"Topham was known as a purveyor of the truth and as a magistrate"
Hi Martin and Graham, thanks for the friendly comments on this
historical giant, Cap'n Edward Topham;
When looking back with today's mindset, I think it can be very hard to
for us peering back into historical context to judge the actions of a
man, however, one thing that is a timeless yardstick is how a gentleman
treats the ladies; in this department Topham was a cross between a
terrible scoundrel and a Don Juan in golden underwear!
As for the being a purveyor of truth that might well be, but we also
probably ought to think about what sort of truth it represents and as a
purveyor to whom - for example, purveying whether so and so slept with
the future princess of Wales while truthful isn't necesarily a feather
in the cap of respectfulness! Just a thought ...
As for being a magistrate, nowadays, that would seem to have an air of
respect. But again, going back into the historical context, we can ask
how he became a magistrate and what that meant at the time. I don't
know for sure, but I'll speculate he was named magistrate by the king
because of the discontent folks that stormed parliament in the 1780
Gordon Riots. That is where Topham earned the King's favor, but by
today's standards it was more of a Kent State or Tinaime Square event.
Topham lead the violent charge to clear the place of the protestors who
were part of the unrest under the monarchy sweeping the Americas and
Europe, and was 'heroic' by the King;'s standards. I would suggest is
was that which got him named as magistrate. Let's look even further
into what was said about magistrates in the milieu, specifically, those
riots and what the magistrates represented:
In a parlamentary debate following the Riots, distinguished Parliament
member Edmund Burke said:
"The Middlesex magistrates are generally the scum of the earth". They
were the ones responsible to prevent the mob. Thus, reforms were made
after international attention was focused on how defective, corrupt and
ineffective, rife and subsisting with bribes and favors, the British
system of magistrates actually was and during that key decade for
Topham, new magistrates were appointed and now could receive
"stipends". So, a bit more speculation and we might conclude he just
earned an appointment to the royal gravy-wagon stipend by charging some
rioters on one embarrassing day for the King in June of 1780.
It is all very exciting British history and I am sure there are
archives somehwere that could define much better the veracity or lack
thereof of these conjectures, but one thing I am sure of: If an
American mob had been faced by the likes of Topham, he would have been
gleefully tarred and feathered ;-)
Kindest wishes
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Goff <[email protected]>
To: Graham Ensor <[email protected]>
Cc: Meteorite-list <[email protected]>; MexicoDoug
<[email protected]>
Sent: Fri, Feb 10, 2012 7:03 am
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Professor Colin Pillinger lecture -
Stones from the sky: A heaven-sent opportunity to talk about science
Good point Graham, although in relation to Topham i think the
dictionary definition below probably doesnt fit:
"an unprincipled, dishonorable person; villain."
Topham was known as a purveyor of the truth and as a magistrate that
description doesnt really fit so perhaps i mis used the term
'scoundrel' Maybe lovable rogue is a better term?
Cheers
Martin
On 10 February 2012 11:50, Graham Ensor <[email protected]> wrote:
And of course these days there are no scoundrels about in the
meteorite world at all ;-)
Graham
On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Martin Goff
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Doug,
He was certainly not all starchy white in reputation and was
definitely a bit of scoundrel at times, in a very British way of
course.
You wrote
"Anyways, he was definitely one of the most colorful characters of
early meteorite enlightenment, and as a publicist actuallydeserves in
my opinion even more credit than he gets"
You also wrote
"Wonder what Prof. Pillinger thinks of this?"
Well, i know that Professor Pillinger is currently researching a book
all about Edward Topham so we will have to wait and see what his
conclusions are! :-)
Cheers
Martin
On 10 February 2012 11:22, MexicoDoug <[email protected]> wrote:
"Edward Topham was not a Sir"
Hi Martin,
Thanks for the kind reply; Someone else also said he was a Sir, I'm
trying
to remember. Maybe there really is more to the story. But, even
if he were
to have been knighted, wasn't George a bit too mad by that time, or
are
there others who have that power I wonder...
Topham didn't even earn his title of "Major", he was just a
captain, and
upon retirement I think the policy was just to bump Captains up to
Majors so
they got bigger pensions. The newspaper he founded, as far as I
can tell,
was the very first widely circulated tabloid newspaper in the world
(coincidently named 'The Globe'). However, he got into all kinds
of legal
troubles just before the meteorite fell and had to close it down,
since he
apparently has offended a well-respected recently dead man. If I
recall, he
pulled through the episode by the skin of his teeth and set some
common law
presicents in England saying a dead man's estate can't sue for
libel.
While he may have been respected in certain circles, I think he
just sponged
off Mrs. Wells during fair weather, made a business out of her with
benefits
(after this blew over she became a nun) and then as her superstar
status
began to wane, let her rot in jail and took her children away from
her for
himself. I'm sure it was a bit more complicated than that (she had
a
brother or brother in law who was a scoundrel), but still, IMO he
was just a
fancy-pants socialite. I really don't mean to offend since we like
to give
as much respect as we can to those great men and women in the
history of
meteorites, but the respect he got was probably more like a
straight Perez
Hilton of today (and many people live for that stuff in the USA!).
So I
think it is worthwhile mentioning.
When you think about the circumstances of the exhibition of the
meteorite,
it sort of fits together in my opinion, but I'm sure there are
alternate
interpretations out there that make him a hero instead of one of
the King's
yes-men ;-)
Anyways, he was definitely one of the most colorful characters of
early
meteorite enlightenment, and as a publicist actuallydeserves in my
opinion
even more credit than he gets. Wonder what Prof. Pillinger thinks
of this?
Kindest wsihes
Doug
--
Martin Goff
www.msg-meteorites.co.uk
IMCA #3387
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--
Martin Goff
www.msg-meteorites.co.uk
IMCA #3387
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