Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. The most common type has the foremast being shorter than the main. While the schooner was gaff-rigged, modern schooners carry a Bermuda rig; the first detailed definition of a schooner, describing the vessel as two-masted vessel with fore and aft gaff-rigged sails appeared in 1769 in William Falconer's Universal Dictionary of the Marine. According to the language scholar Walter William Skeat, the term schooner comes from scoon, while the sch spelling comes from the adoption of the Dutch spelling. Another study suggests that a Dutch expression praising ornate schooner yachts in the 17th century, "een schoone Schip", may have led to the term "schooner" being used by English speakers to describe the early versions of the schooner rig as it evolved in England and America; the Dutch word "schoon" means nice, good looking, sexually arousing, or horny.. A popular legend holds that the first schooner was built by builder Andrew Robinson and launched in Gloucester, Massachusetts where a spectator exclaimed "Oh how she scoons", scoon being similar to scone, a Scots word meaning to skip along the surface of the water.
Robinson replied, "A schooner let her be." The launch is variously described as being in 1713 or 1745. Naval architects such as Howard Chapelle have dismissed this invention story as a "childish fable", but some language scholars feel that the legend may support a Gloucester origin of the word. Other sources state the etymology as uncertain. Although associated with North America, schooners were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century, they were further developed in North America from the early 18th century, came into extensive use in New England. Schooners were popular in trades requiring speed and windward ability, such as slaving, blockade running, offshore fishing. In the Chesapeake Bay area several distinctive schooner types evolved, including the Baltimore clipper and pungy. Schooners were popular among pirates in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, for their speed and agility, they could sail in shallow waters, while being smaller than other ships of the time period, they could still hold enough cannons to intimidate merchant vessels into submission.
Schooners first evolved in the late 17th century from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast and estuaries of the Netherlands. Most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants. Following the arrival of the Dutch Stadtholder William of Orange on the British throne, the British Royal Navy built a royal yacht with a schooner rig in 1695, HMS Royal Transport; this vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest documented schooner. Royal Transport was noted for its speed and ease of handling, mercantile vessels soon adopted the rig in Europe and in European colonies in North America. Schooners were popular with colonial traders and fishermen in North America with the first documented reference to a schooner in the United States appearing in Boston port records in 1716. North American shipbuilders developed a variety of schooner forms for trading and privateering. Essex, was the most significant shipbuilding center for schooners.
By the 1850s, over 50 vessels a year were being launched from 15 shipyards and Essex became recognized worldwide as North America's center for fishing schooner construction. In total, Essex launched over 4,000 schooners, most headed for the Gloucester, fishing industry. Bath, was another notable center, which during much of the 19th century had more than a dozen yards working at a time, from 1781 to 1892 launched 1352 schooners, including the Wyoming. Schooners were popular on both sides of the Atlantic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, long dominating yacht races such as the America's Cup, but gave way in Europe to the cutter. Schooners were used to carry cargo in many different environments, from ocean voyages to coastal runs and on large inland bodies of water, they were popular in North America. In their heyday, during the late 19th century more than 2,000 schooners carried on the Great Lakes. Three-masted "terns" were a favourite rig of Canada's Maritime Provinces; the scow schooner, which used a schooner rig on a flat-bottomed, blunt-ended scow hull, was popular in North America for coastal and river transport.
Schooners were used in North American fishing the Grand Banks fishery. Some Banks fishing schooners such as Bluenose became famous racers. Two of the most famous racing yachts and Atlantic, were rigged as schooners, they were about 152 feet in length. Although a schooner may have several masts, the typical schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig; the principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were gaff rigged, the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area and a low center of effort. A Bermuda rigged schooner has four triangular sails: a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail and a jib forward of the foremast. An advantage of the staysail schooner is that it is handled and reefed by a small crew, as both staysails can be self-tacking; the main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, so does little to prepare the wind for the mainsail, but is effective when close-hauled or when on a beam reach.
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office called the Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for promoting British interests worldwide, it was created in 1968 by merging the Commonwealth Office. The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary"; this is regarded as one of the four most prestigious positions in the Cabinet – the Great Offices of State – alongside those of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. The FCO is managed from day to day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who acts as the Head of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service; this position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015. Safeguarding the UK's national security by countering terrorism and weapons proliferation, working to reduce conflict. Building the UK's prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, promoting sustainable global growth.
Supporting British nationals around the world through modern and efficient consular services. The FCO Ministers are as follows: Eighteenth centuryThe Foreign Office was formed in March 1782 by combining the Southern and Northern Departments of the Secretary of State, each of which covered both foreign and domestic affairs in their parts of the Kingdom; the two departments' foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office. The Home Office is technically the senior. Nineteenth centuryDuring the 19th century, it was not infrequent for the Foreign Office to approach The Times newspaper and ask for continental intelligence, superior to that conveyed by official sources. Examples of journalists who specialized in foreign affairs and were well connected to politicians included: Henry Southern, Valentine Chirol, Harold Nicolson, Robert Bruce Lockhart. Twentieth centuryDuring the First World War, the Arab Bureau was set up within the British Foreign Office as a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department.
During the early cold war an important department was the Information Research Department, set up to counter Soviet propaganda and infiltration. The Foreign Office hired its first woman diplomat, Monica Milne, in 1946; the FCO was formed on 17 October 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office. The Commonwealth Office had been created only in 1966, by the merger of the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office having been formed by the merger of the Dominions Office and the India Office in 1947—with the Dominions Office having been split from the Colonial Office in 1925; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office held responsibility for international development issues between 1970 and 1974, again between 1979 and 1997. From 1997, this became the responsibility of the separate Department for International Development; the National Archives website contains a Government timeline to show the departments responsible for Foreign Affairs from 1945.
When David Miliband took over as Foreign Secretary in June 2007, he set in hand a review of the FCO's strategic priorities. One of the key messages of these discussions was the conclusion that the existing framework of ten international strategic priorities, dating from 2003, was no longer appropriate. Although the framework had been useful in helping the FCO plan its work and allocate its resources, there was agreement that it needed a new framework to drive its work forward; the new strategic framework consists of three core elements: A flexible global network of staff and offices, serving the whole of the UK Government. Three essential services that support the British economy, British nationals abroad and managed migration for Britain; these services are delivered through UK Trade & Investment, consular teams in Britain and overseas, UK Visas and Immigration. Four policy goals: countering terrorism and weapons proliferation and their causes preventing and resolving conflict promoting a low-carbon, high-growth, global economy developing effective international institutions, in particular the United Nations and the European Union.
In August 2005, a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay. The report criticised the FCO's management structure, noting: The Foreign Office could be "slow to act". Delegation is lacking within the management structure. Accountability was poor; the FCO could feasibly cut 1200 jobs. At least £48 million could be saved annually; the Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had implemented the report's recommendations. In 2009, Gordon Brown created the position of Chief Scientific Adviser to the FCO; the first science adviser was David C. Clary. On 25 April 2010, the department apologised after The Sunday Telegraph obtained a "foolish" document calling for the upcoming September visit of Pope Benedict XVI to be marked by the launch of "Benedict-branded" condoms, the opening of an abortion clinic and the blessing of a same-sex marriage.
In 2012, the Foreign Office was criticised by Gerald Steinberg, of the Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor, saying that the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development provided more than £500,000 in funding to Palestinian NGOs which he said "promote political attacks on Israel." In response, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said "we are careful about who and what we fund. The obje
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large minster town in Berkshire, England, of which it is now the county town. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 70 miles east of Bristol, 24 miles south of Oxford, 40 miles west of London, 14 miles north of Basingstoke, 12 miles south-west of Maidenhead and 15 miles east of Newbury as the crow flies; the first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. It was an important trading and ecclesiastical centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, one of the richest monasteries of medieval England with strong royal connections, of which the 12th century abbey gateway and significant ruins remain. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth; the town was affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town.
The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing and seed growing businesses. During that period, the town grew as a manufacturing centre. Today, Reading is a major commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow, it is ranked the UK's top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to factors such as employment, health and skills. Reading is a major regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley, is home to the University of Reading; every year it hosts one of England's biggest music festivals. Sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon. In the 2011 census, the urban area around Reading had an estimated population of 318,014, making it one of the largest towns in the UK without city status.
The Borough of Reading has a population of 163,100. It is represented in Parliament by two members, has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes the town is in the county of Berkshire and has served as its county town since 1867 sharing this status with Abingdon-on-Thames. Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain as a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum. However, the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingum; the name comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English, or less the Celtic Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River. In late 870, an army of Danes set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences; the battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading.
The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their winter quarters in London. After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey. In its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough; the presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey. Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I, buried within the Abbey grounds; as part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands in Reading, along with land at Cholsey. It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot of Reading Abbey, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population; the Abbey was destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged and quartered in front of the Abbey Church.
By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick. Reading played an important role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642; the subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643. The town's cloth trade was badly damaged, the town's economy did not recover until the 20th century. Reading played a significant role during the Revolution of 1688: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign; the 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country.
In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. O
Cutter (boat)
A cutter is a small to medium-sized vessel, depending on its role and definition. It was a smallish single- or double-masted, decked sailcraft designed for speed rather than capacity; as such, it was gaff-rigged, with two or more headsails and a bowsprit of some length, with a mast sometimes set farther back than on a sloop. While a workboat, as used by harbor pilots, the military, privateers, sailing cutters today are most fore-and-aft rigged private yachts. Powered cutters vary in size depending on their function, with small boats for ferrying passengers between larger craft and shore sometimes referred to as cutters, rugged smallish vessels serving the traditional role of delivering harbor pilots, large ocean-going U. S. Coast Guard or UK Border Force ships referred to as cutters by tradition. Open oared cutters were carried aboard 18th century naval vessels and rowed by pairs of men sitting side-by-side on benches. A similar form that evolved among London watermen remains in use today in club racing.
The cutter is one of several types of sailboats. Traditionally the sloop rig was a rig with a single mast located forward of 70% of the length of the sailplan. In this traditional definition a sloop could have multiple jibs on a fixed bowsprit. Cutters had a rig with a single mast more centrally located, which could vary from 50% to 70% of the length of the sailplan, with multiple headsails and a running bowsprit. A mast located aft of 50% would be considered a mast aft rig. Somewhere in the 1950s or 2000s there was a shift in these definitions such that a sloop only flew one headsail and a cutter had multiple headsails and mast position became irrelevant. In this modern idiom, a cutter is a sailing vessel with one mast. Cutters carry a staysail directly in front of the mast, set from the forestay. A traditional vessel would normally have a bowsprit to carry one or more jibs from its end via jibstay on travelers. In modern vessels the jib may be set from a permanent stay fixed to the end of a fixed bowsprit, or directly to the stem fitting of the bow itself.
In these cases, that may be referred to as the forestay, the inner one, which will be less permanent in terms of keeping the mast up, may be called the stays'l stay. A sloop carries only one head sail, called either the foresail or jib.. The cutter rig a gaff rig version where the sails aft the mast were divided between a mainsail below the gaff and a topsail above, was useful for sailing with small crews as the total sail area was divided into smaller individual sails; these could be managed without the need for large crews, winches, or complex tackles, making the cutter suitable for pilot and coast guard duties. For example, a pilot cutter may only have two people on board for its outward trip—the pilot to be delivered to a ship and an assistant who had to sail the cutter back to port single-handed; the cutter sailing rig became so ubiquitous for these tasks that the modern-day motorised vessels now engaged in these duties are known as'cutters'. The open cutter carried aboard naval vessels in the 18th century was rowed by pairs of men sitting side-by-side on benches.
The cutter, with its transom, was broader in proportion compared to the longboat, which had finer lines. The watermen of London used similar boats in the 18th century decorated as depicted in historical prints and pictures of the River Thames in the 17th and 18th centuries; the modern waterman's cutter is based on drawings of these boats. They are 34 feet long with a beam of 4 ft 6 in, they can carry a cox and passengers. The organisers of the Great River Race developed the modern version in the 1980s and now many of the fleet of 24 compete annually in this "Marathon of the River". Watermen's cutters compete annually in the Port of London Challenge, the Port Admirals' Challenge. Cutter races are to be found at various town rowing and skiffing regattas. In addition the cutters perform the role of ceremonial Livery Barges with the canopies and armorial flags flying on special occasions. Cutters have been used for record-breaking attempts and crews have achieved record times for sculling the English Channel in 1996 and for sculling non-stop from London to Paris in 1999.
A pulling cutter was a boat carried by sailing ships for work in sheltered water in which load-carrying capacity was needed, for example in laying a kedge. This operation was the placing of a light anchor at a distance from the ship so as to be able to haul her off in its direction; the oars were double-banked. That is, there were two oarsmen on each thwart. In a seaway, the longboat was preferred to the cutter as the finer lines of the stern of the former meant that it was less to broach to in a following sea. In the Royal Navy the cutters were replaced by 32-foot motor cutters. However, the cutters' traditional work had grown beyond the capacity of a boat as ships became larger. Though a pulling boat, this cutter could be rigged for sailing; some small powered fishing craft are referred to as cutters. Cutters were used by several navies in the 17th and 18th centuries and were the smallest commissioned ships in the fleet; as with cutters in general they were distinguished by their large fore-aft sail plans with multiple headsails carried on a long bowsprit, sometimes as long as half the length of the boat's hull.
The rig gave the cutter excellent maneuverability and they were much better at sailing to windward than a larger square rigged ship. Larger naval cutters had the ability to hoist two or
Bombardment of Algiers (1816)
The Bombardment of Algiers was an attempt by Britain and the Netherlands to end the slavery practices of Omar Agha, the Dey of Algiers. An Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers. There was a continuing campaign by various European navies and the American navy to suppress the piracy against Europeans by the North African Barbary states; the specific aim of this expedition, was to free Christian slaves and to stop the practice of enslaving Europeans. To this end, it was successful, as the Dey of Algiers freed around 3,000 slaves following the bombardment and signed a treaty against the slavery of Europeans. However, this practice did not end until the French conquest of Algeria. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Royal Navy no longer needed the Barbary states as a source of supplies for Gibraltar and their fleet in the Mediterranean Sea; this freed Britain to exert considerable political pressure to force the Barbary states to end their piracy and practice of enslaving European Christians.
In early 1816, Exmouth undertook a diplomatic mission to Tunis and Algiers, backed by a small squadron of ships of the line, to convince the Deys to stop the practice and free the Christian slaves. The Deys of Tunis and Tripoli agreed without any resistance, but the Dey of Algiers was more recalcitrant and the negotiations were stormy. Exmouth believed that he had managed to negotiate a treaty to stop the slavery of Christians and returned to England. However, due to confused orders, Algerian troops massacred 200 Corsican and Sardinian fishermen who were under British protection just after the treaty was signed; this caused outrage in Britain and Europe, Exmouth's negotiations were seen as a failure. As a result, Exmouth was ordered to sea again to punish the Algerians, he gathered a squadron of five ships of the line, one 50-gun spar-decked frigate, four conventional frigates, five bomb ships. HMS Queen Charlotte—100 guns—was his flagship and Rear Admiral David Milne was his second in command aboard HMS Impregnable, 98 guns.
This squadron was considered by many to be an insufficient force, but Exmouth had unobtrusively surveyed the defences of Algiers. He believed that more large ships would have interfered with each other without being able to bring much more fire to bear. In addition to the main fleet, there were four sloops, eight ships' boats armed with Congreve rockets, some transports to carry the rescued slaves; when the British arrived in Gibraltar, a squadron of five Dutch frigates and the corvette Eendragt, led by Vice-Admiral Theodorus Frederik van Capellen, offered to join the expedition. Exmouth decided to assign them to cover the main force from Algerian flanking batteries, as there was insufficient space in the mole for the Dutch frigates; the day before the attack, the frigate Prometheus arrived and its captain W. B. Dashwood attempted to secretly rescue his wife and infant; some of the rescue party was arrested. The attack was described by the U. S. Consul; the plan of attack was for the larger ships to approach in a column.
They were to sail into the zone where the majority of the Algerian guns could not be brought to bear. They were to come to anchor and bombard the batteries and fortifications on the mole to destroy the defences. HMS Leander—50 guns—was to anchor off the mouth of the harbour and bombard the shipping inside the mole. To protect Leander from the shore battery, frigates HMS Severn and Glasgow were to sail inshore and bombard the battery. Troops would storm ashore on the mole with sappers of the Corps of Royal Engineers. Exmouth in Queen Charlotte anchored 80 yd off the mole, facing the Algerian guns. However, a number of the other ships anchored out of position, notably Admiral Milne aboard HMS Impregnable, 400 yards from where he should have been; this error exposed them to fiercer Algerian fire. Some of the other ships anchored in positions closer to the plan; the unfortunate gap created by the misplaced HMS Impregnable was closed by the frigate HMS Granicus and the sloop Heron. In their earlier negotiations, both Exmouth and the Dey of Algiers had stated that they would not fire the first shot.
The Dey's plan was to allow the fleet to anchor and to sortie from the harbour and board the ships with large numbers of men in small boats. But Algerian discipline was less effective and one Algerian gun fired a shot at 15:15. Exmouth began the bombardment; the Algerian flotilla of 40 gunboats made an attempt to board Queen Charlotte while the sailors were aloft setting sail, but twenty-eight of their boats were sunk by broadsides, the remaining ran themselves on shore. After an hour, the cannon on the mole were silenced, Exmouth turned his attention to the shipping in the harbour, destroyed by 19:30. One unmanned Algerine frigate was destroyed after being boarded by the crew of Queen Charlotte's barge, who set it on fire. Three other Algerine frigates and five corvettes were destroyed by the fire of rockets; the burning shipping drifting in the harbour forced some bombarding ships to manoeuvre out of their way. Impregnable was isolated from the other ships and made a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked he
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements; the knights so created were known as "Knights of the Bath". George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order", he did not revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred. The Order consists of the Sovereign, the Great Master, three Classes of members: Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross Knight Commander or Dame Commander Companion Members belong to either the Civil or the Military Division. Prior to 1815, the order had Knight Companion, which no longer exists. Recipients of the Order are now senior military officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the Queen and foreign nationals may be made Honorary Members.
The Order of the Bath is the fourth-most senior of the British Orders of Chivalry, after The Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick. In the Middle Ages, knighthood was conferred with elaborate ceremonies; these involved the knight-to-be taking a bath during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was put to bed to dry. Clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass retired to his bed to sleep until it was daylight, he was brought before the King, who after instructing two senior knights to buckle the spurs to the knight-elect's heels, fastened a belt around his waist struck him on the neck, thus making him a knight. It was this accolade, the essential act in creating a knight, a simpler ceremony developed, conferring knighthood by striking or touching the knight-to-be on the shoulder with a sword, or "dubbing" him, as is still done today.
In the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families. From the coronation of Henry IV in 1399 the full ceremonies were restricted to major royal occasions such as coronations, investitures of the Prince of Wales or Royal dukes, royal weddings, the knights so created became known as Knights of the Bath. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the simpler form of ceremony; the last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661. From at least 1625, from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria juncta in uno, wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval; these were both subsequently adopted by the Order of the Bath. Their symbolism however is not clear. The'three joined in one' may be a reference to the kingdoms of England and either France or Ireland, which were held by English and British monarchs; this would correspond to the three crowns in the badge.
Another explanation of the motto is. Nicolas quotes a source who claims that prior to James I the motto was Tria numina juncta in uno, but from the reign of James I the word numina was dropped and the motto understood to mean Tria juncta in uno; the prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, England's highest heraldic officer. Sir Anthony Wagner, a recent holder of the office of Garter, wrote of Anstis's motivations: It was Martin Leake's opinion that the trouble and opposition Anstis met with in establishing himself as Garter so embittered him against the heralds that when at last in 1718 he succeeded, he made it his prime object to aggrandise himself and his office at their expense, it is clear at least that he set out to make himself indispensable to the Earl Marshal, not hard, their political principles being congruous and their friendship established, but to Sir Robert Walpole and the Whig ministry, which can by no means have been easy, considering his known attachment to the Pretender and the circumstances under which he came into office...
The main object of Anstis's next move, the revival or institution of the Order of the Bath was that which it in fact secured, of ingratiating him with the all-powerful Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. The use of honours in the early eighteenth century differed from the modern honours system in which hundreds, if not thousands, of people each year receive honours on the basis of deserving accomplishments; the only honours available at that time were hereditary peerages and baronetcies and the Order of the Garter, none of which were awarded in large numbers The political environment was significantly different from today: The Sovereign still exercised a power to be reckoned with in the eighteenth century. The Court remained the centre of the political w
Governor of Hong Kong
The Governor of Hong Kong was the representative in Hong Kong of the British Crown from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong; the governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Royal Instructions. Upon the end of British rule and the transfer of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997, most of the civil functions of this office went to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, military functions went to the Commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison. Authorities and duties of the governor were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions in 1843; the governor, appointed by the British monarch, exercised the executive branch of the Government of Hong Kong throughout British sovereignty and, with the exception of a brief experiment after World War II, no serious attempt was made to introduce representative government, until the final years of British rule.
The Governor of Hong Kong chaired the colonial cabinet, the Executive Council, until 1993, was the President of the Legislative Council. The governor appointed most, if not all, of the members of the colony's legislature, an advisory body until the first indirect election to LegCo was held in 1985. Both Councils were dominated by British expatriates; this was not given way to local Hong Kong Chinese appointees until only 15 years before Hong Kong was going to be returned to China. The Governors of Hong Kong were either professional diplomats or senior colonial officials, except for the last governor, Chris Patten, a career politician. In December 1996, the governor's salary was HK$3,036,000 per annum, tax-free, it was fixed at 125% of the Chief Secretary's salary. In the absence of the governor, the chief secretary became the acting governor of the colony; the chief secretaries were drawn from the Colonial Office or British military. One Royal Navy Vice Admiral served as administrator after World War II.
Four Japanese military officers served as administrators during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II. The Governor of Hong Kong used a Daimler DS420 for day to day transport and a Rolls-Royce Phantom V landaulette for ceremonial occasions. Both vehicles were removed by the Royal Navy following the handover to China on 1 July 1997; the first governor, Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Bt. resided in the Former French Mission Building from 1843 to 1846. It was used as the home of the Provisional Government after Japanese surrender from 1945 to 1946; the building now houses the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. His successor, Sir John Davis, 1st Bt. lived there before moving to Caine Road. Since the 4th governor, Sir John Bowring, the governors resided at Government House, excluding the period from 1941 to 1946. From 1941 to 1945 the Commandant of Japanese Forces as Military Governor of Hong Kong occupied Flagstaff House as their residence; the residence was returned to the Commander of British Forces following the end of World War II.
Charles Elliot, first administrator Sir Henry Pottinger, first governor and first Irishman to serve in the role Sir John Francis Davis, first Sinologist to serve as governor Sir John Bowring, first Puritan to serve as governor Sir John Pope Hennessy, first Irish Catholic to serve as governor Sir Matthew Nathan, first Jew to serve as governor Sir Francis H. May, first police chief to serve as governor and first governor being to suffer an assassination attempt Sir Cecil Clementi, first Indian-born and Cantonese-speaking governor Sir Mark Young, first prisoner of war to serve as governor Takashi Sakai, first Japanese administrator to serve as governor Cecil Harcourt, first British military administrator to serve as governor Sir Murray MacLehose, first non-colonial officer to serve as governor.
Media related to Charles Elliot at Wikimedia Commons
