Elizabeth Alkin (c. 1600 – c. 1655) was a publisher, nurse and spy for the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War (1642–1651). She was also commonly known as Parliamentary Joan, one of many derogatory names she was called by royalist sympathisers. Little is known about Alkin's early life. Her husband was arrested and hanged in 1643 by the royalists during the English Civil War for spying for the Parliamentarians; Alkin continued his work, spying in Oxford—the royalist wartime capital—even during the city's siege. By 1648 Alkin was involved in selling and then publishing Parliamentary newsbooks (example pictured)—the forerunners of newspapers. She used her role as a vendor to track down and report several publishers of royalist material. After the civil war, Alkin nursed casualties of the First Anglo-Dutch War, initially in Portsmouth, then Harwich and Ipswich. With her health failing she returned to London. It is presumed she died shortly afterwards, possibly over the 1655 Christmas period. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Alkin> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1808: John Rennie's scheme to defend St Mary's Church in Reculver from coastal erosion was abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary%27s_Church,_Reculver> 1895: The National Trust, a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, was founded. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Trust> 1916: Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann became the first German aviators to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Immelmann> 2010: An earthquake registering 7.0 Mw struck Haiti, killing more than 100,000 people. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: gooey: 1. Having the consistency of goo: soft or viscous, and sticky. 2. (figurative) 3. Emotional or sentimental, especially to an excessive extent; mushy, soppy. 4. (originally New York, archaic) Distasteful, unpleasant. 5. (originally Australia) A thing which is soft or viscous, and sticky. 6. (figurative) 7. (originally Australia, derogatory, dated) A person who is regarded as weak or worthless; a fool. 8. (US, chiefly education, psychology) A person who favours closer relationships with other people and less structured settings, rather than formal, organized settings; also, an educational approach, curriculum, etc., which is less structured. 9. About Word of the Day 10. Nominate a word 11. Leave feedback <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gooey> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: I take toleration to be a part of religion. I do not know which I would sacrifice; I would keep them both: it is not necessary that I should sacrifice either. --Edmund Burke <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
