1962 – In an unprecedented action, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses seven members of his Cabinet, marking the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics.
In British politics, the Night of the Long Knives was a major Cabinet reshuffle that took place on 13 July 1962. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet, one-third of the total. The speed and scale of the reshuffle caused it to be associated by its critics with the 1934 Night of the Long Knives in Nazi Germany.
The reshuffle took place against a backdrop of declining Conservative popularity in Britain. Conservative candidates fared poorly in several by-elections, losing ground to Liberal candidates. Concerned that traditional Conservative voters were expressing their disapproval with the government’s economic policies by switching to the Liberals, Harold Macmillan planned to replace his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Selwyn Lloyd, with Reginald Maudling. Lloyd had already clashed with Macmillan over his economic strategies, and Maudling was considered to be more amenable to the economic policies Macmillan wished to implement. The reshuffle was also an attempt to reinvigorate the party, bringing in younger and more dynamic figures and replacing some of the older and less capable ministers. After discussions with Conservative Party chairman Iain Macleod and Home Secretary Rab Butler, a reshuffle was planned for Autumn 1962.
Macmillan was overtaken by events when Butler leaked the details of the reshuffle to press baron Lord Rothermere over lunch on 11 July. The newspapers reported the impending changes on 12 July, and Macmillan made the decision to press ahead with the reshuffle at once. Lloyd was called to a meeting that evening and dismissed. The remaining six were informed the following day, 13 July. Macmillan faced sharp criticism over the scale of the changes, and his political opponents both within the Conservative Party and in the Opposition characterised him as ruthless and opportunistic. Despite an initial sharp drop in his approval ratings, opinion eventually swung back in his favour and the Party recovered. Macmillan regretted the way the reshuffle was carried out, and was particularly concerned about his treatment of Lloyd, who was a loyal confidant. Despite the dramatic changes in the Cabinet, the Conservatives were rocked by a series of scandals in 1963 and Macmillan retired in October of that year after being misdiagnosed with cancer. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who was defeated in the 1964 general election.
1863 – Margaret Murray, British archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist (d. 1963)
Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, she worked at University College London (UCL) from 1898 to 1935. She served as President of the Folklore Society from 1953 to 1955, and published widely over the course of her career.
Born to a wealthy middle-class English family in Calcutta, British India, Murray divided her youth between India, Britain, and Germany, training as both a nurse and a social worker. Moving to London, in 1894 she began studying Egyptology at UCL, developing a friendship with department head Flinders Petrie, who encouraged her early academic publications and appointed her Junior Professor in 1898. In 1902–03 she took part in Petrie’s excavations at Abydos, Egypt, there discovering the Osireion temple and the following season investigated the Saqqara cemetery, both of which established her reputation in Egyptology. Supplementing her UCL wage by giving public classes and lectures at the British Museum and Manchester Museum, it was at the latter in 1908 that she led the unwrapping of Khnum-nakht, one of the mummies recovered from the Tomb of the Two Brothers – the first time that a woman had publicly unwrapped a mummy. Recognising that British Egyptomania reflected the existence of a widespread public interest in Ancient Egypt, Murray wrote several books on Egyptology targeted at a general audience.
Murray also became closely involved in the first-wave feminist movement, joining the Women’s Social and Political Union and devoting much time to improving women’s status at UCL. Unable to return to Egypt due to the First World War, she focused her research on the witch-cult hypothesis, the theory that the witch trials of Early Modern Christendom were an attempt to extinguish a surviving pre-Christian, pagan religion devoted to a Horned God. Although later academically discredited, the theory gained widespread attention and proved a significant influence on the emerging new religious movement of Wicca. From 1921 to 1931 Murray undertook excavations of prehistoric sites on Malta and Minorca and developed her interest in folkloristics. Awarded an honorary doctorate in 1927, she was appointed assistant professor in 1928 and retired from UCL in 1935. That year she visited Palestine to aid Petrie’s excavation of Tall al-Ajjul and in 1937 she led a small excavation at Petra in Jordan. Taking on the presidency of the Folklore Society in later life, she lectured at such institutions as the University of Cambridge and City Literary Institute, and continued to publish in an independent capacity until her death.
Murray’s work in Egyptology and archaeology was widely acclaimed and earned her the moniker of “The Grand Old Woman of Egyptology”, although after her death many of her contributions to the field were overshadowed by those of Petrie. Conversely, Murray’s work in folkloristics and the history of witchcraft has been academically discredited and her methods in these areas heavily criticised. The influence of her witch-cult theory in both religion and literature has been examined by various scholars, and she herself has been dubbed the “Grandmother of Wicca”.
Katie McDonough: The Dept. of Education’s Top Civil Rights Officer Is Really Very Sorry She Said 90 Percent of Campus Rape Accusations Were Not Rape
By Jessica Hasson: Women In Tech Need To Unionize
Hamilton Nolan: Hey, Unions Bought a Newspaper
By Katie Mettler: Rip currents swept away a Florida family. Then beachgoers formed a human chain.
On the flip side, is it morally wrong to sell something for more than it is worth? For example, used cars that are on their last wheels or you know it’s been dunked in salt water, etc. Does conscience or Karma enter into the equation?
David Tracy: When Is It Morally Wrong To Flip Cars For A Profit? (Updated)
Aimée Lutkin: Black State Attorney Pulled Over in Traffic Stop Will Talk with Orlando Police About the Incident
Kelly Faircloth: New York City Expands Girl Scout Programs in Homeless Shelters
Colin Marshall: 100 Years of Cinema: New Documentary Series Explores the History of Cinema by Analyzing One Film Per Year, Starting in 1915
James Gould-Bourn: Holocaust Survivor And Soldier Who Rescued Her Spend More Than 70 Years Together
By Eric Bailey: Let’s Talk About Speech CSS
Widget not in any sidebars
Widget not in any sidebars
Widget not in any sidebars
Widget not in any sidebars
