked him if he was afraid to die.  He said not for a cause such as this.  Then Joseph Smith prophesied that he would complete his mission to wales.  He actually completed two missions to Wales.  Dan Jones is known as one of the great missionaries of the church.
The third film started with the history of the church in Scotland.  7000 people immigrated from Scotland to the western United States in the 1800s.
It then talked about the history of printing and shipping in Liverpool.  It showed a replica of a ship and the berths in steerage.  I think the conditions were nicer in the film than those described aboard the Horizon.  To think of people leaving their families members behind, who they may never see again, is very moving.
The film then concludes with the modern church and the growth of the church in England.  The Church struggled through the two wars.  After this the policy of emigration changed, and members began to stay in England.  Then with the completion of the Temple in the late 1950s was the catalyst for continued growth. Today there are 44 stakes in Britain.
I would recommend these movies for anyone wanting to understand the history of England as it relates to the Mormon Church.