MIND THE GAP? NO, MIND THE MAPS PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we discussed three of London’s newly named Overground suburban lines, Lioness, Mildmay, and Windrush, each commemorating British heritage. As described in VOICE of AMERICA, February 15, 2024, the three other new routes, Weaver, Suffragette, and Liberty, are today’s topic. 

Weaver. VoA notes that the Weaver line “runs from the heart of the financial district in Liverpool Street to places such as Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and Hackney, where the textile trade blossomed. It will be shown with double maroon lines on the map.”

In a sense, Weaver gives an Overground link to these two contrasting parts of London, each an essential part of this historically crucial British industry.

Suffragette. This line “celebrates the role of the working-class movement in the east of the city in the fight for women’s rights. The line runs to Barking, home of the longest surviving suffragette Annie Huggett, who died at the age of 103 in 1996. It will be shown with double green lines on the map.”

Appropriate though it is to honor suffragette Huggett, there’s irony in the fact that suffragettes were also known to target the London’s transportation infrastructure among their disruptive activities. For example, Wikipedia notes, “The London Underground was also targeted: on 2 May [1913] a highly unstable nitroglycerine bomb was discovered on the platform at Piccadilly Circus tube station. Although it had the potential to harm many members of the public on the platform, the bomb was dealt with.”

Wikipedia recounts, “In August 1914 the First World War began, which effectively led to the end of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. After Britain joined the war, the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union] took the decision to suspend their own campaigning. Leader Emmeline Pankhurst instructed suffragettes to stop their violent actions and support the government in the conflict against Germany. From this point forward, suffragettes instead largely channelled their energies into supporting the war effort.” 

In the U.K.’s 1918 Representation of People Act, some women were given the vote. See “You Vote, Grrl!,” here at SimanaitisSays. 

The Underground’s Baker Street Station, circa 1887. Painting by Dennis Brown; this and others commissioned by the author for “Three Great Subterranean Transportation Systems,” R&T, April 1994.

Liberty. VoA says that this line “celebrates the eternal freedoms of the city and goes through Havering, which has historically had more self-governance than other parts of London. It will be shown with double grey lines on the map.”

Whatever did Havering do? Wikipedia offers a fairly extensive description of this suburban East London borough. However, the only relevant aspect seems to be Havering having “Liberty” on its coat of arms. 

Curiously, the word “havering” is a Britishism for “vacillating or indecisive behavior.” The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary says it’s a Scottish or north dialect term and quotes Sir Walter Scott citing “a little havering and fun upon the other side of the question” in 1809.

Underground/Overground Maps—Works in Progress. As a last addendum, the Transport for London (TfL) made BBC News, September 16, 2009, in “Thames Reunited with Tube Map.” In one of its earlier periodic updates, the TfL had sought to avoid clutter and restore the Underground Map’s original clarity. Following this reasoning, it seemed the Thames didn’t really matter. 

Until Londoners (including Mayor Boris Johnson) sternly objected to its omission from the map graphics. The TfL relented and the Thames resumed its flow, at least topologically. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024