Betty and Hal were sitting in a small seafront café in Eastbourne
They had spent the day walking and were taking a well-earned break
Betty was reading a newspaper that had been left on a nearby table
I see he is returning
Who is returning?
Engels he is returning to Manchester
Has he not been dead for a number of years?
Yes he died in August 1895
They pray tell me how Engels in returning to Manchester
He was exiled to a town called Engels in Russia
Ok I am still with you although I have always believed that he died in London
He did on the 5th of August 1895
Then what was he doing in Russia?
Do you know much about his love life?
No
Well two sisters played a large part in his life
Together?
That is a remark that I expected from you
I am a working class intellectual or so you tell me
I am not sure about the second part but you certainly fulfil the criteria for the first part
Is that all your posh school taught you?
To look down on the working classes
May I continue?
Go ahead
Good
Well Engels met a woman named Mary Burns in the 1840s and stayed with her until her death in 1863
She died quite young then
Sadly yes
Marx’s daughter Eleanor did note that in her later years that she drank to excess although I am led to believe that she succumbed to heart disease
But both Marx and his daughter noted in their correspondence that she was very good natured and witty and also rather pretty in her younger years
Before the drink took hold of her
There was very little written about her and all we have to rely on is the references in the letters of Marx and his daughter
So what about the other sister was it a sort of secret ménage a trois?
Not to my knowledge and I know where you are going
Lydia was their housekeeper that’s all
Lydia I thought her name was Lizzie?
You know about this
Bits and pieces
Well although her name was Lydia she was known as Lizzie
It appears that when Mary died that Lizzie became his partner until her death in 1878
They never married
Well yes and no
As you know Engels considered marriage a bourgeois institution
However Lizzie became morally ill in the September of 1878 and out of respect for her religious beliefs he married her a few hours before she passed away
Her death shattered Engels
He said this about her
Betty reached into her jacket pocket and took out a small notebook
My wife was a real child of the Irish proletariat and her passionate devotion to the class in which she was born was worth much more to me (and helped me more in times of stress) than all the elegance of an educated artistic middle class bluestocking
So good old Engels would not have fancied your input then
I am not a blue stocking
You went to Oxford
That does not make me a bluestocking
With a slight irritation Betty handed her notebook to Hal
Here you are smart arse everything you wanted to know about Friedrich Engels
You have not answered my main question
What is that?
Whether I want another cup of tea or not
Well there’s the tea pot and I think you know where your cup is
Slowly and with a hint of theatre Hal poured himself a cup of tea
My question is how can a man who died in 1895 be returning to Manchester?
It is his statue you fool
A statue of Engels is being transported from the town of Engels in Russia to Manchester later this year
Engels in Russia?
Yes it is a port city on the Volga and is connected to the city of Saratov by a three kilometre long bridge
You have heard of Saratov?
Yes it was closed city until the fall of the Soviet Union
What else do you know?
That Engels was renamed in 1931
I wish somebody would name a city after me
You were the mad computer in 2001
Given but they could have hardly called it Betty could they?
Well going back to the newspaper article it appears that the statue is being transported from the city named after him to the city that meant so much to him
Why are the Russians giving Manchester the statue?
They have decommissioned it for some reason
Shall we go and see it?
It has not been unveiled yet
I believe it will be unveiled at the end of the Manchester International Festival later this year
Shall we attend the ceremony?
If you want to
Then that’s a date
Yes that will be nice
Betty looked at the counter of the café which had become busier
Stay here and I will settle the bill
Hal watched his friend as she walked toward the counter
When he thought she was not looking he pulled a small piece of stone from his pocket
Shortly afterwards Betty returned and began to put her anorak on
What is that?
A piece of stone
I can see that
Where did you get it?
At Beachy Head earlier today
I wondered what you were doing near the edge of the cliff
You thought I was going to finish myself off
No such luck
This stone would have been in the area in 1895
If you say so
What happened at Beachy Head in 1895?
Engels ashes were scattered off of Beachy Head as per his wishes
Well there you are
Here is a stone that was there on that sad day
It would have been touched by the dust of the great man
That stone you see on this table has traces of Friedrich Engels within it
Over one hundred and twenty years later?
Yes there will be traces of your hero within that stone
His DNA could be found
Here do take it with you to Manchester so that he can be there at the unveiling ceremony
Betty kissed Hal lightly on the cheek and blushed slightly
Do not think I have forgiven you
But it was thoughtful of you Hal
Come on lets hurry as we have train to catch
Our day is nearly complete