Somebody asked historians about their favourite piece of obscure UK history – 19 fascinating stories almost lost to the mists of time

11.

‘It’s not that obscure but I really like The Anarchy. A drunken boat disaster causing a long running civil war, a female queen who has been largely ignored. Oh and plentiful medieval misery.’
–whatwhenwhere1977

12.

‘The Battle of Fishguard in 1797 – the last time mainland Britain was invaded – is a hilarious rabbit hole.

TLDR: Load of French Army irregulars landed in Fishguard looking for a fight, got massively pissed instead, and surrendered to locals, including women with pitchforks.’
–welsh_cthulhu

13.

‘A great-grandniece of Napoleon was married to a godfather of Charles III, our king.’
–Careless_Soup_109

14.

‘Jonas Hanway (1712-1786) was the first man in England to popularise men carrying umbrellas. Hackney coach drivers were mad at him because they were used to getting more work when it rained and thought umbrella use would affect this.’
–FantasticWeasel

15.

‘Clan warfare as spectator sport.’
–NinjaTigerB

16.

‘This happened at the First Battle of Bull Run and Waterloo as well, spectators brought picnics!’
–No_Ring_3348

17.

‘In 1904, a Russian Naval Fleet (the Second Pacific Squadron IYKYK) in the North Sea mistook a fleet of fishing trawlers from Hull for Japanese torpedo boats.

Due to further incompetence, the Russian gunnery was dreadful, they sank only one trawler, killed two fishermen and managed to kill the chaplain of the Russian cruiser Aurora with friendly fire.

Britain refused to grant the fleet access to the Suez Canal so we made them sail all the way around Cape of Good Hope to go fight the Japanese.’
–Krakshotz

18.

‘The Kilve oil fraud of 1921. A massive scandal that seems lost to time.’
–Dolphin_Spotter

19.

‘In 1889, on the lane between the village that my Grandmother lived in (Cinderford) and another nearby village (Ruardean), four travelling Frenchmen and their performing bears were set upon by a mob who wrongly believed a rumour that the bears had mauled a child. The Frenchmen were beaten and the bears killed.

To this day, arguments erupt in both villages over which village the mob originated from. The phrase ‘who killed the bears?’ has been known to ignite tensions even 100 years after the incident.

In 2017, a man renovating his house found some old legal documents in his chimney which seemed to suggest that the mob had in fact originated in Cinderford. But this is all a bit convenient if you ask me, and smacks of just the kind of foul play you’d expect from those Ruardeanian bear-murderers.’
–autophobe2e

Source r/AskUK Image Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons