BLACK DEATH, IMPACT ON WALES
The plague entered SE Wales by March 1349, reached CARMARTHEN, SW Wales, by sea by late March and swept through the Anglo‐Welsh border country to NE Wales by June. Dispersal continued until the autumn. Perhaps a third of the population was killed.
Afterwards, migration to find good‐quality vacant land accelerated the decline of native tenures (see TENURES, WALES). The 1349 and later plagues (e.g., 1361–2, 1369) encouraged contraction of arable farming and expansion of sheep farming. See also PLAGUE, WALES; AGRICULTURE, WALES BEFORE 18TH CENTURY.
BLACK DINNERsee JAMES IIBLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTAName used for a notorious incident in INDIA in 1756. After the nawab (ruler) of Bengal, Siraj‐ud‐Daulah, seized control of CALCUTTA (a British headquarters in NE India) on 20 June, captives were imprisoned in a small cell (the ‘Black Hole’). By the following morning, most had died by suffocation or heat exhaustion. The incident was reported in Great Britain as evidence of Indian brutality. The numbers involved are uncertain: 60–200 were incarcerated, 40–140 died. See also CLIVE, ROBERT.BLACK PRINCEsee EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCEBLACKSTONE, WILLIAM(b. 10 July 1723 at London, England; d. 14 Feb. 1780 at London, aged 56). An unsuccessful barrister, Blackstone instead lectured on English law at OXFORD University from 1753 (also Vinerian professor of law 1758–66). He was elected an MP in 1761 and became a judge in 1770 (also knighted). Blackstone is famous for his Commentaries on the Laws of England (4 volumes, 1765–9), an elegant, systematic exposition aimed at laymen which was influential in England and N America for over a century.BLACK WATCHA distinguished Scottish regiment in the British ARMY, which was authorized by King GEORGE II in 1739; it was constituted from six Highland Companies of Foot (formed from 1725) and four new companies. The original companies represented attempts to secure the support of loyal HIGHLAND clans following the JACOBITE REBELLION of 1715. During the JACOBITE REBELLION of 1745, the regiment was stationed in S England for fear of unreliability. Its name, originally a nickname, referred to the dark tartan worn by soldiers and their role of watching the Highlands. In 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with other units as the Royal Regiment of Scotland.BLACK WEDNESDAYNickname for Wednesday 16 Sept. 1992 when the British Conservative government was compelled to withdraw sterling from the European Economic Community’s EXCHANGE RATE MECHANISM (ERM). During the day, speculators’ currency sales forced the government to raise the base interest rate from 10% to 12%, and declare a rise to 15%, to protect sterling’s ERM value. These actions failed; at 7.30 pm the chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, announced withdrawal. The humiliation damaged the Conservatives’ reputation for financial management and the premiership of John MAJOR. See also EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY/EUROPEAN UNION, IMPACT ON BRITISH POLITICS.BLAIR, TONY
(b. 6 May 1953 at Edinburgh, Scotland). Leader of the LABOUR PARTY 1994–2007; British prime minister 1997–2007.
A barrister and MP (1983–2007), Blair became Party leader with acquiescence from rival Gordon BROWN (see GRANITA ACCORD). With Alastair CAMPBELL and Peter MANDELSON, he ‘modernized’ Labour as NEW LABOUR with centrist policies (e.g., abandoning NATIONALIZATION, 1995) and won an unprecedented three general elections for Labour (1997, 2001, 2005). Brown, as chancellor of the Exchequer, received extensive authority in domestic policy.
Blair implemented DEVOLUTION in Scotland and Wales (1997–9), achieved a peace settlement for Northern Ireland (1998; see BELFAST AGREEMENT), reinstated city‐wide government in LONDON (1999–2000), and removed most hereditary peers from the House of Lords (1999). He pursued an interventionist foreign policy (see KOSOVO WAR; SIERRA LEONE). His government sought ‘modernization’ of public services and encouraged IMMIGRATION.
In Blair’s second term, he controversially committed military support to US‐led campaigns in AFGHANISTAN (from 2001) and Iraq (from 2003). Domestic developments included legal civil partnerships for same‐sex couples (2004).
Involvement in Iraq damaged Blair’s popularity and authority. On 7 Sept. 2006, under pressure from Brown’s supporters, he announced a resignation plan. He was succeeded by Brown in June 2007.
BLENKINSOP, JOHN(b. 1783 at Felling, Co. Durham, England; d. 22 Jan. 1831 at Leeds, aged 47). A supervisor of coal mines, Blenkinsop experimented with steam engines. In 1812–13 he built four two‐cylinder railway locomotives, which hauled coal waggons along tooth‐racked cast‐iron rails from Middleton colliery to LEEDS (to loading staithes on the R. Aire). It was the world’s first practical, commercial steam‐powered railway system. The locomotives operated until 1835. Blenkinsop’s work influenced George STEPHENSON. See also RAILWAYS, ENGLAND.BLIGH, WILLIAM
(b. 9 Sept. 1754 at Plymouth, Devon, England; d. 7 Dec. 1817 at London, England, aged 63). A career sailor in the British NAVY, Bligh suffered a mutiny (cause unknown) on 28 April 1789 as captain of HMS Bounty. He and 18 others were put adrift in a longboat in the Pacific. They eventually reached Timor (14 June). Bligh was afterwards exonerated of blame for the mutiny.
Bligh’s crews also participated in the Spithead and Nore munities in England (1797). As governor of NEW SOUTH WALES (from 1805), he was deposed in 1808 by the ‘Rum Rebellion’ (reaction to his attempt to suppress illegal rum trading). He returned to England in 1810.
BLITZNickname used by people in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in WORLD WAR II for German large‐scale bombing: of LONDON (Sept. 1940–May 1941) and of provincial towns (Oct. 1940–Sept. 1941); also for the ‘Little Blitz’ on London, southern England and some other places (Jan.–April 1944). The press derived it from the German Blitzkrieg, meaning ‘lightning war’ (referring to fast‐moving warfare using motorized land forces and air support). See also EVACUATION, WORLD WAR II.BLOODY ASSIZESIn England, name for trials of participants in MONMOUTH’S REBELLION, 1685. The presiding judge was Lord Jeffreys (George Jeffreys, 1645–89), lord chief justice. The trials took place from 2 to 23 Sept. at WINCHESTER (Hampshire) and in Somerset and Dorset. About 1300 people were tried; about 250 were executed and at least 850 were transported abroad. (Monmouth was executed in London.)BLOODY SUNDAY (1920)Name applied to the most murderous day during the War of IRISH INDEPENDENCE, 21 Nov. 1920. In the morning, in DUBLIN, members of the IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY, commanded by Michael COLLINS, killed 14 British intelligence agents. In the afternoon, at a Gaelic football match, police reinforcements (so‐called ‘Auxiliaries'), allegedly searching for a wanted man, opened fire, killing 12.BLOODY SUNDAY (1972)
Popular name for the day (30 Jan.), during the TROUBLES in Northern Ireland, when British Army soldiers shot dead 13 participants at an illegal march in LONDONDERRY (against internment of suspected terrorists). Another victim died later. The incident discredited British security forces, increased recruitment to the PROVISIONAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY, and persuaded the British prime minister Edward HEATH to introduce ‘direct rule' of Northern Ireland (24 March).
An official report on the event (‘Widgery Report’), published in April 1972, relied mainly on the soldiers’ evidence and largely exonerated them, creating long‐lasting resentment. In Jan. 1998 Tony BLAIR established a new inquiry as part of the Northern Ireland PEACE PROCESS. Its outcome, the ‘Saville Report’ published in 2010 (costing £191 million), concluded that victims had been unarmed and their deaths unjustifiable. Prime Minister David CAMERON made a public apology for the deaths. See also NORTHERN IRELAND.
BLOOMSBURY GROUPA small group of influential English writers and artists who met informally at homes in the Bloomsbury district of LONDON between c.1907 and c.1930. Principal members were: novelists Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), E.M. Forster (1879–1970); art critics Clive Bell (1881–1964), Roger Fry (1866–1934); painters Vanessa Bell (1879–1961), Duncan Grant (1885–1978); biographer Lytton