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Crystal Palace
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a Victorian exhibition center constructed (in 1854 by Sir John Paxton) of glass and iron. It was originally used to showcase materials from the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Palace, which burned in the 1930s, was in Sydenham in southeast London, about eight miles from the city center."
GANGNES: The Crystal Palace was a massive glass structure constructed for the Great Exhibition of 1851. It stood in Hyde Park, London until it was moved to Sydenham Hill in 1852-4, where it remained until it was burned down in 1936. During the Exhibition, it housed exhibits on cultures, animals, and technologies from all over the world.
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would fight no more for ever
GANGNES: Note here that HUGHES AND GEDULD disagree with MCCONNELL's identification of the reference.
From MCCONNELL 289-90: "A last, and very curious, invocation of the sub-theme of colonial warfare and exploitation. In 1877 Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé Indians had surrendered to the United States Army in a noble and widely-reported speech: 'I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. . . . Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more for ever.' Wells, by associating the tragic dignity of Chief Joseph's language with the now-defeated Martian invader, achieves a striking reversal of emotion. For we now understand that it is the Martians, pathetically overspecialized prisoners of their own technology, who are the truly pitiable, foredoomed losers of this war of the worlds, of ecologies, of relationships to Nature."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 224: MCCONNELL's comment is "farfetched. ... [T]he Nez Perce in Wells's day were unsung, and he would not deal in such an obscure allusion."
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St. Edmund’s Terrace
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a street in central London, between Regent's Park (on the south) and Primrose Hill (on the north)"
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Baker Street
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "an important thoroughfare in London's West End area. The (fictitious) home of Sherlock Holmes was at 221B Baker Street."
GANGNES: The majority of the Sherlock Holmes stories, like The War of the Worlds, were serialized in a popular general-interest periodical--in this case, The Strand Magazine. Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Holmes stories, was an active fiction writer around the same time as Wells, and they published in some of the same periodicals.
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South Kensington
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "the sector of the west London borough of Kensington due south of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It is the home of many of London's great museums."
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Briareus
From MCCONNELL 259: "in Greek myth, a pre-Olympian giant with fifty heads and a hundred hands."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 220: "In Greek mythology Briareus was a giant with fifty heads and a hundred hands."
From STOVER 210: "Briareus, in Greek mythology, is a giant with fifty heads and a hundred hands. The Martians' robotic Handling Machines are the multiplex hands of their guiding heads--one giant in their common purpose."
From DANAHAY 156: "in mythology, a monster with a hundred hands"
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Fifth Cylinder
GANGNES: MCCONNELL 240 identifies this as a "contradiction. The fourth start had fallen late Sunday night, north of where the narrator and the curate are hiding..., and the narrator only hears of it later, from his brother. So it is impossible for him to know, at the time, that this is the fifth star; he should think it is the fourth." A case could be made, however, that the narrator is writing this in retrospect, and therefore could be imposing his later knowledge of which cylinder it is onto his impressions at the time.
HUGHES AND GEDULD further complicate the matter by responding to MCCONNELL: "But the first three cylinders fell one after the other late on the nights of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Doubtless the narrator simply assumes that the fourth fell 'late Sunday night' and that this one (late Monday night) is the fifth. ... The real trouble is that--far from being unaware of the fourth cylinder--the narrator should be only too well acquainted with it. It fell the previous night, into Bushey Park, which he and the curate have just traversed. But Wells has forgetfully caused the park to contain nothing more remarkable than 'the deer going to and fro under the chestnuts.'"
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semi-detached villa
From MCCONNELL 238: "a still-common English term for a suburban dwelling house"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 216: "a fashionable name for a kind of small suburban house--in this case a two-family structure--popularly considered to be a 'better class' of dwelling"
GANGNES: Americans might call this kind of house a high-end "duplex," in that the structure itself is the size of a large house, but there are two "homes" within it, separated by a long dividing wall. Many semi-detached houses have two floors.
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Pompeii
From MCCONNELL 236: "the Roman city on the Bay of Naples, completely buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 216: "The eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Naples on August 24, A.D. 79 buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under thousands of tons of volcanic ash and lava, killing some 20,000 inhabitants."
From DANAHAY 136: "The Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. Archaeologists found citizens of Pompeii who had been overcome by the ash from the eruption preserved where they had fallen."
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thirty-six pounds
From MCCONNELL 228: at the time, ~$180
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: at least ten times the usual amount
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Chipping Ongar
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a small town in west Essex about sixteen miles north-northeast of London"
GANGNES: Chipping Ongar is to the east and slightly north of Edgware, about two-thirds of the way from Edgware to Chelmsford (relevant to the narrator's brother's journey).
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Colchester
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a town in northeast Sussex, on the river Colne, about seventy miles northeast of central London"
GANGNES: Colchester is near the east coast of England, ~25 miles northeast of Chelmsford.
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Blackfriars Bridge. At that the Pool became a scene of mad confusion, fighting and collision, and for some time a multitude of boats and barges jammed in the northern arch of the Tower Bridge
GANGNES: Blackfriars Bridge and Tower Bridge are two large bridges spanning the Thames from north to south in the eastern part of London. Today, the Millennium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge) and Southwark Bridge lie between them, but Southwark Bridge was not opened until 1921, and the Millennium Bridge 2000 (hence the name). These are four of the five Thames bridges overseen today by the London City Corporation. See the City of London site's page on bridges.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: Blackfriars Bridge is "a bridge in central London between Waterloo Bridge and Southwark Bridge. It spans the Thames from Queen Victoria Street (on the north) to Southwark Street (on the south).
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: Tower Bridge is "London's most famous bridge. It opens periodically to admit the passage of shipping. It spans the Thames between the Tower of London (on the north) and the district of Bermondsey (on the south)."
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Vestry
GANGNES: Note that MCCONNELL, HUGHES AND GEDULD, and STOVER do not completely agree on their explanations of this reference.
From MCCONNELL 218: In the Church of England, the Vestry is not just the room in a church where vestments are stored; it is also a committee of parishioners who arrange local matters like street cleaning.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 214: "Vestry here is not used in its usual ecclesiastical sense but refers to a committee of citizens 'vested' with the task of arranging for such basic local services as health and food inspection and garbage disposal. St. Pancras (then a London borough) is located northwest of the City of London."
From STOVER 161: "A public-health committee of that city district responsible for its garbage removal--a task now beyond its capacity as all public services are overwhelmed."
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Essex towards Harwich
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Essex is "a county of southeast England bordered by Cambridge and Suffolk (on the north), the river Thames (on the south), London (on the southwest), and the North Sea, Middlesex, and Hertford (on the east)."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Harwich is "a North Sea port in northeast Essex, at the confluence of the rivers Stout and Orwell, about seventy miles northeast of London."
GANGNES: Essex is 32-33 miles east of New Barnet; essentially the same area as Chelmsford (where the narrator's brother's friends live).
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Chalk Farm
GANGNES: area of London on the north side of the Thames; north of the British Museum and on the way north to Haverstock Hill, where the narrator's brother goes next
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "In the 1890s [Chalk Farm Station] was a busy station on the London and North-Western Railway (terminus Euston), at the junction of Adelaide Road and Haverstock Hill, immediately north of Primrose Hill in central London."
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part of Marylebone, and in the Westbourne Park district and St. Pancras, and westward and northward in Kilburn and St. John’s Wood and Hampstead, and eastward in Shoreditch and Highbury and Haggerston and Hoxton, and indeed through all the vastness of London from Ealing to East Ham
GANGNES: As is evident by this point, the entirety of The War of the Worlds is specifically situated in actual locations in and around London. This rapid-fire naming of specific streets and neighborhoods can be overwhelming to readers who are not familiar with London, but to those who are (as many of Wells's readers would be), they underscore that this crisis is happening in a very real location. It also gives the narrative a breathless sense of momentum while maintaining the specificity of war reporting.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: Westbourne Park is "a district in the London borough of Kensington, about two and a half miles from the city center."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: St. Pancras is "a London borough north of the Thames, two miles form the city center. It is the site of Euston and St. Pancras [train] stations, main transit points for northern England and Scotland."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Kilburn is "a northwest London district between Hampstead (on the north) and Paddington (on the south), about three and a half miles northwest of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: St. John's Wood is "a middle-to-upper-class residential district northwest of Regent's Park, in north London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Hampstead is "a hilly northeast London suburb, about five miles from the city center. From its highest point, on Hampstead Heath, it offers a magnificent vista of London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: Shoreditch is "a working-class district in east London, about a mile from the city center."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Haggerston is "a tough, working-class district in north London, north of Bethnal Green and east of Shoreditch."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Hoxton is "a tough, working-class district in north London, between Shoreditch and Haggerston, about two miles northeast of Charing Cross in central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Ealing is "a London borough in the county of Middlesex, some eight miles west of the city center."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: East Ham is a "London district in the county of Essex, about seven miles east of the city center."
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Marylebone Road
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: "a busy central-London thoroughfare, south of Regent's Park, between Lisson Grove (on the west) and Baker Street (on the east)."
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the Strand
GANGNES: The Strand (technically just "Strand") is a road just south of Trafalgar Square (see below) and north of the Thames; it runs along to the east and then becomes Fleet Street (see above). The Strand Magazine, which published the Sherlock Holmes stories, took its name from the fact that its first publishing house was located on Southampton Street, intersecting with Strand.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: The Strand is "an important thoroughfare in central London. It runs parallel with the Thames (a very short distance away) and extends west from the Aldwych to Trafalgar Square. It is the location of fashionable stores, hotels, theatres, and office buildings."
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St. James’ Gazette
From MCCONNELL: evening paper published 1880-1905
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 212: "Established in 1880, St. James's Gazette was a pro-Tory paper with features that also appealed to readers with intellectual literary interests."
GANGNES: St. James's Gazette (Pearson's mistakenly leaves off the second "S") was a conservative daily broadsheet. It included social, political, and literary commentary, news, marriage announcements, stock market prices, and advertisements.
Source:
- Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, editors. Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press and The British Library, 2009, p. 551.
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pillars of fire
GANGNES: MCCONNELL is partially incorrect here; his citation is more thorough in that it addresses both the pillar of fire and pillar of smoke, but the appropriate chapter is Exodus 13, not Exodus 15. The most thorough and correct citation here would be a combination of the two--Exodus 13:21-22--which STOVER cites, though inexplicably as a note at the beginning of Chapter XII rather than at the textual reference.
From MCCONNELL 173: "In Exodus 15:21-22, God sends a pillar of fire to guide the Israelites through the Sinai Desert by night, and a pillar of cloud to guide them by day."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 209: "See Exodus 13:21: 'And the Lord went before them [to guide the Israelites through the Sinai] ... by night in a pillar of fire.'"
From STOVER 114: quotes Exodus 13:21-22, then: "As the Lord guided the Israelites through the Sinai desert, so the Martians lead humanity through a wasteland of suffering. Ahead, leaving the old order behind, is the promise of world unity."
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a driver in the Artillery
From MCCONNELL170: "That is, he drove the horse-drawn carriage of the heavy field guns."
GANGNES: As other scholars have pointed out (e.g., HUGHES AND GEDULD 210), the marked difference in the role of the artilleryman in the Pearson's version as compared with the volume constitutes a significant change between the two versions. He is the "man" in the new chapter--"The Man on Putney Hill"--added for the volume, and he is a conduit through which the novel explores how humankind might grapple (or fail to grapple) with such a crisis as the Martian invasion. See Installment 9.
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the potteries
From MCCONNELL 168: "A district in central England, also called the 'Five Towns,' famous for its pottery and china factories. The area was a favorite subject of Wells's friend, the novelist Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 208: The "five towns" MCCONNELL refers to are Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall, and Longton. In 1888 Wells spent three months in the Potteries region.
From DANAHAY 80: "an area of central England with a large number of china factories and their furnaces"
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I’m selling my bit of a pig.
GANGNES: HUGHES AND GEDULD and STOVER both disagree with MCCONNELL about the meaning of this phrase.
From MCCONNELL 159: "The landlord fears he may be selling (not buying) a 'pig in a poke.'"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 207: "One nineteenth-century slang meaning of 'pig' was goods or property. Hence the sentence might simply mean: 'I'm selling my bit of property.' Another slang meaning of 'pig' was nag, donkey, or moke; while 'bit of' was an adjectival term that could be used variously to express affection for the subject it preceded. ... Another possibility is a real pig, i.e., the landlord is surprised--after asking a pig buyer to pay a pound and drive the pig home himself--to be offered two pounds with a promise moreover to return the pig. According to this, people are simply talking at cross-purposes, and the narrator then explains that he wants a dogcart, not a pig."
From STOVER 98: "The landlord is puzzled by the narrator's haste to pay two pounds for his 'bit of pig' (=his valuable piece of property) coupled with a strong promise to return it."
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Sunbury
GANGNES: North and slightly to the east of Upper Halliford, where the narrator and curate are located at this point. Roughly a half-hour walk or less, depending on where in Upper Halliford and where in Sunbury-on-Thames.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "a town in Middlesex, known fully as Sunbury-on-Thames, thirteen miles west-southwest of London"
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Kingston and Richmond
GANGNES: towns/villages on the banks of the Thames, past Halliford toward central London; Richmond is farther away from Halliford than Kingston
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "Usually called Kingston-on-Thames. A municipal borough in northeast Surrey, about nine miles southwest of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a borough of greater London, on the Thames in North Surrey, about eight miles west-southwest of central London"
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much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light
From STOVER 81: "The Heat-Ray is often taken as a prophecy of beam-focused lasers, but this is to miss the photographic metaphor Wells uses: 'the camera that fired the Heat-Ray,' 'the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray.' The Martians' rayguns are in fact cameras in reverse, emitting light not receiving it, and they are in fact mounted on tripods as were the heavy old cameras of the day. What they see they zap. More, the photo-journalistic realism of the invasion recounted by the narrator recalls that of Roger Fenton, whose coverage of the Crimean War in 1855 is the first instance of a war photographer on the scene of action. His pictures were accompanied by sensational stories done by the famed William Howard Russell of the London Times, the first war correspondent in the modern sense. The narrator's account is modeled after both precedents, visually and journalistically."
GANGNES: Stover here gestures (though not by name) to MCCONNELL (145), whose note is quoted by HUGHES AND GEDULD in their edition. MCCONNELL'S note reads: "Though the details of the heat-ray are vague, they do anticipate in some remarkable ways the development of the laser beam in the 1950s."
That said, MCCONNELL and others rightly point to one of the numerous instances in which Wells's descriptions of technologies and events appear prescient. Indeed, many of the Martian technologies seem to anticipate military tech developed for use in the First and Second World Wars. For an analysis of The War of the Worlds and its early illustrations as they relate to early twentieth-century warfare, see Gangnes, "Wars of the Worlds: H.G. Wells’s Ekphrastic Style in Word and Image" in Art and Science in Word and Image: Exploration and Discovery (Brill, 2019), pp. 100-114.
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Knap Hill
GANGNES: Changed to "Knaphill" in the 1898 edition and subsequent versions.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 204 and 230: Knaphill is ~3 miles due west from Horsell Common. The distances might seem exaggerated to today's readers, but they are presented from a pedestrian's perspective.
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Gorgon circlet of tentacles
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 203: "Gorgon" is an allusion to monsters from Greek myths "whose hair was a tangle of writing snakes." Humans were irresistibly tempted to look at them, but doing so would turn the viewer to stone.
GANGNES: See Medusa as an example.
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Ottershaw
GANGNES: village to the north of Woking but south of Chertsey
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "A small village about two miles north-northwest of Woking, Surrey, and about three miles from the narrator's home in Maybury. It is the location of Ogilvy's observatory."
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Perrotin, of the Nice Observatory
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 199: Nice Observatory was "France's most important nineteenth-century observatory." It was constructed in 1880 on Mt. Gros, northeast of Nice. It used a 30" refracting telescope.
From MCCONNELL 126: Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin (1845-1904) was a French astronomer who worked at the Nice Observatory 1880-1904.
GANGNES: The 1898 edition adds a reference to Lick Observatory (in California), which the narrator says noticed the light before Perrotin did.
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vanished bison and the dodo
From MCCONNELL 125 and 151: The dodo was a large, flightless bird from Mauritius that was hunted into extinction by the seventeenth century. North American bison were also thought to be on the verge of extinction during this time. This is the first of two comparisons between the extinction of the dodo and the potential extinction of humans by the Martians; the second is in Chapter VII.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "Later, the very idea of such a bird [as the dodo] was ridiculed ... until skeletal remains came to light in 1863 and 1889."
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Harrow Road
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: "a main thoroughfare of northwest London, north of Hammersmith and south of Willesden"
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Exhibition Road
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: "a spacious thoroughfare in South Kensington, London. Location of the Imperial College of Science, formerly the Normal School of Science (part of the University of London), where Wells studied under Thomas Henry Huxley."
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the Serpentine
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "an artificial lake in Kensington Gardens, used for boating"
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two sodden creatures of despair
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 223: "The drunken man who is black as a sweep and the dead woman with the magnum of champagne. Wells added the statement that she is dead in revising the serial and evidently forgot to drop the mention of her here."
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Marble Arch
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: "a triumphal stone arch (designed in 1828 by John Nash) in central London, at the northeast corner of Hyde Park"
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Regent’s Canal
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "one of London's key commercial waterways. It begins at the Commercial Docks, Limehouse (east London), runs north to Victoria Park, traverses much of north London, and then links up with the Paddington Canal, which belongs to a network of canals that extend as far north as Liverpool."
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Albert Road
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a large thoroughfare north of Regent's Park in central London. Also known as Prince Albert Road."
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destruction of Sennacherib
From MCCONNELL 289: "'The Destruction of Sennacherib' is the title of one of the most famous poems of Lord Byron (1788-1824). In II Kings: 19 it is related how the Assyrian King Sennacherib brought a great army to war against the Israelites; but, thanks to the prayers of the Israelites, the Lord killed Sennacherib's whole army in a single night. The legend has an obvious relevance to the sudden, total, and unhoped-for obliteration of the Martian invaders."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 224: "In a single night, in answer to the prayers of the Israelites, God destroyed the Assyrian army led by King Sennacherib (II Kings 19:35-37). This is the subject of Byron's celebrated poem 'the Destruction of Sennacherib'."
From DANAHAY 182: "reference to II Kings: 19 in which an entire army is wiped out by God in one night"
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Albert Terrace
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a street linking Regent's Park Road and Albert Road, north of Regent's Park in central London"
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Langham Hotel
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "a large, modern (in the 1890s) hotel on Portland Place, in central London, between Marylebone Road and Langham Place"
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Albert Hall
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: short for The Royal Albert Hall; "a huge enclosed amphitheater in the Italian Renaissance style in South Kensington, London. It was constructed in 1867-71, mainly as a concert hall and is still regularly used for that purpose."
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Imperial Institute
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London. It was opened in 1893 as an exhibition center displaying raw materials and manufactured products that represented the commercial, industrial, and agricultural progress of the British Empire."
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Brompton Road
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a thoroughfare in South Kensington (West London), linking Fulham Road with Knightsbridge"
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St. Paul’s
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "Sir Christopher Wren's great cathedral. In London, east of Ludgate Hill, one-eighth of a mile north of the Thames at Blackfriars."
GANGNES: St. Paul's Cathedral is a massive cathedral that traces its origins to the year 604. It lies in the Blackfriars region of London, near the London Stock Exchange, and is tall enough that it would have been visible to the narrator in most parts of the city.
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St. Paul's Cathedral in the late nineteenth century:
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Carver
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: This name has not been traced to any "real" person.
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possible that it combines with argon
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: "This contradicts the earlier statement that the Black Smoke contained 'an unknown element giving a group of four lines in the blue spectrum'. ... Actually, argon, as an inert gas, cannot combine with another element to form a compound."
GANGNES: The "blue spectrum" line is not in the serial. See Installment 6 note. HUGHES AND GEDULD (225) speculate that this kind of "carelessness in this final chapter probably reflects Wells's changing intentions regarding its publication." These "changing intentions" had much to do with Heinemann's insistence on the book being longer (HUGHES AND GEDULD 5-6).
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in conjunction
From MCCONNELL 298: "At conjunction, the Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: "Mars and Earth are in (superior) conjunction, and farthest from each other, when they are lined up with the sun between them; they are in opposition, and closest to each other, when they are lined up with Earth between Mars and the sun."
From DANAHAY 189: "It is far away from earth, but will be 'in opposition' again."
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Lessing
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: This name has not been traced to any "real" person.
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sinuous marking
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: "These sinuous markings are evidently signals. The first occurs on Venus and signals Mars that the Martian invasion of Venus is under way, and the response, occurring on Mars, appears immediately after ('dark' presumably because the signal makes a dark mark on a photographic plate)."
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Lilienthal soaring machines
From MCCONNELL 249: "Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896), German engineer, was the chief developer of glider flight."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 219: "German engineer Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896) was one of the pioneers of man-bearing gliders."
From DANAHAY 148: "gliders invented by Otto Lilienthal (1849-1896), a German engineer"
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sticks
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 219: "'Sticks' was a common abbreviation for 'shooting-sticks'; pistols."
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Woe unto this unfaithful city. Woe, woe! Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet
From MCCONNELL 258: "another jumble of Biblical allusions, mainly to the Book of Amos in the Old Testament and to Revelation in the New."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 219: "Most of the passage is merely biblical-sounding rhetoric. 'I have been still too long' apparently echoes [Isaiah] 42:14: 'I have been still, and refrained myself.'"
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Roehampton
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a suburb of London, about five miles southwest of the city center"
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Fulham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: "a district of West London, located just north of the Thames and south of Hammersmith, about four miles from the city center"
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Walham Green
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "an area of Fulham, just north of the river Thames, about three miles southwest of central London"
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the City
From MCCONNELL 283: "the area [of London] north of the Thames, from the Tower of London on the East to St. Paul's Cathedral on the west, enclosed within the original walls of London"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 223 and 228: "On Sundays stores and businesses in the City of London are closed, and as the area is largely nonresidential, few people are to be seen." The City is "London's commercial and financial center, north of the Thames between the Temple (on the west) and Aldgate Pump (on the east). The Bank of England and the Royal Exchange are situated in The City."
From DANAHAY 177: "the central part of London that contains many important financial and governmental buildings that would normally be closed on a Sunday"
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pavement.
GANGNES: The 1898 volume here adds the line "She seemed asleep, but she was dead." This becomes a problem for consistency between the serial and the volume; see HUGHES AND GEDULD note in Installment 9.
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Pool of London
From MCCONNELL 225: "the artificially enlarged shipping area of the Thames"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "Strictly speaking this refers to the stretch of the river Thames between London Bridge (on the west) and Cuckold's Point (on the east), near West India Dock. But more popularly it has come to signify the area of London below (i.e., east of) London Bridge. Fairly large sea-going vessels have access to the port of London up to this part of the Thames."
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lightermen
From MCCONNELL 225: "crewmembers of a lighter, or unpowered barge used to unload cargo ships in harbor"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "sailors on or owners of lighters or barges (boats used in the 'lightening,' or unloading, of large ships)"
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Limehouse
GANGNES: area of London east of Southwark Bridge and Tower Bridge (and the Tower of London), on the north bank of the Thames
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "a tough, working-class district in London's East End. It is north of Commercial Road and East India Dock Road, about five miles east of Charing Cross."
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On Monday night came the sixth star, and it fell at Wimbledon.
GANGNES: Due to the shifting around of the narrative, this sentence is changed in the 1898 edition to: "Of the falling of the fifth cylinder I have presently to tell. The sixth star fell at Wimbledon." See text comparison page. HUGHES AND GEDULD (215) assert that this is "a slip"; the sixth and seventh cylinders "must fall on Tuesday and Wednesday nights." See below note on "Fifth Cylinder" that complicates matters further.
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Highgate and even it was said at Neasden
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Highgate is "a district of north London, on a hill below Hampstead Heath. One of the most picturesque parts of London, it was (in the 1890s) and still is an area of many fine houses."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: Neasden is "a northwest suburb of greater London, about six miles from the city center. It is now heavily residential but it was quite rural in the 1890s."
GANGNES: Highgate is to the north and slightly east of Chalk Farm; Neasden is to the northwest of Chalk Farm.
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Birmingham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "England's second largest city, in northwest Warwick, about 110 miles northwest of London."
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Midland Railway Company
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "The Midland Railway Company provided public transportation to such Midlands cities as Nottingham, Leicester, Manchester, and Leeds. Its London terminus was St. Pancras Station."
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Primrose Hill
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "an eminence north of Regent's Park, with the London Zoo below. It commands an extensive view of London."
GANGNES: Primrose Hill is just south of Chalk Farm.
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Tillingham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "a small town in Essex, about four miles west of the North Sea and sixty-five miles northeast of central London."
GANGNES: Tillingham is north of Foulness and northeast of Southend.
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Harwich, and Walton, and Clacton, and afterwards to Foulness and Shoebury
GANGNES: villages on the eastern coast of England; the sailors are traveling from north to south along the coast
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: Clacton (officially Clacton-on-Sea) is "a resort town on the North Sea, about eighty miles northeast of London."
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the Naze
From MCCONNELL 227: "a promontory, north of London (in the county of Essex), extending into the North Sea"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "a promontory on the North Sea coast of Essex, about four miles south of the seaport of Harwich."
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Southampton
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a major seaport in south Hampshire, about seventy miles southwest of London"
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Blackwater
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a river about forty miles long in the south of England. It flows from Saffron Walden to Mersea Island, where it enters the North Sea."
GANGNES: wide river flowing in from the east coast of England, north of Foulness and Southend; Maldon (below) lies at the western point where it narrows
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the Crouch
From MCCONNELL 229: "The River Crouch, south of the Naze, meets the North Sea at Foulness Point."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a river in Essex about twenty-four miles long. It flows from Brentwood to Foulness point, where it enters the North Sea."
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rained down darkness upon the land
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 216: echoes several biblical passages: 1) Genesis 19:24 ("Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven"); 2) Exodus 10:22 ("And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt."); 3) Matthew 27:45 ("Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.").
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Barnes
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a district of greater London south of the Thames, between Putney (on the east) and Mortlake (on the west), and about six miles west-southwest of central London"
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Sheen
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a district of greater London south of the Thames, between Richmond (on the west) and Roehampton (on the east), about eight miles west of central London"
GANGNES: east of Twickenham, north of Richmond, west of Barnes, and south of Chiswick; essentially the same area as Mortlake
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The fifth cylinder, the fifth shot from Mars
GANGNES: See notes below from MCCONNELL and HUGHES AND GEDULD about a possible inconsistency or oversight in the order of the cylinder landings. This makes mapping them even more complicated.
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Lambeth
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "a metropolitan borough of London, on the south bank of the Thames. Waterloo Station, key exit point for southwest England, is located in this borough."
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Edgware
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: "a suburban area of greater London, in Middlesex, about seven miles northwest of the city center."
GANGNES: north of Chalk Farm (on the narrator's brother's path)
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Saint Albans
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a town in south-central Hertford, about twenty miles north-northwest of central London"
GANGNES: about 11-12 miles north of Edgware (relevant to narrator's brother's journey)
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Chelmsford
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a small town in central Essex, about twenty-five miles east-northeast of London"
GANGNES: about 38 miles east of Edgware (on narrator's brother's journey)
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Stanmore
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a small town in Middlesex, about nine miles northwest of the city center. It is now part of greater London but was a rural area in the 1890s."
GANGNES: about 3 miles west of Edgware
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Lord Garrick
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "Garrick" has not been traced to a real person.
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Chief Justice
GANGNES: Note that MCCONNELL disagrees with HUGHES AND GEDULD and STOVER here about the importance of this title.
From MCCONNELL 220: "In England, the presiding judge of any court with several members."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "The nearest American equivalent [of "Chief Justice" here] (although there are many differences in the two offices) would be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court."
From STOVER: "The Lord Chief Justice of England is equivalent to the Chief Justice of the United States."
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sovereigns
From MCCONNELL 220: gold coins worth two pounds, eighteen shillings (each)
From DANAHAY 124: gold coins worth two pounds each ("the man has a lot of heavy money in his bag")
GANGNES: Note that MCCONNELL's and DANAHAY's respective accounts of a sovereign's worth are not the same as one another or as HUGHES AND GEDULD's (and STOVER's) below.
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gold
From HUGHES AND GEDULD: "refers to sovereigns: gold coins worth one English pound each."
GANGNES: Note that HUGHES AND GEDULD's account of a sovereign's worth is not the same as MCCONNELL's or DANAHAY's above. STOVER (157) agrees with HUGHES AND GEDULD.
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Waltham Abbey
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "a small town on the river Lea, in southwest Essex, bordering Epping Forest. In the 1890s there was an old gunpowder factory in the area."
GANGNES: about 15 miles to the east and slightly north of Edgware
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Southend and Shoeburyness
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "Fully named Southend-on-Sea. A resort town in southeast Essex at the mouth of the Thames, thirty-three miles east of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "Shoebury or Shoeburyness [is] a coastal town at the mouth of the Thames, just east of Southend and thirty-eight miles east of London."
GANGNES: Southend is about 45 miles directly east of Edgware; Shoeburyness is just slightly east of that along the coast.
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Deal and Broadstairs
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: Deal is "a resort town in Eastern Kent, about seven miles from Dover and sixty-eight miles east-southeast of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: Broadstairs is "a coastal town in northeast Kent, on the English Channel, about seventy miles east-southeast of central London."
GANGNES: Deal is slightly south of Broadstairs.
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Goths and Huns
From MCCONNELL 224: "The Goths were a Teutonic people who invaded and settled in the Roman Empire between the third and fifth centuries A.D. The Huns, an Asiatic people, invaded and pillaged the Empire during the fifth century A.D."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "The Goths, a Germanic tribe, invaded Rome's Eastern and Western Empires during the third through the fifth century. The Huns, a nomadic Asian people, under their leader Atilla, invaded and ravaged much of Europe during the fifth century."
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Virginia Water or Guildford. They were busy making the necessary arrangements to alter the route of the Southampton and Portsmouth
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: Virginia Water is "a small town in northwest Surrey, eighteen miles west-southwest of central London. It is the site of an artificial lake from which the town takes its name."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Guildford is "a town in west-central Surrey, on the river Wey, about twenty-five miles southwest of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 223: Southampton is "a major seaport in south Hampshire, about seventy miles southwest of London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: Portsmouth is "a town and major naval base on Portsea Island, southeast Hampshire, sixty-three miles southwest of central London."
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The majority of people in London do not read Sunday papers.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 212: "In the 1890s, Sunday papers far outsold dailies.... Wells did not foresee the change and unwittingly 'dated' his narrative for future readers" when newspaper reading habits changed.
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That was how the Sunday Sun put it, and a clever, and remarkably prompt “hand-book” article in the Referee
From MCCONNELL 193: "Two evening papers. The Sun was published 1893-1906, the Referee 1877-1928.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 212: "The Sun, London's first popular halfpenny evening newspaper, was established in 1893 by T. P. O'Connor. A former London weekly, the Referee (founded 1877), was popular for its focus on humor, satire, sports, and theater."
GANGNES: The Referee was a "Sunday sporting newspaper"; the Sun was a Tory newspaper.
Source:
- Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, editors. Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press and The British Library, 2009, pp. 317; 555.
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Foundling Hospital
From MCCONNELL 193: "One of the first hospitals and nurseries for abandoned or illegitimate children, the Foundling Hospital was founded in 1739 in the London district of Bloomsbury."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 212: "The Founding Hospital, in Bloomsbury, London, near the British Museum, was established in 1739 by Thomas Coram. Despite its name, it was not a home for foundlings but a shelter for illegitimate children whose mothers were known."
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places on the South-Western network
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 212: "The various routes and stations of the (now defunct) South-Western Railway Company. Its terminus is Waterloo Station, London. The network had three main branches: the Northern, serving locations in the direction of Staines and Reading; the Central, serving locations in the direction of Bournemouth and Southampton; and the Southern, serving locations in the direction of Guildford, Epsom, and Leatherhead."
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Putney
GANGNES: village/area on the south bank of the Thames on the way from Woking toward central London; about three-quarters of the way there
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "a district of London located immediately south of the Thames, about seven miles west of the city center"
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between the South-Eastern and the South-Western stations
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: "Adjoining the Waterloo Station terminus of the South-Western Railway was another station belonging to the South-Eastern Railway (a separate company providing service to locations in the direction of Margate, Dover, Folkstone, and Hastings), whose terminus was Charing Cross. Normally there were barriers preventing passengers from moving directly from one railroad to another. These barriers had been lifted because of the emergency situation."
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Woolwich and Chatham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: Woolwich is "a suburb of greater London, on the south bank of the Thames, about ten miles from central London. It is the site of the Royal Arsenal, Royal Military Academy, and Royal Artillery Barracks."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: Chatham is "a town in north Kent and the site of an important naval base. It is on the river Medway, about thirty miles east-southeast of London."
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Fleet Street
GANGNES: Fleet Street is a central London road on the north side of the Thames; it becomes (the) Strand (see below) to the west. During the Victorian period it was the home of most major London periodical publishers. It is associated with the story of Sweeney Todd: the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street," who appeared in the Victorian "penny dreadful" The String of Pearls: A Romance (1846-7).
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Fleet Street is "a famous central London thoroughfare linking Ludgate Circus and The Strand. Until 1988 it was the home of many of London's most important newspapers. During Wells's lifetime 'Fleet Street' was a term synonymous with the British press."
More information:
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still wet newspapers
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: "This is a slip. Until about 1870, paper was dampened to ensure a good printing impression and was then dried, but by the 1890s dry paper was used.... The anachronism disappears in the Heinemann edition (p. 127), which reads: 'type, so fresh that the paper was still wet.'"
GANGNES: It is unclear what HUGHES AND GEDULD mean when they write that the "anachronism disappears in the Heinemann edition"; the Heinemann edition also includes this line on page 124.
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Barnes, Wimbledon, Richmond Park, Kew
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: Barnes is "a district of greater London south of the Thames, between Putney (on the east) and Mortlake (on the west), and about six miles west-southwest of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: Wimbledon is "a district of greater London, in north Surrey, about eight miles southwest of central London. Famous as the home of the All England Lawn Tennis Club--where international tennis tournaments are held annually. The sixth cylinder lands here."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: Richmond Park is "a large recreation area in Richmond."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Kew is a "residential district in Richmond, northeast Surrey, on the Thames, about eight miles west of central London. It is the site of Kew Gardens (the Royal Botanical Gardens), with its famous Pagoda."
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He had to give threepence for a copy of that paper.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: "Threepence a copy was three to six times the normal price."
From DANAHAY 102: "Wells is implying that newspapers were exploiting the situation by making their newspapers unusually expensive."
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Trafalgar Square
GANGNES: A famous square/plaza in central London, situated just to the south of the National Gallery. It features an iconic tower surrounded by four large lions. See the City of London's official page on the Square.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "Central London's most famous concourse, dedicated to England's naval hero, Lord Nelson (and his victory at Trafalgar in 1805). In the center of the square there is a granite column, 145 feet tall, crowned with a statue of Nelson."
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one of those old-fashioned tricycles with a small front wheel
From MCCONNELL 198: "the 'Coventry' tricycle, two wheels with a much larger supporting wheel to one side, current around 1876"
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: sometimes nicknamed "Tuppence-farthing bikes" (because of their appearance)
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Sutton High Street on a Derby Day
GANGNES: The 1898 edition changes "Sutton" to "Epsom."
From MCCONNELL 198: "The town of Epsom, south of London, is the annual site of the Derby."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: "teeming with people"; see Frith's painting "Derby Day" (1856-58) (below)
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Westminster to his apartments near Regent’s Park
GANGNES: Regent's Park is a large public park in the northern part of central London. It lies north of the Thames, and it would likely take the narrator's brother a little under an hour to walk there from the south, depending on where in Westminster he is and where his apartment is situated. Wells's final home was near Regent's Park.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: Regent's Park is "central London's largest park, containing the London Zoo and the Botanical Gardens. It extends north from Marylebone Road to Primrose Hill; and west from Albany to Grand Union Canal."
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Oxford Street
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "a major shopping thoroughfare in central London, northeast of Hyde Park. It extends east from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road."
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Staines
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a town in Middlesex, at the junction of the rivers Colne and Thames, eighteen miles west-southwest of central London."
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at Staines, Hounslow, Ditton, Esher, Ockham
GANGNES: These villages are all to the north or east of Woking and would be suitably arranged to face the crescent of Martian fighting machines.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: Hounslow is "a suburban area of Middlesex, about ten miles west of central London."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: Ockham is "a village in Surrey, about two and a half miles southeast of Woking and five miles northwest of Guildford."
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Ripley
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "a village in Surrey adjoining Send, two and a half miles southeast of Woking and five miles north-northeast of Guildford."
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Saint George’s Hill
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "located about five miles north-northeast of Woking Station."
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make a greater Moscow
GANGNES: MCCONNELL and HUGHES AND GEDULD seem to be at odds here about the historical significance of this reference. STOVER (147) agrees with HUGHES AND GEDULD.
From MCCONNELL 206: "From September 2 to October 7, 1812, the French Army of Napoleon occupied Moscow, burning and destroying more than three-fourths of the city. They were finally compelled to retreat, however, due to Russian guerrilla resistance and the impossibility of acquiring adequate provisions."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: "To frustrate the Martians by destroying their major objective, London, as the Russians did to Napoleon in 1812 by setting fire to Moscow."
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Ditton and Esher
GANGNES: villages to the northeast of Woking on the south bank of the Thames, roughly between Walton and Kingston
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: Ditton is "a small town in central Kent, about four miles northwest of Maidstone."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 229: Esher is "a small town in northeast Surrey, fifteen miles southwest of London."
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earthly artillery
GANGNES: HUGHES AND GEDULD (213) observe that this is likely a reference to Satan's "infernal artillery" in Milton's Paradise Lost, rather than a "celestial artillery" (STOVER 148 uses this term as well) as an inverse of "earthly artillery." In the context of a Martian invasion, however, "celestial" in opposition to "infernal" becomes complicated; in a narrative like Milton's, it would refer to Heaven, whereas in the context of Wells, it would be "the heavens," i.e., space. The Martians are far from benevolent angels; they are, perhaps, "avenging angels," or akin to infernal beings, despite being from a neighboring planet. In the context of this novel, might we imagine a new kind of artillery: an "alien artillery"?
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I would make a big detour by Epsom to reach Leatherhead
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 209: The narrator "intends to make a northerly bypass of Leatherhead then circle back to it from the east."
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the Shepperton side
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 210: north bank of the Thames
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the tower of Shepperton church—it has been replaced by a spire
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 210: This is the Church of St. Nicholas; it is later smashed by the Martians.
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towards Chertsey
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 110: Chertsey is ~1 mile northwest of Weybridge.
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Surrey side
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 210: southern side of the Thames
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the four winds of heaven
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 210: Reference to Daniel 7:2: "and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea."
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towards Laleham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 110: Laleham is ~2 miles north of Weybridge.
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Middlesex bank
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 211: north shore of the Thames
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“What are we?”
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 211: possible reference to the Kepler epigraph at the beginning of the novel
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Halliford
From HUGHES AND GEDULD: Upper Halliford is "a district southwest of greater London, between Sunbury and Shepperton, thirteen miles west-southwest of the city center."
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Walton
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "Walton (on the Naze) [is] a town on the North Sea, about seventy-five miles northeast of London."
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that a dispute had arisen at the Horse Guards
GANGNES: STOVER corrects HUGHES AND GEDULD's annotation, though does not mention them specifically in the note, despite referencing them in other notes.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 206: "Their notion is that there was an operational or tactical dispute--about how to deal with the situation--among the officers of the elite Horse Guards at the Horse Guard barracks (a building in central London opposite Whitehall). The Horse Guards are the cavalry brigade of the English Household troops (the third regiment of Horse Guards is known as the Royal Horse Guards)."
From STOVER 94: Horse Guards here "is a shorthand reference to the British War Office, located on Horse Guards Parade near Downing Street in London. As Americans refer to the Department of Defense as 'The Pentagon' after its office building, so the British called its War Office 'the Horse Guards.' Not to be confused with the Household Calvary regiment The Royal Horse Guards, even then a tourist attraction when on parade."
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Addlestone
GANGNES: village to the north and slightly east of Woking
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "a village in Surrey, about four miles north of Woking"
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Leatherhead
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "A town in central Surrey, about twelve miles due east of Woking. It is sixteen miles southwest of central London, on the river Mole."
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Spotted Dog
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 207: Wells uses this name in place of the name of a real pub: the Princess of Wales.
From DANAHAY 72: the name of a local pub
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Maybury Hill
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: "a street that extends south, at almost a right angle, from the northeast end of Maybury Road"
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down the opposite slope of Maybury Hill towards Old Woking
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 207: heading due south
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Leatherhead is about twelve miles from Maybury Hill.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 207: to the east
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Pyrford
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 232: "a village in Surrey, about three-quarters of a mile east of Woking"
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I came through Ockham (for that was the way I returned, and not through Send and Old Woking)
From HUGHES AND GEDULD: The narrator "went to Leatherhead by a southerly route, through Send, but returns by a northerly route."
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the Orphanage, near the crest of the hill
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 208: some readers have mistaken this for the Orphanage that used to be in Oriental Road
From STOVER 103: "The orphanage on the crest of Maybury Hill was not built until 1909; in its place at the time there stood St. Peter's Memorial Home for the aged."
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College Arms
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 208: a real pub licensed in the 1890s
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Inkerman barracks
From MCCONNELL 154: "The Inkerman Barracks were named for the Battle of Inkerman, where in 1854, English and French troops defeated an attacking Prussian Army. Throughout the late nineteenth century, the armies of Europe were in the process of massive and ominous expansion and reorganization. But the British had a long-standing aversion to the idea of a standing army. Their reorganization, beginning in 1870, emphasized the localization of garrisons and short enlistment terms for civilian volunteers. In 1881 the infantry of the line was remodeled into two-battalion regiments with territorial names."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 206: located ~2.5 miles southwest of the Horsell sand pits; ~2 miles west of Woking Station
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from the direction of Horsell
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 204: from the southwest
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smoke came out of the pit
From HUGHES AND GEDULD: Likely a reference to Revelation 9:2: "and there arose a smoke out of the pit...."
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towards Chertsey
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 204: to the north
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the road from Woking Station
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 204: "The Chertsey and the Chobham roads start at Woking station, then divide. The 'Something' that 'fell with a crash far away to the left' fell presumably to the west. So the road referred to here is presumably the Chobham Road."
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I did not dare to look back
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 203-4: "I did not dare to look back" is another reference to the petrifying gaze of the Gorgon (first referenced in Chapter IV). Gorgons are monsters from Greek myths "whose hair was a tangle of writing snakes." Humans were irresistibly tempted to look at them, but doing so would turn the viewer to stone.
Note: See Medusa as an example.
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the common from Horsell to Maybury
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 204: distance of ~1 mile
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Maybury arch
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: "a railroad bridge about three-quarters of a mile northeast of Woking Station"
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Times
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: Britain's most prestigious daily newspaper, est. 1788. By the time Wells was writing this novel its politics were mostly Liberal Unionist.
GANGNES: The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism lists the Times' date of establishment as 1785 rather than 1788; this discrepancy is due to the fact that it was originally titled the Daily Universal Register before its name change in 1788. In its early days it contained parliamentary reports, foreign news, and advertisements, but soon expanded its contents. Under the editorship of Thomas Barnes in the early 1800s it became a "radical force in the context of the liberalizing reforms of the early part of the [nineteenth] century. It continued to exert a radical influence under subsequent editors (including John Thaddeus Delane). The paper included reports from influential foreign correspondents who covered major European conflicts that were of interest to Britain. When Thomas Cherney became its editor in 1878 and was succeeded in 1884, the paper began to become more conservative and pro-Empire. It has changed ownership but is still published today.
Source:
- Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, editors. Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press and The British Library, 2009, pp. 627-628.
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argon
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "a chemically inactive, odorless, colorless, gaseous element, no. 18 on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It had just been discovered and was in the news. Wells had written it up in 'The Newly Discovered Element' and 'The Protean Gas,' Saturday Review 79 (February 9 and May 4, 1895): 183-184, 576-577."
GANGNES: The above articles from the Saturday Review are available in scanned facsimile here ("The Newly Discovered Element") and here ("The Protean Gas").
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dodo in the Mauritius
From MCCONNELL 125 and 151: The dodo was a large, flightless bird from Mauritius that was hunted into extinction by the seventeenth century. This is the second of two comparisons between the extinction of the dodo and the potential extinction of humans by the Martians; the first is in Chapter I.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "Later, the very idea of such a bird [as the dodo] was ridiculed ... until skeletal remains came to light in 1863 and 1889."
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A boy from the town, trenching on Smith’s monopoly, was selling papers with the afternoon’s news.
GANGNES: MCCONNELL is somewhat at odds with HUGHES AND GEDULD and STOVER here; H&G's identification of "Smith" as referring to the newsagent W. H. Smith is important to the print culture of Victorian Britain. I include MCCONNELL to show that critical/annotated editions are not infallible.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "Cutting into or 'poaching on' W. H. Smith's monopoly of selling newspapers inside the station. The chain of W. H. Smith to this day has the exclusive rights to selling newspapers, magazines, and books in m any British railroad stations."
From MCCONNELL 153: "'Trenching' means encroaching. The newsboy is selling his papers at a station where Mr. Smith has a permanent newsstand."
From STOVER 91: "Reference to W.H. Smith, whose chain of stationery stores to this day has the exclusive rights to sell newspapers, books, and magazines in British railway stations."
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a squadron of Hussars, two Maxims, and about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment
From MCCONNELL 154: "Hussars are light cavalry. The Maxim is the Maxim-Vickers, the first truly automatic machine gun, manufactured in the 1880s." The Cardigan regiment is from Cardiganshire: a county in West Wales.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 206: "The Maxim gun, patented in 1884 by Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, was an early form of machine gun. After some modification it was adopted by the British Army in 1889. In the field, Maxims were usually mounted on wheeled carriages. ... The Cardigan regiment was named for Cardiganshire, a western county of Wales located between Fishguard and Aberystwyth."
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Aldershot
GANGNES: town to the southwest of Woking
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: "Since 1855 an important garrison town in Hampshire, thirty miles southwest of London and about ten miles west of Woking, Surrey.
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north-west
GANGNES: As HUGHES AND GEDULD point out (see below), this is a mistake that was not corrected in any of the novel's revisions. The error is somewhat jarring considering that Wells painstakingly situates the Martian invasion at extremely specific real locations. For more information on where this project situates the landing site, see the map page on The (De)collected War of the Worlds.
HUGHES AND GEDULD 206: "This is a slip. The second cylinder falls to the northeast ... in or near the 'Byfleet' or 'Addlestone' Golf Links (really the New Zealand Golf Course, then the only course thereabouts and the one Wells must mean)."
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Byfleet Golf Links
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "Located about three-quarters of a mile of central Woking. Now known as West Byfleet Golf Course."
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decollected.net decollected.net
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Maybury
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: "Eastern sector of the town of Woking, Surrey. The location of the narrator's house and also of Wells's home at the time of the writing of [The War of the Worlds]."
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Chertsey
GANGNES: town to the north of Woking, farther than Ottershaw
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "A small town about three miles north of Woking, Surrey."
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Cosmo Rowe (1877-1952)
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 217: In 1896 H. G. Wells and his agent attempted to get illustrations for The War of the Worlds from Cosmo Rowe, but only succeeded in securing two, both of which appeared in Pearson's and one in Cosmopolitan.
GANGNES: Cosmo Rowe (William John Monkhouse Rowe, 1877-1952) was a British illustrator active during the late Victorian period and thereafter. He was a friend of Wells's and of designer William Morris (1834-1896).
Rowe's illustrations for The War of the Worlds appear in the April 1897 (installment 1, first page) and May 1897 (frontispiece) issues of Pearson's Magazine; they are the only illustrations for the Pearson's War of the Worlds that were not done by Warwick Goble.
Biographical source:
More information:
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beasts that perish
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 197: Reference to Psalm 49: 12 "Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish."
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tronomical exchange
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 200: "During the nineteenth century the Royal Astronomical Society (established 1820) acted as an astronomical exchange for observatories within great Britain."
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Ogilvy, the well known astronomer
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 200: "Ogilvy is no doubt a fictive name. An astronomer of the same name first observes the approaching cataclysm in Wells's short story 'The Star.'"
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Daily Telegraph
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 200: The Daily Telegraph was established in 1855 and to this day is still one of Britain's foremost national newspapers.
From MCCONNELL 127: The Daily Telegraph (founded 1855) catered to the middle class; it featured "flamboyant, often sensational journalism."
GANGNES: Contrary to MCCONNELL, the Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism writes that the Daily Telegraph (1855-present; founded as the Daily Telegraph and Courier) originally catered to a "wealthy, educated readership" rather than the middle class. Though it became associated with Toryism in the twentieth century, its politics in the nineteenth century were first aligned with the Whigs, especially in its liberal attitude toward foreign policy. This changed somewhat in the 1870s when it supported Benjamin Disraeli, and the paper became more Orientalist under the editorship of Edwin Arnold. The Telegraph also promoted the arts.
Source:
- Brake, Laurel, and Marysa Demoor, editors. Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press and The British Library, 2009, pp. 158-159.
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Isleworth
GANGNES: to the northeast of Woking, a little over halfway between Woking and central London
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "Residential district of greater London, just east of Kew Gardens, about eight miles west-southwest of the center of the city."
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Winchester
GANGNES: city near the south coast of England; Woking lies to the northeast midway between Winchester and London
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: "A city in southern England, in Hampshire, about sixty miles southwest of London. Famous for its Cathedral (founded 1079) and its public school (Britain's oldest)."
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Denning
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 202: "William Frederick Denning (1848-1931) was the chief authority on cometary systems and meteorites."
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Woking
GANGNES: the town in which the first Martian cylinder lands and the first part of the narrative action takes place; the narrator lives in the area
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: "A town in Surrey, about four miles north of Guildford and twenty-three miles southwest of central London."
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Horsell
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "Northern sector of Woking, Surrey."
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Berkshire, Surrey, and Middlesex
From DANAHAY 47: contiguous English counties
GANGNES: Most of the novel takes place in Surrey and central London.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 227: Berkshire is "a county of southern England bordered by Oxford and Buckingham (on the north), Gloucester (on the northwest), Hampshire (on the south), Surrey (on the southeast), and Wiltshire (on the west)."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: Surrey is "a county of southern England bordered by Buckingham, Middlesex, and London (on the north), Berkshire (on the northwest), Kent (on the east), Hampshire (on the west), and Sussex (on the southwest). It is drained by the rivers Thames, Wey, and Mole."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 231: Middlesex is "a major residential district that forms a sizeable part of London's metropolitan area. It borders Essex and London (on the east), Surrey (on the south), Hertford (on the north), and Buckingham (on the west)."
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sand-pits
From STOVER 67: The sand-pits are a real topographical feature on Horsell Common.
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 233: "On the east side of Horsell Common, about a mile and a half north of Woking."
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Weybridge
GANGNES: a town to the northeast of Woking, between Woking and London
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 235: "a north Surrey town about four miles northeast of Woking and seventeen miles southwest of central London"
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Horsell Bridge
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "a canal bridge near the center of Woking"
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Horsell Common
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 230: "recreational area immediately north of Woking, Surrey, where the first cylinder landed"
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“touch”
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 202: the game of "tag" in Britain
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Chobham
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "A village about three and a half miles northwest of Woking, Surrey. To the southeast it borders on Horsell Common, where the first cylinder landed."
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three kingdoms
GANGNES: You will see below that three different annotated editions of the novel give three different definitions of this reference, and they do not agree as to whether it is Wales or Ireland that is meant to be the "third kingdom."
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 203: England, Ireland, and Scotland
From STOVER 70: Of Great Britain
From DANAHAY 52: England, Scotland, and Wales
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Chobham Road
GANGNES: road leading to Chobham from Woking
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 228: "a thoroughfare bordering the north side of Horsell Common, located about a mile and a half north of Woking, Surrey"
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Waterloo
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 234: "Waterloo (railroad) Station, in Waterloo Road, Lambeth. In the 1890s this station was the terminus of the South-Western Railway, which served points in southern England."
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Lord Hilton, the lord of Horsell Manor
From HUGHES AND GEDULD 203: "No Horsell Manor or Lord Hilton has been traced"; "the local lord was Lord Onslow of Clandon."
From STOVER 71: The name may have been changed for political reasons.
Tags
- decollected: COMMENTARY
- decollected: ILLUSTRATION
- decollected: DEFINITION
- decollected: PERIODICAL
- decollected: CLARIFICATION
- decollected: BACKGROUND
- decollected: DANAHAY
- decollected: MCCONNELL
- decollected: STOVER
- decollected: GANGNES
- decollected: LOCATION
- decollected: REFERENCE
- decollected: HUGHES AND GEDULD
Annotators
URL
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