Everyone interested in this particular field of research knows that something very strange and disturbing happened to us all in the first half of the 19th century.

The years 1800-1850 seem the most bizarre and enigmatic.

I’ve been around Tartaria long enough to know the significance of 1775. It was a date I didn’t want to visit yet but Time and Tide wait for No Historical Researcher…or whatever the saying is.

Whilst looking elsewhere and taking notes, I wrote down 1776 by mistake and – DINK! Aha!

I’ll make my excuses first. My sense of history always ended with “The’45” as in 1745, the Jacobite Rising. So, anything after that date is a bit hazy to moi and will need oodles of brain cells all working together at the same time.

All I have at the mo’ is…….

What happened in 1776? Yep – even I know that date :o)