Wirebird: The Journal of the Friends of St Helena

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Issue 50 - 2021
Cumulative index since 1990
Colin Fox: Napoleon’s Coffin (was it partly made from a domestic mahogany table?)
Ian Bruce: Deceiving Bishop Welby (the story of two clergymen who tried to pull the wool over the Bishop's eyes)
Dr Michael D. Bennett: Slavery in Early St Helena, Part 1: The “Black Servant” System, 1659-1682
Richard Grainger: St Helena then and now: a personal view
Rev John Walker: St Helena as I saw it: 1886
Richard Grainger: Diplomatic Wireless Station, St Helena, Piccolo and Islanditis -
Issue 49 - 2020
Download and ViewDr Paul Murray: St Helena and the Irish Civil War
Ian Bruce: Black Oliver and the Dutch Invasion
Rev. David Hall: St Helena 1963 (appointed as a secondary school teacher, memories of life on the island)
Colin Fox: Two Governors: Robert Brooke and Robert Patton (two governors who separately aided British military operations with very different outcomes)
Father David Musgrave and Edward Baldwin: Flags over St Helena - An Overview
Colin Fox: Fernando de Noronha? (How this Brazilian island connects with St Helena) -
Issue 48 - 2019
Richard Grainger: Mixed Medical Memories of St Helena 1966-69Download and View
Sizakele Gumede: Maldivia House once belonged to the Natal Government of South Africa
Ian Bruce & John Turner: Lafitte’s Map (the first detailed map of Jamestown)
Colin Fox: Musophaga Rossae (description of new bird species named after Lady Eliza Ross of St Helena)
“Nauticus”: Phenomenon at St Helena (description of the violent effect of rollers in 1821)
Richard Grainger: St Helena and the Cross, Anglican church at Blue Hills and the Mutlah bell
Jane Hall (Ed): Plantation Notes
Ian Bruce: St Helena during the First World War
Sizakele Gumede: The French connection: visits to the graves of Napoleon and the Prince Imperial
Ian Bruce: The Origin of the name Castella
Colin Fox: The Reverend George Bennett
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Issue 47 - 2018
Ian Bruce: St Helena Lace and NeedleworkDownload and View
Bill Birch: The Billy Birch, The story behind the name
Colin Fox: Henry Russell, A Nabob's sojourn on St Helena
Margaret Rodenberg: St Helena's link to Cuba (through the liberated African slaves)
Ian Bruce: The SS Papanui (the final voyage and a suggestion that the fire on this and its sister ship had a common cause)
Ian Bruce: Boothby's Arrival (the dangers of landing before a wharf was built and whether the EIC's later occupation is attributable to Boothby -
Issue 46 - 2017
Maryanne O’Donnell: A Doctor for the people: Dr Ian ShineDownload and View
Ian Bruce: Alfred Mosely (Early 20th Century benefactor who unsuccessfully tried to set up a fish export industry despite plentiful catches and then campaigned to transport most of the population to California where they could seek better fortunes)
John Pinfold: A St Helena Seedling: the early history of the Salvation Army on the island.
S Morgan/J C Hillman: Alexander Frederick Charles Contest: A St Helena freed slave in Australia
R Stephen/Colin Fox: Extract from “Around the Atlantic” (WW2 memories of a radio telegraphist) -
Issue 45 - 2016
John Humphries: A Timely tributeDownload and View
Ian Bruce: The First Dozen Years: Description of the turbulent years 1900-1911
Dr JC & SM Hillman: John Hillman and Family
Colin Fox: Encounters with the slavers: Excerpts from the diary of Hamilton Laird 1849
Colin Fox: Napoleon Bonaparte POW
Heidi Bauer-Clapp: A Small Step: Honouring St Helena’s Liberated Africans -
Issue 44 - 2015
William Clark: William Clark's 20th Regiment RecollectionsDownload and View
Margaret Dyson: St Helena sergeant James Renton
Ian Bruce: St Helena Day - Why the traditional Discovery Date of 21 May is wrong
Susan O’Bey: A Place of Confinement
A Lady: A letter from a Lady
David Ranzan: An island of historical attraction: A young American Sailor’s visit to the island of St Helena
Colin Fox: Sir Stamford Raffles interview with Napoleon, Voyage of EIC Ship William Pitt to St Helena 1819 -
Issue 43 - 2014
Colin Fox: Mutiny on the Worcester (the Court case and its aftermath)Download and View
Lichen: Memories of St Helena (Originally published under the title “St Helena as it was sixty-five years ago”)
Colin Fox: Information ref. researching at the British Library (St Helena East Company records)
Colin Fox: Saul Solomon and the Margate Murder (a “foul murder” in 1786)
Ian Bruce and Nick Thorpe: William A Thorpe, 1842-1918 (a “most outstanding island-born businessman”)
John Tyrrell: The Legend of the “Slaves” of Maldivia (the source of this legend appeared in Governor Janisch’s Extracts from the St Helena Records)
Takeshi Sugimoto: The Historic Japanese Visitors to St. Helena (a literature survey) -
Issue 42 - 2013
John Pinfold: Book Review – St Helena Britannica (Review of book by Trevor W. Hearl and edited by A.H. Schulenburg) – John PinfoldDownload and View
Colin Fox: Excerpt from the St Helena Gazette 18 September 1806 – recommendations from a surgeon/dentist, plus amusing anecdote – Colin Fox
Chris and Sheila Hillman: Some Observations on the St Helena Man and Horse Signal Station – Chris and Sheila Hillman
Ian Bruce: The Soldier and the Harbour Master (The story of father & son, both named George Randal Bruce, soldier & harbour master)
Dennis Bush-King: Our Melliss Family – A St Helena Connection (The Life of John Melliss who was an Assistant Surgeon in the HEIC, posted to St Helena) – Dennis Bush-King
Richard Grainger: Doctor Verling (A Surgeon during Napoleon’s imprisonment on St Helena)
Colin Fox: Rex v Robert Wright (Part 2 of Transcript of a court case brought against Captain Robert Wright in 1818 for ill-treating and beating his slave Lucy) – Extracted from St Helena Session Book, 1818 -
Issue 41 - 2012
Edward Baldwin: A History of St Helena’s Public SealDownload and View
John Pinfold: The Trevor Hearl Collection at Rhodes House Library, Oxford (Description of books, some extremely rare, donated research papers to the Bodleian Library)
Extract from 1827 meeting SH Ag & Hort. Soc.: Report of Surf in James’ Bay from 5 to 8 March 1821 (A report of the loss of life and damage inflicted on the island resulting from ‘rollers’)
Jon Bursey: The 36th Governor Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Elliott (Description of overall career)
Colin Fox (Transcription): Governor William Grey-Wilson, Letters to his mother (Letters donated by Bernard Mabbett written in 1887 when working as Acting Governor, describing the island at that time and describing his duties)
London Cornish Association Newsletter, 2007: Philip Scipio’s Grave (Gravestone in Devon of a slave brought from St Helena to England where he died aged 18-20 in 1734)
Austin Meares: The Napoleonic Stamps of St Helena
Colin Fox: Rex v Robert Wright (Transcript of a court case brought against Captain Robert Wright in 1818 for ill-treating and beating his slave Lucy)