Parcels and Tartan Ties

My Great Aunt, Margaret Box was a nurse with the Elsie Inglis Unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals, one of a group of indomitable women who went out to give medical help during the First World War. Margaret travelled to Salonica and Serbia with the unit, and in January 1919 she was working in the… Continue reading Parcels and Tartan Ties

The Box, Braund and Peardon Families

My main purpose in writing the family history bits of this blog was to make the treasure trove of letters and other documents I inherited more widely available. These included Letters written before and during World War One, by my Grandfather, George Edward Lines Letters and diaries written by my Great Aunt, Margaret Box from… Continue reading The Box, Braund and Peardon Families

Edith Lines and James Rae

One of my Grandfather‘s sisters, Edith, known in the family as Dee, married James Rae on the 6th of July 1916. He was a civil servant who rose to Under-secretary to the Treasury, and his papers are in the National Archives, though not digitised. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the… Continue reading Edith Lines and James Rae

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? is a book by Michael Sandel. It deals with some of the philosophical thoughts on justice, such as utilitarianism and libertarianism, and links them to real life issues (mostly American). As with my other Book Reviews, this is partly a guide to what is in the book, and… Continue reading Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?

The Vicar of Harwell

Harwell is a village in Oxfordshire, probably best know for giving its name to the airfield which became the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, now the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, and where I spent most of my career. It was, amongst other things, a pioneer in computing, the Harwell Dekatron Computer dating back… Continue reading The Vicar of Harwell

Good Economics for Hard Times

“Good Economics for Hard Times: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty” is an economics book aimed at the general reader by two MIT professors of economics who specialise in the economics of poverty, social and political equality, migration and globalization. Economics is important to be as one of the mechanisms to… Continue reading Good Economics for Hard Times

A better kitchen bin

Like many people, we have a kitchen waste bin, with a plastic cannister inside a metal outer. We use a plastic bin liner to keep the waste neatly contained. When the time comes to empty the bin, sometimes the liner is hard to remove because the liner forms a seal round the inner circumference of… Continue reading A better kitchen bin

About William Webster

My Great-Great Grandfather was William Webster (1823-1889). His daugher, Ada Webster (1861-1944) married my Great Grandfather, John Robert Box (1849-1826) in 1884 at Highgate Rise Church. Confusingly his father was also William Webster (1796-1888), and I think his Grandfather may have been also been a William Webster. Here I try to untangle the more recent… Continue reading About William Webster