Guildford Children'S Centre Newsletter September 2012 Parentmail: Fill & Download for Free

Jane Grey grew up in a world that didn’t value females for anything more than the alliances or glory they could bring to their families.Her mother, Frances Grey was the daughter of a woman who was the favorite sister of Henry VIII, and had been (briefly) Queen of France. Frances’s father was a duke. Henry VIII left the throne first to his own three children and then to the children of his sister.Frances was the one who should have inherited the claim to the throne, but she was “persuaded” to step aside in favor of her own daughter, Jane. Frances had no sons and was thought, at this point, to be too old to have further children. What Frances felt about this isn’t recorded, other than she was unhappy about it. She, too, was being devalued, pushed aside because she hadn’t borne a boy.Jane, on the other hand, was just a teenager, and unwed. If she was married off to the Duke of Northumberland’s son, they would have his military might backing them as they sought to push Jane’s claim forward, and disinherit Mary and Elizabeth.Jane’s life has always been thought to be an unhappy one based on a quote remembered long after her death in which perfection was demanded of her or she received “nips and bobs” (pinches and slaps).But this was actually pretty normal for the era. I’m not “excusing” it in any way, but what we’d consider child abuse in this era was par for the course in Tudor households. Children were raised with harsh discipline, thought to be the only way of preventing their souls from being led astray by the devil. Showing children affection was discouraged as “spoiling” them. (It’s why noble children were “fostered” to higher-ranking households. It was thought parents would be too indulgent with them and the children would become wild and disobedient as a result. Jane was, for a short time, fostered with Kateryn Parr.)Jane’s parents were indulgent in one respect: they encouraged her intellectual pursuits by getting her the finest tutors and books. An intellectual woman in the era was thought of along the same light as a dog that can do tricks: amusing but ultimately worthless. The family was going to a great deal of expense and trouble for something that simply made Jane happy. They allowed her to correspond with intellectuals all over Europe. They also apparently purchased for her a large number of clocks, because Jane was interested in their mechanical workings — another big expense in the era.Jane may have been beaten when she refused to marry Guildford. But again, this wouldn’t have been unusual. Jeanne d'Albret was beaten and physically carried to the altar by the Constable of France when she refused to marry. She lived in an era where non-compliance was seen as a shameful stain on a woman’s character, not on those who were thrashing her into obedience.In the end, Jane’s life was not her own, and she lost it for reasons that had little to do with her own, personal, actions. She was a bloodline to be bartered into marriage, and then a head to wear a crown, a womb to dispense sons, and a neck to be severed in order to put down Protestant rebellions.

There have been many service men and women murdered by Irish terrorists. Not only in pubs and nightclubs while off duty.In 1969 British troops were sent to Northern Ireland as part of Operation Banner as the authorities had lost control of Belfast and Londonderry (Derry) due to rioting in which catholic residents left their homes and either moved to catholic areas or crossed the boarder in to the Republic of Ireland, their homes being burnt behind them by the protestant rioters.The army’s task was to reestablish law and order which it initially did until the Civil Rights Movement was circumvented by the Provisional IRA (PRIA) and was used as a cover for rioting blast bombs and later shootings. The minimum age of serving soldiers was 17 years old. That age This remained in force until the murdered of three soldiers two of which were brothers John and Joseph McCraig aged 17 and 18 years old. The third soldier was Dougald McCaughey aged 23 years old.The Provisional IRA Honey Trap killings occurred on 23 March 1973. Volunteers from the Provisional IRA's (IRA) Belfast Brigade shot dead three off-duty soldiers from the British Army who had been lured to a house by two females on the Antrim Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A fourth soldier survived the shooting. After the murder of the 17 year old soldier, the age limit for soldiers serving in Northern Ireland was raised to 18 years of age.This was not the first time the IRA used such a so-called "honey trap" tactic to kill British soldiers. In March 1971 three young Scottish soldiers were shot dead at the side of a road after they had been lured out of a Belfast bar by a female Republican who said she would take them to a party. The three soldiers, members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, were brought in a van to the White Brae, Squire's Hill, off the Ligoniel Road in North Belfast; when they went to urinate at the side of the road they were shot in the back of the head by IRA volunteers.This was only the fourth incident during The Troubles in which British soldiers were killed; the first was the shooting of Robert Curtis just a month earlier on 6 February. However this was the first time off-duty soldiers were killed in Northern Ireland since the conflict began, as the other three incidents happened during gun battles and rioting.The killings of the three Scottish soldiers brought more cries from the Unionist community to introduce internment without trial, which was eventually introduced in August 1971 as Operation Demetrius. However instead of decreasing violence, internment had the opposite effect — violence increased tenfold and support for the IRA grew stronger as the army and government reacted more harshly.The then Home Secretary Reginald Maudling made a statement to the House of Commons and announced that in future the minimum age of serving soldiers will be 18 years before they can be sent to Northern Ireland.As stated soldiers that were off duty have been targeted in bombing and shooting attacks in Ireland, Britain, Germany and while on leave in the Netherlands.The Guildford Pub BombingThe Guildford pub bombings occurred on 5th October 1974. PIRA terrorists detonated two 6-pound gelignite bombs at two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, southwest of London. Four soldiers and one civilian were murdered, whilst a further sixty-five were wounded.The bomb in the Horse and Groom detonated at 8:30pm. It killed Paul Craig (a 22-year-old plasterer), two members of the Scots Guards and two members of the Women’s Royal Army Corps.M62 Coach BombThe M62 Coach bombing was carried out on off duty soldiers their wive and children.Lance Corporal James John McShane Fusilier Jack Thomas HynesFusilier Stephen WhalleyCorporal Clifford HaughtonWife - Linda HaughtonChildren - Lee Houghton & Robert HoughtonThere have been numerous attacks on defenceless off duty army personnel and their families.All armed forces personnel were ordered not to wear uniforms outside of their barracks, while on leave, hopefully not to draw attention to themselves as forces personnel.A large number of the perpetrators of these murders were never found. However under the terms of the Norther Ireland peace agreement all IRA and Protestant terrorists were provided with comfort letters. These letters state that irrespective of what crimes/murders they may have committed they will never face arrest or justice for these crimes.Thanks for the A2A.