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The Engineer, the Crook and Eight Men of the Sea by Aurélie Freeman A remarkable story in three parts. The first gives a fascinating insight into the life of Thomas Ker, a civil engineer in Rajasthan, India, in the later nineteenth century, as well as that of some of his relatives and sons in India. It traces his work in building railways, railway schools and colonies, the juggling of his family and social life between India and Britain, and his involvement in aid during the famine of 1901. A keen photographer, he left a unique record of his life there and in Shimla and the section is generously illustrated with his photos. Next, we follow a story of skulduggery and cruelty in the Isle of Man, pieced together from the newspapers of 1834. The author shows how the revelations develop week by week and questions the changes that occur as the story is passed down the generations of an upright Edinburgh family. In the final section we follow men from one family who worked in maritime jobs on the Hampshire, Sussex and Kent coasts between 1700 and 1900: eight stories of shipbuilders and house carpenters, harbour masters and sailmakers, pilots, privateers and mariners trading in coastal waters and on the high seas. Well researched and empathically related, this is history from the bottom up. |
Reviews of The Engineer, the Crook and Eight Men of the Sea by Aurélie Freeman Juliet Duff, ‘The Rubies of Rye’, Rye News, 15 March 2024. A meticulously researched history…spanning several centuries and places across the world. Using family stories and records, photographs …and newspaper articles…, Freeman is able to bring these Ryers to life once again. A fascinating book with a wealth of sources from both this country and abroad, that would be of interest to historians and those researching family history.’ Adam Streatfield-James, Editor, The Journal of the Families in British India Society, no 51, Spring 2024 It is engagingly presented and is backed up with extensive evidence, a real gem of family history research… The book is generously illustrated, the Indian photographs in particular are a delight… She includes an informative section on her sources and methods, making this a valuable resource as well as very readable. |