126 years ago, humanity faced the greatest threat to its existence with the Martian invasion. Recreated through the diaries and newspapers of the time, and with the assistance of H.G. Well’s seminal work (‘The War of the Worlds’), ‘The War of the Worlds – In Real Time’ (@1897WotW) will tell the story of what really happened during that crucial month when the Earth stood on the precipice, and civilization teetered on the edge of extinction. Welcome to HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds in Real Time. A fictionalised docudrama by: Michael Cnudde, Andrew J. Harvey, Leonie Rogers,
A police liason with the recently arrived military forces recalled turning back the Woking Fire Brigade's new 3 horse tender, which had responded to requests from the owners of the Byfleet Golf Links who were concerned at the possibility of fire threating their facilities. The Constable's actions in turning the five men back undoubtedly saved their lives, and the future of the Woking FC, with whom all 5 men played. The club had only been formed in 1887, and had joined the West Surrey League in 1895–96, winning the title by one point.
At the start of the 18th century, Tilbury Fort was one of the most powerful forts in Britain. However, by 1889, Tilbury Fort’s bastion design had become out-dated. The government considered the defences further down the Thames to be sufficient and Tilbury was therefore not improved. By 1889 Tilbury was largely redundant as a defensive fortification, although it was still in use as a strategic depot. Tilbury Fort served as a mobilisation centre to support a mobile strike force in the event of an invasion, part of the wider London Defence Scheme, and large storage buildings were accordingly added to
In 1899, Well's published the first edition of The War of the Worlds via a series of serials in the USA. The American publisher included Goble’s illustrations. In the second and subsequent editions (Book II, Chapter 2) in the middle of dealing with a planet blasted by alien war, Wells takes some time to give a bitchy critique of the war reporter’s illustrations: I recall particularly the illustration of one of the first pamphlets to give a consecutive account of the war. The artist had evidently made a hasty study of one of the fighting-machines, and there his knowledge
It is suspected that the supplies Morant mentions were from the Tower of London, which at that time served as the arsenal of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Although how he managed the feat has never been explained. However, the Fusiliers had been positioned east of London to try and hold the London defences against the Martians which would have made a raid easier.
Sir J Dullanty - whose Scottish estate (Rotch Wood) abutted Balmoral, was a chemist, engineer, inventor, and philanthropist. The Dullenty family often visited when the Queen when she was in residence. The Queen in fact serving as the god-mother to his youngest son. Dullanty had a large laboratory and had often communicated with Alfred Nobel before Nobel's death in 1896. Sir J Dullanty found himself driven to invent the first gas mask against black dust, as a result of communications from his son. Initially a simple hessian sack with glass goggles, the hood placed over the head and tied
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury KG GCVO PC FRS DL (1830 – 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 3 times for a total of over 13 years, including during the Martian invasion. Lord Robert Cecil, also known as Lord Salisbury, was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854. Following the death of his father in 1868 he became the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, moving to the House of Lords. He was the last PM to serve from the House of Lords. After
Wolseley had become Commander-in-Chief of English forces in Ireland in 1890. Promoted to Field Marshal on 26 May 1894, he was appointed by the Conservative government to succeed the Duke of Cambridge as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces on 1 November 1895. Despite still recovering from a serious illness at the time of the Martian invasion, he was in Swindon as part of an inspection of the army’s preparations to defend the Gascoyne-Cecil line when the Martians launched their attack.
Despite Well's evocative descriptions of a deserted city, not everyone had left London. Some simply could not afford to, others such as the botanist Ernest Marquand could not leave because of familial responsibilities. Others remained to fight, or to support those who had stayed. Historians now estimate that of the 6.3 million who lived in Greater London before the war, 20% (1.25 million people) stayed in the city. This left 5 million refugees, of whom perhaps only 338,000 would have been able to be evacuated by sea to the continent - fleeing north.
For those remaining in London most hid, but not all. Wells' Artilleryman later claimed to have seen Regent's Street ablaze with lights, crowded with painted and ragged drunkards, men and women, dancing and shouting - even as a tripod stood sentinel near by the Langham watching, unobserved. The Martian tripod watched until dawn and then working its way down the street picked up perhaps a 100 of those too drunk or frightened to run away.
Although no photograph of Maxim's improved flying machine is known to exist, his earlier craft is pictured. Built in 1894, It was powered by two lightweight 180-horsepower steam engines, achieved forty miles per hour at launch, and flew two hundred feet before crashing. It had been believed that Maxim lost interest in flying after this failure, however, his journal makes it quite clear this was not the case. Maxim's journal records his interest in the work by Franco-American inventor Emile Lamm (1834 – 1873) who developed a “fireless steam engine” that ran on ammonia for potential use with city
It is the 10th day of Wells confinement to the collapsed house in Sheen and, after a sleepless night, once again Wells wakens to the curate praying loudly. Wells attempts to quieten him, but the curate rises to his knees, and in a voice that Wells later states must have reached the pit, cries: "I have been still too long and must now bear my witness. Woe unto this unfaithful city! Woe! to the inhabitants of the earth." Wells describes rising to his feet in a terror lest the Martians hear them. But the curate simply continues shouting,
The Martian has not returned to the scullery; but Wells has lain all this day, in the close darkness, buried among coals and firewood, not daring even to crawl out for the drink he craves.
Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 8 June 1897) was an English physician and suffragist. She was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She was the co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, the first dean of a British medical school, the first woman in Britain to be elected to a school board. If not for her death during the Martian War it is quite possible that she might have been elected mayor of Aldeburgh, her father had been mayor in 1889 and, as mayor of Aldeburgh she would have been
Slowly Wells has become aware that the light that came into the scullery is no longer grey, but red. To his disordered imagination it seems the colour of blood.
This program has for the first time been able to confirm the identity of Well's un-named artilleryman as Edward Mosley, the founder of British Fascism. Mosley, the founder of the British Union, promoted the legitimacy of political violence in his work "Reflections on Violence" (1908) and other works in which he advocated radical syndicalist action to achieve a revolution to overthrow capitalism and the bourgeoisie. In his work "The Illusions of Progress", (1910) Mosley denounced democracy as reactionary, writing "nothing is more aristocratic than democracy." During the German War, Mosley was detained under Defence Reg 18D and on his eventual release retired from public
On this day, Wells is to discover the war is over but he is not the only one, several other wanderers had already discovered this, and one man, unknown but for his message, contrived to telegraph Paris from London's GPO (pictured) at St. Martin's-le-Grand: "MARTIANS OVERTHROWN - LONDON FREED"
Wells writes that for a time it seems that ALL the shipping in the world seems London bound. While an exaggeration, our own research suggests that over the next 2 months nearly 12,000 ships, totalling 27 million tons (60% of the worlds total gross tonnage) berthed at British ports.
Interestingly, although the United Kingdoms Public Records Act 1958 stated that generally public records will become available for public inspection after 50 years, the fact that all properties belonging to the Martians were to be held in the Queen's name by @EarlRotchWood remained a secret until last year.
The Daily Mail has resumed publication, with the news that examination of the Martian mechanisms have yielded astonishing results. Among other things, the article assures readers that the 'SECRET OF FLYING DISCOVERED" - although this is later proved premature.
'Postscript & Afterwords' While bidding farewell to those who have shared their lives with us over the past month, we should remember that many of those who survived the Martian invasion would continue to suffer its consequences for the rest of their lives. Indeed, while Well's was eventually re-united with his wife, he continued to suffer, as many others did, the trauma of what they had lived through during that terrible time. The last words of his seminal work provide some insight into that: 'I must confess the stress and danger of that time have left an