The Daughter of Time

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Novum Organum:

With regard to authority, it is the greatest weakness to attribute infinite credit to particular authors, and to refuse his own prerogative to time, the author of all authors, and, therefore, of all authority. For, truth is rightly named the daughter of time, not of authority. It is not wonderful, therefore, if the bonds of antiquity, authority, and unanimity, have so enchained the power of man, that he is unable (as if bewitched) to become familiar with things themselves. 


Some years ago, I was clearing out the loft in our house. It's not very comfortable; there is enough head room to sit in it (while avoiding the swinging light bulb) but no room to stand. I was going through a pile of mildewed books that my mum and dad had collected and was sorting them into 'will-never-notice-it's-gone' to 'don't-even-think-about-chucking-this-out' piles, when I came across a book called 'The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey. Intrigued, I opened it up and for the next hour I sat cramped in the loft and read it.

 The story is obstensibly a fictional one, but it is actually an examination of the facts surrounding the disappearance of the princes in the Tower and whether Richard III did indeed have them killed or if someone else did it. The book concludes that it was Henry Tudor that did it and it convinced me, but I'll leave you to read it. What was more important about the book was the care that the author had taken to put together her case and her ability to look beyond what had become an accepted truth - that Richard III had killed the princes. I didn't realise how important the book was to me until today, when it was confirmed that the skeleton found under a car park , was that of Richard III. To prove it, the archeologists found the location of a long demolished church, compared DNA from a relative, re-modelled the skull and analysed the wounds, which had come from a battle.

Why is it important to me? Because of this. So much of your time as a politician is spent creating paper trails about what actually took place and so much of your time is spent reading trails that others created in the hope that someone one day would actually seek out the truth. Sometimes the creators don't even know they are doing it; but when they do their job exceptionally well it can really matter. For example, I didn't realise how important maps were, until I had to research the land that a local school was getting built on. Then I understood why my father had held onto old maps of our town and why someone had to collect them in case they needed to be checked. Again, I was looking for the history of the local canal, which tied into it and I spent a couple of months trying to get an out-of-print copy of a book on the subject, only to discover it in a cupboard in my own house. My dad had bought it when it had first come out and had kept it.

Recording is so important. Libraries are so important, because when a myth has built up, they can contain the means by which to find out the truth. It can be painstaking and bitsy, but it is there. And sometimes just one sentence can make all the difference in an account. In the Daughter of Time, it was a casual reference in a history book to Henry Tudor systematically killing all claimants to the throne after he had taken it that made the difference. For me, it was a single detail on one of those maps that became vital.

The truth is out there. But it depends both on those who record it and those who seek it and sometimes it can take centuries for it come out. Truth is the daughter of time and depends on the pedants and hoarders of this world to keep it safe. I now wish that I had not been so casual in throwing out so many of my parents books. And I am glad that I kept 'The Daughter of Time'. It taught me far more than I thought.