Striving for a world transformed by justice and peace - a TL from 1827

[pipisme]

After the birth of Bronwen, Carwen felt that Eluned no longer loved him, and that she lavished all her love on their daughter. She refused to let him have sexual intercourse with her, though they slept together. To relieve sexual tension he masturbated, which Eluned told him was disgusting and sinful. On Saturday night, 24 October 1885, Carwen forced himself on Eluned, while she kept on telling him to stop. When he had finished, she looked at him and said
'You've hurt me. You've just raped me.'

'I've not raped you. There is no such thing as rape in marriage. You are my wife and I can fuck you whenever I want.' He told her.

' Though rape in marriage is not a crime, it is still wrong. What you just did to me is no different from what those men did to your Ma and to Nia and Rhiannon, back in 1866. And please don't use that word again.'

'What word?'

'The 'f' word.'

'I'm sorry for hurting you, darling.'

'Your apology is accepted. But you must never do that again.'

'I promise I won't.'

'I have done wrong in refusing you your conjugal right. It was selfish of me. I'm sorry. I will let you shag me on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights, except when it's my monthlies. [1] I love you and I want Bronwen to have brothers and sisters. Remember TTS. Time to shag.'

[1] That is when she is having her periods.

 

[pipisme]

Carwen, Eluned and Bronwen lived in a mid terrace house which had a rectangular garden, thirty yards long and ten yards wide. It faced south. There was a lawn with flower beds on two sides, and a vegetable patch and an apple tree by the back fence. The side nearest the house was paved. The previous tenants had neglected the garden, but Eluned and Carwen had made it attractive. The flowers were roses, wallflowers, honeysuckle, summer jasmine, polyanthus and irises. They had a 10-inch-cutter lawn mower. Bronwen loved playing on the lawn when the weather was fine.

Eluned wanted to be a freelance gardener/garden designer when her children went to school. She was determined to have only four children, preferably two boys and two girls.

 

[pipisme]

The Rape in Marriage (Criminalisation) Act 1885 became law in December 1885. It made the rape of wives by their husbands a criminal offence, subject to the same penalties as other rapes. The bill criminalising marital rape had passed through the House of Commons in the 1883-84 and 1884-85 sessions of Parliament, but had beem rejected by the House of Lords. Because it had been rejected by the Lords twice, it automatically became law the third time it passed through the Commons, under the provisions of the Parliament Act 1860.

 

[pipisme]

The colonial policy of Commonwealth Party governments from 1870, was that British colonies would advance at a steady pace, determined by their own particular circumstances, to independence within the British Empire. Only in 'exceptional circumstances' would new colonies be added to the Empire.

In 1871 a treaty of friendship was signed between the United Kingdom and the kingdom of Punjab, guaranteeing its independence. The Indian Councils Act 1885 increased the powers of the provincial councils, made them wholly elected, and gave membership to Indians. In February 1886, a treaty was signed between the UK and the Burmese Empire, which guaranteed the independence of Burma. In fact it was only Upper Burma. (1) The rest of Burma had been annexed by Britain at various times before 1870.

The Suez Canal was opened to shipping in 1869, as in OTL. However, unlike in OTL the British government did not purchase shares in the canal.

The Conservative Party strongly opposed the imperial policies of Commonwealth governments. They wanted the British Empire to expand. The Liberal Party was divided between a minority of ' Little Englanders' and a majority of imperialists. Their leader, Sir Charles Dilke, was an imperialist.

(1) It was northern and eastern Burma, See this map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Myanmar#/media/File:Burma_indo_china_1886.jpg. It was those areas not coloured pink which were part of the British Empire.

 

[pipisme]

In 1875 Napoleon IV, the Emperor of France, purchased 51% of the shares in the Suez Canal Company from Ismail Pasha, khedive (viceroy) of Egypt, to pay for his debts. In 1877 Pasha appointed Jean Auguste Margueritte, a French general as Governor General of Sudan. (1). In 1879 the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II deposed Ismail in favour of his son, Tewfik Pasha (as he did in OTL).

In 1881 Muhammad Ahmad declared himself the Mahdi and led an Islamic uprising in Sudan with the aim of overthrowing Egyptian rule. (2) A Franco-Egyptian army invaded Sudan from Egypt. After two years fighting, in October 1883 the Mahdists were decisively defeated at the battle of Atbara, north-east of Khartoum, in which the Ma6hdi was killed. (3) As the price of French military aid, Napoleon insisted that Sudan become a French colony. In 1883 after the battle of Atbara, Abdul Hamid II ceded Sudan to France. Egypt was still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, but was in effect a French protectorate.

(1) Margueritte was born on 18 January 1823. In OTL he was mortally wounded at the battle of Sedan in 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War.

(2) For the Mahdi see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi.

(3) For Atbara see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atbara.

 

[pipisme]

The Empress Gisela Louise Marie, the wife of Napoleon IV, gave birth to eight children, four sons and four daughters, between September 1873 and January 1886. Their names and dates of birth were as follows:
Therese - 17 September 1873
Marie - 21 January 1875
Napoleon - 29 August 1876
Philippe: 12 June 1878
Henri: 24 September 1880
Josephine: 19 July 1882
Charles: 17 March 1884
Louise: 15 January 1886.

 

[pipisme]

The Commonwealth Party conference met in Lincoln in the first week of October 1885. The city was chosen because it was a marginal Commonwealth constituency with a majority of only 152 over Conservative. It had been held by the party since the October 1874 general election. It was the first time the party had met in the city.

The conference venue, the hotels and guest houses where government ministers, Commonwealth MPs and other conference delegates were staying, were thorougly searched for bombs planted by the Ulster Volunteers (UV). Also other places where there could possibly be bombs. None were found. Everyone entering the conference was searched.

62% of the conference delegates were men and 38% were women. This was a significantly higher percentage of women than at the conferemces of the other political parties. In his speech to conference the Prime Minister, Robert Applegarth, said that a Commonwealth government would never negotiate with the murderers and terrorists of thr UV, and they would be defeated.

 

[pipisme]

Tsar Alexander II of Russia was not assassinated in 1881, unlike in OTL. He died from natural causes in 1883, and was succeeded by his son Alexander III.

When Francis II became King of the Two Sicilies on 22 May 1859 he appointed Carlo Filangieri as Prime Minister. (1) In 1860 he promulgated a constitution under which he became a constitutional monarch. In 1864 the name of the country was changed to the Kingdom of Southern Italy and Sicily.

Under successive governments the agriculture, railways, roads, and ports of Southern Italy and Sicily were developed and built. Also existing industries were developed and new industries established. However it was still the poorest part of Italy.

(1) For Filangieri see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Filangieri.

 

[pipisme]

On Monday 15 March 1886, the Prime Minister, Robert Applegarth, announced in the House of Commons that a general election would take place on Saturday 17 April. Parliament would be dissolved on 19 March and nominations close on 7 April. Parliament would assemble on Tuesday 4 May. Because Easter Sunday was 25 April, 17 April was chosen as polling day. Elections were held on Saturdays.

The most important issue was the war in Ireland. Shootings and bombings by the Ulster Volunteers (UV) were still taking place, mostly in Ireland, but also in Britain. The government's policy was no surrender to the UV and no negotiations with them. The policy of the Conservative and Liberal parties was the removal of five counties in the north of Ireland, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Londonderry, and Tyrone, and the cities of Derry and Newry, from the jurisdiction of the Irish government and parliament. The rest of Ireland would keep its own government and parliament within the United Kingdom.

The Commonwealth Party condemned the Irish policy of the opposition parties as surrender to murder and terrorism, and a betrayal of those killed, injured and bereaved by the UV. Those parties defended the policy as the only way to end the war and save lives.

 

[pipisme]

There were other issues in the election. The Commonwealth Party manifesto promised legislation to establish a national telephone service in Britain and Ireland. It would be a co-operative with one-third owed by the government, one third by the workers, and one-third by users. Coal mining and the railways in Britain would be brought into public ownership on the same model as the telephone service. In Ireland these industries were the responsibility of the Irish government. The manifesto also pledged an increase in the living wage, the Mothers Allowance and other welfare benefits.

The Conservative manifesto stated that a Conservative government would freeze the living wage and the Mothers Allowance, which it would limit to a maximum of four legitimate children. The mothers of illegitimate children would not receive the allowance. Also income tax, surtax and estate duty would be 'significantly reduced'.

(1) See post #1739 on page 87.

 

[pipisme]

Because of the danger of attacks by the Ulster Volunteers (UV), Commonwealth Party constituency party offices had been closed for two years. On 16 March 1886, the General Secretary of the Commonwealth Party wrote to all constituency party secretaries telling them to keep their party offices closed because of threats by the UV. However meetings could continue to take place in members' houses.

In the morning of Sunday 28 March, Joseph Chamberlain, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Health and Local Government Board, was shot several times by UV gunmen, as he was walking from his home in Birmingham to the local Unitarian church. He died instantly from his wounds. Chamberlain was a forthright opponent of the UV. Passers by arranged for his body to be taken away.

By 7 April 1886, in 39 Commonwealth/Conservative marginals and 18 Commonwealth/Liberal marginals, a pact had been made by the Conservative and Liberal parties that they would not compete against each other in those constituencies. One of them was Swansea where Angharad Griffiths had a majority of 1.6% against Liberal in a straight fight in the 1882 general election. In the 1886 election her only opponent was the Liberal candidate.

 

[pipisme]

In the morning of Saturday 3 April 1886, three Ulster Volunteer (UV) gunmen broke down the front door of the terrace house in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool. the home of Sarah Taylor, the President of the Health and Local Government Board. A meeting o f the Liverpool Kirkdale constituency Commonwealth Party was taking place in the living room.

Twenty-five people were in the large room, sitting on chairs and sofas. Taylor was sitting on a chair in front of the window, facing the room. The gunmen shot indiscriminately at the people in the room. They killed three men and two women, and injured nine people. Taylor was shot in her chest, below her right shoulder. She collapsed bleeding and in pain. Meanwhile, her cook, Mrs Catherine Morgan, 38 years old, having heard all the noise, rushed into the room and hit one of the gunmen on the back of his head. He fell down on the floor.

 

[pipisme]

Then four Commonwealth Party men, who were there, grabbed hold of the two UV gunmen and disarmed them. Catherine Morgan found some rope and the Commonwealth party men tied the gunmen to chairs. While ambulances and the police were being fetched, Mrs Morgan bound the wounds of the injured, including Sarah Taylor, with bandages. When ambulances and police arrived, the injured were taken to hospital, and the gunmen were charged for murder and attempted murder, and arrested. They were remanded in custody in Liverpool prison, to be tried at a later date, Sarah Taylor was in hospital in Liverpool for five days until Thursday 8 April.

 

[pipisme]

Catherine Morgan was a black woman. She was born on a farm in Jamaica in March 1848. Her parents had been slaves until they were freed in 1833, when slavery in the British Empire was abolished. She married Thomas Morgan, a black sailor from Liverpool, in June 1868 when she was twenty years old, and he was twenty- three years old. They had met when his ship was in port in Kingston, Jamaica. She wad working in a bar in Kingston.

They had six children., four daughters and two sons. In April 1886 their daughters were aged 14, 11. 8, and 5; and their sons were aged 16 and 3. Thomas was drowned when his ship sank in a shipwreck in September 1884. Catherine became Sarah Taylor's cook in April 1885. She loved cooking and was a highly skilled cook. She incorporated dishes from her native Jamaica into her cooking. She was an attractive, well built woman. She was a member of the Commonwealth Party and of the Commonwealth Women's Fellowship.

Catherine visited Sarah in Liverpool hospital on 5 April 1886. Sarah thanked her profusely and asked her what she would like. Catherine told her that she wanted to
write a cookery book. Sarah told her that she would arrange for a publisher and all the other help Catherine might need.

 

[pipisme]

The Commonwealth Party head office in London, and the Irish National Party head office were each guarded by two armed police men. Only people with passes were allowed in. That were party members and authorised visitors. In the morning of Wednesday 7 April 1886, eight armed Ulster Volunteer (UV) gunmen approached each bullding. After a gun battle they killed the four police guards, although one of the UVs was killed. The gunmen entered the buildings, shooting at everyone they saw and throwing bombs. They killed 20 people, 11 women and 9 men, and injured 69 people in the Commonwealth Party head office. They killed 11 people, 7 men and 4 women, and injured 55 people in the Irish National Party head office.

Files and other paperwork were also destroyed, and both buildings were made unusable. Although the Commonwealth and Irish National parties found temporary alternative offices, their ability to fight the general election was significantly damaged.

John Corry, in effect the Conservative shadow Irish Secretary, and MP for Belfast East in the previous parliament and Conservative candidate for the constituency, gave a speech at a public meeting in Belfast on the evening of the same day. He said that the Conservative Party supported the aim of the Ulster Volunteers in wanting to free Northern Ireland from Dublin rule. To that extent they were allies. Their cause was just. Although he condemned their methods. In reply to a question , he said that he regretted the deaths and injuries resulting from the attacks on the head offices of the Commonwealth and Irish National parties. But such attacks would not have happened under a Conservative government committed to negotiate with the UV.

 

[pipisme]

At a speech in London on Thursday 8 April 1886, Stafford Northcote, the leader of the Conservative Party, said that if his party did not have an overall majority in the House of Commons after the general election, he would invite the Liberal Party to join the Conservative Party in a coalition government, if by doing so both parties would have a majority.

In Swansea, Benjamin Thomas Williams, the Liberal candidate in the 1882 candidate, was now the Liberal candidate for a Liberal held seat in Wales. The new Liberal candidate was Frank Ash Yeo. (1) He was a colliery owner in Swansea, a director of the Swansea Bank and the Swansea Blast Furnace Company. In 1878 he became Chairman of Swansea Harbour Trust. He lived in Sketty Hall in Swansea.

Because Angharad Griffiths was defending a Commonwealth Party majority of only 1.6%, she put all her heart and soul into her re-election campaign. Her family, her partner, Helen Price, and her other friends, all helped with her campaign.

(1) For Yeo see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ash_Yeo.

 

[pipisme]

At a public meeting in Manchester on Friday 9 April, the leader of the Liberal Party, Sir Charles Dilke, said that while he wanted a Liberal victory in the general election, he would look favourably on any offer by Stafford Northcote to enter into a coalition with the Conservative Party. The most important issue was the war in Ireland, and the re-election of the Commonwealth government with its intransigent attitude to negotiations with the Ulster Volunteers (UV) would not end the war and bring peace. Also it was time for a government of a different party or parties after fifteen years of Commonwealth Party rule.

Because Swansea was a marginal constituency it was visited by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers, and by Dilke and leading Liberals. Sarah Taylor spoke at a packed public meeting in a hall in the constituency in the evening of Wednesday 14 April. She said that UV gunmen, had murdered many hundreds of people, and twice tried to murder her. The UV were friends of the Tories. The Liberals were puppets of the Tories. She paid tribute to the nurses and doctors in Liverpool hospital who had treated her.

Taylor attacked the Conservative proposal to limit payment of the Mothers Allowance to mothers of no more than four children, and exclude children born out of wedlock, as a vicious and inhuman attack on women and children. She asked women who were receiving the allowance for more than four children to raise their hands. Several did. Also the Tory policy not to raise the allowance and the living wage in line with inflation, meant that they would lose their values. She said that a vote for Frank Yeo, the Liberal candidate, was a vote for the Tories and Tory policies.

 

[pipisme]

Polling day was Saturday 17 April 1886. The hours of voting were 7am to 10pm. There was heavy security at polling stations because of fear of attacks by the Ulster Volunteers. However there were no incidents. Angharad Griffiths toured polling stations in Swansea encouraging Commonwealth Party workers.

There was communication by telegraph between party HQs and party workers at counts in city constituencies. As the results came in they showed that in its safe seats the Commonwealth was holding or increasing its majorities, but losing marginal seats to the Tories and to the Liberals.

The Swansea result was declared at 1.46 am on 18 April. Angharad was at the count with Helen, John and Rhiannon, Nia and Tom, Megan and Esther, Caitlin and Stephen, Siobhan and Martin, Sean O'Brien, and her friend Margaret Roberts. The returning officer read out the votes received by each candidate in alphabetical order. First Griffiths then Yeo, and ended by saying "I hereby declare that the said Angharad Griffiths is duly elected to serve as member of parliament for the Swansea constituency" Angharad hugged Helen, and her family and friends, and Commonwealth Party workers gave loud and prolonged cheers. The percentage votes
for each candidate were as follows (1882 general election):
Angharad Griffiths (Commonwealth): 51.4 (50.8)
Frank Ash Yeo (Liberal): 48.6 (49.2)
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Commonwealth majority: 2.8 (1.6)
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There was a swing of 0.6% from Liberal to Commonwealth.

When all the results had been declared the number of MPs elected for each party were as follows:
Conservative: 270 (243)
Commonwealth: 264 (296)
Liberal: 68 (60)
Irish Nationalist: 43 (47)
Irish Conservative: 4 (3)
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Total: 649 (649)
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[pipisme]

The percentage votes for each party in the general election were as follows (1882 general election):
Commonwealth: 37.6 (41.2)
Conservative: 36.9 (35.4)
Liberal: 20.3 (19.2)
Irish Nationalist: 4.7 (3.7)
Others: 0.5 (0.5)
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Total: 100.0 (100.0)
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The swing from Commonwealth to Conservative was 2.55%. The turnout was 81.2% (82.5%). The Commonwealth Party won the most votes but lost the election, because they piled up votes in their safe seats.

The Conservatives gained 20 seats from Commonwealth, six seats from Liberal and two from Irish Nationalist. Commonwealth gained one seat from Conservative, and one seat from Irish Nationalist. The Liberals gained 14 seats from Commonwealth. Irish Conservative gained one seat from Irish Nationalist.

 

[pipisme]

The Conservative gains from Commonwealth in the general election were as follows: Birmingham Bordesley, Carlisle, Dartford, Devonport North, Enfield, Glamorgan South, Gloucester, Greenwich, Ipswich West, Lanarkshire South, Lichfield, Lincoln, Loughborough, Northampton North- East, Peterborough, Reading, St. Pancras West, Southampton West, Worcestershire North, York North.

The Conservatives gained the following seats from Liberal: Chippenham, Edinburgh West, Louth, Radnorshire, Wells, Wisbech. The Commonwealth Party vote went up in these seats. The Conservative gains from Irish National were Down East, and Fermanagh North. Commonwealth took Liverpool Edge Hill from Conservative, and County Dublin North from Irish National. . The Irish Conservatives took County Dublin South from Irish National.

The Liberal gains from Commonwealth were as follows: Bosworth, Camberwell North, Cleveland, Flintshire, Hackney Central, Heywood, Leeds West, Luton, Northamptonshire North, Norwich North, Nuneaton, Plymouth East, South Shields, Spen Valley. In all these constituencies there were straight fights between Commonwealth and Liberal, in accordance with the Conservative / Liberal pact made pn 7 April