h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Mary Croghen Schenley: Love and Real Estate - A87850236
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

Inquiring minds want to know:

Now that the Post Editor has access to more data, will Pittsburgh become the new Isle of Wight?

Nah. But Bluebottle keeps working on that Carnegie Library Entry. And I happened across the fact that Mrs Schenley gave the land for Pittsburgh's library and museum complex.

Which, of course, reminded us all of the delicious, scandalous story of Mary's elopement, and the international ruckus it caused.

So I thought: why not share? Everybody like a good bit of gossip, and it has Englishmen, Irishmen, and Queen Victoria in.

Sorry, spelling corrected on her name now.

Mary's maiden name is pronounced 'crawn'.

A very good entry and another fine tale
There's a couple of minor typos electic – Eclectic (at first reading I wasn't sure whether you meant 'electric') . It would also be a good idea to have the pronunciation guide in the entry too.

Can we double check the date of the wedding and their arrival in the UK. I thought Palmerston (initially Whig, later founder of the Liberals) was in opposition then, as Robert Peel was a Tory PM in for the early 1840s? So either they arrived in the UK after 1846, or it wasn't Palmerston who was in the cabinet.

When I joined h2g2, there was an informal competition between Jimi X and I about who could write the more articles about their home, between the Isle of Wight and Pennsylvania – and looks like you're carrying on the tradition, with increased competition from Sasha and Merseyside.

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Aha. So it was a h2g2 curse.

I've fixed that typo, and added the pronunciation.

So far, all I've found is that the Schenleys definitely got married on 22 January 1842. We can take that from these letters - I put in the link so I can find it again:

http://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/viewFile/2045/1879

I don't know about the Palmerston puzzle. Here's what I've got:

'When Capt. Schenley visited the Pittsburgh heiress' school and eloped with her, he was absent without leave, old letters have revealed, from his post of Her Majesty's commissioner of arbitration in a mixed court for the suppression of the slave trade in Dutch Guiana.'

http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n108.html

This is a good yarn.

Still scandalous, I think, as Captain Shenley would be regarded as guilty of child abuse these days.

One question - what happened to Mary when Shenley was sent to South America? I suspect she was well able to look after herself, but where?

One request - can you put Pittsburgh right up there in the first paragraph so ignorant Brits know that's where the giant Carnegie library was.

Mary went to Surinam with her husband, apparently. It was a scary time - they were afraid somebody would give them leprosy on purpose...

I'll fix that Pittsburgh ting.

Wow, interesting. One minor spelling mistake:

>>After a stint in the Coldstream Guards, O'hara<< --I guess O'Hara should have a capital H.

You're right, he should. Thank you!

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Well done.

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Good work