Way we were

100 years ago: A domestic wrote in defending her job and registering her disgust at the unprovoked attack by "Quiet Observer", as part of the ongoing argument about the behaviour of factory girls. They were only allowed one night out a week, when they were so tired that they would not be parading in town. Domestics had also been accused of "being seen with one or more soldiers", and in their defence the writer said that "there's no disgrace in a soldier's uniform; the domestic has the good sense to note the gentlemen inside. What would we do without them? If Quiet Observer be a gentleman, he wants to stay at home a little more and turn the mangle for Mrs Quiet Observer, then he would not be able to criticise the female sex and their dress so much."

50 years ago: In the Belgian city of Malines human remains in a lead coffin, believed to be those of Marguerite of York, were found on a rubbish dump, where they had been left by workmen. Marguerite was the wife of Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy, and sister of King Edward IV. In 1489 Parliament authorised a tax on land throughout England to finance a campaign against Brittany. Payment was resisted in Yorkshire and Durham, and the Earl of Northumberland thereupon summoned the nobility and gentry of the North to meet him at York, and told them they must obey the King's demands. Rioting followed, and the Earl was killed, with a number of his followers. Open rebellion developed under the leadership of Sir John Egremond and John a'Chambre, and when it was suppressed John a'Chambre was hanged from a gibbet of unusual height on top of Clifford's Tower, with some of his followers hanging below him. Sir John Egremond escaped to Flanders and found refuge at the Court of Lady Marguerite. She died in 1503, and her tomb was later destroyed.

25 years ago: A real live calf was one of the prizes in a North Yorkshire charity competition, along with a lamb and three little pigs. The livestock raffle was one of a number of fundraising efforts in Huby Village Hall the following month, in aid of St Leonard's Hospice. If the winner didn't want the calf the organisers would take it to market and sell it for them; it would be expected to make between £80 and £100, according to how prices were going.

Updated: 14:13 Thursday, February 10, 2005