Soap star goes to sea
QUESTION Did the subject of John Everett Millais’s painting Bubbles become a prominent Admiral? John EVERETT Millais (1829-1896) was a child prodigy who became the youngest ever student at the royal academy aged 11. in 1848, with Dante Gabriel rossetti and holman hunt, he founded the Pre-raphaelite Brotherhood. his 1886 painting, Bubbles, was first exhibited in london that year under the title a Child’s World.
the subject was the artist’s five-year-old grandson William Milbourne James, later admiral James. Much to his chagrin, James was known by the nickname Bubbles for the rest of his life. the painting portrays him looking up at a bubble, symbolising the beauty and fragility of life.
on one side of him is an immature plant, emblematic of life, and on the other is a fallen broken pot, emblematic of death. such themes appeared in several of Millais’s works: spring (apple Blossoms) depicts a group of girls enjoying a picnic in an orchard alongside a scythe, to symbolise fading beauty and death.
the Bubbles painting was bought from Millais by sir William ingram, proprietor of the illustrated london news, who sold the rights to a&F Pears, manufacturers of Pears soap. Managing director thomas Barratt was a pioneer of advertising and turned Bubbles into one of Britain’s most famous advertisements by adding a bar of soap in the foreground.
today, the painting is on long loan to the lady lever art Gallery in liverpool.
Olivia White, Harrogate, N. Yorks.
WILLIAM MILBOURNE JAMES (18811973) was a son of Major William James, a cavalry officer, and his wife Effie, daughter of John Everett Millais. James joined the navy in 1895 and by 1913 was second-incommand of the battleship HMS Queen Mary under reginald ‘Blinker’ hall.
in 1915, he married Dorothy Duff and the couple had a son and daughter. in 1917, as a captain, he was again posted to serve under hall. he became director of the royal naval staff College at Greenwich in 1925. From late 1928, he was chief of staff to admiral Chatfield.
in 1932, he commanded the Battlecruiser squadron and he became admiral in 1938. after commanding at Portsmouth from 1939 to 1942, he was made chief of naval information. he was elected Conservative MP for Portsmouth in 1943, but retired before the 1945 election.
his later life was spent as an author, writing biographies of nelson and st vincent. he was the naval editor of Chambers’s Encyclopaedia. he also wrote the order of release, the story of John ruskin, Effie Gray and John Everett Millais told through letters detailing the romance between his grandparents.
Fred Wildman, Southampton.
QUESTION We’re told it was 130 years (1886/7) ago that Lincoln City last reached the FA Cup’s fifth round and they eventually lost 3-0 to Glasgow Rangers. Why were Glasgow Rangers playing in the FA cup? GLASGOW RANGERS were one of six scottish clubs that played in the Fa Cup as members of the Football association. the 1886-87 season was the last campaign in which scottish clubs entered. Glasgow rangers were beaten 3-1 by aston villa in the semi-final.
thereafter, the scottish Fa brought in a rule preventing its clubs from entering any national competition other than its own. other scottish clubs who appeared in the Fa Cup are heart of Midlothian, Cowlairs, renton, Queen’s Park and Partick thistle.
Glasgow-based Queen’s Park, once the leading scottish club, were originally invited to participate in the first competition in 1871, after a number of clubs which had entered withdrew.
the club reached the Fa Cup Final twice, but were beaten by Blackburn rovers both times. a semi-final tie in the Fa Cup was played in scotland in 1885 when Queen’s Park defeated nottingham Forest 3- 0 at Merchiston Castle, Edinburgh.
Simon Myers, Offerton, Stockport.
QUESTION Did North American Indians use the wheel? AFTER climatic changes affecting the sea level made it possible to cross the Bering strait, there were two successive migrations from asia to alaska. the first found a land rich with fish and game which meant a settled community could be established.
When the second wave arrived, the settled communities drove them out. they became the nomadic Plains indians, and followed animals as they moved across the plains in search of food.
they learned to tame the descendants of the horses that had been brought by the spanish colonists. as all their worldly goods were confined to what could be carried by hand, or later on horseback, their technical expertise was limited.
the only transport invention was a limber of two poles tied to a horse’s back with animal skins stretched between, containing the squaw and papoose.
they could not understand the European idea of personal ownership, especially of land. When cattle were released on the verdant prairie by the settlers, who thought they owned it, the locals killed what they needed for food. this upset cattle owners, hence the start of the indian Wars, in which huge numbers of Plains indians died.
Frederick E. Jones, Warrington, Cheshire.
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