#duke of shrewsbury

[unanchored-ship]

OMG THIS IS LOWKEY LATE BUT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR @defensivelee !!!!

six lives shrewsbury is very fun to draw eeeksjfsfjid i had a great time making up the fit,, i hope u enjoy!!

[defensivelee]

Shrewsbury was a man who put off getting married for literal decades and when he finally did get married, it wasn't to a rich young heiress, he chose a Catholic Italian widow with no money no future no prospects and, some even said, no looks (they were unbelievably mean to my dear Nothing Girl), a woman whom he knew that nobody back home would approve of. he married her being fully aware of EVERYTHING he was walking into.

so for people to seriously think he wasn't in love with her is actually fucking embarrassing

[coquetteladyofthedeadmensworld]

Since we're talking about Shrewsbury:

In The First Churchills,

The way Mary utters "Did you say Shrewsbury?!" is friggin ADORABLE 😍🥰.

[defensivelee]

he IS a

faggot 🧡🌸💦

I can see why they got rid of this feature

[stonelord1]

THE MYSTERY OF HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK'S HEAD

Henry Grey was the father of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen. A great grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, through her son , Thomas, from her first marriage to Sir John Grey, he married Frances Brandon, daughter Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, so their children, three girls named Jane, Katherine and Mary, had a claim to the throne. Henry Grey was prominent in Henry VIII’s court, taking…

[thelarriefics]

GEORGIAN FIC REC: Below you'll find fics that take place between 1714-1830s aka the Georgian Period of England plus other settings around that time.

📖 Lightning Strikes The Heart by @fournipplesau & @justalarryblog (130k)

Shrewsbury, 1814 Dearest reader, I present to you your new bulletin of news regarding Shrewsbury citizen's activities. My name is Lady Merriweather and I will be in charge of the updates. I will make sure you are to know all the important details of what is to happen this season. You must know that you do not know who I am and you never shall. But be forewarned; I certainly do know you. I advise you to be on your best behaviour, lest you want the whole town to be privy of your business.

📖 Come My Love Again by @softfonds (110k)

Harry Styles is handsome, clever, and rich. At least that’s what his friends say of him. He also thinks of himself as a matchmaker in Highbury, pairing people together when he finds the time. But when the arrival of a certain gentleman flips Harry’s world on its head, he starts to question everything that was once all too familiar to him, including his relationship with his good friend, Mr. Tomlinson. An Emma AU.

📖 For You, I will Fall by @larryislove (81k)

Louis is a cruel and unforgiving pirate who hunts mermaids and kills men who owe him money. He takes what he pleases and doesn't care who he leaves burning behind him. Harry is a boy who is on the run and takes a wrong turn right onto the ruthless pirate's ships, It is clear from the start Harry doesn't belong in this cruel new world, but like everything in life, the path you follow stops and everything changes. Two unlikely souls find each other.

📖 Ace of Spades by @allwaswell16 (78k)

Living as a sheltered omega in a farming village has not prepared Harry for life aboard the most notorious pirate ship to sail the Atlantic. Or Louis is a pirate, Harry is his captive, and no one is who they say they are.

📖 Si Pudiera Volar by @softfonds (69k)

When Harry’s fiancé leaves him for his cousin, he looks the other way for the sake of his happiness. He’ll do anything to forget about him, including joining a monastery. It isn’t until his cousin’s former lover, a pirate, appears that he realizes everything is not as it appears, and an honest pirate might be the only person worthy of his heart. Or, a fic loosely based on Corazón Salvaje.

📖 Lend Me Your Hand by @becomeawendybird (63k)

Society has long since decided that the soulmarks everyone is born with are entirely unfashionable. They're just another way for people of a lower class to scam their way into marrying above their station. Lord Louis Tomlinson, Viscount Loring, on the other hand, has always believed that he will find his soulmate one day. Despite preparing for a match his whole life, he is entirely unprepared for the arrival of Gemma Styles' younger brother. Harry Styles has been traveling and away from society for over a year. Coming back, he intends to spend time with his sister, and slowly reacquaint himself with life in town. He doesn't need to wait around for a soulmark to determine how his life will play out.

📖 The Earl and His Duke by @becomeawendybird (52k)

Lord Tomlinson, the elusive Duke of Leeds, has suddenly emerged in London for the first time in six years. He is believed to have been abroad. He is believed to have been widowed. He is believed to want to withdraw from society. Harry doesn’t know what is true and what isn’t. He only knows that the older brother of one of his best friends is back in town to stay, and that time has taken him from merely the most beautiful man Harry knew, to the most handsome man to ever walk the earth. A man whose gaze probably still skips over Harry like he doesn’t exist the same way it did when they were young.

📖 Graveyard of Bleeding Dreams : The Mourning by HoPotato (42k)

Being in a happy marriage, despite its turbulent start, Harry had not expected the ghoul of his past to come back to slay the dreams he had dared to start thinking about with Louis.

📖 If I Loved You Less by @allwaswell16 (36k)

Beautiful omega Louis Tomlinson is set to make his come out in London society and determined to find a mate in his first Season. With the help and protection of his oldest friend, Lord Niall Mendes, he takes Society by storm. Being a wealthy and titled alpha means Lord Harry Styles has grown used to avoiding unmated omegas...until now. This Season he finds himself at every Society event just for a chance to speak with the omega with the flashing blue eyes. Louis has the aristocracy at his feet and all the suitors he could hope for, but his secrets may ruin his chance at a love match.

📖 Our Sweetest Memorial by @softfonds (35k)

Ever since Harry was forced to break off an engagement five years ago, he resolved to never marry for the remainder of his life. Now his family must move out of his beloved Kellynch Hall to recover some of their debts that their father had accumulated. The last thing Harry expected was for the new tenants to be related to his former fiancee. And for that fiancee to come back to Somersetshire a much more wealthy man that still holds resentment for their past. A Persuasion AU.

📖 Lies & Liability by @evilovesyou (34k)

Harry Styles has only three wishes when he leaves River Dane Manor to go to Town for his first season: that his sister has rented a townhouse that will provide him as many of the comforts of the country life he has grown accustomed to as possible, that he will not trip and fall when he is presented to Her Majesty the Queen, and that he will enter matrimony out of true love, no matter how favourable the match with any which alpha may be.

📖 he was sunshine, i was midnight rain by @thelavendrhaze (30k)

or two years ago, Harry left Louis on their wedding day to follow his dreams of becoming an artist. When he returns, in hopes of reconciling, he finds he may be too late.

📖 Manners and Misjudgements by @greenblueish (21k)

or, the one where Harry is the Duke everyone loves, but Louis thinks he's too nice and decides he's going to figure out what the Duke is hiding. Spoiler: nothing, he's just nice and perhaps a bit clumsy.

📖 Howls Like A Beast (You Flower, You Feast) by @indiaalphawhiskey (16k)

France, 1754. Château de Versailles. “You don’t love me,” Louis had said, utterly blasé as he callously fractured the heart of a Harry that was just barely eighteen. “I do,” Harry had insisted pleadingly, green eyes already watering. Louis had rolled his eyes, exasperated and flippant in the way only beautiful, young boys could be when faced with the affections of a baby prince. He had run his finger down Harry’s cheek then, had forced him to look into his eyes as he delivered the final blow. “You’ll change your mind once you’ve seen more of the world,” Louis had teased, pressing a brutally delicate kiss onto Harry’s lovely, pure cheek. “Once you’ve been properly defiled.” He had whispered filthily, delighted by the gasp he heard, the frantic pink blush that had rested high on Harry’s cheeks, the power he had felt at knowing he could make the Crown Prince squirm.

📖 Autumn at Fairbridge Hall by @noellehenry-original (14k)

It is October 1817. Mr Louis Tomlinson hosts an Autumn Ball and a Fox Hunting Party at his estate Fairbridge Hall, intending to find suitable husbands for his younger sisters. A Regency AU where Louis does not want to deal with marriage proposals, a stubborn sister and unwelcome guests. The only things he wants are peace and quiet and…, the handsome Mr Styles.

📖 This Winter's Day by @becomeawendybird (14k)

Louis is Harry's stablemaster, and when he falls ill and his mother turns to Harry to help her try and find someone he can settle down with, it's only natural that Harry suggests himself.

📖 Just You, Me, and the Moon by InkedwithLove (13k)

It was the beginning of the 19th century when Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson fell in love.

📖 One Day You'll Say These Words by @allwaswell16 (11k)

A friends to lovers story set in the Regency era.

📖 Trust Me Tonight by @vintageumbroshirt (10k)

After Harry’s eighteenth birthday, his father calls him into a meeting to say that he is to be married to Prince Louis of France in just over a week. Harry is excited, of course. The arrangement is better than any he could’ve hoped for, with such a young, handsome and kind husband. There is just one issue: Harry doesn’t know what happens on his nuptials, or how to get pregnant to give Louis the heir that he needs.

📖 Ace of Hearts by @allwaswell16 (10k)

Louis Tomlinson, the alpha Duke of Yorkshire, had returned to England to stay now that he’d married and mated. But since his husband was also the omega he’d once held captive aboard his half-brother’s pirate ship, he held back from pushing Harry into parenthood. With the Ace of Spades now docked in London, Harry spent time with his friends from the crew and remained a bit oblivious to his alpha’s deepest desires. What he was aware of was his best friend’s hurt and his mother-in-law’s wish for more than friendship with her oldest friend. A sequel to Ace of Spades

[defensivelee]

behold the fruits of my labor: or, if TFC had an anime opening that was mostly just Shrewsbury.

((unmute if you will!))

[defensivelee]

@unanchored-ship tips for writing shrewsbury, perhaps :)?

Stuff about having monocular vision that people don’t know (in my experience)

1. You only ever sit on one side of a room. (Especially if you’re in class) If you’re blind in your left eye like me, you sit to the left of the room so your right eye has the greatest scope, and there’s not much to your left to look at.

2. Harder time seeing past obstacles. People with two eye vision have the perception of both their eyes blend together for one image. Without this, you only have one eye, so you’re don’t get to see past obstacles the same way. For example if something is blocked for your right eye and not for your left, you can still see it through your left. For people with monocular vision this isn’t possible.

3. People don’t walk on the side of your blind eye. It may just be me, but because I’m blind in my left eye I tend to accidentally bump into people if they’re on my left. So when people walk beside me I naturally go so they’re to my right, or they do, without it being discussed.

4. 3D movies are headaches. Even though we’ve progressed past the red-blue type glasses, 3D just doesn’t work well for monocular vision. (And you know those fun optical illusions? A lot of them don’t work at all- nothing happens!)

5. Things like grabbing a pencil without looking at it are extremely difficult. (Due to lack of depth perception, you have a hard time discerning where things are in 3D space). This also stretches to having bad posture and balance. Meanwhile, things that are flat are relatively easy.

6. You turn your head when you’re looking at something, so your good eye is focused on it. This includes tilting your head at worksheets, TVs, and computer screens- and also people.

7. Seeing in the dark is also much harder, because people rely on their depth perception for it, and without that stuff gets real hard

8. The headaches. Most people with blindness don’t experience total blindness, but instead low vision, where their vision is not able to be used in a way that’s helpful. Your brain tries to merge the images, or use your bad eye to see something in the peripheral. This just makes your head hurt. Much like people who need time to adjust to having glasses due to the headache, getting headaches is common because your vision is always at odds.

9. More susceptible to eye damage. Since you’re not overly aware of your bad eye, you may not notice if the sun is shining directly at it. I tend to squint with my bad eye whenever I’m outside, without thinking about it. Additionally, you’re more wary of anything that could damage your good eye. It’s the only one, so you gotta be careful with it.

10. Also, it makes things really, really weird if there’s a bright light from one side but not from another. There are often after images that float in my vision.

11. Looking at things that are moving can be hard. I can focus on an object, but if a camera is panning in some direction without being focused on one thing in particular, I just stop being able to make sense of what I’m seeing. It becomes very jarring.

12. Sometimes it’s not that your eye necessarily has anything wrong with it, but that your optic nerve isn’t fully connected. So the eye may be healthy, but your brain shut it off, and the connection between the light coming in your eye, and the way the brain interprets it, never fully formed. Funnily enough, I’ve heard that this can cause the connection between your good eye and your brain to be stronger, as it is with mine. For some people it’s the opposite, and it makes both of their eyes worse. Peoples experiences can really differ.

[royalty-nobility]

Henry IV Putting the Sword in the Hands of his Firstborn

Artist: Agostino Caironi (French, 1820-1907)

Henry IV of England

Henry IV (c. April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (a son of King Edward III), and Blanche of Lancaster.

Henry was involved in the 1388 revolt of Lords Appellant against Richard II, his first cousin, but he was not punished. However, he was exiled from court in 1398. After Henry's father died in 1399, Richard blocked Henry's inheritance of his father's lands. That year, Henry rallied a group of supporters, overthrew and imprisoned Richard II, and usurped the throne; these actions later contributed to dynastic disputes in the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487).

Henry was the first English ruler whose mother tongue was English (rather than French) since the Norman Conquest, over 300 years earlier. As king, he faced a number of rebellions, most seriously those of Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welshman to claim the title of Prince of Wales, and the English knight Henry Percy (Hotspur), who was killed in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Henry IV had six children from his first marriage to Mary de Bohun, while his second marriage to Joan of Navarre produced no surviving children. Henry and Mary's eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, assumed the reins of government in 1410 as the king's health worsened. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son succeeded him as Henry V.

[wonder-worker]

“In my presence, Don Alonso asked the said Rui de Sousa if he had known the Duke of York, son of King Edward, when he was in England. To which he answered that he had seen him and that he was a very noble little boy and that he had seen him singing with his mother and one of his sisters and that he sang very well and that he was very pretty and the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, and he also saw him playing very well at sticks and with a two-handed sword.”

— Excerpt from The Setubal Testimonies (25 April 1496) describing Rui de Sousa's encounter with RICHARD OF SHREWSBURY, second son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, in 1482. The testimonies were written down by the notary Fernan Peres Mexia on behalf of Don Alonso de Silva.

[mea-gloria-fides]

Arms of The Most Noble Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury.

[skytouches]

I don’t have a theory per se yet, but I am stewing on the connection between the Tower Princes (Gideon and Ianthe) and the Prrinces in the Tower — the sons and heirs of King Edward IV, Edward V and his younger brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York — they were locked in the Tower of London by their uncle (who was rumored and theorized to have murdered them) and who then took the throne himself as Richard III

[hlficlibrary]

HL Fic Library 🩷 Regency Era Fics

Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

🩷 Lightning Strikes The Heart  by @fournipplesau, @justalarryblog (E, 130k)

Shrewsbury, 1814

Dearest reader, I present to you your new bulletin of news regarding Shrewsbury citizen's activities. My name is Lady Merriweather and I will be in charge of the updates. I will make sure you are to know all the important details of what is to happen this season. You must know that you do not know who I am and you never shall. But be forewarned; I certainly do know you. I advise you to be on your best behaviour, lest you want the whole town to be privy of your business.

As expected every year, the Lockhart House hosts the season’s opening ball, and its invitation is the motive of the hustle in town, and every family hopes for the invitation. This year is no different, but this year everyone's attention is focused on the new Duke of Montgomery, His Grace Harry Edward Styles, and whether he will attend it.

All the omegas will be in their best manner, behaviour and clothes as it is expected. And here, dear reader is where we will find out which young omega might succeed at securing a match, hoping to not become a spinster.

Place your bets.

🩷 The Murmur of Yearning by MediaWhore / @mediawhorefics (M, 93k)

Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised's families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late's husband's closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home.

Luckily, he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

🩷 Ace of Spades by @allwaswell16 (E, 78k)

Living as a sheltered omega in a farming village has not prepared Harry for life aboard the most notorious pirate ship to sail the Atlantic.

Or Louis is a pirate, Harry is his captive, and no one is who they say they are.

🩷 Mead Of Poetry by MyEnglishRose / @lwtisloved (E, 65k)

Under the pressure of continuing the Styles viscountcy line now that he is getting older, Harry sets himself three rules to finally settle down and marry: firstly, the omega needs to be reasonably attractive, secondly, they must be of great mind, thirdly, they cannot be anyone he would ever fall in love with.

Enters Charlotte Tomlinson, the diamond of the first water of the upcoming season and seemingly the perfect candidate to the viscount’s plan, but her omega brother, Louis, is in Harry’s way. Louis only seeks to protect his sister and he sure is not going to let a rake play with her heart.

Or. A Regency A/B/O AU loosely inspired by the second book of the Bridgerton series, "The Viscount Who Loved Me".

🩷 Lend Me Your Hand by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird (M, 63k)

Society has long since decided that the soulmarks everyone is born with are entirely unfashionable. They're just another way for people of a lower class to scam their way into marrying above their station.

Lord Louis Tomlinson, Viscount Loring, on the other hand, has always believed that he will find his soulmate one day. Despite preparing for a match his whole life, he is entirely unprepared for the arrival of Gemma Styles' younger brother.

Harry Styles has been traveling and away from society for over a year. Coming back, he intends to spend time with his sister, and slowly reacquaint himself with life in town. He doesn't need to wait around for a soulmark to determine how his life will play out.

🩷 For the Sake of Propriety by panda_bear21 (M, 52k)

Louis Tomlinson is the caretaker of an estate that is not truly his, and when his Uncle calls upon him to take it back, Louis knows he will soon be out on the streets with four overly zealous sisters to care for. His only solution: wed the eldest two off and pray for the best. When an even better solution unexpectedly presents itself in the form of the charming Mr. Styles, Louis is faced with a difficult choice. But as with all things in the regency era, reputation very well may threaten to outweigh the fleeting matters of his h eart.

🩷 The Earl and His Duke by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird (E, 52k)

Lord Tomlinson, the elusive Duke of Leeds, has suddenly emerged in London for the first time in six years. He is believed to have been abroad. He is believed to have been widowed. He is believed to want to withdraw from society.

Harry doesn’t know what is true and what isn’t. He only knows that the older brother of one of his best friends is back in town to stay, and that time has taken him from merely the most beautiful man Harry knew, to the most handsome man to ever walk the earth. A man whose gaze probably still skips over Harry like he doesn’t exist the same way it did when they were young.

🩷 If I Loved You Less by @allwaswell16 (E, 36k)

Beautiful omega Louis Tomlinson is set to make his come out in London society and determined to find a mate in his first Season. With the help and protection of his oldest friend, Lord Niall Mendes, he takes Society by storm.

Being a wealthy and titled alpha means Lord Harry Styles has grown used to avoiding unmated omegas...until now. This Season he finds himself at every Society event just for a chance to speak with the omega with the flashing blue eyes.

Louis has the aristocracy at his feet and all the suitors he could hope for, but his secrets may ruin his chance at a love match.

🩷 Our Sweetest Memorial by @softfonds (E, 35k)

Ever since Harry was forced to break off an engagement five years ago, he resolved to never marry for the remainder of his life. Now his family must move out of his beloved Kellynch Hall to recover some of their debts that their father had accumulated. The last thing Harry expected was for the new tenants to be related to his former fiancee. And for that fiancee to come back to Somersetshire a much more wealthy man that still holds resentment for their past. A Persuasion AU.

🩷 Lies & Liability by 4ureyesonly28 / @evilovesyou (M, 34k)

Harry Styles has only three wishes when he leaves River Dane Manor to go to Town for his first season: that his sister has rented a townhouse that will provide him as many of the comforts of the country life he has grown accustomed to as possible, that he will not trip and fall when he is presented to Her Majesty the Queen, and that he will enter matrimony out of true love, no matter how favourable the match with any which alpha may be.

🩷 he was sunshine, i was midnight rain by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze (E, 30k)

Harry let out a dry laugh. “It’s awkward, Louis. What can I say?”

“It doesn’t have to be. You and I are no longer engaged.”

“No,” Harry shook his head sadly. “You’re engaged to Jane. She’s pretty. How did you meet?”

Louis sighed softly, leaning back against his chair. “My parents introduced me. Father’s getting old. They wanted me to be married and step up for the family and our estate.”

“Oh,” Harry said. “And this was recent?”

This time, it was Louis that looked exasperated. “Does it matter? This was what you wanted, right?”

“I don’t —” Harry stopped short, wondering what he could say. He didn’t want this, but he did give it up. He had no right to argue right now. “I want you to be happy.”

or two years ago, Harry left Louis on their wedding day to follow his dreams of becoming an artist. When he returns, in hopes of reconciling, he finds he may be too late.

🩷 Manners and Misjudgements by bluegreenish / @greenblueish (E, 21k)

“Everyone you mention the Duke to raves about him, just like you are defending him now. But no one looks behind the façade he so ably maintains to deceive you all.”

Liam sighs deeply. “You sound like a crazy man right now, Louis.”

“I will prove to you who the Duke really is, just wait.”

or, the one where Harry is the Duke everyone loves, but Louis thinks he's too nice and decides he's going to figure out what the Duke is hiding. Spoiler: nothing, he's just nice and perhaps a bit clumsy.

🩷 I'm Weaker Without You by The_Halcyonic_Lachesist / @chai-hat-tea (T, 20k)

Alpha Lord Louis Tomlinson is a rake who refuses to settle down. Will he settle down for the Society's most talked about Omega? What about the enticing scent that belongs to the Beta? How will he react to said Beta pursuing the Omega too?

🩷 Something Wicked This Way Comes by @mugglemirror (E, 16k)

They say one can resist everything but temptation. The desire that leads to the passionate pursuit of climax that has built and broken empires. So what was stopping Harry from giving in to the temptation of Louis Tomlinson?

Or A regency murder mystery au where Louis is married to an earl and Harry is a detective. Hatchets are buried but not everyone is as they seem.

🩷 Trust Me Tonight by 28sunflowers / @vintageumbroshirt (E, 10k)

After Harry’s eighteenth birthday, his father calls him into a meeting to say that he is to be married to Prince Louis of France in just over a week.

Harry is excited, of course. The arrangement is better than any he could’ve hoped for, with such a young, handsome and kind husband.

There is just one issue: Harry doesn’t know what happens on his nuptials, or how to get pregnant to give Louis the heir that he needs.

🩷 Curves of your lips rewrite history by @lunarheslwt (E, 8k)

“Kneel.” The prince obliged like a puppet whose strings had been cut, dropping to his knees in one fluid motion. With his bowed back, compliant silence, and eyes that lowered respectfully; he was a perfect picture of submission and trust. He deserved to be captured by Michelangelo, right at this moment, but alas, Louis found himself to be possessive of pretty things. And Harry was, by far, his most ethereal and dear possession. Made sweeter only because he allowed himself to be. “Grace becomes you, when you submit to me,” Louis finally crooned, a ghost of a caress across a delicate cheek sparking goosebumps, “your Highness.” And if Louis were a less attentive man, he would’ve missed the quiet gasp that the title weaved with a taunt coaxed out. A smile curled across his lips. So easy to please, for someone who had everything his heart desired at his fingertips.

Or, everyone bows to Prince Harry, but in the privacy of his four walls, the one he is bowing and kneeling for is his knight, Sir Louis.

🩷 I Think I Dreamed You Into Life by patdkitten / @babyarcanacasey (T, 5k)

Louis is a writer in the modern times, focusing primarily on regency novels. In his latest novel, earl's son Harry Styles is his hero, but Louis can't seem to find just the right person for Harry to fall in love with. When Louis falls asleep in front of his laptop, things get a little odd: he wakes up inside the world of his book.

[scotianostra]

On August 9th 1757 the civil engineer Thomas Telford was born in Dumfries.

This is the man who laid vast amounts of the foundations of Scotland ,England, Ireland and Wales, he has had numerous buildings, bridges, roads and even a town named in his honour, yet in my opinion is often overlooked as one of the great Scots of our past.

Telford was born at Glendinning, Westerkirk, Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, he never knew his father, John, who was a shepherd who died when Thomas was about 4 months old, Telford was raised in poverty by his mother and their relations, Thomas never let this get to him though and as he grew up was given the nickname "Laughing Boy"

Telford left school age 14 and started working with a stonemason and helped build new roads and a farmhouse on the estate of a local duke. Despite the nature of his day job, with its intensive long hours, Thomas studies at night to learn all there is about construction. By 25, he’s worked in Edinburgh and is off to London. He meets with two Scottish architects Robert Adam and William Chambers, the latter is building Somerset House and Thomas is given the job of some addition design work, no mean feat for the man who is relatively self taught.

It was while in London he met an acquaintance from his youth, William Pulteney, the Scottish advocate, landowner and politician was from Dumfriesshire and reputedly the richest man in the country Putney took Telford under his wing and, there was no looking back after this, it's always handy to have the richest man in Britain as your new patron, and in 1786 Pulteney commissions him to start converting the derelict, Shrewsbury Castle. He remodels the interior into a house complete with panoramic platform and a folly Tower for the wife. He’s a prolific and imaginative creator. Pulteney is impressed. He finds work for Telford as surveyor of public works in Shropshire,a new job created just for the new engineer.

The majority of Telfords' work was in Shropshire, he built an amazing 40 bridges in the county alone, it was no wonder they named the new town in his honour in 1968.

Projects Telford is renowned for include, The Caledonian Canal, Dunkeld Bridge and the famous Telford churches in Scotland, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Menai Suspension Bridge in Wales and The Avon Aqueduct and numerous canals and roads in England.

In his spare time Telford turned his hand to poetry and contributed verses to ‘Ruddiman’s Weekly Magazine’, under the pen-name ‘Eskdale Tam’.

Thomas Telford died on September 2nd 1834 aged 77, he is buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey; a statue was erected to him nearby, in St Andrew's Chapel adjoining the north transept.

Pics are of Telford, one of his poems and Plockton Church, which you will see similar churches throughout Scotland.

[coquetteladyofthedeadmensworld]

Hi!! Thank you for the tag, beloved Sheep!

Now, for my hear me out cake, one person on it would DEFINITELY be Mary Queen of Scots! She and Queen Victoria were the first two historical figures I was drawn to so a hear me out cake wouldn't be the same without them.

I'm also putting our beloved Charles II, Catherine of Braganza and Nell Gwynne in the cake as well. Why not? I love them so much.

And Rochester and Monmouth as well. Now just crazy Stuart men.

You all obviously know a hear me out cake wouldn't be a hear me out cake without my dear (controversial) James II. The man is now fully integrated into my brain and my soul, haha.

Stupid man with his stupid face and stupid wig and unhinged sexual energy. Alongside those damn legs.

They're beautiful. He's beautiful.

I can't live without him.

Then his wives, Anne Hyde and darling Maria. And Louisa Maria.

I love them.

And then umm, Mary II and William III (Sheep won't want me to steal William but I will anyways) and Anne and George.

Alongside Shrewsbury!

So there you have it. A very crowded hear me out cake.

Tagging @acrossthewavesoftime, @vintagedolce @culpepers-wife and @lavenderrosiefan.

And anyone else who wants to join. :⁠-⁠)

Calling history nerds 🚨🚨🚨

Which historical figure(s) would you put on your hear me put cake?

I would put Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Ulysses S Grant on ofc :) (They can also be someone just for goofiness)

hear me out cake example:

Tag people!!! @allysah @tommy-288 @tompoose @maip--macrothorax @rosemeriwether @pranklinfierce @chaotic-history and everyone else :)

[thelarriefics]

FAKE RELATIONSHIP FIC REC, Part II: Below you will find more fics that have themes of fake/pretend relationships. (Part I)

📖 The Greatest Thing by @infinitelymint (163k)

“What’s that on your finger?” Louis asks, his voice higher than usual, slightly panicked as though he’s realised something that Harry hasn’t even begun to comprehend. Harry looks down on his right hand then, sees nothing and moves on to the left, and— Oh. A ring. Or, Harry and Louis haven’t spoken since the band broke up when a dangerous combination of Niall Horan, tequila, and an ordained Elvis impersonator means that the two of them have to embark on their biggest publicity stunt to date - together. (aka the semi-canon accidentally married in Vegas fic that has been seven years in the making)

📖 Lightning Strikes The Heart by @fournipplesau & @justalarryblog (130k)

Shrewsbury, 1814 Dearest reader, I present to you your new bulletin of news regarding Shrewsbury citizen's activities. My name is Lady Merriweather and I will be in charge of the updates. I will make sure you are to know all the important details of what is to happen this season. You must know that you do not know who I am and you never shall. But be forewarned; I certainly do know you. I advise you to be on your best behaviour, lest you want the whole town to be privy of your business. As expected every year, the Lockhart House hosts the season’s opening ball, and its invitation is the motive of the hustle in town, and every family hopes for the invitation. This year is no different, but this year everyone's attention is focused on the new Duke of Montgomery, His Grace Harry Edward Styles, and whether he will attend it. All the omegas will be in their best manner, behaviour and clothes as it is expected. And here, dear reader is where we will find out which young omega might succeed at securing a match, hoping to not become a spinster. Place your bets.

📖 Mistletoe's For Two by @ireallysawanangel (90k)

After an encounter in a coffee shop with the rudest man he's ever met, Louis hopes the city is just big enough that he'll never bump into him again. When he spots that man at a bar the following evening, a plan begins to form. They both need dates for their respective Christmas parties and decide to use each other for their own benefit. They'll help one another through the holidays and then 'break it off' on New Year's, then agree to never see each other again. Developing feelings was not part of the plan. Or, an enemies to lovers fake dating advent fic.

📖 this charade (was never going to last) by @scrunchyharry (68k)

On the surface, CitizenX, an international caritative nonprofit, looked like any other nonprofit, funding humanitarian missions worldwide and striving to make the world a better place, one donation at a time. At least, that was what Harry thought, until he was hired as a computer specialist for a spinoff agency called carish, whose true purpose was to reveal CitizenX’s tangled web of lies. As if the whole ‘industrial spy’ business was not stressful enough, Harry found himself in a hatred-at-first-sight relationship with one of his new coworkers, Louis, a man intent on detesting Harry. When the worst happened and Harry and Louis found themselves thrown together in hiding, with only each other to rely on, Harry never could have predicted the turn their relationship would take. Nor could he anticipate that it would all be taken away from him and he would have to decide how far he was willing to go to get Louis back.

📖 another dream but always you by @nobodymoves (60k)

Harry is a Dreamwalker; he has the ability to visit people in their dreams and help put them on the right path. He's assigned to Louis, who's struggling after the break-up of his band. It's an unusual assignment from the beginning; Harry has a crush on Louis, and Louis's subconscious immediately decides Harry is the love of his life. When Dreamers cast Harry as their love interest, he can usually redirect them, but Louis is insistent on being Harry's boyfriend, and despite knowing they have no future, Harry wants to keep up the charade.

📖 Glitter in the sky, glitter in our eyes by @softfonds (59k)

What happens when a Duke who will only marry for love and a courtesan who only sells it create a public ruse? Well, nothing boring for sure. An Edwardian AU.

📖 I Keep Looking For Magic by @lululawrence (36k)

Harry loves Christmas, but this year is special. After ten years of boyfriends all failing to ever meet Harry's family, Harry has a fiance to introduce and things are looking like they will be perfect. Until they break up. Harry cannot go home alone when he had promised to bring a significant other again. This leaves him with little choice but to find someone to pretend they are his fiance. Surely nothing could go wrong with this plan.

📖 Lies & Liability by @evilovesyou (34k)

Harry Styles has only three wishes when he leaves River Dane Manor to go to Town for his first season: that his sister has rented a townhouse that will provide him as many of the comforts of the country life he has grown accustomed to as possible, that he will not trip and fall when he is presented to Her Majesty the Queen, and that he will enter matrimony out of true love, no matter how favourable the match with any which alpha may be.

📖 Pray To God This Won't Be A Mess by @xogucciblue (28k)

When Louis is outed just weeks before his hotly anticipated second album is set to drop, Harry agrees to hold his hand in a few pictures to cool down the media hype. That's all it was supposed to be.

📖 Went Down In Flames by @itsnotreal (26k)

Louis was in an absolutely shit storm. He had let it go on for too long. Let it go too far. But he had a plan. And tonight, said plan was going down. He was going to tell the boys he was proposing this weekend. ‘Harry’ would turn him down, albeit gently, and Louis would play the heartbroken boyfriend. He’d gotten this far. All he had to do was lock himself in his bedroom and cry a little. He’d been in a few plays growing up. Piece of cake. Except. It didn’t go that way. Of course, it didn’t. Because the universe, the beautiful chaotic bitch that she was, just had to have an actual Harry Styles and he just had to be Niall’s best friend.

📖 And I’d Marry You Harry (Because You Forced Me) by @2tiedships2 (24k)

The Proposal AU featuring Harry as Sandra Bullock, Louis as Ryan Reynolds, and all the fun a fake relationship and forced engagement can bring.

📖 if it looks like, feels like, tastes like love...  by @tempolarriefix (16k)

the one where harry and louis hate each other but pretend to date to be able to live in university 'family housing', zayn and liam are their nosy next door neighbors, and niall is the friend who made it all happen.

📖 Wed’n Walk (Or, We Went to Amsterdam Together) by @hellolovers13 (11k)

When Harry had first started planning his honeymoon to Amsterdam, he had not envisioned ending up there with his best friend. Or getting fake-married to him for 24 hours.

📖 Not Another Lonely Christmas by @haztobegood (8k)

Harry should be more nervous that he’s bringing a literal stranger to meet his extended family, but he figures it can’t be much more awkward than Aunt Sharon’s Christmas parties usually are. Instead, he’s looking forward to having an extra person to buffer the conversation. A knock comes one minute after eleven. He lets out the breath and opens the door. “Hi there— Louis?!” Or, the one where the friend Niall sets up as Harry's fake boyfriend turns out to be Gemma's best friend Louis

📖 Christmas Pretenders by @larryatendoftheday (4k)

When Niall convinced Louis to come home with him for the holidays as his fake boyfriend, he never expected he'd run into the loveliest man he'd ever seen. Or, twist on the fake-dating for the holidays fic, where the real love interest is the fake-boyfriend's best friend.