Wrexham

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THE ‘OTHER’ BRYN ESTYN

Posted by ADMIN on September 13, 2019
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Over the last few days, I have been attempting to find a definitive link between the Bryn Estyn estate in Wrexham, and the virtually unknown ‘other’ Bryn Estyn estate, which was built at New Norfolk, Tasmania, by Lieutenant Henry Lloyd during 1840.

After a lot of digging, I have now found that link, (the details of which will appear in the book I am currently writing) and upon discovering what I needed, I happened upon an article , ‘The Life of Artist Henry Grant Lloyd (1830-1904) and his December 1857 Illawarra Watercolours’, by Dr. Joseph Davis B. A. (Hons), Dip. Ed., PhD and published on the academia.edu website in April this year.

Academia.edu, according to it’s ‘about’ page: ‘is a platform for academics to share research papers. The company’s mission is to accelerate the world’s research. Academics use Academia.edu to share their research, monitor deep analytics around the impact of their research, and track the research of academics they follow. Over 96 million academics have signed up to Academia.edu, adding 23 million papers. Academia.edu attracts over 62 million unique visitors a month.’

Now those numbers by anyone’s reckoning, are staggering, wouldn’t you agree? and if true, would give anyone who’s work appears on the site, a massive platform on which to present their research to the wider world of academia.

So with that in mind, I was somewhat perplexed when parts of Dr Davis’ article seemed very familiar to me, in fact, I could have written them myself.

This paragraph for example, which on first reading only stood out because I had noticed that the name ‘William Middleton Massie Lloyd’ was not one I had encountered before, and for good reason, as Dr Davis appears to have made an error in his identification of ‘Richard Myddleton Massie Lloyd’ (1751-1814), who actually commissioned Joseph Turner to build the first “Bryn Estyn Hall”.

I must admit, it did have me scratching my head at first, and thought the name mix-up was a simple error, or typo, but the paragraph’s wording, and it’s familiarity was something I simply could not ignore, as it was too similar to a paragraph that I had written for my book, which has not yet been published.

The above excerpt, from my book ‘Investiture Hill’ is indeed similar in its wording, but not markedly so, but when you consider that what is going to appear in the book is a more polished version of what I originally wrote, then things will hopefully become clearer.

Reading through the rest of Dr Davis’ paper, I noticed that he had also included a number of images that were also very familiar to me, two of which are freely available on the internet, and therefore could have any number of sources, but one image Dr Davis has used – pictured below – I can state, with all confidence, has only one source.

That source is me.

I can state this because I created the image myself for inclusion in my book, in order to highlight the true location of the original Bryn Estyn Hall, and its proximity to other buildings in the parish, using an 1840 map of Beiston.

So where had Dr Davis, obtained the image?

At first, I admit I could not answer that question, but then I remembered a video I had uploaded to Youtube during July 2018, ‘The Forgotten History of the Bryn Estyn Estate – A Photographic Journey (1620-2018)’, which contained the image in question.

There is another image in that video, which left me in no doubt whatsoever, that Dr Davis has used information from my video to include in his paper, (which has appeared on academia.edu), because due to an typing error on my part, was also the source of his error in using ‘William’ (Middleton Massie Lloyd), instead of Richard, which I mentioned at the start of this article.

I have no objection whatsoever to anybody quoting my research in order to add something to an article or paper or book they have published, however, when an ‘academic’ publishes part of that work to a well-respected academic website with a readership of millions each month, and does not include the source of said information, i.e: myself – then that is an entirely different matter.

There is really no excuse not to quote the source of the information that Dr Davis has used, as my name was clearly stated below the Youtube video, but on the plus side, I had not previously noticed my error, and as a consequence have now removed the video.

So in conclusion, my original typographical error, has fortuiously proved that some ‘academics’, however qualified they may appear, are not only reluctant to quote the source of some of their research, but fail to cross-reference the information they use, and ultimately publish.

OUT WITH THE OLD

Posted by ADMIN on January 10, 2019
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 7 comments

For this first post of 2019, I have decided to write about a couple of things, which, to be honest, were/are of such little significance to me personally, that I have until this point in time, not had cause to give them a moment of serious thought.

However, as they are still being used by those who prefer to dwell in some of the more murkier corners of the www, as a stick, [albeit more of a pathetically thin twig in reality] to try and take swipes at me with, I am going to offer an alternative [and true] version.

As with most things that people read on the interwebs, there is almost always another side to any story, and as is often the case, that other side of the story, although decidedly less shouty, and altogether more measured and rational in it’s telling, is usually overlooked.

This article may also fall victim to that scenario, coming as it does more than a couple of years after the actual events, but what the hell, I am going to write it anyway.

I shall begin by telling you why I finally decided to put this into the public domain, as its as good a place to start as any.

I was sent a link to a blog on or around the 20th December 2018, written by none other than Barbara Hewson on the 13th December , entitled ‘The Devil’s Cleaners – Part 1’, where Ms. Hewson has begun to lay out what, to her mind at least, appears to be every imaginable sleight that has been leveled against her, and two of her associates.

I used to have a modicum of respect for Ms. Hewson, as I felt that she really had some interesting things to say, and on the surface at least, came across as someone who was not easily fooled, and could easily hold her own against anybody.

As a Barrister, I also assumed that she was a highly-intelligent woman, and one not prone to ‘conspiracy-type beliefs’, who was a staunch advocate for those who had been wrongly accused, and was scathing in her many dealings with those she believed made false allegations.

At least that is what I thought.

In the above mentioned ‘The Devil’s Cleaners’, Ms. Hewson has made a number of claims, and in one paragraph she states:

‘Poulton inhabits a criminal milieu. She ran two troll groups on Twitter: one named Troll Patrol in conjunction with her (now former) partner Lee Taylor Ryan, the “Lotto Lag”; and another named Team Outlaw, run in conjunction with Roydon Jones aka Outlaw Jimmy, who has a conviction for malicious communications ….’

You see what I mean about ‘conspiracy-type’ beliefs?

I cannot of course comment about whether her claim about Lee Ryan is true or untrue, but what I can do, is categorically state, that there is not, nor has there ever been, a ‘Team Outlaw’ in any capacity, and especially not in the format that Ms. Hewson states as fact.

That fantasy claim has been doing the rounds online, ever since Sonia Poulton posted a single Tweet in or around 2013, which contained the hashtag #TeamOutlaw, as a response to a few people, myself included, who had taken it upon ourselves to defend her from a group of Twitter bullies.

There never was a ‘Troll Team’ or a ‘Team’ of any type, it was a complete fabrication, concocted by the same group that were harassing and bullying Ms. Poulton on Twitter.

It is a fantasy which ranks alongside the claim(s) that this site is being funded by, and run, by the Greater Manchester Police, and/or the British Security Services – as was recently alleged in a video that appeared on YouTube.

Audio Version:

 

Ms. Hewson’s other claim is correct, however, I do have a conviction for malicious communication, it’s hardly a secret, I have never once denied it, but as Ms. Hewson appears to see it as something that she (and her associates) can use to define what kind of person I am, then you dear reader, are about to be told the real story.

The bizarre set of circumstances that led me to court, and the true details of the trial which handed down that conviction, have never before been made public, there has been an inordinate amount of hearsay, speculation and bullshit of course, but not a single, accurate, and honest account of what actually transpired.

Before I begin to lay that out for you, I will refer back to Ms. Hewson one more time, because even though I did once, as previously stated, have a modicum of respect for her, I remain somewhat puzzled by her behaviour.

I am perplexed by the way that she appears to despise those who make false and vexatious complaints, yet has [metaphorically] jumped headlong into a rather grotesque ménage à trois, with two of the most prolific and vexatious complainants that lurk online.

And I can state that with confidence, as I have been the recipient of a number of those entirely false and vexatious complaints/allegations, three of which, led to two arrests, and one which led to me being questioned under caution.

But that is another story altogether.

The true account of what led to my malicious communications trial, and ultimate conviction, will appear here in due course, and when you have read it, and digested the true facts, it will be your choice entirely as to whether you believe justice was indeed served, or something was really not quite right about the whole thing.

WHERE’S TOMMY?

Posted by ADMIN on November 7, 2018
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , .

I would hazard a guess, that there are a lot of people out there, who, will not have heard about a court case which, is currently taking place at the Crown Court in Mold, North Wales, where a group of who are said to be ‘Travellers,’ stand accused of the rape, and trafficking of a number of underage girls from a care home in Wrexham.

‘The girls who were living in a home in the Wrexham area were sexually trafficked and passed around a group of men from the travelling community and sexually exploited in hotel rooms and in secluded public areas like car parks, prosecuting barrister John Philpotts told a jury at Mold Crown Court.’

For obvious reasons, I cannot comment on details in regard to the case other what is already in the public domain, but what I will ask, is where is the public outcry about this?

‘Vehicles began to appear at the home and on one occasion, a van drove up the drive and her name was called out using a loud-hailer, the jury heard.’

She began to abscond frequently, often in the company of other girls in care.

Where are the ‘Truthers’ ?

Where are the mainstream media, who enjoy nothing more than reporting on cases of this type in other parts of the UK?

And where is Tommy Robinson?

But we should already know the answer to that shouldn’t we?

DAILY POST

RESIDENT EVIL

Posted by ADMIN on September 11, 2018
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , . 11 comments

In what now appears to be a clarification of my previous post, TOP BOYS, news has emerged of something, that although may be common knowledge to many of those who have spent time in a care home in the UK – especially during the 1970s through to the 1990s – may come as a surprise to many people.

Yesterday, an ex-care north Wales care home resident, specifically the Bryn Alyn Community Home near Wrexham, admitted sexually abusing a boy, under the age of sixteen, on three occasions, while he was himself a resident of the same home.

DAILY POST

Although the length of time this has taken to come before the courts was, understandably, questioned by the presiding judge, and he also pointed out one of the complainants was first interviewed in 2014, he was assured that Operation Pallial was a “lengthy investigation that had generated hundreds of complainants and 106,000 pages of material that had to be considered” before cases could be brought before the courts.

Which might lead one to believe, that other similar cases may, in the fullness of time, also come to light.

It also has to be considered, that not ALL acts of physical, and indeed Sexual abuse against young people in the British care system, was perpetrated by members of staff, and what this case will hopefully highlight is, that (although nobody appears to want to talk about it) this type of peer abuse, was rife throughout the entire care system.

THE DESOLATE YEAR (Revisited)

Posted by ADMIN on August 14, 2018
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 comments

Now that the first, at least I think it’s the first, successful law suit against Monsanto has concluded, and rather satisfactorily, I may add, I was thinking about how many people, actually know anything about this company – other than what has appeared in the mass media, and from it’s advertising campaigns.

Were you aware, for example, that Monsanto was responsible for creating Saccharin, DDT, Agent Orange,and GMO’s, and is one of planet’s largest polluters producers of plastics and synthetic products, and that it established it’s noxious grip on Europe, from a small village on the outskirts of Wrexham.

In a landmark case, a 36-year-old small-town attorney from Orange, Virginia, defeated agrochemical giant Monsanto in court after the seed and weed-killer maker was found guilty and ordered to pay $298 million to a groundskeeper for failing to warn him that Roundup might cause cancer.

Timothy Litzenburg says Dewayne “Lee” Johnson’s case was an uphill battle from the beginning, but in the end, jurors are always smarter than people think.

“Monsanto is very used to getting their own way. I was surprised that they even took this case to trial. I kept waiting for some big surprise or something that we may have missed, but it didn’t happen,” …. Link to article

The following post, compiled from a number of sources, was first published on the Outlaw on May 1st 2013, and outlines Monsanto’s history, and is worthy of revisiting.

A (SHORT) HISTORY OF MONSANTO

[First published on the Outlaw as ‘The Desolate Year’ ]

Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. He funded the start-up with his own money and capital from a soft drink distributor, and gave the company his wife’s maiden name.

His father in law was Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto, wealthy financier of a sugar company active in Vieques, Puerto Rico and based in St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies.

The company’s first product was the artificial sweetener saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company

It also introduced caffeine and vanillin to Coca-Cola, and became one of that company’s main suppliers.

In 1919, Monsanto established its presence in Europe by entering into a partnership with Graesser’s Chemical Works at Cefn Mawr near Ruabon, Wales to produce vanillin, salicylic acid, aspirin and later rubber.

In its third decade, the 1920s, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals like sulphuric acid, and the decade ended with Queeny’s son Edgar Monsanto Queeny taking over the company in 1928.

The 1940s saw Monsanto become a leading manufacturer of plastics, including polystyrene, and synthetic fibers. Since then, it has remained one of the top 10 US chemical companies.

Other major products have included the herbicides 2,4,5-T, DDT, and Agent Orange used primarily during the Vietnam War as a defoliant agent (later found to be contaminated during manufacture with highly carcinogenic dioxin), the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet), bovine somatotropin (bovine growth hormone BST), and PCBs.

Also in this decade, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.

Monsanto began manufacturing DDT in 1944, along with some 15 other companies.This insecticide was much-welcomed in the fight against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. The use of DDT in the U.S. was banned by Congress in 1972, due in large part to efforts by environmentalists, who persisted in the challenge put forth by Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring in 1962, which sought to inform the public of the side effects associated with DDT.

As the decade ended, Monsanto acquired American Viscose from England’s Courtauld family in 1949.

In 1954, Monsanto partnered with German chemical giant Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the US.

Monsanto was a pioneer of optoelectronics in the 1970s. In 1968 they became the first company to start mass production of (visible) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), using gallium arsenide phosphide.

This ushered in the era of solid-state lights. From 1968 to 1970 sales doubled every few months. Their products (LEDs and seven-segment numeric displays) became the standards of industry.

The primary markets then were electronic calculators, digital watches, and digital clocks.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto became one of the most important producers of Agent Orange for US Military operations in Vietnam. Agent Orange caused an immense damage to health, especially for US-soldiers, not at least by genetic modification.

In 1980, Monsanto established the Edgar Monsanto Queeny safety award, in honor of its former CEO (1928–1960), to encourage accident prevention.

Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell in 1982.

Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops.

Through a process of mergers and spin-offs between 1997 and 2002, Monsanto made a transition from chemical giant to biotech giant. Part of this process involved the 1999 sale by Monsanto of their phenylalanine facilities to Great Lakes Chemical Corporation (GLC) for $125 million.

In 2000, GLC sued Monsanto because of a $71 million dollar shortfall in expected sales.

In 2001, retired Monsanto chemist William S. Knowles was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation, which was carried out at Monsanto beginning in the 1960s until his 1986 retirement.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, Monsanto filed lawsuits against many farmers in Canada and the U.S. on the grounds of patent infringement, specifically the farmers’ sale of seed containing Monsanto’s patented genes. In some cases, farmers claimed the seed was unknowingly sown by wind carrying the seeds from neighboring crops.

These instances began in the mid to late 1990s, with one of the most significant cases being decided in Monsanto’s favor by the Canadian Supreme Court.

By a 5–4 vote in late May 2004, that court ruled that “by cultivating a plant containing the patented gene and composed of the patented cells without license, the appellants (Canola farmer Percy Schmeiser) deprived the respondents of the full enjoyment of the patent.”

With this ruling, the Canadian courts followed the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision on patent issues involving plants and genes.

As of February 2005, Monsanto has patent claims on breeding techniques for pigs which would grant them ownership of any pigs born of such techniques and their related herds.

Greenpeace claims that Monsanto is trying to claim ownership on ordinary breeding techniques.

Monsanto claims that the patent is a defensive measure to track animals from its system. They furthermore claim their patented method uses a specialized insemination device that requires less sperm than is typically needed.

In 2006, the Public Patent Foundation filed requests with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to revoke four patents that Monsanto has used in patent lawsuits against farmers. In the first round of reexamination, claims in all four patents were rejected by the Patent Office in four separate rulings dating from February through July 2007.

In January 2010, Monsanto was named company of the year by Forbes.

Through a series of transactions, the Monsanto that existed from 1901 to 2000 and the current Monsanto are legally two distinct corporations. Although they share the same name and corporate headquarters, many of the same executives and other employees, and responsibility for liabilities arising out of activities in the industrial chemical business, the agricultural chemicals business is the only segment carried forward from the pre-1997 Monsanto Company to the current Monsanto Company.

This was accomplished by a process that began in the 1980s:

1985: Monsanto purchases G. D. Searle & Company. In this merger, Searle’s aspartame business becomes a separate Monsanto subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company. CEO of NutraSweet, Robert B. Shapiro, goes on to become CEO of Monsanto from 1995 to 2000.

1996: Acquires 49.9% of Calgene, creators of the Flavr Savr tomato in April and another 5% in November.

1997: Monsanto spins off its industrial chemical and fiber divisions into Solutia Inc. This transfers the financial liability related to the production and contamination with PCBs at the Illinois and Alabama plants. In January, Monsanto announces the purchase of Holden’s Foundations Seeds, a privately held seed business owned by the Holden family, along with its sister sales organization, Corn States Hybrid Service, of Williamsburg and Des Moines, Iowa, respectively.

The combined purchase price totals $925 million. Also, in April, Monsanto purchases the remaining shares of Calgene.

1999: Monsanto sells off NutraSweet Co. and two other companies.

2000: Monsanto merges with Pharmacia and Upjohn, and ceases to exist. Later in the year, Pharmacia forms a new subsidiary, also named Monsanto, for the agricultural divisions, and retains the medical research divisions, which includes products such as Celebrex.

2002: Pharmacia spins off its Monsanto subsidiary into a new company, the “new Monsanto.” As part of the deal, Monsanto agrees to indemnify Pharmacia against any liabilities that might be incurred from judgments against Solutia. As a result, the new Monsanto continues to be a party to numerous lawsuits that relate to operations of the old Monsanto.

2005: Monsanto purchases Seminis, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed company, for $1.4 billion.

2007: In June, Monsanto completes its purchase of Delta and Pine Land Company, a major cotton seed breeder, for $1.5 billion. Monsanto exits the pig breeding business by selling Monsanto Choice Genetics to Newsham Genetics LC in November, divesting itself of “any and all swine-related patents, patent applications, and all other intellectual property.”

2008: Monsanto purchases the Dutch seed company De Ruiter Seeds for €546 million, and sells its POSILAC bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company in August for $300 million plus “additional contingent consideration”.

“Monsanto has been the corporate sponsor of many attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.”

Current members of the board of directors of Monsanto are: Frank V. AtLee III, the former President of American Cyanamid and former chairman of Cynamid International, John W. Bachmann, Hugh Grant, the chairman of Monsanto, Arthur H. Harper, Gwendolyn S. King, president of McDonald’s USA, Sharon R. Long, C. Steven McMillan, the former chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corporation, William U. Parfet, George H. Poste, Robert J. Stevens, the current chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Former Monsanto employees currently hold positions in US government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA) and the Supreme Court. These include Clarence Thomas, Michael R. Taylor, Ann Veneman, Linda Fisher, Michael Friedman, William D. Ruckelshaus, and Mickey Kantor. Linda Fisher has been back and forth between positions at Monsanto and the EPA.

According to an anonymous 2001 document obtained by the Centre for Public Integrity, Monsanto has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as being a “potentially responsible party” for 56 contaminated sites (Superfund sites) in the United States.

Monsanto has been sued, and has settled, multiple times for damaging the health of its employees or residents near its Superfund sites through pollution and poisoning.

In 2004 The Wildlife Habitat Council and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Performance Track presented a special certificate of recognition to Monsanto Company during WHC’s 16th Annual Symposium.

Monsanto is the largest producer of glyphosate herbicides through its popular brand, ‘ROUNDUP’. A report released in June 2011 linked glyphosate to birth defects in frog and chicken embryos at dilutions much lower than those used in agricultural and garden spraying.

Genetically modified organisms

Many of Monsanto’s seed products are specifically genetically modified, to make them resistant to Monsanto produced agricultural chemicals, such as “ROUNDUP” herbicide. In a study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, researchers applied a different statistical analysis on raw data obtained from Monsanto and concluded that these GM corn (maize) varieties induced a state of hepatorenal toxicity.

They suggested that the presence of the new pesticides associated with the inserted genes were responsible, although the possibility that this could be due to a mutation during the transformation process was not excluded.

Monsanto was drawn into the Genetically modified food controversies over the Pusztai affair. Dr. Arpad Pusztai’s experiments suggested that it was the process of genetic engineering, not the presence of the inserted lectin gene that altered the thickness of the gut epithelium in rats when fed genetically modified potatoes.

In other words it was the process of genetic engineering itself, not the presence of pesticides caused by the engineering which caused the damage to rats.

The publication of this study has resulted in much controversy.

The ‘Terminator’ seed controversy

In June 2007, Monsanto acquired Delta & Pine Land Company, a company that had patented a seed technology nicknamed Terminators. This technology, which was never known to have been used commercially, produces plants that have sterile seeds so they do not flower or grow fruit after the initial planting. This prevents the spread of those seeds into the wild, however it also requires customers to repurchase seed for every planting in which they use Terminator seed varieties. In recent years, widespread opposition from environmental organisations and farmer associations has grown, mainly out of the concerns that hypothetical seeds using this technology could increase farmers’ dependency on seed suppliers.

Despite the fact that in 1999, Monsanto pledged not to commercialize Terminator technology, Delta Vice President, Harry Collins, declared at the time in a press interview in the Agra/Industrial Biotechnology Legal Letter: “We’ve continued right on with work on the Technology Protection System (TPS or Terminator). We never really slowed down. We’re on target, moving ahead to commercialise it. We never really backed off.”

rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone)

Monsanto sparked controversy nationwide with the introduction of Bovine somatotropin, abbreviated as rBST and commonly known as rBGH. It is a synthetic hormone that is injected into cows to increase milk production. IGF-1 is a hormone stimulated by rBGH in the cow’s blood stream, which is directly responsible for the increase in milk production. IGF-1 is a natural hormone found in the milk of both humans and cows causing the quick growth of infants.

Though this IGF-1 occurs naturally in mothers’ milk to be fed to their infants it produces adverse effects in non-infants, behaving as a cancer accelerator in adults and non-infants; this biologically active hormone is associated with breast cancer (correlation shown in premenopausal women), prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancers.

Article compiled from numerous Sources….

A RESTORATION

Posted by ADMIN on May 30, 2018
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 32 comments

Among the research for a history book I am currently writing, I happened upon an online news article from November 2011,  which outlined a campaign to raise funds to restore the neglected last resting place of a Great War pilot, and Military Cross and Légion d’Honneur recipient from Wrexham.

‘EX-POLICEMAN Wayne Cronin-Woyday is man on a mission. [sic].

He wants to secure the funds to restore the gravestone of a Wrexham war hero, a pioneer fighter pilot killed in the first world war in a tragic accident. Captain Arthur Henry Leslie Soames, 27, who won the Military Cross and the French Légion d’Honneur, died in 1915.

He was carrying out a ground test experiment at the Central Flying School and although behind a tree 90 yards away, a bomb he was working with exploded and he was hit by debris.

He was among the first pilots in raids on the Western Front in 1914 and it was stated that the impact of his death was such that the King wrote to his commanding officer asking about the circumstances of the incident.

Capt Soames’ gravestone is in the graveyard at All Saints’ Church, Gresford but the 93-year-old stone is laying down and is almost covered with grass.

“It is a pity really. he was a very brave man and being local his grave should, if possible, be restored, ” said Mr Cronin-Woydat.

“I’m not blaming anyone for the condition of the grave. Councils do get a small amount of money for the upkeep of official war graves, but Capt Soames was buried in a private family grave which does not qualify.

“Like so many families of that time, members have passed away and there is no one to see to them so I am looking for help in raising the money needed for the restoration.”

Capt Soames served as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Welch Fusiliers and then the 3rd Kings Own Hussars before being transferred to 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corp which was posted to France before being posted to the Central Flying School.

The Soames family lived at Bryn Estyn Hall in Rhosnesni and Capt Soames’ father, Frederic, ran the Brewery in Wrexham, which eventually became Border Breweries, which was later taken over by Marstons,

The Soames family has links to lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, and distant links to Winston Churchill.

The links to the Baden Powell family led to it paying for the original Scout hut in Rhosnesni.

Mr Cronin-Woydat lives with his wife, Joannah, in Gresford.

His grandparents were from Poland and Ukraine and both were taken by the Nazis during the Second World War and ended up in Italy. Due to Stalin’s purges, it was unsafe to return to their homelands so they came to this country.

Mr Cronin-Woydat joined North Wales Police in 1994, and before his retirement, served in Wrexham, Gresford and Gwersyllt.’

This article was of interest to me for two reasons; the first being that the Great War pilot was Captain Arthur Henry Leslie Soames, the eldest son of Frederic W. Soames, the Wrexham Brewer and businessman, and the man who built Bryn Estyn Hall in 1904, and secondly, the restored grave may have been able to offer additional information for the book.

A few days ago, I went to Gresford to view the grave, and as the following photographs show, the restoration appeal had either not been a great success, or Mr Cronin-Woyday, had lost interest, or was in some way, unable to undertake the task.

The grave itself was fairly easy to locate, but was badly neglected, the whole area was choked with ivy, weeds, grass and layers of accumulated dirt and rubbish, which quite obviously had not had any attention for what appeared to be decades.

As I was there anyway, I found the head groundsman, who was working on the other side of the churchyard, and sought permission to tidy it up a bit, as it was a shame to see the last resting place of not only a highly decorated war hero, but also a pioneer airman, who was one of the very first pilots to fly over occupied France at the start of the Great War, in such a state of neglect.

Something of a local historian himself, the groundsman was aware of the significance of the Soames name in Wrexham, but knew little about the grave other than it hadn’t, like so many others in the churchyard, been tended for many years, and nobody to his knowledge had shown any interest in it’s upkeep.

As it was a nice day, blazingly hot in fact, I spent the next few hours removing as much of the overgrowth as possible, with the intention of returning the next day with some tools, to clear away everything on and around the grave, and reveal the final resting place of Captain Arthur H.L. Soames MC, in it’s entirety.

After only a few minutes work, it soon became obvious, as I began to reveal more and more of the plot, that Captain Arthur H.L. Soames, had been buried alongside his Grandparents, Arthur and Anna Amelia Soames [Nee; Gilstrap].

After almost an hours work, and bearing in mind that I was only using my hands the clear the plot, from beneath a particularly dense accumulation of well established ivy and grass, another marble slab began to appear, this time on the left hand side of the main grave, which was in a far better state of preservation, due to it being completely buried under about four inches of earth and plant debris.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

FREDERICK WILLIAM SOAMES

OF BRYN ESTYN, WREXHAM

BORN JUNE 2nd 1857

DIED MARCH 8th 1926

AND

JULIA MARY, HIS WIFE

BORN APRIL 13th 1858

DIED MARCH 24th 1940

ALSO THEIR BELOVED

GRANDSON

WILLIAM BERESFORD

NAIRN KINGTON

1909-1982

Capt R.W.F. T.D.

So what had first appeared to be, and was reported in the Wrexham Leader as being the grave of Captain Arthur Soames, following only a couple of hours work on my part, turned out to be not only the family burial plot of one of the most influential (and wealthy) industrialists in Wrexham’s history, but had been hidden from public view for the last 36 years!

I returned the next day as planned, and despite it pouring with rain most of the afternoon, managed to clear the remainder of the plot, revealing every aspect and detail, and to estimate what would be required to complete the restoration.

Rather surprisingly, despite the grave now being 126 years old, and being badly neglected for over three decades – very little work is now required to restore it to it’s former condition.

Which I hope to complete over the next few days.

One side of the decorative edging needs realigning and resetting on a new brick foundation, a weed discouraging membrane will be laid under a layer of ornamental stone chips, a small amount of tidying up to finish, and it should hopefully, with regular maintenance, assume its rightful status as a site of historical interest and remembrance for the town and people of Wrexham.

 

FIND A BURIAL

IN MEMORY OF ARTHUR HENRY LESLIE SOAMES

WREXHAM-HISTORY

 

*All Images © 2018 www.outlawjimmy.com*

LOOKING TO HISTORY

Posted by ADMIN on January 18, 2018
Posted in: History. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 29 comments

Something that has been pointed out to me in regard to this website, a number of times is ‘why does the Outlaw publish so many ‘historical’ posts instead of posting about current events?’

The answer to that is quite simple, and I shall re-iterate what I answered then, which was that many events of today are not ‘new’, and one only has to look to history to find examples of similar or even identical events with which to draw comparisons from.

A case in point is something I happened upon last night, while I was doing some research for the book I am currently putting together about a building of historical interest in Wrexham, north east Wales, when I found an obscure reference to a survey of the Bromfield (Saxon Name) and Yale lordships, that had been undertaken by a Thomas Sheffield in 1315.

After a lot of searching, through books and various archives, I found a Doctorate Thesis in the Aberystwyth University Geography Archive ‘Spatial Patterns in the small town in the nineteenth century – a case study of Wrexham’, written by Sandra Irish B.A. (Hons) which was submitted in August 1987.

On page 102 of that document, there is a reference to this survey, and the date, but I can find little else about it, other than a few anecdotal quotes elsewhere, about ‘Famine’ and rather strangely ‘Cannibalism’.

In Wrexham?

So you know by now how it works, you start off by looking for something and you end up somewhere else, following clues and links and joining dots until you reach a point where you are reading about stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with what you were actually looking for.

Anyway, the anecdotal references I had found to ‘Cannibalism’ piqued my interest somewhat, especially with all the bullshit being promoted around the internet at the moment, with taglines like ‘Baby Eating’ and ‘Satanic Practices’ and ‘Satanic Ritual Abuse’ etc, so locating actual historical evidence of ‘Cannibalism’ on any scale occurring in Britain or mainland Europe, could, and I emphasize the word ‘could’, add some weight to at least some of these claims.

I avoided the ‘Truther’ websites and forums, especially those who are pumping out this kind of stuff regularly, and purposely looked for sources that were both historically ‘Mainstream’, as well as Contemporary therefore would be generally acceptable to the average person.

What I found was interesting, inasmuch as even WIKIPEDIA (although horrendously flawed, is generally the average person’s go-to reference point), has a number of pages about this very subject, but, being part of another historical event, (which admittedly I was not overly familiar with) could be easily overlooked.

Although WIKI makes no reference to the survey I was looking for, what it does mention is an event known as ‘The Great Famine’, which began in 1315 and continued for the next four years, brought great hardship and starvation to much of Europe and ‘Chroniclers of the time noted many incidences of cannibalism’….

‘In the spring of 1315, unusually heavy rain began in much of Europe. Throughout the spring and the summer, it continued to rain, and the temperature remained cool. Under such conditions, grain could not ripen, leading to widespread crop failures. Grain was brought indoors in urns and pots to keep dry. The straw and hay for the animals could not be cured, so there was no fodder for the livestock. The price of food began to rise; prices in England doubled between spring and midsummer. Salt, the only way to cure and preserve meat, was difficult to obtain because brine could not be effectively evaporated in wet weather; its price increased from 30 shillings to 40 shillings. In Lorraine, wheat prices grew by 320% making bread unaffordable to peasants. Stores of grain for long-term emergencies were limited to royalty, lords, nobles, wealthy merchants and the Church. Because of the general increased population pressures, even lower-than-average harvests meant some people would go hungry; there was little margin for failure. People began to harvest wild edible roots, plants, grasses, nuts and bark in the forests.

A number of documented incidents show the extent of the famine. Edward II, King of England, stopped at St Albans on 10 August 1315 and had difficulty finding bread for himself and his entourage; it was a rare occasion in which the King of England was unable to eat. The French, under Louis X, tried to invade Flanders, but in the low country of the Netherlands, the fields were soaked and the army became so bogged down that they were forced to retreat, burning their provisions where they left them, unable to carry them away.

In the spring of 1316, it continued to rain on a European population deprived of energy and reserves to sustain itself. All segments of society from nobles to peasants were affected but especially the peasants, who represented 95% of the population and who had no reserve food supplies. To provide some measure of relief, the future was mortgaged by slaughtering the draft animals, eating the seed grain, abandoning children to fend for themselves (“Hansel and Gretel”) and, among old people, voluntarily refusing food for the younger generation to survive.

*The chroniclers of the time noted many incidents of cannibalism.*

The height of the famine was reached in 1317, as the wet weather continued. Finally, in that summer, the weather returned to its normal patterns. By then, however, people were so weakened by diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis and tuberculosis, and so much of the seed stock had been eaten, that it was not until 1325 that the food supply returned to relatively normal levels and the population began to increase again. Historians debate the toll, but it is estimated that 10–25% of the population of many cities and towns died. Though the Black Death (1338–1375) would kill more people, it often swept through an area in a matter of months, whereas the Great Famine lingered for years, prolonging the suffering of the populace’. – WIKIPEDIA

That of course does not ‘Prove’ that Cannibalism is practiced today by any means, only that extreme hardship had forced a number of people out of sheer desperation and extreme hunger, to do the unthinkable in order to survive – that appears to be a historical fact.

There is of course the now infamous Sawney Beane case, where an East Lothian native in the 12th Century, along with 47 other members of his murderous and cannibalistic family, were executed:

‘Their crimes were considered so heinous that the normal justice system, for which Scotland is so renowned, was abandoned and the entire family were sentenced to death. The following day the twenty-seven men of the family met a fate similar to that of many of their victims, by having their legs and arms cut off and being left to slowly bleed to death, watched by their women. The twenty-one women were burned like witches in huge fires.’

So even in the 12th Century, cannibalism was considered so heinous a crime that the Scottish  justice system was abandoned.

As many of these recent ‘Baby Eating’ claims are known to be emanating from over the Scottish border, could they be using the Bean case, as it’s local to them as a point of reference?

Because I would bet a pound against a pinch of pig manure that they are not aware of what happened during the ‘Great Famine’, and out of great necessity only.

****************************************

Another thing I would like to draw attention to, although it’s unrelated to the eating of people or babies, is another event which happened prior to 1315, (also referred to in the WIKIPEDIA page) and which is believed to have been the cause of the famine:

‘The onset of the Great Famine coincided with the end of the Medieval Warm Period. Between 1310 and 1330, northern Europe saw some of the worst and most sustained periods of bad weather in the entire Middle Ages, characterized by severe winters and rainy and cold summers. The Great Famine may have been precipitated by a volcanic event, perhaps that of Mount Tarawera which lasted about five years.

Changing weather patterns, the ineffectiveness of medieval governments in dealing with crises and population level at a historical high made it a time for little margin for error in food production.’

Which shows that ‘Global Warming’ or ‘Climate Change’ is not a new thing either, it’s a perfectly natural cycle, (every few thousand years) is entirely predictable, and is certainly not ‘ManMade’ as every western Government has claimed for the last decade or so, and that there are not that many things that are entirely ‘New’….

*I will continue searching for the Wrexham Cannibals though, in case you were wondering …. It would make a great story.*

THE TRUTH WILL OUT

Posted by ADMIN on December 5, 2017
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 16 comments

Today’s publication of an amended version of the Macur Report, which investigated the deeply flawed Waterhouse inquiry into Child Abuse in North Wales Children Homes, and which was first published in a heavily redacted form during March 2016; has revealed that ex-North Wales police chief Gordon Anglesea, was in fact being investigated by the force with a view to his being prosecuted for child abuse, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided against it.

This latest version of the report also adds weight to the persistent claims from witnesses, that incriminating images that showed Anglesea being involved in illegal sexual activity had actually existed, and had been subsequently destroyed.

North Wales child abuse review now names Gordon Anglesea

A former senior police officer jailed for indecently assaulting boys has been named in a revised version of a judge’s review of an inquiry into abuse of children in North Wales.

Gordon Anglesea’s name had originally been redacted from Lady Justice Macur’s report published in March 2016.

Welsh secretary Alan Cairns said his conviction and death meant there was “no reason” to keep his name secret.

Exceptions have been made to prevent identification of victims or witnesses.

Lady Justic Macur had reviewed the £13m Waterhouse inquiry into child abuse amid concerns that although it found “appalling mistreatment” of children over 20 years its remit was too limited.

Her review found no evidence of alleged historical abuse by prominent figures.

Anglesea, a former North Wales Police superintendent from Old Colwyn, was convicted in October 2016 of indecently assaulting two boys.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, dying in jail in December 2016 at the age of 79.

Welsh Secretary Alan Cairns told MPs on Tuesday in a written statement:

“in light of Gordon Anglesea’s death there is no reason for his name to be redacted, except where there is any risk that victims, witnesses or other individuals might be identified. I have therefore laid a revised version of the Macur Review Report with references to Gordon Anglesea reinstated except where an ongoing risk has been identified. The other redactions in the report remain.”

Prosecution dismissed

The newly-published, partially unredacted version of the report shows thar North Wales Police had wanted to prosecute Anglesea some years previously, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided against it.

Lady Justic Macur said that the decision not to prosecute may have deterred witnesses from coming forward to give evidence to the Waterhouse inquiry.

The report also reveals that one witness believed pictures depicting Anglesea involved in illegal sexual activity had been destroyed.

Lady Justice Macur also investigated his links to Freemasonry and whether that had led to a cover-up.

However, she concluded that “considerable efforts were made in pursuit of evidence against Gordon Anglesea” by the Waterhouse inquiry and that she found the investigations into Freemasonry were in accordance with the weight of evidence before the tribunal.

A UK Government spokesman said:

“The Secretary of State for Wales is committed to ensuring that there is as much transparency as possible around the incidents that took place in North Wales since the 1970s. The redactions in the initial Macur report were made in line with advice received from Lady Justice Macur to protect victims, witnesses and ongoing criminal proceedings. The amended report published today removes redactions relating to Gordon Anglesea, except where there is a risk that victims, witnesses or other individuals might be identified.”

SOURCE

THIS OLD HOUSE

Posted by ADMIN on September 22, 2017
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 25 comments

It has been noted that the Outlaw has not been updated with any new posts for a while, so with that in mind, I have taken some time out to reassure the regular visitors and readers here that there is nothing amiss whatsoever; and that there is a reason why it may appear that I have, to all intents and purposes, been …. M.I.A.

I have, for the last month, been working flat out on a book commission which has been not only time-consuming, but damned hard work when one has to consider the amount of legwork and intensive research which needs to be done in order to gather enough material, to put a project like this together.

The subject matter itself, has been for years a bone of contention for a certain group of people who have claimed total ownership of it, and they have in the past, viciously defended what they consider to be their own exclusive property; and it’s for that reason I have had to keep what I have been doing ‘under wraps,’  mainly due to the unwanted and hostile attention, including both physical and legal threats I received the last time I was invited to discuss this on a platform other than here.

As many regular readers have come to expect from me, the way I have chosen to approach this project has been markedly different to anyone, or anything else, and I can guarantee that the finished work will not be focusing on the immediately obvious.

It will I believe, be like nothing else that has been put out there thus far, at least in regard to it’s subject matter, and I say that with confidence because believe me when I say that I have spent an inordinate amount of time wading through the complete dross that has already been put out there, while searching for evidence of it.

What I will say, however, is that there will be a lot of information to be found within it’s pages that has not been made generally available before, and will include a number of images, including photographs that I have taken myself, which most people will have never associated with a notorious ex-Community School in North Wales before, and of course have never been made public as far as I am aware.

What the book will do hopefully, is take the reader on a journey, and one which starts on a fairly innocuous patch of land in north Wales in the mid-16th Century, which has been passed down through generations of families who’s ancestry can be traced back to the Norman Conquest, and then proceed through the times of the Welsh Princes during the 12th Century, through Simon de Montford’s rebellion against King Henry III during the second Baron’s War, through the English Civil War in the mid 17th Century and into and beyond the Industrial Revolution and the first great and terrible world war.

It will introduce you to people you will probably have never heard of before, like the first white European that ever ascended a snow capped-peak in the Himalayas, and one of Britain’s military aviation pioneers, who was awarded both the Military Cross and the Legion d’Honneur for his bravery, and upon his death in 1915 was personally acknowledged by King George V, a Banker that printed his own currency, and a host of other characters.

All of the above events and more, are woven into the history and the very fabric of that big house and estate on the outskirts of the town of Wrexham, and despite what most people have written about it, and have read about it and ultimately believe is the definitive version …. the real story exists where you least expect to find it.

SQUARING THE CIRCLE

Posted by ADMIN on October 22, 2016
Posted in: UK. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 comments

The conviction of ex-north Wales Police Superintendant Gordon Anglesea, has for many people, finally presented solid evidence to support the endless rumour and speculation that a paedophile/abuse ring has been operating, in and around north Wales, for the last four decades.

The guilty verdict that was handed down at the Crown Court at Mold on Friday, to the Freemason and Rotarian ex-policeman Anglesea, has shown that despite the endless obfusction, the continual distraction and the numerous attempts to cover up the nefarious activities of a number of people, the truth is now, at last, finally beginning to emerge.

image

I must admit that the guilty verdict came as a surprise to me, because having lived in the county of Wrexham for the last few years, a place where, to all intents and purposes is deep within ‘the Belly of that particular Beast’ …. and finding myself on the wrong side of the NWP and the courts (resulting in two arrests and a Malicious Communication conviction) – which I am in no doubt came about as a direct result of trying to discover what really happened at the Bryn Estyn Children’s Home.

Experiences which admittedly, were harrowing at times, and proved to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt; that there are certain individuals that really did not want anybody, especially an ex-‘guest’ of the care system in Wales like I was, digging around and asking awkward questions.

It cannot have escaped the attention of regular readers of the Outlaw, that there has been a sustained online campaign to discredit me, and to bring about as much personal difficulty and discomfort to both myself and my family, which again I believe – has only happened because of certain events I was suspected of being a witness to.

I was at that time, an ‘unknown quantity’ and someone who had not appeared on any radar prior to 2012.

I was not known to any established ‘CSA groups’, I had never been interviewed by NWP, I had never given a statement about alleged abuse or mistreatment, nor had I offered testimony to the Waterhouse Inquiry, so effectively there was virtually nobody in north Wales who was aware of my existance ….

I ‘went public’ in November 2012, around the same time as Stephen Messham appeared on BBC Newsnight, and I had set up a personal website which became the Outlaw.

Within days I was approached by a number of abuse ‘survivors’ online via Twitter, one of whom was a one-time high profile witness at the Waterhouse Inquiry, and was a prominent figure in the associated media coverage.

This alleged ‘survivor’ had also become very active on social media around this time, and had taken to attacking Stephen Messham, and any one else who was speaking publicaly about their experiences of childhood abuse, paying particular attention to those who had an association with north Wales and Bryn Estyn.

As I had very little personal knowledge in regard to the whole north Wales affair at that time, I had no reason to believe that someone else who had been in the care system, would want anything else than to seek recognition and/or justice for any mistreatment they had allegedly suffered.

It turned out that I was very much mistaken in that belief, as after speaking to this ‘survivor’ online and via telephone for a few months, I had invited him and his wife into my home.

Within days of his visit, he had, without any reason that I was able to understand at the time, began to focus his attacks on both my family and myself, attacks which, within a few weeks had become somewhat sinister and threatening in nature, and which had left me with no option but to report a number of incidents to the North Wales Police.

It is fair to say that at that point, the north Wales Police were sympathetic and were helpful, they informed us that although the attacks on us were ‘vile, threatening and obsessive’ there was little that could be done as ‘no laws had been broken’.

The online obsessional abuse continued, and a large number of malicious complaints were anonymously reported to Wrexham Social Services, Wrexham Council, the Local Education Authority and at one point, our neighbours were sent leaflets through the post claiming that I was ‘an abuser of women and children’ and had both my photograph and address printed on them.

My wife was followed each time she went shopping, we received an anonymous phone call that our 13-year-old daughter was being watched as she walked to school, and the caller reminded me: ‘Remember what happened to April Jones’…. The harrassment was horrendous and continued non-stop for many months.

The north Wales Police were aware of every aspect of what had been happening to us as a family, but were seemingly unable or unwilling to help us, as for much of that time I was languishing on bail following an allegation, which was found after seven months of investigation (including the seizure and forensic examination of my iPad), to be wholly malicious and false.

The police were also very aware of the person responsible, but again appeared reluctant to act even when presented with ample evidence of his behaviour, behaviour which, according to the National Stalking Helpline and a solicitor we had instructed to assist us, was “a clear course of conduct which amounted to ‘Stalking causing extreme fear and distress'”.

But nothing happened and the attacks continued.

During this time, the person who was harrassing us almost on a daily basis by then, had somehow enlisted the help of a number of other online entities, some of whom were Child Abuse ‘Campaigners’ allegedly, at least that is what they claimed to be and their social media profiles and websites certainly gave testimony to this, and within a short time that group had joined in with the attacks on me.

There were some incidents that occurred around this time that now seem so bizarre in their execution that they belong within the pages of a fiction novel, as I still struggle to understand how they actually happened, and that if I (and thankfully others) had not witnessed them I almost certainly would not have believed them myself.

But I digress….

image

It is my sincere belief, that the conviction of Gordon Anglesea is the first step along a road that will finally lead to the truth of what really happened in north Wales.

I remain steadfast in my belief that the focus of any investigation should not be concentrated on Bryn Estyn, as the conviction of Anglesea has shown that the abuse in his case did occur elsewhere in the County; an ‘Attendance Centre’ (since demolished) in Wrexham and an unnamed private residence frequented regulary by child abusers, and which backs up the claims made by other victims of abuse in north Wales.

It also adds weight to the many claims that the north Wales Police may have been complicit in covering up allegations of abuse for decades, that they have purposely focused on Bryn Estyn only and that genuine witnesses have not only been purposely ignored, but NWP have given their tormentors free rein to harass and threaten them to the point where a number have been driven to the point where taking their own lives has seemed to be the only option.

It may also offer answers as to why only certain alleged survivors have been lauded by the media and have been given prominent platforms at official Inquiries, such as Waterhouse, where their allegations and testimony, however flawed, has been eagerly accepted as the ‘Official’ version.

Despite all of this, it is my belief that with the conviction of Gordon Anglesea, the dam has now finally been breached, the floodgates will slowly open and the real perpetrators, along with the roles of the ‘Enforcers’ that operated in every care home in Wales, (with the full knowledge of some of the staff) and who selected and ‘softened up’ vunerable children to be further abused, the enablers, those that turned a blind eye, and those that have covered up and willingly assisted in criminal activity will finally be identified and brought to justice.

NOTE: ‘This post has turned out to be a lot longer than I initally thought it would when I started writing, and does appear to have wandered somewhat, but bear with me a while longer, as what I have outlined above is connected to what may appear in the mass media in the very future.

I am writing from a personal perspective, as not only do I feel that if people were actually made aware of what I have been subjected to in the attempts to stop me talking, and the lengths that certain people have gone to to try and scare me off, then it’s obvious to me that if there was nothing to discover, then I would not have attracted the kind of attention that I have.

I have not reported on the way that the North Wales Daily Post have favoured certain alleged survivors over others, and appear to have been steered towards reporting on only certain aspects of the north Wales story, as well as ignoring a number of genuine survivors who have contacted them to try and set the story straight.

I have not even began to scratch the surface of the true extent of what myself and my family and friends have endured at the hands of these people for the past four years either, that story will keep until a time I decide to disclose, and the Outlaw may not be the platform to share it anyway, but rest assured, it will be known when the time is right.’