Cumnor Hill Books

Lorna Arnold, OBE (1915-2014) was a noted British nuclear historian who worked for the UK Atomic Energy Authority for nearly 40 years. She wrote seminal books on the Windscale accident, nuclear weapons tests in Australia, and Britain’s H-Bomb programme. 

After a childhood of rural poverty in the south of England, she studied at the University of London and at Cambridge. Her work at the War Office and the Foreign Office during World War II led to postings to Berlin and Washington. A decade later, a chance encounter resulted in her joining the UKAEA, where she worked with many of the scientists and leaders who established Britain’s nuclear agenda.

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John Steele was well known in Scotland as a lecturer on scientific topics in the 1820s. He and his family took a lengthy sea voyage  in 1828 to New York City, where they established a new home. 

John helped to create a Mechanic’s Institute in New York, which educated working men in the mathematical and scientific skills needed to run the factories and mills in the young and growing United States.

This book also contains stories of John’s family, and genealogical materials. It also contains transcripts of two logs John Steele wrote while crossing the Atlantic.  They are published here for the first time.

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Edward Rainbow was a silk dyer in London from the 1760s to 1800. He was a member of the Dyers’ Guild and left more records than the usual workman of the period, due to a bankruptcy and an accusation of theft. He is the ancestor of Kenneth Rainbow (1888-1958), and the intended audience is the family members of Kenneth, or other people descended from Edward Rainbow. Edward is the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Geoff Arnold.

This includes the trial transcript for the trial of Edward and his son for theft.

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