# A School History of England

A textbook “written for all boys and girls who are interested in the story of Great Britain and her Empire”, embellished with 23 poems by Kipling and vibrant illustrations by Henry Ford. Fletcher supplied the historical material, while Kipling proofread and approved the text. The poems “[range] from the jingoistic to the riverine” and the text is “unremittingly, unapologetically anti-parliamentary and racist, with particular strains of anti-Irish sentiment, and deep commitment to the stratification of races.” It was condemned by J. Cathcart Watson, a Scottish member in the House of Commons, who sought it banned “in view of the very distinct libel on the Irish race contained in the book.” It was reissued in 1983 as Kipling’s Pocket History of England.
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Emery Walker sc.
A SCHOOL HISTORY OF ENGLAND
by
C. R. L. FLETCHER
and
RUDYARD KIPLING
PICTURES BY HENRY FORD
OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1911
COPYRIGHT 1911 by C. R. L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling. All rights, including the right to reprint the poems in this volume, or any portions of them, are strictly reserved by the authors.
LONDON
| HENRY FROWDE | HODDER & STOUGHTON |
| AMEN CORNER | WARWICK SQUARE |
| E. C. | E. C. |
PREFACE
This book is written for all boys and girls who are interested in the story of Great Britain and her Empire.
C. R. L. F.
R. K.
March, 1911.
​The publishers desire to express their thanks to the Manager and officials of the United Services Museum, Whitehall, for their courtesy in giving facilities to the artist for making studies of the military and naval material in the museum.
CONTENTS
| chap. | | page |
| I. | From the Earliest Times to the Departure of the Romans | 9 |
| II. | Saxon England | 26 |
| III. | The Norman Kings, 1066–1154 | 47 |
| IV. | Henry II to Henry III, 1154–1272; the Beginnings of Parliament | 62 |
| V. | The Three Edwards, 1272–1377 | 83 |
| VI. | The End of the Middle Ages; Richard II to Richard III, 1377–1485 | 97 |
| VII. | The Tudors and the Awakening of England, 1485–1603 | 111 |
| VIII. | The Early Stuarts and the Great Civil War, 1603–1660 | 140 |
| IX. | The Fall of the Stuarts and the Revolution, 1660–1688 | 163 |
| X. | William III to George II, 1688–1760; the Growth of Empire | 177 |
| XI. | The American Rebellion and the Great French War, 1760–1815; Reign of George III | 199 |
| XII. | George III to George V, 1815–1911 | 220 |
POEMS
page :
| The River’s Tale | 9 |
| The Roman Centurion | 19 |
| The Pirates in England | 26 |
| The Saxon Foundations of England | 31 |
| What ‘Dane-geld’ means | 39 |
| William the Conqueror’s Work | 46 |
| Norman and Saxon | 51 |
| The Reeds of Runnymede | 75 |
| My Father’s Chair | 81 |
| The Dawn Wind | 109 |
| The King’s Job | 111 |
| With Drake in the Tropics | 134 |
| ‘Together’ | 138 |
| Before Edgehill Fight | 155 |
| The Dutch in the Medway | 168 |
| ‘Brown Bess’ | 177 |
| ‘Twas not while England’s Sword unsheathed’ | 199 |
| After the War | 202 |
| The French Wars | 218 |
| The Bells and the Queen, 1911 | 222 |
| Big Steamers | 235 |
| The Secret of the Machines | 247 |
| The Glory of the Garden | 249 |
LIST OF COLOURED PLATES
| The Cave People | To face page | 11 |
| The Landing of the Danes | To face„ page„ | 37 |
| William I at Hastings | To face„ page„ | 43 |
| Richard I in the Holy Land | To face„ page„ | 70 |
| Edward III at Calais | To face„ page„ | 94 |
| Richard II and Wat Tyler | To face„ page„ | 99 |
| An Imaginary Map of America, 1500 | After | 109 |
| With Drake in the Tropics | To face page | 134 |
| Prince Rupert at Oxford, going to battle | To face„ page„ | 156 |
| Waterloo, 7 p.m., June 18, 1815 | To face„ page„ | 217 |
| A Glimpse of the Future | To face„ page„ | 248 |
LIST OF DRAWINGS
page :
| The Landing of the Romans | 17 |
| The Building of the Wall | 23 |
| St. Augustine preaching to Ethelbert | 34 |
| The Murder of Becket | 67 |
| King John signs the Great Charter | 74 |
| Edward I's Wars with the Welsh—how the King shared the hardships of his men | 84 |
| English Archery wins at Agincourt | 101 |
| How Henry VIII had the Monks turned out of the Monasteries | 119 |
| Henry VIII sees that England has a good Fleet | 122 |
| At the time of the Armada—Elizabeth reviews the Troops at Tilbury | 135 |
| Brown Bess | 178 |
| Nelson shot at the Battle of Trafalar, October 21, 1803 | 213 |
LIST OF MAPS
page :
| Britain, to illustrate history from the Coming of the Romans to the Norman Conquest | Britain, to illustrate history from the Coming of the Romans to the Norman Conquest | 25 |
| France | France | 93 |
| Great Britain, to illustrate history from the Norman Conquest to the present day | Great Britain, to illustrate history from the Norman Conquest to the present day | 142 |
| Ireland | Ireland | 152 |
| British Colonial Empire after the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713 | British Colonial Empire after the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713 | 187 |
| Western Europe | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ End papers | |
| The World, showing the British Empire | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ End papers | |
The Glory of the Garden.
Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the University
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1941, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 82 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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