1.
Leicester
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Leicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest, in the 2011 census the population of the City of Leicester unitary authority was 329,839 making it the most populous municipality in the East Midlands region. The associated urban area is also the 11th most populous in England, the name of Leicester is recorded in the 9th-century History of the Britons as Cair Lerion, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Ligora-ceastre. In the Domesday Book of 1086, it is recorded as Ledecestre, the second element of the name comes from the Latin castrum which is reflected in both Welsh cair and Anglo-Saxon ceastre. Based on the Welsh name, Geoffrey of Monmouth proposes a king Leir of Britain as a founder in his Historia Regum Britanniae. Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a going back at least two millennia. The native Iron Age settlement encountered by the Romans at the seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. This area of the Soar was split into two channels, a stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel, the later Roman name was a latinate form of the Brittonic word for ramparts, suggesting the site was an oppidum. The plural form of the name suggests it was composed of several villages. The Celtic tribe holding the area was recorded as the Coritanians. The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of the East Midlands and it is believed that the Romans arrived in the Leicester area around AD47, during their conquest of southern Britain. The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on the Fosse Way, in the 2nd century, it received a forum and bathhouse. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls, the remains of the baths of Roman Leicester can be seen at the Jewry Wall, recovered artifacts are displayed at the adjacent museum. Knowledge of the following the Roman withdrawal from Britain is limited. Certainly there is continuation of occupation of the town, though on a much reduced scale in the 5th and 6th centuries. Its memory was preserved as the Cair Lerion of the History of the Britons, following the Saxon invasion of Britain, Leicester was occupied by the Middle Angles and subsequently administered by the kingdom of Mercia. It was elevated to a bishopric in either 679 or 680, this see survived until the 9th century and their settlement became one of the Five Burghs of the Danelaw, although this position was short-lived
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Leicester landmarks: (clockwise from top-left) Jewry Wall, National Space Centre, Leicester War Memorial, Central Leicester, Curve theatre, Leicester Cathedral and Guildhall, Welford Road Stadium, Leicester Market
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Leicester Guildhall, dating from the 14th century
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St Nicholas's Church and the Jewry Wall.
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Leicester Abbey ruins, now part of Abbey Park.
2.
Leicestershire
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Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street, the county has a population of just under 1 million with over half the population living in Leicesters built-up area. Leicestershire was recorded in the Domesday Book in four wapentakes, Guthlaxton, Framland, Goscote and these later became hundreds, with the division of Goscote into West Goscote and East Goscote, and the addition of Sparkenhoe hundred. In 1087, the first recorded use of the name was as Laegrecastrescir, Leicestershires external boundaries have changed little since the Domesday Survey. These actions were reversed on 1 April 1997, when Rutland, Rutland became a distinct Ceremonial County once again, although it continues to be policed by Leicestershire Constabulary. The symbol of the county council, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Leicestershire is considered to be the birthplace of fox hunting as it is known today. Hugo Meynell, who lived in Quorn, is known as the father of fox hunting, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough have associations with fox hunting, as has neighbouring Rutland. A large part of the north-west of the county, around Coalville, the highest point of the county is Bardon Hill at 278 metres, which is also a Marilyn. The lowest point is about 24. 8m, north of Bottesford where the River Devon leaves Leicestershire, the population of Leicestershire is 609,578 people. The county covers an area of 2,084 km2 and its largest population centre is the city of Leicester, followed by the town of Loughborough. Other large towns include Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville, Hinckley, Market Harborough, Melton Mowbray, Oadby, Wigston, some of the larger of villages are, Burbage Birstall, Broughton Astley, Castle Donington, Kibworth Beauchamp, Great Glen, Ibstock, Countesthorpe and Kegworth. One of the most rapidly expanding villages is Anstey, which has seen a large number of development schemes. The United Kingdom Census 2001 showed a resident population for Leicester of 279,921. Approximately 62,000 were aged under 16,199,000 were aged 16–74,76. 9% of Leicesters population claim they have been born in the UK, according to the 2001 UK Census. Mid-year estimates for 2006 indicate that the population of the City of Leicester stood at 289,700 making Leicester the most populous city in East Midlands, the population density is 3, 814/km2 and for every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. Of those aged 16–74 in Leicester,38. 5% had no academic qualifications,23. 0% of Leicesters residents were born outside of the United Kingdom, more than double than the English average of 9. 2%. Engineering has long been an important part of the economy of Leicestershire, John Taylor Bellfounders continues a history of bellfounding in Loughborough since the 14th century. In 1881 John Taylors cast the largest bell in Britain, Great Paul, snibston Discovery Park is built on one of three coal mines that operated in Coalville from the 1820s until 1986
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Zoo
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Belvoir Castle today
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The entrance to Burrough Hill Iron Age hillfort
3.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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Stonehenge, a Neolithic monument
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Boudica led an uprising against the Roman Empire
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Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial helmet from the Kingdom of East Anglia, found at Sutton Hoo
4.
Dawlish
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Dawlish /ˈdɔːlɪʃ/ is a town and civil parish in Teignbridge on the south coast of Devon in England,12 miles from the county town of Exeter. It has a population of 12,819, decreasing to 11,312 at the 2011 census, during the 18th century, it grew from a small fishing port to become a well-known seaside resort. Their combined population at the 2011 census was 13,161, behind this is a central public park, The Lawn, through which Dawlish Water flows. Immediately to the south-west of Dawlish is a headland, Lea Mount, with Boat Cove at its foot and Coryton Cove, the furthest part of the beach accessible by the seawall path, behind it. To the north-east, via the beach or seawall, the coast can be followed some 2 km to Langstone Rock, Dawlish is also known for its black swans, introduced from Western Australia, which live with other exotic waterfowl in a small urban sanctuary on Dawlish Water. The name Dawlish derives from a Welsh river name meaning black stream, there was also a Roman translation of Dolfisc, meaning Dark river and The Devils Water. It was first recorded in 1044 as Doflisc, by 1086 it was Dovles, in 1302, Dovelish, and by 1468 it had become the more recognisable Dawlisshe. Before Dawlish itself was settled, fishermen and salt makers came down from the ground where they lived. They built salterns to produce salt and stored it in sheds nearby, the earliest settlement at Dawlish grew up almost a mile away from the coast, around the area where the parish church is today. There is evidence of settlements at Aller Farm, Smallacombe, Lidwell and at Higher and Lower Southwood. The land that includes present-day Dawlish was granted by Edward the Confessor to Leofric, later the first Bishop of Exeter, after the Norman Conquest, Leofric gave the land to the Diocese of Exeter, which held it until it was sold, in 1802. The entire layout survives remarkably unchanged today, despite damage caused by a torrent of water coming down Dawlish Water from the Haldon Hills on the night of 10 November 1810. Also worth noting are Manor House and Brook House and some of the cottages in Old Town Street surviving from the old village, Dawlishs transformation from a fishing settlement to a watering hole for Victorian celebrities is documented at the Dawlish Museum. In 1830, Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a railway, which operated on a pneumatic principle, one of the pumping stations was in this town. The line ran right along the seafront, but Brunel ensured that the line was carried across the mouth of the stream on a small granite viaduct, the atmospheric railway opened on 30 May 1846 and ran between Exeter St. Davids and Newton Abbot. The first passenger train ran in September 1847, but the project was besieged with problems mainly with the sealing valve. South Devon Railway directors abandoned the project in favour of conventional trains, after visiting Sidmouth in 1801, Jane Austen spent a long holiday at Dawlish in 1802, later complaining about its particularly pitiful and wretched library. She mentioned the several times in her 1811 novel Sense
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The seafront at Dawlish
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View of Dawlish beach May 1881.
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View from Dawlish station to the south-west toward the scenic tunnelled coastal section of line.
5.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
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Menhir at Drizzlecombe
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Part of the seafront of Torquay, south Devon, at high tide
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Heathland at Woodbury Common in south east Devon
6.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
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The Queen in March 2015
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by Philip de László, 1933
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Elizabeth in Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
7.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
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Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. She was the last Empress consort of India, born into a family of British nobility, she came to prominence in 1923 when she married Albert, Duke of York, the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. The couple and their daughters embodied traditional ideas of family and public service and she undertook a variety of public engagements and became known as the Smiling Duchess because of her consistent public expression. In 1936, her husband became king when his brother, Edward VIII. She accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and North America before the start of World War II, during the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. In recognition of her role as an asset to British interests, after the war, her husbands health deteriorated and she was widowed at the age of 51. Her elder daughter, aged 25, became the new queen, on the death of Queen Mary in 1953, Elizabeth became the most senior member of the British royal family after the sovereign, and was viewed as the family matriarch. In her later years, she was a popular member of the family. She continued a public life until just a few months before her death at the age of 101, seven weeks after the death of her younger daughter. Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, other possible locations include Forbes House in Ham, London, the home of her maternal grandmother, Louisa Scott. Her birth was registered at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, near the Strathmores English country house, St Pauls Walden Bury, which was also given as her birthplace in the census the following year. She was christened there on 23 September 1900, in the parish church, All Saints. She spent much of her childhood at St Pauls Walden and at Glamis Castle and she was educated at home by a governess until the age of eight, and was fond of field sports, ponies and dogs. When she started school in London, she astonished her teachers by precociously beginning an essay with two Greek words from Xenophons Anabasis and her best subjects were literature and scripture. After returning to education under a German Jewish governess, Käthe Kübler. On her fourteenth birthday, Britain declared war on Germany, four of her brothers served in the army. Her elder brother, Fergus, an officer in the Black Watch Regiment, was killed in action at the Battle of Loos in 1915, another brother, Michael, was reported missing in action on 28 April 1917. Three weeks later, the family discovered he had captured after being wounded
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Portrait by Richard Stone, 1986
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Glamis Castle, the Strathmores' Scottish home
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Elizabeth (back row second from left) as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles, 1922
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The Duke (right) and Duchess of York in Queensland, 1927
8.
Baggrave Hall
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Baggrave Hall is an 18th-century Grade II* listed country house in the parish of Hungarton, Leicestershire, UK. It is a two and three-storey Palladian-style building constructed during the 1750s in ashlar, with a Swithland slate hipped roof, an additional wing in red brick can be dated to 1776. The current grounds of the hall cover 220 acres, the hall was listed Grade II* in 1951, but suffered serious damage in 1988–90. Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site belonged to Leicester Abbey and it was then sold by the Crown to Francis Cave, whose grandson, Sir Alexander Cave, sold it on before 1625 to Edward Villiers, half-brother of the Duke of Buckingham. The hall belonged in the later 17th century to John Edwyn, whose grandson, also John, rebuilt it, in 1770, his daughter Anna Edwyn married Andrew Burnaby, archdeacon of Leicester, and so ownership of the estate passed to the Burnaby family. Later owners included Edwyn Burnaby, high sheriff of Leicestershire and Edwyn Sherard Burnaby, baggrave Hall was the childhood-home of Louisa Cavendish-Bentinck née Burnaby who became great-grandmother of Elizabeth II. More recently it became the home of the Earle family, who sold it around 1975, the fabric of the building was severely damaged in 1988–90 whilst in the ownership of an overseas company controlled by Asil Nadir, who had bought the estate for £3 million. Stonework was removed, walls undermined, and interior walls, floors, the current owner has undertaken to rectify the damage as far as possible. The exterior of the house can be viewed close at hand from a footpath that runs between South Croxton and Lowesby. According to legend, the hall was named after an incident involving a maidservant and she is said to have let a beggar woman take refuge at the hall, but later noticed by the boots that this was a man in disguise. Fearing he was a robber, she murdered him and wrapped his body in a potato bag, in which he was buried
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Baggrave Hall
9.
Hungarton
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Hungarton is a small village in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is about 10 miles north-east of Leicester and 13 miles south-west of Melton Mowbray, the village is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as Hungretone. The population of the parish was 269 at the 2001 census, including Ingarsby. The layout of the village of Hungarton follows that of the village built between 1764 and 1776 by Shukburgh Ashby, then the owner of nearby Quenby Hall. There are a few cottages that pre-date these houses and many houses have built since. The village has a church, a hall, a small stream. It also has a pub called The Black Boy, stilton cheese was first produced in a dairy in the grounds of Quenby Hall. The Anglican Church of St John the Baptist is part of a benefice with Keyham, Billesdon, Goadby. A service is held twice a month. The parish of Hungarton covers over 4000 acres of land, and includes the three estates of Quenby Hall, Baggrave and Ingarsby as well as the village. A bill to enclose common lands in the village was introduced in 1762, John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, HUNGERTON, a village, a township, and a parish in Billesdon district, Leicestershire. The village stands between the two branches of the river Wreak,6 miles SE by E of Syston Junction r. station, and 7 NE by E of Leicester, the parish contains also the liberty of Baggrave, and the hamlets of Ingarsby and Quenby. The property is divided among a few, Baggrave Hall is the seat of E. A. Burnaby, Esq. Quenby Hall has, for upwards of seven centuries, belonged to the Ashbys, Ingarsby Hall, an old moated building, is now a farm house. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Twyford, the church is ancient, was restored in 1851, and consists of nave, chancel, and S aisle, with porch and lofty spire. There are a Wesleyan chapel and some charities, the living is a discharged vicarage, with that of Twyford and the chapelry of Thorp-Satchville united in 1732, valued in the kings books at £9. 1½. and in the patronage of the families of Peacocke and Ashby, net income. In birth order George Ashby, politician, was born at Quenby Hall, Shukburgh Ashby, landowner and politician, was buried at Hungarton
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Hungarton seen from near Quenby Hall
10.
Edwyn Sherard Burnaby
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Edwyn Sherard Burnaby was a major-general and Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Leicestershire North from 1880 until his death. He served in the Crimean War and he was the son of Edwyn Burnaby and Anne Caroline Salisbury. He was educated at Eton and in 1848 entered the Grenadier Guards and served at Inkerman and he was Brigadier-General of the British Italian Legion from 1855 to 1857. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 1st Leicestershire Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1878 and he inherited Baggrave Hall, Leicestershire on the death of his father in 1867. In 1880 he was elected Conservative member of Parliament for North Leicestershire together with Lord John Manners and he married Louisa Julia Mary Dixie in 1864 at St Georges, Hanover Square. They had two children, Algernon Edwyn Burnaby and Hilda Burnaby and he was a great-uncle of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother through his sister Louisa Cavendish-Bentinck. He died 1883 at Brighton aged 52, leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Edwyn Sherard Burnaby
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Edwyn Sherard Burnaby by Roger Fenton (1855)
11.
Frederick Gustavus Burnaby
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Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burnaby was a British Army intelligence officer. Burnabys adventurous spirit, pioneering achievements, and swashbuckling courage earned an affection in the minds of Victorian imperial idealists and his popularity was legendary, appearing in a number of stories and tales of empire. His sister Mary married John Manners-Sutton, Fred was educated at Bedford School, Harrow, Oswestry School, where he was a contemporary with William Archibald Spooner, and in Germany. Legend has it he could carry two boys under both arms up the stairs of school house, Burnaby was a huge man for his times,6 ft 4in tall and 20 stone when fully grown. Like so many Household cavalry his outsize personality and strength became the legend of imperial might. He entered the Royal Horse Guards in 1859, finding no chance for active service, his spirit of adventure sought outlets in balloon ascents and in travels through Spain and Russia with his firm friend, George Radford. This took Burnaby as far as Khartoum, returning to England in March 1875, he formulated his plans for a journey on horseback to the Khanate of Khiva through Russian Asia, which had just been closed to travellers. War had broken out between the Russian army and the Turcoman tribesmen of the desert and he planned to visit St Petersburg to meet Count Milyutin, Minister of War to the Tsar. Travelling at his own expense carrying an 85 lb pack, he departed London Victoria station on 30 November 1875, the Russians announced they would protect the soldier along the route, but to all intents and purposes this proved impossible. The accomplishment of this task, in the winter of 1875–1876, with the aim of reciprocity for India and the Tsarist State, was described in his book A Ride to Khiva, the city of Merv was highly inaccessible, but presented a potential military flashpoint. The Russians knew that British Intelligence gathered information along the frontier, similar expeditions had taken place under Captain George Napier and Colonel Charles MacGregor. By Christmas, Burnaby had arrived at Orenburg, in receipt of orders prohibiting progress into Persia from Russian held territory, he was warned not to advance. A fluent Russian speaker, he was not coerced, arriving at a Russian garrison, hiring a servant and horses his party trudged through the snow to Kazala intending a crossing into Afghanistan from Merv. Extreme winter blizzards brought frostbite, treated with naphtha, a Cossack emetic, close to death, Burnaby took three weeks to recover. Having received conflicted accounts of the privilege of Russian hospitality it was a welcome release, he later told his book. It was another 400 miles south to Khiva, when he was requested to divert to Petro Alexandrovsk, lurid tales of wild tribesmen awaiting his desert travails ready to gouge out his eyes were intended to discourage. Contrarily he ignored the escort, believing the tribes more friendly than the Russians, intending to go via Bokhara and Merv, he deviated, cutting two days off the journey. Leaving Kazala on 12 January 1876 with a servant, guide, a local mullah wrote an introduction note to the Khan, and clad in furs they traversed the freezing desert
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Portrait of Burnaby in his uniform as a captain in the Royal Horse Guards by James Tissot (1870)
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Vanity Fair caricature, 2 December 1876
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Memorial obelisk in churchyard of St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham
12.
Ham, Surrey
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Ham is a suburban district in south-west London which has meadows adjoining the River Thames where the Thames Path National Trail also runs. Most of Ham is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and, chiefly, within the ward of Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside, Ham is centred 9.25 miles south-west of the centre of London. Together with Petersham, Ham lies east of the bend in the river almost surrounding it on three sides,1 mile south of Richmond and 2 miles north of Kingston upon Thames. Its elevation mostly ranges between 6m and 12m OD but reaches 20m in the foothill side-streets leading to Richmond Park, apart from semi-rural Petersham, Richmond Park and the town of Kingston, the neighbouring land is on the opposite side of the river, Teddington and Twickenham. Ham is bounded on the west, along the bank of the River Thames, part of this former pasture land was used for gravel extraction. The last remnant of these gravel pits now forms an artificial lake, in this area is the Thames Young Mariners 10 acres site, operated as a water activity centre by Surrey County Council. The area along the riverside is preserved as a public amenity, mostly on low-lying river terrace, Ham today is bounded to the east by Richmond Park, where the land rises at the escarpment of the Richmond and Kingston hills. Small streams that drain this higher ground flow into a watercourse that flows south-north along the foot of the hill, known as Latchmere Stream to the south, Ham lies within the London Basin and its London clay bedrock. The low-lying flood plains to the west consist of fluvial gravels, sands, the name derives from the Old English word Hamme meaning place in the bend of a river. The Thames Valley has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic period and finds of Palaeolithic flints near to White Lodge and these have not been excavated, so it is impossible to date them precisely, but barrows are known to span the period from 3500BC to 900BC. Many of these artifacts are part of the Edwards Collection and housed in the Museum of Richmond, other finds from Ham are held at the Museum of London including an early Bronze Age collared urn, also from the Edwards Collection. The first early Saxon settlement found in the Greater London area was a Pit-house, or Grubenhaus, along with pottery finds dated to the 5th century AD, this suggests the area was amongst the first colonised by Saxon settlers. Historically, Ham covered a larger area, the boundaries shown in the tithe map of 1843 are believed to have changed little, if at all, for centuries. The earliest known record of Ham as a separate village dates from the 12th century when Hamma was included in the royal demesne as a member of Kingston. 4d. in 1168 towards the marriage of Matilda, the eldest daughter of Henry II, the related history of the Earls of Dysart dominated the development of Ham and Petersham for the following four centuries. In return for this, a deed was struck which has protected most of the remaining common land, Ham Common. The enclosed land, whilst lost to agriculture, remained within Hams administrative boundaries, the whole area was referred to as Ham cum Hatch, or Ham with Hatch, until late Victorian times. Hesba Stretton, the Evangelical childrens writer, retired to Ivycroft, Ham Common in 1892, since 1965 Ham has been mostly in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
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Ham House in 2007
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Housing by Ham Parade
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Tollemache Almshouses, Ham Street, erected in memory of Algernon Gray Tollemache in 1892 by his wife
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Thames Young Mariners dock and lock
13.
British peerage
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The peerage is a legal system historically comprising hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, comprising various noble ranks, and forms a constituent part of the British honours system. The term peerage can be used collectively to refer to the entire body of nobles, and individually to refer to a specific title. British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm, New Labour, elected to power in 1997, sought to eject all hereditary peers from Parliament but PM Tony Blair relented by allowing only 92 members to remain by legislation enacted in 1999. The House of Lordss purpose is now that of a legislative chamber. Peerages are created by the British monarch, like all Crown honours, HMG recommends to the Sovereign who to be elevated to the peerage, after external vetting by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. The Sovereign, traditionally the fount of honour, cannot hold a British peerage, succession claims to existing hereditary peerages are regulated by the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct and administered by The Crown Office. The modern-day parliamentary peerage is a continuation of the renamed medieval baronage system which existed in feudal times, certain other office-holders such as senior clerics and Freemen of the Cinque Ports were deemed barons. This right, entitlement or title, began to be granted by decree in the form of a Writ of Summons from 1265, additionally, many holders of smaller fiefdoms per baroniam ceased to be summoned to parliament, resulting in baronial status becoming personal rather than territorial. In the UK, five peerages co-exist, namely, The Peerage of England — titles created by the Kings, the Peerage of Scotland — titles created by the Kings and Queens of Scotland before 1707. The Peerage of Ireland — titles created for the Kingdom of Ireland before the Act of Union of 1801, the Peerage of Great Britain — titles created for the Kingdom of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. The Peerage of the United Kingdom — most titles created since 1801 to the present, Peers are of five ranks, in descending order of hierarchy, Duke comes from the Latin dux, leader. The first duke in a peerage of the British Isles was created in 1337, Marquess comes from the French marquis, which is a derivative of marche or march. This is a reference to the borders between England, Scotland, and Wales, a more evident in the feminine form. The first marquess in a peerage of the British Isles was created in 1385, earl comes from the Old English or Anglo-Saxon eorl, a military leader. The meaning may have been affected by the Old Norse jarl, meaning free-born warrior or nobleman, during the Danelaw, since there was no feminine Old English or Old Norse equivalent for the term, Countess is used, from the Latin comes. Viscount comes from the Latin vicecomes, vice-count, Baron comes from the Old Germanic baro, freeman. In the Peerage of Scotland alone, a holder of the rank is not called a Baron. Barons in Scotland were traditionally holders of feudal dignities, not peers, baronets, while holders of hereditary titles, are not peers since baronetcies have never conferred noble status, although socially they came to be regarded as part of the aristocracy
British peerage
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Peers wear ceremonial robes, whose designs are based on their rank.
British peerage
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Ranks of Peerage
14.
British nobility
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The British nobility refers to the noble families of the United Kingdom. In everyday speech, the British nobility consists of peers and their families, { however, members of the peerage carry the titles of Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. Peers ranked from Marquess to Baron are frequently referred to generically as Lords, however, the Scottish Baron, an official title of nobility in the United Kingdom, is addressed as The Baron of X. The untitled nobility consists of all those who bear formally matriculated, or recorded, other than their designation, such as Gentleman or Esquire, they enjoy no privilege other than a position in the formal orders of precedence in the United Kingdom. Scottish lairds names include a description of their lands in the form of a territorial designation, in Scotland, a territorial designation implies the rank of Esquire, thus this is not normally added after the name, Lairds are part of Scotlands landed gentry and—where armigerous —minor nobility. The Peerage is a term used both collectively to refer to the body of peerage titles, and individually to refer to a specific title. All modern British honours, including peerage dignities, are created directly by the British monarch, the Sovereign is considered the fount of honour, and as the fountain and source of all dignities cannot hold a dignity from himself, cannot hold a British peerage. Before the twentieth century, peerages were generally hereditary and, descended in the male line. The eldest son of a Duke, Marquess or Earl almost always one of his fathers subsidiary titles as a courtesy title, for instance. The modern peerage system is a vestige of the custom of English kings in the 12th and 13th centuries in summoning wealthy individuals to form a Parliament. The economic system at the time was manorialism, and the privilege of being summoned to Parliament was related to the amount of land one controlled. In the late 14th century, this began to be granted by decree. Non-hereditary positions began to be created again in 1867 for Law Lords, in 1958, the Life Peerages Act enabled life peers to sit in the House of Lords, and from then on the creation of hereditary peerages rapidly became obsolete, almost ceasing after 1964. This, however, is only a convention and was not observed by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who asked the Queen to create three hereditary peerages. Until changes in the century, only a proportion of those holding Scottish and Irish peerages were entitled by that title to sit in the House of Lords. Until constitutional reforms in 1999, possession of a title in the peerage entitled its holder to a seat in the House of Lords. Since then, only 92 hereditary peers are entitled to sit in the House of Lords, of which 90 are elected by the hereditary peers by ballot and replaced on death. Typically, those due to inherit a peerage—or indeed have done so, in recent times—have been educated at one of the public schools
British nobility
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Lady Margaret Beaufort
British nobility
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George, 2nd Earl of Warrington
British nobility
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Elizabeth de Clare
British nobility
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The Lord Bishop William Smyth
15.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
Countries of the United Kingdom
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