#lord seaton

[royalty-nobility]

Mary, Queen of Scots Escaping from Lochleven Castle

Artist: William Craig Shirreff (1786-1805)

Date: 1805

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland

Description

In 1805, this painting won a student prize for Shirreff while he was at the Trustees’ Academy. He chose an episode from the life of Mary, Queen of Scots which had been related by Gilbert Stuart in his influential History of Scotland (1783). In a letter to his father the young artist wrote: 'I have taken the point of time when Lord Seaton is receiving Mary from the boat, and young George Douglas handing her on and one of the attendants holding the horse that the Queen is to ride on. I am very pleased with it myself.' By the early nineteenth century, Mary was a popular romantic heroine. William Lizars, one of Shirreff’s friends, engraved this painting after the young artist’s premature death.

[moosha-mushroom]

I headcanon that Linda’s beautiful blonde boys all get indoctrinated into Nibbly’s little cult. Roman loves Seaton the most (the polar opposite of Linda), and so Seaton becomes basically the heir to Roman, and he ends up killing Jordan and Trent. River is still alive, but he’s certainly not happy.

[madlovenovelist]

Most Anticipated New Book Releases August 2024

August has the most amount of anticipated releases that I’ve have in years – Oy Vey! My bank balance is not going to like me. I’m going to have to think creatively to acquire a little more spending money. The first six books I’ve definitely purchasing. All of them auto-buy authors and have me salivating to get started… My Salty Mary (#3 Mary) – Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows…

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌙 What to Read After Watching Agatha All Along 🌙

❓ Who is your favorite fictional witch?

🦇 Enjoying Agatha All Along on Disney? Check out these books featuring witches, covens, chaotic queers, & everything in between, perfect for fans of Agatha All Along! List below!

✨🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑✨

✨ Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper 🌑 How to Get a Girlfriend (When You're a Terrifying Monster) - Marie Cardno 🌒 These Witches Don't Burn - Isabel Sterling 🌓 This Spells Disaster - Tori Martin 🌔 The Scapegracers - H. A. Clarke 🌕 Beetle & the Hollowbones - Aliza Layne 🌕 The Twice-Sold Soul - Katie Hallahan 🌖 In Charm's Way - Lana Harper 🌗 Brewed with Love - Shelly Page 🌘 Carry On - Rainbow Rowell 🌑 So This Is Ever After - F. T. Lukens ✨ Spells to Forget Us - Aislinn Brophy

✨ Basics of Spellcraft - L.C. Mawson 🌑 How To Succeed in Witchcraft - Aislinn Brophy 🌒 Sweet & Bitter Magic - Adrienne Tooley 🌓 The Midnight Girls - Alicia Jasinska 🌔 Labyrinth Lost - Zoraida Córdova 🌕 The Shattered Lands - Brenna Nation 🌕 Otherworldly - F. T. Lukens 🌖 Coven - Jennifer Dugan & Kit Seaton 🌗 The Dark Tide - Alicia Jasinska 🌘 Queen B - Juno Dawson 🌑 Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson ✨ Wild and Wicked Things - Francesca May

✨ Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas 🌑 The Last Sun - K. D. Edwards 🌒 The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri 🌓 The Sun and the Star - Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro 🌔 The Witch and His Crow - Ben Alderson 🌕 Lord of Eternal Night - Ben Alderson 🌕 The Crimson Crown - Heather Walter 🌖 Tonight, I Burn - Katharine J. Adams 🌗 Witches of Ash and Ruin - E. Latimer 🌘 The Severed Thread - Leslie Vedder 🌑 Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist - Ali K. Mulford and K. Elle Morrison ✨ Love and Other Wicked Things -Philline Harms

✨ Off With Their Heads - Zoe Hana Mikuta 🌑 Practical Rules for Cursed Witches - Kayla Cottingham 🌒 Two Broke Witches - Kate Starling 🌓 Bitterthorn - Kat Dunn 🌔 The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields 🌕 The Witch and the Vampire - Francesca Flores 🌕 Spell on Wheels - Kate Leth, Megan Levens, Marissa Louise 🌖 The Witchery - S. Isabelle 🌗 The Hummingbird Coven - Augusta Owens �� Children of the Night - Cara Malone 🌑 The Hex Next Door - Lou Wilham ✨ Malice - Heather Walter

✨ Mortal Follies - Alexis Hall 🌑 The Balance of Fates - Raquel Raelynn 🌒 Edie in Between - Laura Sibson 🌓 Doughnuts and Doom - Balazs Lorinczi 🌔 A Spell for Heartsickness - Alistair Reeve 🌕 Evocation - S.T. Gibson 🌕 The Spells We Cast - Jason June 🌖 An Education in Malice - S. T. Gibson 🌗 Rise and Divine - Lana Harper 🌘 Not Good for Maidens - Tori Bovalino 🌑 A Dark and Starless Forest - Sarah Hollowell ✨ Netherford Hall - Natania Barron

✨ The Poisons We Drink - Bethany Baptiste 🌑 This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron 🌒 Over My Dead Body - Boo Sweeney 🌓 Girl, Serpent, Thorn - Melissa Bashardoust 🌔 The Bewitching Hour - Ashley Poston 🌕 Pushing Daisy - Isla Winter 🌕 Daughter of the Bone Forest - Jasmine Skye 🌖 Keep Your Witches Close - Colette Rivera 🌗 Mooncakes - Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu 🌘 Snapdragon - Kat Leyh 🌑 Runaways - Rainbow Rowell & Kris Anka ✨ Witchlings - Claribel A. Ortega

✨🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑✨

[awigglycultist]

HATCHETFIELD SWAP AU!

If it's hard to read what all the role swap are then go here to read them instead

Please feel free to ask questions about this!

Reblogs very much appreciated this took me stupidly long, there's so many characters

Some notes below the cut:

The color change in the lords mean nothing, they do not swap roles with each other in this au, the colors are just inverted to show a difference between canon and this au.

Instead of being in a relationship, River and Sophia are secretly siblings and don't know about it, also siblings with Steph. They have Solomon as their dad. Sophia got to stay with him and now has the burden of "mayors daughter", since River got to stay with his mom Linda who's been lying to all her kids that River is Gerald's son, although Gerald actually died right after she got pregnant, and Steph stayed with her mom whos poor and of course then discovered she has the gift. I still need figure out how to make the end of abstinence camp happen without the shower scene but for npmd they discover they're siblings and have each other as their biggest want because they want to make up for lost time.

Emma was forced by her family to get a normal job before she got the chance to go to Guatemala. Now she works at CCRP with her sister's ex husband and with Linda Monroe, and she hates life, she'd much rather be in Guatemala or making a pot farm. Paul was forced by his family to "go live life" because he was so boring. So somehow he ended up going to Guatemala. Paul, although he would much rather just be living a simple life as an office worker or as a corn farmer, he didn't understand how long would be enough before he has "lived life" and can return to Hatchetfield, so he just doesn't return. Well that is until he finds out his best friend's wife died and realizes he should return to try and help him through this.

Bill was a science teacher at Hatchetfield middle school and had Pete as a student. He was the only teacher that really understood Pete and his "quirks" but then his wife died and he decided to quit. Ted is pissed at him for this, Bill was the only good role model in Pete's life. For Yellow Jacket Bill would decide to go back to teaching and just decide to go to the high school instead.

Age changes: For tgwdlm/black friday/2018- Tim is aged up to 16, Trevor, Stacy, Brenda, would all be the same age, Ziggs would be a little older, 18. Alice is 17 (making her 19 in 2020). For npmd/nmts2/2020- River would be a freshman/15, Jordan a sophomore/16, Seaton a junior/17 and Trent a senior/18. Reese and PJ are also freshman, Sophia is a sophomore, Daniel is a junior. Danny and Sof are seniors. Pete, Steph and Grace are all of course 15. Deb is 20. Richie and Ruth are 21.

Max is injected with the yellow goop (yes yellow not blue since inverted colors) they found on the moon and that causes him to turn into Otho.

River and Trevor aren't dating, just besties. Alice and Deb are still dating.

Charlotte is Hidgens' niece.

For tgwdlm Linda is the one to suggest they go to Roman's house since that's her father (rather than Paul having him as a professor).

Rather than his marriage falling a part, Bob Metzger is struggling to still have a good relationship with his kids. Him and Linda are together though they're just hiding it from their kids.

Lex would never out someone, so Hannah is just chilling and hanging around in support of her sister during honey queen. Pamela still gets fucking killed though for the same reasons as Mimaw Chambers in canon.

Sof and Danny tried out for the cheerleading team on a dare but actually did really well and ended up enjoying it.

[fiedlerite]

5/20 of the Enchanted Study - Snowy

Snowy travels the vast icy seas with Seaton as often as you eat to replenish your strength. He has taken on many a sea lord and won... a few. Okay, one... Zero. He's won zero. But Snowy always comes home with plenty of seafood and a new mysterious scar. Maybe one day Kitty will finally turn him away from her grand healing prowess.

aaaa another fae piece done! i really loved doing the environment for this guy, icy scenes are very fun to draw :] go leave him a like!!

[scotianostra]

Tragedy struck on 8th December 1959 the lifeboat RNLB Mona, based at Broughty Ferry, capsize in a storm in St Andrews Bay with the loss of all eight crew.

The lifeboat had been called to assist the North Carr lightship which had broken from its mooring and was believed adrift in St Andrews Bay. The conditions when the lifeboat was launched at 3.13 a.m. were atrocious. The last radio message was received from the Mona at 4.48 a.m. As the boat rounded the headland she capsized. No matter how long ago this tragedy occurred the sacrifice of the men involved is not forgotten far and wide but especially in Broughty Ferry.

The lost crew were coxswain Ronald Grant, 28, acting second coxswain George Smith, 53, bowman George Watson, 38, motor mechanic John Grieve, 56, second mechanic James Ferrier, 43, John J Grieve, 22, Alexander Gall, 56, and David Anderson, 42.

The Mona was washed up on Carnousite beach, a body, that of John J Grieve was found nearby, later five more bodies were found on the lifeboat, Bowman George Watson’s body was never found.

All the crew of the North Carr were rescued.

In 11 years of operating the Mona and her crew had saved 118 lives.

According to a letter to the Dundee Evening Telegraph, in January 2006, “Among some seamen, it was believed the vessel was tainted with evil, and they resolved to exorcise the boat in a ‘viking ritual’”. The Mona was taken to Cockenzie harbour on the river Forth in the dead of night, stripped of anything of value, chained to the sea wall, and burnt. The burning was done with the knowledge and permission of Lord Saltoun, the chairman of the Scottish Lifeboat Council. Questions were however raised in the House of Commons about the destruction of a lifeboat built with public subscription, sailors are a very superstitious lot though.

Before the Mona was burnt extensive tests were carried out and no faults could be found with the engine or indeed sea worthiness of the lightboat, it was established it had merely capsized.

A service was later held at St James’ Church, the Fisherman’s Kirk at Broughty Ferry. They joined the many hundreds of people from all walks of life who went to the memorial service. The Church only seats 450 and the service was relayed to another 300 in the church Hall and to hundreds who stood in Fort Street on a cold windy, wet forenoon. People started to queue outside the church doors an hour before the service began, but few of them were able to get in.

Soon after the service ended the first of the funerals of the seven men whose bodies have been recovered took place. Small crowds gathered outside the homes of the six Broughty Ferry men who perished. Hundreds attended the funerals of all the men.

The report of the burning of the Mona reads:

“Mona, the Broughty Ferry disaster lifeboat in which eight men died, was burned secretly on a dark beach at 4.30 a.m. Only a handful of men saw the Lifeboat – “perfectly sound and seaworthy”, destroyed on confidential orders phoned direct from London by a senior R.N.L.I. official. Few people in the Port Seaton holiday resort on the Forth Estuary near Edinburgh knew about it. Flames crackled as families slept in a tenement only 50 yards away – unaware of the funeral pyre

They only learned about it when they saw the smoking ruin on the rocks at daybreak. After dark on Thursday night the Mona was taken across the harbour basin and moored just inside the protection wall. Then about 4 am she was moved round the sea wall secured by two chains and left to settle on the rock-strewn foreshore as the tide ebbed.

She was set alight and by daybreak all that was left was part of the stern and superstructure – twisted charred metal, still smoking. Four men stripped the last of her metal fittings in the afternoon. And inquisitive youngsters were curtly told to leave the shore. In his office overlooking the harbour. Mr Bruce Jones of the ship repair-firm, said he could not discuss the matter.

The R.N.L.I. officials in London did not want it publicised. I got all my instructions verbally. I must honour the request. Was it really a funeral pyre “well it is not uncommon for this to happen after a disaster” said the senior Lifeboat official in London, “It would be rather unpleasant to put a new crew in a disaster”

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (August 27th, 2024)

___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

___

New Releases:

The Sticky Note Manifesto of Aisha Agarwal by Ambika Vohra

Sunderworld, Vol. 1 by Ransom Riggs

Don't Let it Break Your Heart by Maggie Horne

Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker

Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldivar

Bridge Across the Sky by Freeman Ng

Sync by Ellen Hopkins

Love is in the Hair by Gemma Cary

Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia

Jupiter Rising by Gary D. Schmidt

Practical Rules for Cursed Witches by Kayla Cottingham

With Love, Echo Park by Laura Taylor Namey

Full Shift by Jennifer Dugan & Kristen Seaton

Twin Flames by Olivia Abtahi

One House Left by Vincent Ralph

Mysterious Ways by Wendy Wunder

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay

The Dreamers by Ryan Elizabeth Penske

Anomaly by Emma Lord

New Sequels:

The New Camelot (Emry Merlin #3) by Robyn Schneider

Fyrebirds (Nightbirds #2) by Kate J. Armstrong

___

Happy reading!

[gogmstuff]

Early 1730s dresses (from top to bottom) -

1730 Tea Party at Lord Harrington's by C. Phillips detail (Yale Center for British Art, Yale University - New Haven, Connecticut, USA). Probably from Wikimedia; fixed spots with Pshop 1247X1623. There are many caps and veils, square necklines, and laced bodices with revers. But full-blown panniers are not to be seen.

1730 Marquise de Gueydan as Flora by Nicolas de Largillière (Musée Granee - Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France). From cutlermiles.com/portrait-of-marquise-de-gueydan-as-flora-nicolas-de-largilliere/ 1908X2484. She wears a stout Swiss belt and cleft coiffure that harken back to the late Louis XIV era.

ca. 1730 Empress Elisabeth Christine by Johann Gottfried Auerbach (auctioned, probably by Lempertz). From Wikimedia trimmed 1715X2352. She wears a round skirt and a scoop neckline.

ca. 1730 Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia by Maria Giovanna Clementi (location ?). From tumblr.com/blog/view/jeannepompadour; enlarged by half 1053X1385. Her dress has a deep V neckline filled in by a modesty piece.

ca. 1730 Rhoda Apreece, Mrs Francis Blake Delaval attributed to Enoch Seeman the Younger (Seaton Delaval - Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, UK). From artuk.org; enlarged by half 994X1200. The ruff makes this a Van Dyck revival dress. The laced vest and jaunty hat lend a casual air to the portrait.

ca. 1730 Robe volante (Musée de la Mode - Paris, France). From fripperiesandfobs.tumblr.com-post-139802377452-robe-volante-ca-1730-from-the-palais-galliera 1140X1620. Dresses before the 1750s often had cuffs that could be substantial like these.

1731 Die Liebeserklärung by Jean François de Troy (Sanssouci, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg, Germany). From artsandculture.google.com/asset/die-liebeserklärung-jean-françois-de-troy/XAFpCyLiWrxHZw?h 3074X24.12. Known in the Anglophone world as “The Declaration of Love. The large patterns mark this as early century. The robe à la française is firmly established in the form it would take until the late Louis XVI period.

1731 Infanta Maria Teresa Antonia de Borbón by Jean Ranc (Museo del Prado - Madrid, Spain). From their Web site; removed spots and streaks with Photoshop 2621X3051. Spain was ruled by Borbóns after the last Habsburg was cleared out in the early 1700s.

1731 Julia Calverley, Lady Trevelyan, by Enoch Seeman the Younger (Wallington Hall - Wallington, Northumberland, UK). From nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/584399; erased navigation marks in corners & fixed spots w Pshop 1616X1992. Clasps replace lacing to close this bodice.

1731 Lady by John Vanderbank (location ?). From the Philip Mould Historical Portraits Image Library 920X1214. The dress is Van Dyck revival similar to the one worn by Rhoda Apreece.

[tweed-and-pipe-tobacco]

Field Marshal the Lord Seaton

[somediyprojects]

Patterns designed by Lila Umstead of Lila’s Studio:

Here is the summary of our Nashville Market 2023 releases. Hope you like them ☺️

Summer Quaker

The Lord's Prayer

Mary Jane's Motifs

Mary Jane Crofts 1845

Sarah Ann Garrard. There is an error in the model stitching. On the original sampler and on the chart, Sarah has an h. I was in a hurry to get it framed. I did note it on the chart ☺️

Sarah Ann Seaton

[concupiscience]

Utopian novels use an ideal society as their settings. Utopias are commonly found in science fiction novels and stories.

See also: Category: Dystopian novels

Contents

Top0–9A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Subcategories

This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.

A

 Atlas Shrugged‎ (1 C, 6 P)

C

 The Culture‎ (1 C, 16 P)

Pages in category "Utopian novels"

The following 121 pages are in this category, out of 121 total. This list may not reflect recent changes.

0–9

2894 (novel)

A

The Actual StarThe Adventures of Mr. Nicholas WisdomAlways Coming HomeAndromeda: A Space-Age TaleAndymonAristopiaArqtiqAtlas Shrugged

B

Beatrice the SixteenthThe Begum's FortuneBellona's Husband: A RomanceThe Blazing WorldThe Blithedale RomanceBlue Remembered EarthBold as Love (novel)

C

ChevengurChildhood's EndThe City of the SunThe Commonwealth of OceanaA Crystal Age

D

Darkness and the LightThe Deep (novella)DinotopiaThe DiothasThe DispossessedDown and Out in the Magic KingdomA Dream of John BallThe Dream (novel)

E

Earth RevisitedEcotopiaEquality (novel)Equality; or, A History of LithconiaErewhonErewhon Revisited

F

The Face of the ClamThe Faggots & Their Friends Between RevolutionsThe Fifth Sacred ThingFire on the Mountain (Bisson novel)For Us, the LivingFreedom™The Fresco

G

The Gate to Women's CountryThe Golden Book of SpringfieldGolf in the Year 2000The Great Romance

H

Herland (novel)History of the SevarambiansThe Holy Terror (Wells novel)

I

Imperium in ImperioIntermereIonia (novel)Island (Huxley novel)Islandia (novel)Islands of the SunThe Islands of WisdomThe Isle of Pines

K

KazohiniaThe Kin of Ata Are Waiting for YouKirinyaga (novel)

L

The Law of Freedom in a PlatformLooking BackwardLost Horizon

M

Manna (novel)Men Like GodsThe MilltillionaireThe Ministry for the FutureMizoraA Modern UtopiaMoving the Mountain (novel)

N

The Naked SunA Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Paul Aermont among the PlanetsNew AmazoniaNew AtlantisNews from NowhereNiels Klim's Underground Travels

O

The Old New LandOnly the Super-Rich Can Save Us!Originator (novel)

P

Perhaps the StarsPhilip Dru: AdministratorA Planet Called UtopiaA Plunge into SpacePrisoners of PowerA Prophetic Romance

R

Red Star (novel)

S

La saga de los AznarSeven Days in New CreteSeven SurrendersThe Social WarSoul City (novel)Sub-CoelumSultana's Dream

T

Terra IgnotaThree Hundred Years HenceThree Thousand YearsThrough the Eye of the NeedleThrough the Valley of the Nest of SpidersToo Like the LightningA Traveler from AltruriaTriton (novel)

U

Unveiling a ParallelUtopia (book)

V

Voyage from YesteryearVoyage to FaremidoThe Voyage to IcariaThe Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven PlanetsVril

W

Walden TwoWalkaway (Doctorow novel)WasobyoeWhen the Robbers Came to Cardamom TownThe Will to BattleWith Her in OurlandWoman on the Edge of TimeThe World a Department Store

X

Xin Zhongguo weilai ji

Y

The Year 3,000The Year 2440The Year 4338: Petersburg LettersYoung West

[itsrattysworld]

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Richard Blakely Mark Rowley Lord Callanan Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin Harriett Harman Neil Coyle Mark Upton Guy Lawfull Lindon Martin Seaton Caul Grant Aubyn Graham District Judges CCCS Unlawful Injunction Threats Imprisonment Eviction Will Feature In 23 Years Systemic Discrimination Husband PTSD Criminal Need ERT Violent Nuisance Labels June O'Sullivan Starts UURICA-LE Death Mother Dementia Stranger Prayed For Me At Aunt's House Experienced All Past 10 Years Time To Make Our Story In Bob Marley's Face Of Windrush 70 Composer Brixton Market Social Media Influencer I Am Not Scared Of God 14/2/24 In Court Defend Name Date Father Buried 44... 2/2/2024

Without Prejudice Mervelee Myers Housing Ombudsman Service Housing For Women Metropolitan Police LEA CJS HMCTS CPS MOPAC IOPC JCIO BSB SRA CCMCC CLCC HMPPS CCCS Maudsley NHS Southwark Council Barclays Santander Nationwide GP Surgery LEYF UEL DBS Will Make Headlines Criminal Need ERT Cover Richard Harty MIC Drag Queen Story Tellers HOC Nursery Violent Nuisance Attempts On Life Husband Traumatised…

[riley1cannon]

DOROTHY L SAYERS AND THE THIRTY-FOOT DRAIN: SEARCHING FOR PETER WIMSEY

James R. Benn goes on a quest to discover the original inspiration for Sayers' iconic war-weary character.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 BY JAMES R. BENN

VIA SOHO

Dorothy L Sayers was my gateway author to the world of crime fiction. I’d read the Sherlock Holmes stories earlier on, but that superlatively singular creation of Arthur Conan Doyle did not lead me any further. Holmes was unique, existing in his own universe, and there he remained. Not so with Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey. The Wimsey family motto is “As my Whimsy takes me,” and Sayers’ whimsy took me right through her books and then onto Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey, and other authors writing in that great tradition.

My Billy Boyle World War II mystery novels are often set in Great Britian, but it is not the Great Britian of the Golden Age of crime fiction. That Golden Age held sway in the interwar years, 1920 – 1939. But even then, characters like Lord Peter and Harriet Vane represented the values and way of life already shattered by the experience of the Great War. Wimsey has his roots firmly in the nineteenth century. He is graceful upon the page, but it is a grace disguising the transcendental impact of the horror in the trenches and the dreadful thinning of the population of men in so many towns and villages across the country. This is exemplified by Lord Peter’s shellshock, on full display in the first book in the series, Whose Body? where we find him firmly in the grip of vivid nightmares. His world has changed, and all the fine manners and proper deportment he can summon will never bring back the bright, golden days before 1914. In one of her short stories, Sayers has Wimsey declare his own epitaph: “Here lies an anachronism in the vague expectation of eternity.”

Even given this divide between the universe of Lord Peter Wimsey as created by Sayers and the mid-1940s of Billy Boyle and the Second World War, I’d never given up on the notion of finding some sort of intersection between these two worlds. If not a direct connection, then one at least fueled by elements common to both.  A homage that, perhaps, only I would recognize.

As I developed the plot for the eighteenth novel in my series, I decided it was time for a change of pace. This entry would be removed from the battlefield and the more exotic locales of the recent books. Since Billy Boyle and friends had never enjoyed any time off, I was overdue to grant them leave. This takes place in the quiet (fictional) village of Slewford in Norfolk, at Seaton Manor, the home of Sir Richard Seaton, father to Billy’s lover, the English spy Diana Seaton.

I had to revisit the first book in the series, Billy Boyle, to see where I had originally placed Seaton Manor. For no special reason, I had selected the county of Norfolk, on the east coast of England. Seaton Manor sits near the Wash, a bay and estuary marking a large indentation on the coastline. Tidal forces and shifting sands make the Wash treacherous for those who are unprepared for how fast and swift the tide can come in.

As I studied the countryside around the Wash, it seemed oddly familiar. Then it hit me. This is the Fens, or Fenland, the setting for one of Dorothy L Sayers’ finest works—The Nine Tailors. Her fictional village of Fenchurch Saint Paul is located in Cambridgeshire, just over the border from Norfolk and close to the edge of the Wash. The Fens, a huge expanse of reeds and shallow, freshwater lakes, borders the Wash. Beginning in the seventeenth century, landowners began to drain the Fens in order to turn it into fertile farmland. By Lord Peter’s time, long drainage ditches drew water away from the fields and into the Wash. At the beginning of The Nine Tailors, such a ditch—known as the Thirty-Foot Drain—is exactly where we find Lord Peter Wimsey and his sturdy manservant Bunter.

“That’s torn it!” said Lord Peter Wimsey.

The car lay, helpless and ridiculous, her nose deep in the ditch, her back wheels cocked absurdly up on the bank, as though she were doing her best to bolt to earth, and were scraping herself a burrow beneath the drifted snow . . . right and left, before and behind, the fen lay shrouded. It was past four o’clock and New Year’s Eve; the snow that had fallen all day gave back a glimmering greyness to a sky like lead.

Now I had an intersection. My story of interrupted leave at Seaton Manor also hinged upon treacherous waters. My (first) murder victim was also found in a totally unexpected location, as was the dead gent in The Nine Tailors. Also, I was but a short distance not only from the setting of The Nine Tailors but the home turf of Dorothy L Sayers herself.

Sayers grew up in Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire, right on the edge of the Fens. From 1917 to 1928, her father was the rector at Christchurch, a tiny Fenland village with a notable Victorian church. Here, she would have become familiar with bell ringing, which forms such an important part of the plot for The Nine Tailors. She also would have understood the danger to people living in the Fens from the power of water and tides. The area is kept dry by a series of sluices and floodgates which, on the occasion of heavy rains and high tide, can overflow and wreak havoc.

I already had my own story to tell about treacherous waters and shifting tides. I’d long been fascinated by the Maid of Harlech, which is how locals in Wales refer to an American P-38 Lightning fighter plane that crash-landed just off the coast in 1942. It was only in 2007 that shifting sands and changing tides revealed it, half-buried in the mud. But the sea routinely reclaims it, only to have it appear months later.

With Seaton Manor already established on the east coast, using the Maid of Harlech was out. But I did construct a plot about a German bomber that crash-landed in Norfolk and skidded off a cliff into the Wash, only to have the intense tides reveal it two years later, during Billy’s leave, along with its mysterious cargo. Just as the Thirty-Foot Drain played a key role in The Nine Tailors, so do the tides in Proud Sorrows. I could not resist inserting mention of that drain in reference to a local man brought in to hoist the wreckage out of the water. He comes to the task fresh from dredging the Thirty-Foot Drain.

So, I had my intersection with Dorothy L Sayers. Thin, but enough for me. The Fens, the Wash, high waters, and a dead body in the same general vicinity as the corpse in The Nine Tailors. Subtle, but satisfying. What more could I ask for?

As it happens, one Ian Carmichael. My research turned up the fact that the actor who would portray Lord Peter Wimsey on the BBC from 1972 to 1975 had been an officer in the Royal Armoured Corps during WWII. Carmichael served with the 22nd Dragoons, landing on Juno Beach on D-Day and serving in battles across France, Holland, and Germany.

The 22nd Dragoons was no ordinary unit. They were equipped with specialized Sherman Crab flail tanks. These tanks were modified with heavy chains ending in fist-size steel balls, or flails, attached to a horizontal rotating rotor mounted on two arms in front of the vehicle. They would clear a path through a minefield by slowly driving and flogging the ground ahead of them, exploding the mines. To be effective, the tanks had to drive at no more than one and a half miles per hour, often in the face of enemy fire. That was how Captain Ian Carmichael spent his war.

With that intriguing bit of history tucked up my sleeve, I bring Carmichael onstage. Since the village of Slewford played host to an exclusive POW compound for high-ranking German officers, Captain Carmichael is brought in from the Continent to interrogate a prisoner about German defenses the Dragoons is facing in Holland. He encounters Billy and assists with his investigation, providing yet another Lord Peter intersection.

It would be thirty more years before Carmichael would play Lord Peter, on both radio and television programs. But in 1944, he was close to the age Wimsey is at the time of the novels. I had to work at not letting him slip into the aristocratic patter of Lord Peter, reminding myself that Carmichael was an aspiring actor from northern England, the son of an optician, not the Duke of Denver.

For those fans of Dorothy L Sayers who prefer Edward Petherbridge as their Wimsey (he starred in several BBC productions during the 1980s), I can only report that he was a mere eight years old in 1944, far too young to have any role in investigating the murders in Slewford.

***

James R. Benn

James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle mystery series, set during the Second World War. He has been nominated for the Dilys, Sue Feder Historical Mystery, and Barry awards, long-listed for the 2015 Dublin IMPAC Literary Award, and was awarded the 2018 Al Blanchard Short Story Award. His forthcoming book, Road of Bones, is the 16th in the Billy Boyle series.

Dorothy L. Sayers and the Thirty-Foot Drain: Searching for Lord Peter Wimsey

[draggeddowntothedark]

The kingdom... of Xandora?

If Jules wasn't so sore, he'd assume he was in a dream, one set in one of those fairytales he so often loved to tell. A court mage, a king that resembled... some kind of demon, Jules supposed? He wasn't really an expert, but Alexander's scent was closer to demons that he'd met than not.

Lord Alexander. Quite a chance encounter, meeting real royalty.

"Your majesty." Jules took off his hat and placed it to his chest. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm sure. Name's Jules Seaton, just Jules for short, good sirs. I'd never turn down a cuppa, especially from an understanding host since I dropped in uninvited." He bowed, only placing his hat back on his head once he was standing up... mostly straight again.

The ghoul's iridescent eyes took on a brighter gleam, just a bit. He did enjoy a good cup of tea. He limped towards the table, grimacing as his knee complained loudly... and then came problem two.

"Erm, I think I'm a bit small for the chair. I can stand, of course, I just hope you won't consider me rude for not sitting with you."

Alexander lifts his bejeweled chin hastily, indignantly, steam wafting from his nostrils. He was honestly startled but would not disclose the fact. He managed to calm down quickly and run his talons through his mane as Cromwell gave him a pat on the knee and casually approached Jules.

He had reached out a paw to help but the man had already recovered his cane and helped himself. Cromwell then bowed slightly.

“You’ll have to forgive his majesty, he can get rather aggressive at sudden appearances-“

“WITH GOOD REASON-“

“Yes sire, allow me to handle this, no need for theatrics. I don’t think this gentlemen meant to intrude.” He reassured. It was such a wonderful day and he was doing all that he could to keep the peace, for once.

“It’s quite alright, we’re used to this kind of thing by now. You’re in the Kingdom of Xandora. I’m Cromwell, royal court mage to my King, Lord Alexander.” He gestured over towards the massive monarch.

Alexander huffs a plume of smoke and leers down at the small man, but is tame otherwise.

“Well, since you've interrupted the tea party you might as well join. And we’ll figure out how to get you back home.” He drawled.

[realcatalina]

Catherine Parr’s depictions-part 1: large portraits

Since I’ve been unexpectedly digging in Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleves’s portraits, I’ve decided that I might just as well do same with Catherine Parr.

The uncertainity lies mainly with her miniatures(which will be in part 3). But before we look at them, we must take closer look at portraits of hers, to establish her basic features. How her features truly looked and then look at the disputed portraits.

For this I will be using mainly larger scale portraits of her. They are either full-lenght or half-lenght portraits. By the way,since 5′10′’ was lenght of her coffin, it stands to reason that she was shorter than that.

What portraits won’t show you is that her hair was probably between strawberry blond and light red, as hair taken from her tomb suggest.

One lock(and some portraits) suggest it was darker(and more red) around roots and possibly lighter lower towards ends:

The platinum blond lock is definitely fake.

Queen Katherine Parr, copy done in 1908 by William George Tennick, Kendal Town Hall, UK: 

Link:https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/queen-katherine-parr-143164/view_as/grid/search/keyword:katherine-parr-959651/page/1

There are several versions of Catherine Parr’s portrait as widow. All of them copies. Imo all of them are mislabelled. Supposedly they are after Hans Holbein the Younger. Yet they Catherine Parr as widow to Henry VIII(hence in 1547/8). Holbein died in 1543!!!  So either wrong painter, or wrong dating or both! Imo, both. 

Because even from copies, you can tell that the style of some strongly suggest we are not looking at Holbein’s workshop but rather at work of Ambrosius Bensen.

Benson’s portrait lady Stafford is on left. Catherine Parr’ on right adn it is so grossly misdated it makes me wish to cry! 

Supposedly Parr is c.1547/1548, while Stafford is c.1535(imo it is at earliest late 1530s, not mid). No way these are 10+ years apart! Not a chance! These might not even be 2 years apart. But why do I think that? Fashion!

Width of chest, is something Benson tended to overexagerate.  The style of mourning headwear, also points towards 1530s, rather than than 1550s.

The style of folded undersleeves of Stafford is also style which would fit 1538-1543, imo closer to 1538. The most important detail here is the waist-line. It’s horizontal. It’s max early 1540s.  Benson was absent from home (presumably due to work) in between 1539-1543. Perhaps he was in England!

My conclusion? It cannot be Catherine Parr as widow to Henry VIII, but as widow to baron Latimer. And that gives us the most accurate dating you could ask for! Between 2nd March and 12 July 1543. (Between death of lord Latimer and wedding to Henry VIII.) Rarely we have dating this precise. 

Such dating could bring Holbein back as possible maker, but the style imo is not his workshop.

However the painting could be misidentified and not be Catherine Parr at all! Yes, it has features very alike Parr, but that could be the reason why this could then be misidentified as Parr. However this is french-styling of necklace, and suggest that sitter is french. I cannot disprove that possibility. Imo, we cannot be certain this is indeed Parr.

Catherine Parr, 17th century copy after Master John(imo after Scrots), National Trust Collection, , Seaton Delaval Hall, UK:

Tbh for copy it is very well done. I have actually thought it was original. NTC calls it the Seaton Delaval portrait(because it is there now), but some webpages refer to it as Hastings portrait or Melton Constable(Hall), probably refering to painting’s past location and owners.

This copy shows vividly red hair(which might have not been on original) and curled up(shortlived fashion). Eyes seem grey or hazel to me, but the discoloured varnish may be playing tricks on us.

Link: https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1276906

Catherine Parr, the Jersey Portrait(Private Collection?):

I tried to find more information about it, but these two webpages were basically only sources of information-and I cannot confirm accuracy of either:

 https://tudorqueen6.com/2012/12/12/queen-katherine-parr-the-jersey-portrait/

https://ladyjanegreyrevisited.com/2019/04/01/the-stowe-house-portraits/

 Basically it is in private collection, was concluded to be Catherine Parr and it is 16th century work(but that can still mean it is a copy). Unfortunately these are  the best quality pictures in colour that we have:

This one is probably the best:

And to me this one certainly strikes closer to golden strawbery blond than to red, but it can be due to poor quality of picture and due to discoloration of varnish.

Seaton Delaval and Jersey portrait are almost exactly the same, except colour of overgown and cuffs being in blackwork in Jersey portrait. Even the pillar behind them is in exact same spot. It’s possible they were not ment to be two separate portraits, but rather that one is copy of the other. But not necessarly. Sometimes royals had multiple very similiar portraits made.

Catherine Parr by unknown artist, late 16th century, National Portrait Gallery:

Link:

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01147/Katherine-Parr?LinkID=mp00803&search=sas&sText=parr&OConly=true&role=sit&rNo=1

In closeup her eyes look grey, possibly hazel(grey-brown) and her hair look red, or reddish brown.

I found some webpages refering to this painting as original done in her lifetime atributed to Scrot. But National portrait Gallery which owns it clearly disagrees. It could be done after original by Scrot, but they don’t even mention that on their webpage. Though tbh I think their webpage could do with some improvements.

National Trust Collection( Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, UK to be exact) has another version of this portrait, 18th century copy. Link:

https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/515505

It’s too dark to have conclusive say about eye and hair colour.

The differences with previous version are negligeable-mainly the collar is different and the parlet is in blackwork’with different pattern and its edge is firmer, but today I am not trying to do lineup of Catherine Parr’s portraits. (Unless you’d want me to.)

Catherine Parr by Master John(it is an original!), National Portrait Gallery, UK:

Link:https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01957/Katherine-Parr?LinkID=mp07168&role=art&rNo=1

The webpage includes videos about its restoration-where they refer to incredible Azurite pigment used for the background. They are talking about real ultramarine(just different name for it).  That alone be expensive as hell, especially given this is full-lenght portrait. But there is also gold-leaf, silver-leaf, fluorite, lots of very expensive materials were used to make it. And the materials alone are enough to conclude sitter is royalty and certainly had more than 9 days to be painted.

Link to conservation findings it:   https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitConservation/mw01957/Katherine-Parr

If we look at closeup in colour-sitter had very fair skin, the eyes are grey, the hair seems as light golden brown, but strawberry blond or light red hair can create such ilusion:

Nose appears to be flat and oddly shaped. Normally I’d say that is due to pigment instability. However I have dived deep into conservation findings upon the painting and now I am not certain about the cause, but it is an issue.

NPG notes  that ‘the underdrawing is extensive and complex to decipher. The style of the drawing is free and sketchy, only very loosely delineating some of the form and structure of the figure, such as the sleeves. This type of underdrawing, is in direct contrast to the underdrawing found in Mary I (also attributed to Master John) where the key elements of the composition are carefully transferred through a pounced technique.’

Master John didn’t take such care with underdrawing of Parr’s portrait, as he did with Mary’s. Perhaps Mary wanted to sit for it just once or had better idea how she wanted to be portrayed. Parr’s portrait vs underdrawing shows that final design was improved upon. It was changed a lot. They know this due to x-ray and infra-red analysis(bellow):

Most important changes to the face include:

- the eyes moved slightly to the right,  - hairline has be re-positioned and was originally slightly lower - nostril has been re-positioned

These changes are big problem, because this is the only original painting of Parr and we cannot trust these features 100%. 

However fear not! Under infra-red light(in middle bellow), it is obvious the face looked very alike to majority of the paintings:

And it is not that different under normal light as well. 

Bigger closeup so you can see it properly. This is Catherine Parr’s face:

It is. But before  I dive deep into what shape of nose she actually had I want to show you how easy would it be for me to say it might not be her (Mary I on right by same artist): 

Spoiler alert-it’s not Mary, they just looked more alike then you’d think.

The identification of sitter as royal is no doubt correct. The materials and jewelry certainly are conclusive on that. But assuming that jewel worn by Catherine Howard was then part of collection of Queen’s jewels worn solely by Queens, is very wrong! There are portraits of Mary and Elizabeth in jewelry worn by Queens. Hence Mary should have been included as possible sitter and I am susprised it is not mentioned anywhere that at some point they excluded her.

HOWEVER, some painters had tendency to paint anybody in such similiar way, you cannot tell them appart that well. That could have been case with master John. Both women had similiar colouring and perhaps more similiar features than you’d think, but they didn’t have same height. 

Catherine Parr was not 5′10′’-that was lenght of her coffin! She’d be much smaller, but she wasn’t short for sure(she was probably higher average), unlike Mary who was notably short! If you compare not just face-but lenght of torso and overall shape of figure, you’re realise it it is not same woman.

However if you compared just infra-red photo of face of Parr, you could easily come to wrong conclusion. I had initial bout of panic, seeing the very similiar face! Then I did my due diligence.

Catherine Parr’s portrait is photographed bit under an angle(I couldn’t find close up which wouldn’t be), however this is properly scaled down to aproximately same size of torso. Even though if you might scream that no-lady in silver dress obviously has longer torso, and I should have scaled it differently.

What you’re not taking into account is different shape of stays. I could elaborate, but long story short check where girdles disappear to the back(front changed, backside didn’t), andn where armits are. Aproximately at same level. Just women with different height, figure and shape of stays.

So imo, it’s Parr. The identification is correct. However, there might have been much bigger similiarities in facial features of Mary and Parr, and we have to take that into account in the future. It will make identifying some portraits more difficult.

Another difficulty is that we can’t tell the exact shape of nose from neither form of painting. 

I have attempted do a ‘nosejob’ upon the infra red photo, using app similiar to photoshop and retouching tool. But I never quite got it correct, so I am nof going to show you even. I thought she was looking more to front, but then there was never enough space for alla on right side, so the nose was more to side and towards left from our POV, just like Mary’s was. It’s exact  shape remains mystery to me.

Problem is the underdrawing truly is complex:

I give up. I don’t know what her nose was like. Although if you ask me, then the other painting NPG has of Parr, is imo the closest match in all features:

So perhaps that shape of nose is also very similiar to Parr’s real features. However, it might just be the case that this particular feature(nose) the artist screwed up.

Sadly, the marble effigy of Parr(the sculpture on her tomb) is not original and we cannot use it to decide this matter.

I don’t think we will be ever able to get 100% conclusive idea about the true shape of her the nose. Which is disapointing, however I believe that the nose was at least level if not pointed slightly upward. The undersketch of this original painting supports my theory. Even though due to flatness issue the nose under normal light seems to be against that(misleading us).

It’s never prominently low hanging nosetip with Parr in all copies of her portraits either(those that public agree upon). Except in one! 

I have for long suspected one painting to not be Parr, firstly solely due to hair colour. But after I found out her hair could have been strawberry blond, I let it go, telling myself the painter simply did mistake. It happens all the time! Especially in copies which this painting is. 

So I dismissed it. I can’t do that anymore. I cannot unsee it now. As always, be polite in the comments or reblogging, even if you disagree with me. And yeah, I can see the text labelling it as Catherine, Queen of Henry VIII. But it might NOT be original! Most labels aren’t! They are later add-ons. Don’t trust them-period! Or it could have been misidentified before the copy was made even!

Painting of the English school after a lost portrait by Hans Eworth from c.1548:

Here is why I can’t let this be. The issue is these particular shape of brows and this shape of nose are nearly exact match for features of Anne of Cleves:

Read my previous posts, to see why I believe Toledo portrait is her.

Just the brows are bit higher that they are supposed to be.

Since Anne’s eyes were hazel(brown-grey)-based upon portraits and her hair golden(strawberry blond) according to period reports(it just darkened in Holbein’s portraits), I have to conclude-it is could Anne of Cleves instead.

Imo it is. The features are truly great match to Anne.

(They are fairly good match to Parr too. As I say, Henry had a type!)

This is for me bitter pillow to swallow. Not only because I used it in my lady Jane Grey vs Catherine Parr’s post but because it brings to question the assumption that that pearl necklace is unique part of jewels of Queens of England. 

Such necklace would not be worn solely by Queen of England. I was wrong to assume otherwise and I admit that now. 

Now how do I fix my mistake? I have to redo the post with lady Jane Grey and gather all portraits with pearl necklaces of this style and compare them against Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Because on one hand, yeah Anne of Cleves wearing it could suggest  that perhaps such necklace was more popular than we thought and some noblewomen could have it.

On other hand it could suggest that royal women at the time had such necklaces, and perhaps they were unique to members of royalty only.

 After all Anne had royal status(King’s sister). Hence comparing to 4 royals.

That will be part 2 (nope, decided on separate posts) and I am not looking foward to it, because some of Parr’s depictions shows small rounded nostrils, others prolonged ones. For that reason alone it will be difficult. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed it.