[meteorite-list] Professor Colin Pillinger lecture - Stones from the sky: A heaven-sent opportunity to talk about science

Fri Feb 10 15:27:56 EST 2012

"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 <msgmeteorites at gmail.com>
To: Graham Ensor <graham.ensor at gmail.com>
Cc: Meteorite-list <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; MexicoDoug 
<mexicodoug at aim.com>
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 <graham.ensor at gmail.com> 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 
<msgmeteorites at gmail.com> 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 <mexicodoug at aim.com> 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
>> ______________________________________________
>>
>> Visit the Archives at 
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

--
Martin Goff
www.msg-meteorites.co.uk
IMCA #3387
______________________________________________

Visit the Archives at 
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list