State funeral for Kiwi beekeeper

A modest 88 year-old former Kiwi beekeeper who didn't do very well at school or university, but who is a household name throughout the British Commonwealth and beyond, is to receive a state funeral in New Zealand.

Some 53 years ago, that beekeeper also happened to be the first person to climb the world's highest mountain, Everest.

Sir Edmund Hillary has died. His legacy in helping Nepalese communities lives on.

The last queen bee of Libya

Since I last posted a piece on Miss Olive Brittan MBE, the last royal beekeeper of Libya, nearly three years ago, I've had some correspondence and am delighted to have received this photo from Albert Lee via Lofty Albert Webb (Lofty). I'm hoping to hear more about Miss Brittan from another source soon, so keep watching.

I understand that this picture was taken in 1962/3 and features the renowned Miss Brittan with some RAF lads stationed at El Adem. Albert says that if he'd known this was going to be interesting history he would have gleaned more information at the time. Thanks for the photo, Albert and Lofty!

 

Hampshire's beekeepers celebrate 125 years at Wooton St Lawrence

This may seem like any other English parish church, but it has a particular association for beekeepers and on 10 November 2007, Hampshire Beekeepers Association (HBA) celebrated its 125th birthday there for a very special reason. It is the church of the Rev Charles Butler, sometimes called the Father of English Beekeeping.

Born in 1560, Butler was vicar at Wooton St Lawrence parish church in Hampshire, UK from 1600 to 1648. His book, The Feminine Monarchie was a tour de force and amongst other things popularised the notion that the largest bee in a hive was a female and therefore a queen and that bees made wax from scales on their underbellies.

Butler's achievements are now recognised with a wonderfully detailed stain-glass window installed in 1953.

And, as the Chairman of HBA said at the meal afterwards, what can we do that will last 125 years to emulate our predecessors who established the HBA in 1882.

 

 

 

 

Ancient hives discovered in the land of milk and honey

Beehives dating back 3000 years have been found in the ancient city of Rehov in Israel.

Thirty intact hives, made of straw and unbaked clay with an entrance for the bees at one end and a lid for beekeepers at the other, were found in orderly, three-high rows in a room that could have accommodated 100 hives.

Their location in a city has puzzled experts. They speculate that the city’s ruler might have wanted the industry under his control, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to religious practices since an altar decorated with fertility figurines was found alongside the hives.

Thanks, Slavik, for the tip.

Settlers transporting bees

Mike, a reader of this blog, has posed a question I've often wondered about:

How did the early settlers manage the transportation of their honey bees from Europe to places like Australia, New Zealand, & America?

It seems generally agreed that they were transported in straw skeps.

Tom Turpin gives a version of the story implying that honeybees were confined on board ships on their 6-8 week journey to the USA -- and that there were many losses (like only one of twelve colonies surviving the trip to California).

However, Tammy Horn in her book Bees in America (p36), quotes a nineteenth century Belgium report by Edward Goodell:

“The bees were placed on deck as follows: A strong oak platform was built on the stern of the ship, the crate containing the skeps was bolted to the platform facing the sea at the rear of the ship. This kept the bees as far as possible from the ship's crew and passengers.”

This still leaves many unanswered questions like: how many bees lost their bearings if they could fly out the back of the boat?; what colonies survived the transport best?; on the very long journeys to Australia and New Zealand were they fed en route?

Update: Cat points out that Tammy Horn also writes:

By 1621, the Virginia Company was sending ships loaded with "divers sorte of seed, and fruit trees, as also Pidgeons, connies [rabbits], Peacock maistives [mastiffs], and Beehives," according to an invoice sent from the Council of the Virginia Company in London sent to the Governor and Council of Virginia.

Miss Olive Brittan, Libya's last queen bee

I missed the beginning of a correspondence in The Times last month, but here's the gist of what I've been able to track down so far:

A Mr Philip Venning of London visited Libya in 1965 and stayed with an Englishwoman who was employed by King Idris to run what she claimed was the world’s only pedigree bee farm.

The fertile site, in Cyrenaica, was so isolated that the ancient bee colony had never had contact with other bees, it was said. Her best honey, juniper, was strictly reserved for the King, a chain-smoker who used it to soothe his throat.

Mr Venning ended his letter wondering if Colonel Gaddafi had kept the tradition alive.

Today, two responses came from other readers:

Sir Peter Wakefield (Consul-General in Libya from 1965-69) named the Libyan royal beekeeper as Miss Olive Brittan MBE and explained:

Sadly, after Colonel Gaddafi’s arrival Miss Brittan’s role came to an end and she had to leave, as, indeed, did the last of the British military mission to Libya. However, she insisted on a proper ceremonial leave-taking, and marched the colonel of the mission and myself to the top of “bee hill”, where she unfurled the Union Flag for us to salute. The flag was then folded away and carried back down the hill, past the hives of the slumbering royal bees.

A Mr Peter Cook, the then Commanding Officer at the RAF Supply Depot in Tobruk, said that after Gaddafi's coup a detachment of Royal Irish Rangers was sent to Cyrenaica on a rescue mission:

They returned with a charming but reluctant and indignant lady bee-keeper.

LATEST: I'm delighted to have received a picture of Miss Brittan.