Wednesday, October 16, 2013

IN THE REIGN OF KING CHARLES 1st 1625-1649

Long Live the King! (not really)

MY EAST-ENDERS - EAST OF ALDGATE


Baby boy JOHN CLARK Grt Grandfather x 11) was baptised St John of Wapping on 5th April 1629.
Baby boy George Clark was baptised at St. John's on 6th March 1632.

CONSTANT ANTI-ROMAN CATHOLIC PROPAGANDA
AND REGULAR CHURCH COLLECTIONS FOR THE PROTESANT PLANTERS IN IRELAND
INSTILLED PREJUDICE IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF LONDONERS.


THE KING'S WIFE WAS A CATHOLIC. One of the biggest participatory events in London was Guy Fawkes night to commemorate the terrorist gun-powder plot of Catholic nobles against James I and Parliament which was thwarted in the nick of time. It served to reinforce the distrust of what Cromwell called the Heathen, Heretic Catholic Irish when Parliament would commission him to wage a final oppression and conquering of Ireland in 1649.

As kids in Birmingham the annual Guy Fawkes bonfire night on 5th November was an Autumn week of fun and creativity. Gathering newspaper and pantihose to make an effigy of Guy was not really understood in a context of historical Protestant propaganda and zealous anti-popery.
We sat on the corner with our Guy and shouted, Penny for the Guy!
My street corner was great because we caught the workers getting off the bus... Here is an informative link to when this ritual really took hold. Remember, Remember the 5th of November...



Having access to the geneology of my ancestors has enabled a deeper learning of the territorial conflicts of my UK heritage. Growing up in Birmingham in the 1970's this 400 year history between Westminster and her Gaelic cousins was in the daily news.
The conflict got closer to home one day when I answered the phone to a strange man who said he was going to throw a bomb through our window us I.R.A. murderers.
Mum found out at the factory our house was published in the 'Evening Mail' as an armed I.R.A. house. Police had arrested a man age 26 Exeter Rd. Selly Oak. With no comma after 26, our home was a target of  one lone Protester.

The Birmingham Pub bombings meant mum came home early from her date with an ambulance officer who was needed on that tragic night of death and mayhem. As often happens in this drawn out generational war the miscarriage of justice against innocently jailed Irish accused did not warm me to my own governments side.

Even an 11 year old appreciative BBC viewer I reacted against the political censorship of the voice of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. I was learning to be cynical, and question authority. I had sympathy for my Celtic cousins cause. The anomaly is the rebel streak is mostly uncommon amongst my Commoners clan.

The British Army has provided bread and butter to the Clark families including against their own Catholic kin of the Home Rule effort in the 19th century and World War one in Dublin. What has triggered an appetite for military history though is the discovery of Great Grandparents x 11 John and Thomasin Clark who were the first professional soldiers in an English Republic which lasted 10 years. Their first expedition was to Ireland.









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