Death, Disaster and the South Wales Railways: Volume 1 (Social History Today)

 

Death, Disaster and the South Wales Railways



This book is available from Amazon

 

CONTENTS

 

A MAN DECAPITATED ON THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY IN 1900

THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY STRIKE OF 1900

A FATAL FIGHT AT MERTHYR RAILWAY STATION IN 1901

A FATAL COLLISON ON THE SOUTH WALES MINERAL RAILWAY

THE USE OF BRAKE VANS ON THE TAFF VALE RAILWAY

A BOILER EXPLOSION ON THE RHYMNEY RAILWAY AT CARDIFF DOCKS

 

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Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

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The South African Picture Postcard Catalogue

 

Both these volumes are available from Amazon

 



As a former stamp collector the idea of conducting my hobby without the use of a full-colour priced catalogue would have seemed ridiculous. Many such catalogues are produced each year - ranging in scope from those covering the whole world in a highly simplified format to others covering the issues of a single country in great detail. It therefore came as a great surprise to me to discover that no catalogue had been produced covering the activities of the many postcard publishers who had been in business in South Africa in the early part of the twentieth century. Starting in the 1980's the now defunct Southern Africa Postcard Research Group (SAPRG) under the leadership of Aston (Archie) Atkinson published a number of preliminary checklists of publishers and the cards they had produced. It soon became clear that these lists, although admirable starting points, were far from complete and it was for this reason that I proposed the compilation and subsequent publication of the South African Picture Postcard Catalogue.

 

 Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

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Unusual gravestones - a new book for grave hunters

Unusual gravestones

 

  

 

About the authors - Martin and Claire Nicholson own one of the largest archives of grave related photographs in the world. A selection of their work appears in the blog "Grave Mistakes" that has had over a quarter of a million hits since it was launched in 2013. Other examples appear in the Facebook group "Social History" where Martin acts as the group administrator.

 



The authors have viewed millions of gravestones, and are offering readers a selection of the rare and unusual gravestones that they have seen, with full-colour illustrations. Each category of type of gravestone, age of person, cause of death, rare names, and errors found on gravestones are given a points score to indicate rarity.

 

This book was published in March 2015 and is now available from Amazon

Specimen pages from Amazon previewer

 

 Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

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Unusual Commonwealth War Graves - The country catalogues

Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 1 - United Kingdom

 

 

Published June 2015 and now available from Amazon.

 

This book is compiled from the records maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission of servicemen and women killed or missing since the start of the First World War in 1914.

 

The book is subdivided into separate nationalities – British, Australian, Canadian, South African, Indian, New Zealander, and the Merchant Navy. The first list contains details of the location of the grave or memorial in the U.K. naming servicemen or women of each nationality who were one of five or less of their particular service rank who lost their lives.

 

The second list contains details of the location of the grave or memorial in the U.K. naming servicemen or women of each nationality who were one of five or less of their particular regiment or service who lost their lives.

 

Every life lost as a result of military service is a tragedy for the family and friends of the individual, and this book does not seek to imply that those listed here are any more deserving of memory than those not selected.

 

The book shows the wide range of units from which only a handful, or even a single, life was lost, and also the wide range of ranks where also only a handful, or even a single, holder of that rank is commemorated in the United Kingdom. The CWGC lists 307,131 names of dead and missing service personnel and members of the Merchant Navy who are remembered at locations in the United Kingdom. Of these 61,064 (19.9%) were private soldiers but only 1 was an Artificer Engine Room 5th Class.

 

 

In the same series

 

Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 2 - France

 

 

 Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 3 - Belgium

 

 

Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 4 - Iraq

 

 

Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 5 - Germany

 

 

Unusual Commonwealth War Graves Vol 6 - Egypt

  

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Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

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Four books on world famous military cemeteries

 

Vol 1 - The Arras War Graves and Memorials

 

Published June 2015 and now available from Amazon.

 

This book is compiled from the records maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission of servicemen and women killed or missing since the start of the First World War in 1914.

The first section contains details of the location on the Arras Memorial of servicemen or women who were one of five or less of their particular service rank or unit who lost their lives. I have also identified where winners of the Victoria Cross can be found.

The second section contains details of the location on the Arras Flying Service Memorial of servicemen or women who were one of five or less of their particular service rank or unit who lost their lives.

The third section contains details of the location of the graves in the Faubourg D’Amiens Cemetery naming servicemen or women who were one of five or less of their particular regiment or service who lost their lives.

Every life lost as a result of military service is a tragedy for the family and friends of the individual, and this book does not seek to imply that those listed here are any more deserving of memory than those not selected. The book shows the wide range of units from which only a handful, or even a single, life was lost, and also the wide range of ranks where also only a handful, or even a single, holder of that rank is commemorated in Arras.

The CWGC lists 584,992 names of dead and missing service personnel who are remembered at locations in France. Of these just over 38,489 (6.6%) are to be found in the three sites in Arras studied in this survey.





In the same series

Vol 2 - The Menin Gate Memorial

 

 

Now available from Amazon.



 





Vol 3 - The Thiepval War Graves and Memorials

 

 Now available from Amazon.
 





Vol 4 - The Tyne Cot War Graves and Memorials

 

 

Now available from Amazon.

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Martin Nicholson - Ticklerton Barn, Ticklerton, Church Stretton, Shropshire

 

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Book piracy and the Cockrill series 29 to 32

If you own any of the 4 books I wrote on Nigerian Postal History there is a fairly good chance that you have a pirated copy!

 The four books were:

1.      Cockrill Series - No. 29, “The Stamps and Postal History of the Niger Territories and the Niger Coast Protectorate”.

2.      Cockrill Series - No. 30, “The Local Bisects & Surcharges of the Oil Rivers and Niger Coast, 1893-1894”.

3.      Cockrill Series - No. 31, “The Stamps and Postal History of Southern Nigeria”.

4.      Cockrill Series - No. 32, “The Stamps and Postal History of Northern Nigeria”.

The only copies that are genuine are those that identify Philip Cockrill as the publisher and that have my former address in Somerset on the back cover. All other copies were produced entirely without my knowledge or consent. There never has been an “authorized reprint” by Mervyn Todd – or indeed by anybody else - of any of these books. 

In the High Court of Justice Chancery Division on 20 September 2013 the long running dispute between Mr Mervyn Todd and Mr Martin Nicholson in respect of the so-called "authorized reprints" of Cockrill booklets #29, 30, 31 and 32 was resolved. 

Mr Todd paid an agreed sum to Mr Nicholson for compensation and costs. Mr Todd also "acknowledges that Mr Nicholson was, is and remains the copyright holder of the four books."

I thought the judge was very patient with Mr Todd and his total lack of knowledge of copyright law! 

Amusingly Mr Todd subsequently tried to save face by claiming, “…  we mutually agreed that neither of us could prove copyright convincingly …” . This is entirely untrue. 

If you do have a pirated copy I would be grateful if you would email me with details of where and when it was purchased.