Welcome to our website.

This website introduces Mike and Misha Herwin and our hobbies and interests, which we hope will be of interest to family, friends and enthusiasts for our pastimes.

Content
Introduction

• About Us A brief background on Mike and our joint interests.

• Misha A brief background on Misha, her writing and other interests. July 2006. Misha's latest short story -just published

Herbert Dicksee

• Herbert Dicksee How I started collecting Dicksees.
                            Dicksee Art Books Details of forthcoming art books on the five main Dicksee artists by Bryan Steele and Simon Toll. NOT TO BE MISSED
                            Nick on Dicksee Biography of artist by Nick Waters
                            Windsor Magazine 1906 Article by Enoch Scribe, "The Art of Mr. Herbert Dicksee."
                            HD Catalogue Catalogue of Etchings, Prints and other works.
                          The catalogue has now been split into separate   pages to speed navigation, which are reached from the main catalogue page, as is a list of works exhibited at the Royal Academy, between 1895 and 1933
                            After Chevy Chase Large oil painting by Dicksee and Cragside House 
                            Auction Prices Some details of prices paid at auction. Over 200 auction results in last five years
                            E-Bay Prices Prices and results on E-Bay from last quarter 2005 onwards. In the period Oct 05 to Feb 06, the same number of Dicksees, excluding restrikes, were offered on e-bay as in all the auction houses put together.
                            Etching terms Some explanation of terms used in catalogue
                            Sir Brian Picture & pedigree of Dicksee's own Deerhound
                           Dicksee Deerhounds Dicksee portrayed deerhounds not wolfhounds

Other Interests

•  Nautical Fiction Nautical fiction - a bibliography of my collection

• Company History Herwin Canny history - a tribute to my grandfather, William Rufus Herwin, his inventions and a brief history of the company from 1901 to 1983

• Herwin Genealogy What I have been able to discover, so far, about my ancestors and about Herwins in general. Arthur Herwin was an Ordinary Seaman on HMS Victory killed at Trafalgar. Unfortunately this turned out to be a blind alley as, although the name Arthur Herwin is on the Portsmouth memorial, Arthur was an Irvine born in 1782 in the Shetlands. However, thanks to the research of my uncle, Frank Herwin, I have found that I did have a relative, William Harrowin, born in Brooke, Norfolk. who served under Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in Aboukir Bay and lost an eye in the battle. Harrowin and Herwin are the same family and the names are interchangeable, varying with different members of the same household and sometimes for the same person at different times. The name Harwin is also used quite freely  and my great, great grandfather appears as Harwin and Herwin in different censuses.

• IWSA Ch Show photos A few photos of the 2005 Ch Show

• Dog Pedigrees Dog pedigrees - see details of and links to Mike's on line searchable databases
  
   

• Things I wish I had said
  " In my humble but nonetheless infallibly correct opinion...." Jonathan Ross. What wonderful chutzpah.

• George Bush's new book
  "Correctificated English Usification"

• The Truth as told by Tony Blair, a very short page, which is actually blank . Would anyone who thinks they can contribute, please return to Planet Earth.
  INFALLIBLE BLAIR LIE DETECTION SYSTEM Watch his lips. If they move, he's lying
• I was amazed in week commencing 3rd October to hear our beloved leader complaining about Iran interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. A superb piece of Blair faced hypocrisy.
• Approximately 100 times as much parliamentary time was devoted to the decision to ban fox hunting than to the decision to invade Iraq. Nice one, Tony! It's good to see how much more important stopping the activities of country sports enthusiasts is than killing people, based on false intelligence. Maybe we shouldn't blame the intelligence but just the blairisation of it.
• "Blairisation" the use of falsehood, misrepresentation or distortion to achieve one's aims, also see "Campbellisation", which is a simile, but with foul language.
• At New Year, Hungarians to rid themselves of the troubles of the past year burn effigies called "Jack Straw". Next year can they please burn the organ grinder not the monkey.
• As Mr Blair was telling the nation on one television channel that he had "never told a lie" another was broadcasting fresh allegations that he misled the country about the legality of the war. His nose should be at least three feet long by now.
• Respect - now thanks to Tony Blair a single word oxymoron. George Galloway hasn't done the word any favours either

"You should not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered."
Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the U.S.
Do not allow legislation, without careful thought about its worst case scenario implications. At the moment we have a government that always legislates, or proposes to, on the basis of knee jerk reactions from the public to any incident . Look at the new proposals for the police to act as prosecution and judge  in dealing with incidents caused by excessive drinking. These are a negation of hundreds of years of constitutional development of the separation of powers to legislative, executive and judicial functions. If we allow this, what is to stop further extension of the powers of punishment to the executive. It is interesting to note that this government is the one that has loosened the liquor laws to such an extent as to cause the serious problems that we have in town centres at night - I wonder how much the "hospitality trade" has contributed to Labour party coffers.
Detention without trial for 3 months is a dangerous precedent. We have already seen the police misuse their powers under current anti terrorism legislation - do not let them have more. Think! You may trust Blunkett (I do not) but what about his successors.
We have a government that has no values beyond expediency and unless we monitor it ever more closely, we will find ourselves in a Big Brother state.
Nothing has brought this home more than the case of the NatWest Three. They may or may not be guilty - that should be for an English Court of Law or the proper English judicial system to decide. They should not be extradited for an alleged crime, committed in the UK by UK citizens, working for a UK company to the USA at all, let alone without a prima facie case being made in a UK court for their extradition. The UK government signed itself up to a bad piece of law, designed to make it easier to bring to a court of law terrorist suspects and those involved in organised international crime. This treaty is being applied by Britain, as part of Blair's unceasing sycophancy to George Bush. Worse still there is no reciprocity, so that we could extradite Irish terrorists and their bank rollers from the USA. This was promised by the USA to be put in place expeditiously. It is now three years on and not only has the USA failed to keep its side of the bargain, but appears not to have even got as far as putting it on the back burner. One is led to the inevitable conclusion that the USA has no intention of fulfilling its obligations, because it would upset the Irish vote. According to Bush, nations have a right, even a duty, to act militarily against other nations, who support terrorism and allow terrorists safe havens. Would it be OK, Mr Bush, if the UK bombed Boston?
Even with the extradition of alleged terrorists, I have grave doubts about the morality and equity of this measure. Guantanamo Bay internees, seem to have little chance of justice, in the USA. Blair was elected, unfortunately, to serve this country and it is about time that he actually performs his duty and stands up for the rights of our citizens. No citizen of any state should be extraditable if the crime he has alleged to have committed would be not be deemed a crime in his own country and unless a prima facie case is made for the extradition in his own country's courts and unless those courts are satisfied that any trial would be conducted fairly and that the person concerned will be properly treated in the extraditing country. In the case of the NatWest Three, the extradition request fails on every count.


 

Developments for the future 

I hope to install a favourite links page shortly, with links to pedigree dog sites, to favourite authors, to family members and favourite artists. I came across an excellent marine artist recently, Charles Napier Hemy, and was particularly enchanted by his pictures of the Thames around Rotherhithe and other insalubrious parts, as my maternal grandmother came from watermen stock.

New pages that I hope to add later are:-

• Canine book collection

If you have any queries about this site, please contact mailto:admin@mike-herwin.com