1.
Order of the Companions of Honour
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The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. Founded on the date as the Order of the British Empire. The order consists of the Sovereign plus no more than 65 members, additionally, foreigners from outside the realms may be added as honorary members. Membership confers no title or precedence, but those inducted into the order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH. Appointments can be made on the advice of Commonwealth realm prime ministers, for Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom,7 for Australia,2 for New Zealand, the quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding 2 places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the 9 for the other countries to 7. While able to nominate candidates to the Order, New Zealand, as of 2016 those countries have nominated only politicians who have served as Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. Men wear the badge on a ribbon and women on a bow at the left shoulder. Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II List of Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour List of honorary British Knights List of people who have declined a British honour
2.
Member of the Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
3.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé
4.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
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The Royal Society of Literature is a learned society. It was founded in 1820 by King George IV to reward literary merit, the societys first president was Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St Davids. Past fellows include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, J. R. R. Tolkien, yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Koestler, Chinua Achebe, Robert Ardrey, and P. J. Kavanagh. Present Fellows include Margaret Atwood, David Hare, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel, Paul Muldoon, Zadie Smith, Nadeem Aslam, Sarah Waters and J. K. Rowling. A newly created fellow inscribes his or her name on the official roll using either Byrons pen or T. S. Eliots fountain pen. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for short stories, from time to time it confers the honour and title of Companion of Literature to writers of particular note. Additionally the RSL can bestow its award of the Benson Medal for lifetime service in the field of literature, the RSL runs a membership scheme and offers a varied programme of events to members and the general public. The RSL also runs an outreach programme in collaboration with the literacy charity First Story. The society is a tenant at Londons Somerset House. The RSL administers two annual prizes, two awards, and two honours, through its prize programmes, the RSL supports new and established contemporary writers. The RSL Brookleaze Grants – a total of £5,000 is awarded annually to novelists, playwrights, poets or short story writers who need time away from their lives to write. The RSL Encore Awards - £10,000 for best second novel of the year, the RSL took over the administration of this award in 2016. The RSL Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction – three annual awards, one of £10,000 and two of £5,000, to authors engaged on their first commissioned works of non-fiction. The RSL Ondaatje Prize – an annual award of £10,000 for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Pritchett Memorial Prize – an annual prize of £1,000 for the best unpublished short story of the year, the Benson Medal – awarded to those who have done sustained and outstanding service to literature. Companion of Literature – the highest honour that the Society can bestow upon a writer, the Council of the Royal Society of Literature is central to the election of new fellows, and directs the RSLs activities through its monthly meetings. They include most of the best novelists, short-story writers, poets, playwrights, biographers, historians, travel writers, literary critics, new fellows of the Royal Society of Literature are elected by its current fellows. To be nominated for fellowship, a writer must have published two works of merit, and nominations must be seconded by an RSL fellow
5.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
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The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party is a senior politician in the British Labour Party. The post is held by Tom Watson, who was elected as deputy on 12 September 2015. Unlike other political party leaders, the Labour leader does not have the power to appoint or dismiss his or her deputy, the post is instead elected using the partys electoral college system, it was elected by Labour MPs before 1981. Recently, the office of Deputy Prime Minister has been revived, the previous Labour deputy leader, John Prescott, held this post from 1997 to 2007. However, the deputy leader is essentially a party official and there is no link between the two roles. The former Labour British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced on his election as Labour leader that the newly elected deputy leader, Harriet Harman. Brown subsequently appointed her Leader of the House of Commons in his first cabinet, in the event of a vacancy in the office of leader when the Labour Party is in opposition, the deputy leader automatically becomes temporary leader of the Party until a new leader is elected. To date, the only Deputy Leaders who have gone on to become the leader of the Labour Party are Clement Attlee. Margaret Beckett briefly served as Labour leader following the death of John Smith in 1994. Harriet Harman was leader after Gordon Brown resigned in 2010 and after Ed Miliband resigned in 2015, conversely, John Robert Clynes served as leader prior to becoming Deputy Leader
6.
Michael Foot
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Michael Mackintosh Foot PC FRSL was a British Labour Party politician and man of letters. Foot began his career as a journalist, becoming editor of Tribune on several occasions, and he co-wrote the classic polemic against appeasement of Hitler, Guilty Men, under a pseudonym. Foot became a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and served again from 1960 until 1992 and he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Employment under Harold Wilson in 1974, and he later served as Leader of the House of Commons under James Callaghan. He was also Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under Callaghan from 1976 to 1980, Foot was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. His strongly left-wing political positions and criticisms of vacillating leadership made him an unpopular leader, not particularly telegenic, he was also nicknamed Worzel Gummidge for his rumpled appearance. A right-wing faction of the party broke away to form the Social Democratic Party, among the books he authored are Guilty Men, a biography of Jonathan Swift and a biography of Aneurin Bevan. Foot was born in Lipson Terrace, Plymouth, Devon, the fifth of seven children of Isaac Foot and Eva, Isaac Foot was a solicitor and founder of the Plymouth law firm Foot and Bowden. Isaac Foot was an member of the Liberal Party and was Liberal Member of Parliament for Bodmin in Cornwall from 1922–24 and again from 1929–35. He was the uncle of campaigning journalist Paul Foot and charity worker Oliver Foot, Foot was educated at Plymouth College Preparatory School, Forres School in Swanage, and Leighton Park School in Reading. When he left Forres School, the headmaster sent a letter to his father in which he said “he has been the boy in the school in every way”. He then went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Wadham College, Foot was the President of the Oxford Union. He also took part in the ESU USA Tour, on graduating with a second-class degree in 1934, he took a job as a shipping clerk in Birkenhead. Foot was profoundly influenced by the poverty and unemployment that he witnessed in Liverpool, a Liberal up to this time, Foot was converted to socialism by Oxford University Labour Club president David Lewis, a Canadian Rhodes scholar, and others. I knew him when I was a Liberal played a part in converting me to socialism, Foot joined the Labour Party and first stood for parliament at the age of 22 in the 1935 general election, when he contested Monmouth. During this election Foot criticised the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, in his election address Foot contended that the armaments race in Europe must be stopped now. Foot also supported unilateral disarmament, after multilateral disarmament talks at Geneva had broken down in 1933, the campaigns members were Stafford Crippss Socialist League, the Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain. In a 1955 interview, Foot ideologically identified as a libertarian socialist, on the recommendation of Aneurin Bevan, Foot was soon hired by Lord Beaverbrook to work as a writer on his Evening Standard. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Foot volunteered for military service and it was suggested in 2011 that he became a member of the secret Auxiliary Units
7.
Roy Hattersley
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Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, PC, FRSL is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for 33 years from 1964 to 1997 and he served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992. Hattersley was born on 28 December 1932 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Enid Brackenbury and Frederick Hattersley and his mother was a city councillor, and later served as Lord Mayor of Sheffield. Hattersley was a socialist and Labour supporter from his youth, electioneering at the age of 12 for his local MP and city councillors and he won a scholarship to Sheffield City Grammar School and went from there to study at the University of Hull. Having been accepted to read English at the University of Leeds, Hattersley became chairman of the new club and later treasurer, and he went on to chair the National Association of Labour Student Organisations. He also joined the executive of the IUSY, after graduating Hattersley worked briefly for a Sheffield steelworks and then for two years with the Workers Educational Association. He married his first wife Molly, who became a headteacher, in 1956 he was elected to the City Council as Labour representative for Crookesmoor and was, very briefly, a JP. On the Council he spent time as chairman of the Public Works Committee and his aim became a Westminster seat, and he was eventually selected for Labour to stand for election in the Sutton Coldfield constituency but lost to the Conservative Geoffrey Lloyd in 1959. He kept hunting for prospective candidacies, applying for twenty-five seats over three years, in 1963 he was chosen as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the multi-racial Birmingham Sparkbrook constituency and facing a Conservative majority of just under 900. On 16 October 1964 he was elected by a majority of 1,254 votes, at first he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Herbison, the Minister for Pensions. His maiden speech was on a housing subsidies bill, still a Gaitskellite, he also joined the 1963 Club. He also wrote his first Endpiece column for The Spectator, despite the support of Roy Jenkins and Tony Crosland he did not gain a ministerial position until 1967, joining Ray Gunter at the Ministry of Labour. He was reportedly disliked by Prime Minister Harold Wilson as a Jenkinsite, the following year he was promoted to Under Secretary in the same ministry, now led by Barbara Castle, and become closely involved in implementing the unpopular Prices and Incomes Act 1966. In 1969 after the fiasco over In Place of Strife he was promoted to deputy to Denis Healey, one of his first jobs, while Healey was hospitalised, was to sign the Army Board Order – putting troops into Northern Ireland. The Labour defeat of 1970 ended six years of Labour government, Hattersley was to hold his seat – often increasing his majority – but for the next twenty-six years as MP he was to spend twenty one in Opposition. He was appointed Deputy Foreign Affairs Spokesman, again under Healey and he also took a Visiting Fellowship to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. During this time he became an enthusiastic supporter of the Common Market. For standing by the party Hattersley was appointed Shadow Defence Secretary 1972 to 1973, in the Wilson government of 1974 he was appointed the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and in the 1975 New Year Honours, he was sworn of the Privy Council
8.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore, the last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the audit, date from 1129–30 under King Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, the Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Philip Hammond and he is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can. The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits, the amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a personal power base in the party. One part of the Chancellors key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget, as of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a mini-Budget, britains tax year has retained the old Julian end of year,24 March /5 April. From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report, the Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997,2001,2002,2003,2006,2007,2008,2012 and 2016 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called external members. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a period in extreme circumstances. This power has never officially used. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a team of four junior ministers
9.
Harold Wilson
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James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC, FRS, FSS was a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Wilson narrowly won the 1964 election, going on to win an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilsons first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, in 1969 Wilson sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 general election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 general election resulted in a hung parliament. A period of crisis was now beginning to hit most Western countries. He took little action to pursue the Labour Party constitutions stated dedication to such nationalisation, Labour Party historians see his years in office as lost opportunities for major reforms. However, in keeping with the mood of the 1960s his government sponsored liberal changes in a number of social areas and his stated ambition of substantially improving Britains long-term economic performance remained largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second government 1974–76 and accomplished little as the split over Europe. Wilson was born at 4 Warneford Road, Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England and he came from a political family, his father James Herbert Wilson was a works chemist who had been active in the Liberal Party and then joined the Labour Party. His mother Ethel was a schoolteacher before her marriage, and her brother, when Wilson was eight, he visited London and a later-to-be-famous photograph was taken of him standing on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He was a supporter of his football club, Huddersfield Town. Wilson won a scholarship to attend Royds Hall Grammar School, his grammar school in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. In December 1930, his father, working as an industrial chemist, was made redundant and he moved to Spital on the Wirral, Cheshire in order to do so. Wilson was educated in the Sixth Form at the Wirral Grammar School for Boys, at Oxford, Wilson was moderately active in politics as a member of the Liberal Party but was strongly influenced by G. D. H. Cole. He graduated in PPE with an outstanding first class Bachelor of Arts degree, with alphas on every paper in the examinations. Biographer Roy Jenkins says, Academically his results put him among prime ministers in the category of Peel, Gladstone, Asquith, and no one else. What he was superb at was the assimilation of knowledge, combined with an ability to keep it ordered in his mind. He continued in academia, becoming one of the youngest Oxford dons of the century at the age of 21 and he was a lecturer in Economic History at New College from 1937, and a Research Fellow at University College
10.
James Callaghan
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As Prime Minister, he had some successes, but was chiefly remembered for the Winter of Discontent in 1978–79. During a very cold winter, his battle with trade unions led to strikes that seriously inconvenienced the public. On 18 November 1967, the government devalued the pound sterling and he sent the British Army to support the police in Northern Ireland, after a request from the Northern Ireland Government. After Labour lost the 1970 election, Callaghan played a key role in the Shadow Cabinet, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, Callaghan defeated five other candidates to be elected as his replacement. This was followed by a defeat in the general election. Callaghan was born at 38 Funtington Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, England and he was named after his father, also James Callaghan, who was a Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer. He had a sister, Dorothy Gertrude Callaghan. He attended Portsmouth Northern Secondary School and he gained the Senior Oxford Certificate in 1929, but could not afford entrance to university and instead sat the civil service Entrance Exam. At the age of 17, Callaghan left to work as a clerk for the Inland Revenue, while at the Inland Revenue offices in Kent, in 1931, he joined the Maidstone branch of the Labour Party. In 1934, he was transferred to Inland Revenue offices in London, laski encouraged him to stand for Parliament, although later on he requested Callaghan several times to study and lecture at the LSE. Callaghan joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as an Ordinary Seaman in World War II from 1942 where he served in the East Indies Fleet and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in April 1944. While training for his promotion, his examination revealed that he was suffering from tuberculosis so he was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport near Portsmouth. After he recovered, he was discharged and assigned to duties with the Admiralty in Whitehall and he was assigned to the Japanese section and wrote a service manual for the Royal Navy The Enemy Japan. Callaghan would become the last British prime minister to be an armed forces veteran, whilst on leave, Callaghan was selected as a Parliamentary candidate for Cardiff South. He narrowly won the party ballot with twelve votes against the next highest candidate George Thomas with eleven. During 1945 he was assigned to the East Indies Fleet and served on HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Indian Ocean, after VE Day, along with other prospective candidates he returned to the United Kingdom to stand in the general election. Labour won a victory on 26 July 1945 bringing Clement Attlee to power. Callaghan won his Cardiff South seat in the 1945 UK general election and he defeated the sitting Conservative incumbent candidate, Sir Arthur Evans, by 17,489 votes to 11,545
11.
Anthony Barber
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Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber of Wentbridge TD PC DL was a British Conservative politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He studied at Oxford and was elected as MP for Doncaster in 1950, Barber held various posts in government under Harold Macmillan, including Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister of Health. After losing his seat in 1964, he won the 1965 by-election in Altrincham and Sale, during his term the economy suffered due to stagflation and industrial unrest, including a miners strike which led to the Three-Day Week. In 1972 he delivered a budget which was designed to return the Conservatives to power in an expected in 1974 or 1975. This budget led to a known as The Barber Boom. The measures in the led to high inflation and wage demands from public sector workers. He was forced to introduce anti-inflation measures, along with a Prices Commission, after the Conservatives lost the first election in 1974, he did not stand in the second election of that year. Barber became Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank until 1987 and died in 2005, Barber was the third son of John Barber and his Danish wife, Musse. His birth was registered in Sculcoates, a suburb of Kingston upon Hull, barbers unusual middle names arose from his mother, who contributed the Lysberg, and French grandmother, who contributed the Perrinott. His father was secretary-director of a Doncaster confectionery works and he had two brothers, Noel, who became a well-known journalist and novelist, and Kenneth, who became secretary of Midland Bank. Barber was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Retford and he became an articled clerk, but joined the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry shortly before the Second World War started. He was commissioned into the Territorial Army Royal Artillery in 1939 and he was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, but later he became a pilot in the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit of the RAF. He ran out of fuel on a mission on 25 January 1942 and ditched near Mont St Jean. He was Mentioned in Dispatches for helping escapes from the camp at Stalag Luft III. His PoW experiences were recalled by his friend and fellow RAF pilot PoW Thomas D, Barber is a prominent figure throughout Calnans book, It was natural that Charles Hall, Tony Barber and I should plot escape together. We had known one another at Benson, before being shot down, Barber also wrote a brief foreword to this volume, What has struck me most forcibly is how, after more than twenty years, he has recounted our adventures with such accuracy. He has managed to make a reality, once again, of the hopes and fears, the depression, while still a prisoner, Barber took a law degree with first-class honours through the International Red Cross. He then practised as a barrister from 1948, and specialised in taxation, from 1967 to 1970 he was chairman of Redfearn National Glass, with which his wife Jeans family was connected
12.
Geoffrey Howe
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Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, PC, QC, known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British Conservative politician. His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered by the British press to have precipitated Thatchers own resignation three weeks later, Geoffrey Howe was born in 1926 at Port Talbot, Wales, to Benjamin Edward Howe, a solicitor and coroner, and Eliza Florence Howe. He was to himself as a quarter Scottish, a quarter Cornish. Howe was not sporty, joining instead the debating society and it was during wartime, so he ran the Home Guard at the school, and set a National Savings group. He was also a photographer, and film buff. A gifted classicist, Howe was offered an exhibition to Trinity Hall in 1945 and he did a six months course in maths and physics. He was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1952, in August 1953 Geoffrey Howe married Elspeth, daughter of P. Morton Shand. They had a son and two daughters, at first the valleys practice struggled to pay, surviving thanks to £1,200 gift from his father and a judicious marriage. He served on the Council of the Bar from 1957 to 1962, a high-earning barrister, he was made a QC in 1965. Choosing instead a career in politics, Howe stood as the Conservative Party candidate in Aberavon at the 1955 and 1959 general elections, losing in a very safe Labour Party seat. He became chairman of the Bow Group, an internal Conservative think tank of young modernisers in the 1960s, in 1958, he co-authored the report A Giants Strength published by the Inns of Court Conservative Association. The report argued that the unions had become too powerful and that their legal privileges ought to be curtailed, Ian Macleod discouraged the authors from publicising the report. Howe represented Bebington in the House of Commons from 1964 to 1966 with a reduced majority. He became a Chairman of the committee on social services, being quickly recognised for promotion to the front bench, as HM Opposition spokesman on welfare. He was defeated in 1966 general election and he sat as deputy Chairman of Glamorgan Quarter Sessions. More politically significant was work on the Latey Committee tasked with recommending a reduction in the voting age, in 1969 he investigated Ely Mental Hospital, Cardiff for alleged abuse. He returned to parliament as MP for Reigate from 1970 to 1974, in 1970 he was knighted and appointed Solicitor General in Edward Heaths government. He was responsible for the Industrial Relations Act that caused immediate retaliatory union strikes
13.
Secretary of State for Defence
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Her Majestys Principal Secretary of State for Defence is an official within Her Majestys Government and head of the Ministry of Defence. The office is a British Cabinet level position, the post was created in 1964 as successor to the posts of Minister for Coordination of Defence and Minister of Defence. The position of Minister for Co-ordination of Defence was a British Cabinet-level position established in 1936 to oversee, the position was established by Prime Minister Baldwin in response to criticism that Britains armed forces were understrength compared to those of Nazi Germany. Despite this, Baldwins choice of the Attorney General Sir Thomas Inskip provoked widespread astonishment, a famous comment made in response to Inskips appointment was This is the most cynical appointment since Caligula made his horse a consul. In 1939 Inskip was succeeded by First Sea Lord Lord Chatfield, in April 1940 the position was formally wound up and the functions transferred to other Ministers. Colour key, Conservative none The post of Minister of Defence was responsible for co-ordination of defence, the post was a Cabinet level post and generally ranked above the three service ministers, some of whom, however, continued to also serve in Cabinet. On his appointment as Prime Minister in May 1940, Winston Churchill created for himself the new post of Minister of Defence, the post was created in response to previous criticism that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of World War II. Colour key, Conservative Labour Labour Co-op none The post of Secretary of State for Defence was created on 1 April 1964
14.
Peter Thorneycroft
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George Edward Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft CH PC, was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958, born in Dunston, Staffordshire, Thorneycroft was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a lieutenant on 29 August 1929. In 1933, he was called to the bar for the Inner Temple and he entered Parliament in the Stafford by-election,1938, for the borough of Stafford. He was re-commissioned into the Royal Artillery in his previous rank on 30 August 1939, during World War II, he served with the Royal Artillery and the general staff. Along with other members of the Tory Reform Committee, Thorneycroft pressed his party to support the Beveridge Report and he served in the Conservative caretaker Government 1945 as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of War Transport. In the 1945 general election, he lost his seat to his Labour opponent, Stephen Swingler, throughout the late 1940s Thorneycroft worked assiduously to refurbish the Conservative Party after its disastrous defeat in the 1945 general election. He was instrumental in persuading the government in 1954 to abandon the support for protectionism and accept the General Agreement on Tariffs. He resigned in 1958, along with two junior Treasury Ministers, Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch, because of increased government expenditure, Macmillan, himself a former chancellor, made a famous and much-quoted remark that the resignations were merely little local difficulties. In retrospect, Thorneycroft questioned the wisdom of his resignation, saying that we made our stand too early. Thorneycroft returned to the Cabinet in 1960, when he was appointed Minister of Aviation by Macmillan, in 1964 he was promoted to be Secretary of State for Defence. Thorneycroft lost his seat at the 1966 general election, and was raised to the peerage as a peer as Baron Thorneycroft. Thorneycroft was a supporter of Margaret Thatchers monetarist policies. He held the position until 1981 and he was notable as an amateur watercolourist and held exhibitions. Winston Churchill, when told of Thorneycrofts interest, had said and he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1980 New Year Honours. His grandfather was the Victorian Colonel Thomas Thorneycroft a Wolverhampton industrialist, eccentric, landowner and well-known Conservative, Colonel Thorneycroft owned various houses in Staffordshire and Shropshire including Tettenhall Towers and Tong Castle. His great-grandfather was George Benjamin Thorneycroft, an ironfounder, JP, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire and his grandfathers cousin was John Isaac Thorneycroft who founded Vosper Thorneycroft. A second cousin was Siegfried Sassoon, a third cousin was Willie Whitelaw
15.
Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington
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He is the last surviving member of the 1951–55 government of Winston Churchill, the Eden government, and the Macmillan government and of the cabinets of Alec Douglas-Home and Edward Heath. Carrington was Foreign Secretary in 1982 when the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina and he took full responsibility for the failure of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to foresee this and resigned. As Secretary General of NATO, he helped prevent a war between Greece and Turkey in 1987, Carrington is the only son of the 5th Baron Carrington by his wife, the Hon. Sybil Marion Colville, a daughter of Charles Colville, 2nd Viscount Colville of Culross. He is a great-nephew of the Liberal statesman Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, and also of politician and courtier the Hon. He was educated at two independent schools, Sandroyd School from 1928–1932, at the based in the town of Cobham, Surrey. Following Sandhurst, Carrington was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as a lieutenant on 26 January 1939. After the war, Carrington remained in the army until 1949, in 1938, Carrington succeeded his father as 6th Baron Carrington. Although he became eligible to take his seat in the House of Lords on his 21st birthday in 1940, he was on service at the time. The latter year Carrington was appointed High Commissioner to Australia, a post he held until October 1959 and he was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire on 2 July 1951. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1959, from 1964 to 1970 he was Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. Carrington had become Shadow Defence Secretary in 1968 following the dismissal of Enoch Powell from the following his controversial Rivers of Blood speech on immigration. He also served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1972 to 1974, Carrington was again Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords from 1974 to 1979. In 1979 he was made Foreign Secretary and Minister for Overseas Development as part of the first Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher spoke very highly of Carrington, stating Peter had great panache and the ability to identify immediately the points in any argument. We had disagreements, but there were never any hard feelings and he would later express his support for Mugabe over Smith. He was Foreign Secretary in 1982 when the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina and he took full responsibility for the complacency and failures in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to foresee this development and resigned. Lord Carrington then served as Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988 and he was also appointed Chancellor of the Order of St Michael and St George on 1 August 1984, serving until June 1994. In 1991, he presided over diplomatic talks about the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and attempted to pass a plan that would end the wars and he also chaired the Bilderberg conferences for several years in the late 1990s, being succeeded in 1999 by Étienne Davignon
16.
Leeds East (UK Parliament constituency)
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Leeds East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Richard Burgon of the Labour Party. The most notable of past MPs was Denis Healey who represented the constituency from 1955 to 1992, Healey was a very senior Labour politician, and was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979. 1885-1918, The Municipal Borough of Leeds ward of East, and parts of the wards of Central, North, 1955-1974, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Burmantofts, Crossgates, Halton, Harehills, and Osmondthorpe. 1974-1983, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Gipton, Halton, Osmondthorpe, Seacroft, 1983-2010, The City of Leeds wards of Burmantofts, Halton, Harehills, and Seacroft. 2010–present, The City of Leeds wards of Crossgates and Whinmoor, Gipton and Harehills, Killingbeck and Seacroft, the constituency was created in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and was first used in the general election of that year. Leeds had previously represented by two MPs and three MPs. From 1885 it was represented by five constituencies, Leeds Central, Leeds East, Leeds North, Leeds South. The constituencies of Morley, Otley and Pudsey were also created in 1885, the constituency was abolished in 1918. After the 1918 general election, Leeds was represented by Leeds Central, Leeds North, Leeds North-East, Leeds South, Leeds South-East, the constituency was recreated in 1955. After the 1955 general election Leeds was represented by Leeds East, Leeds North East, Leeds North West, Leeds South, there were also constituencies of Batley and Morley and Pudsey and Otley. Labours Denis Healey held the seat for 37 years and was Chancellor of the Exchequer during part of this time, list of Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire Notes References
17.
Leeds South East (UK Parliament constituency)
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Leeds South East was a borough constituency in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the constituency was created for the 1918 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election. 1918-1950, The County Borough of Leeds wards of East and East Hunslet, 1950-1955, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Crossgates and Temple Newsam, East Hunslet, and Osmondthorpe. 1955-1974, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Blenheim, City, East Hunslet, Richmond Hill, 1974-1983, The County Borough of Leeds wards of Burley, Burmantofts, City, Richmond Hill, and Woodhouse. General Election 1939/40 Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1940
18.
Neil Kinnock
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Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, PC is a British Labour Party politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and he was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 until 1992, making him the longest-serving Leader of the Opposition in British political history. Three years later he became a European Commissioner and he went on to become the Vice-President of the European Commission under Romano Prodi from 1999 to 2004. Until the summer of 2009, he was also the Chairman of the British Council, Kinnock, an only child, was born in Tredegar, Wales. His father Gordon Herbert Kinnock was a coal miner who suffered from dermatitis and later worked as a labourer. Gordon died of an attack in November 1971 aged 64. In 1953, at eleven years old, Kinnock began his education at Lewis School, Pengam. He went on to the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, obtaining a degree in industrial relations, the following year, Kinnock obtained a postgraduate diploma in education. Between August 1966 and May 1970, he worked as a tutor for a Workers Educational Association and he has been married to Glenys Kinnock since 1967. They have two children – son Stephen Kinnock, and daughter Rachel Kinnock, in June 1969, he won the Labour Party nomination for Bedwellty in South Wales, which became Islwyn in the 1983 general election. He was elected on 18 June 1970, and became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in October 1978. On his becoming an MP for the first time, his father said Remember Neil, MP stands not just for Member of Parliament, the Labour government policy at that time was in favour of devolution for Wales, but the wider party was split. Calling himself a unionist, Kinnock was one of six south Wales Labour MPs to campaign against devolution, in the Wales referendum,1979, the proposal for devolution was rejected. Following Labours defeat in the 1979 general election, James Callaghan appointed Neil Kinnock to the Shadow Cabinet as Education spokesman. His ambition was noted by other MPs, and David Owens opposition to the changes to the college was thought to be motivated by the realisation that they would favour Kinnocks succession. He remained as Education spokesman following the resignation of Callaghan as party leader, after Labours landslide defeat in June 1983, Michael Foot resigned as leader aged seventy, and from the outset it was expected that the much younger Kinnock would succeed him. He was finally elected as Labour Party leader on 2 October 1983, with 71% of the vote and his first period as party leader – between the 1983 and 1987 elections – was dominated by his struggle with the hard-left Militant tendency, then still strong in the party. Kinnock was determined to move the political standing to a centrist position
19.
Peter Shore
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His idiosyncratic left-wing nationalism led to comparison with the French politician Jean-Pierre Chevènement. Born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Shore was the son of a Merchant Navy captain and was brought up in a middle-class environment, during the later stages of World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, spending most of his time in India. He had specialised in political economy during part of his degree, Shore was only briefly a follower of Hugh Gaitskell, his adherence to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from 1958 led to a breach in relations for several years. He became close to Harold Wilson after Wilson had been elected as party leader, at the last minute, he was selected to fight the safe seat of Stepney in the election, which he easily won. Shore was responsible for drafting the 1966 and 1970 election manifestos, Shores job as Wilsons PPS kept them in close contact and in August 1967, Shore became a member of the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. This Department had been created by Wilson to undertake long-term planning of the economy, Shore declared immediately his belief in state-controlled economic planning, together with the regulation of prices and wages. Early in 1968, the responsibility for prices and incomes was transferred to another department, the Treasury had never approved of the creation of the Department for Economic Affairs and began reasserting its influence, depriving it of any significant power. The Department was wound up in October 1969, at the same time, Shore sided with those in cabinet who were opposed to Barbara Castles White Paper, In Place of Strife. In a conversation with Richard Crossman at the time, Wilson was frustrated with Shore, Shore was retained in the Cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio and Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. He played a key part, behind the scenes, in planning the Labour Partys unsuccessful 1970 general election campaign, in opposition, Shore was appointed as spokesman on Europe, taking the lead in opposing Edward Heath application to join the European Economic Community. Shore had already convinced that membership of the EEC would be a disaster because it would stop the British government from taking necessary economic action. However, due to organisation by pro-EEC Labour backbenchers, Heath was able to steer his policy successfully through Parliament, when Wilson returned to government in 1974, Shore was appointed as Secretary of State for Trade. Shore participated in the discussions without believing that any new terms would be acceptable, the results of the 1975 Referendum, giving a two-to-one majority in favour of remaining a member of the EEC, damaged Shore along with the other dissenting ministers. This move was a promotion but involved him in political controversy. He called on authorities to cut spending and waste. Shore also launched a campaign to revitalise the inner cities of Britain, Shore became a fervent advocate of the British nuclear deterrent for the last three decades of his life, but in 1958 he had been an active member of CND. By the mid-1970s, while continuing to condemn American foreign policy in Vietnam and Chile, he had more supportive of NATO. When the Labour Party went into opposition in 1979, Shore was made Shadow Foreign Secretary and he was persuaded to stand as a candidate in the election of a new party leader in November 1980 by Michael Foot who thought he was the best-placed soft-left candidate to defeat Denis Healey
20.
Gerald Kaufman
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Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until his death in 2017, first for Manchester Ardwick and then for Manchester Gorton. He was a government minister in the 1970s and a member of the Shadow Cabinet in the 1980s, knighted in 2004, he became Father of the House in 2015 and was the oldest sitting MP of the UK Parliament at the time of his death. He was known for his forthright views, Kaufman was a critic of the state of Israel. He voted against the Labour Party whip on several occasions, Kaufman was born in Leeds, the youngest of seven children of Louis and Jane Kaufman. His parents were both Polish Jews who moved to England before World War I and he was educated at Leeds Grammar School, and graduated with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Oxford. During his time there, he was Secretary of the University Labour Club and he was assistant general secretary of the Fabian Society, a leader writer on the Daily Mirror and a journalist on the New Statesman. He was Parliamentary Press Liaison Officer for the Labour Party and eventually became a member of Prime Minister Harold Wilsons informal kitchen cabinet, in the 1955 general election Kaufman had unsuccessfully contested the Conservative seat of Bromley, and in the 1959 general election, Gillingham. He appeared as a guest on its successor, Not So Much a Programme and he remained MP for Gorton until his death. He was a junior minister throughout Labours time in power from 1974 to 1979, first in the Department for the Environment under Anthony Crosland and he was made a member of the Privy Council in 1978. After his re-election to the Commons in 2015, just before his 85th birthday, in opposition, Kaufman was the Shadow Environment Secretary, Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Foreign Secretary. He dubbed the Labour Partys left-wing 1983 election manifesto the longest suicide note in history, in 1992 he went to the back benches and became Chair of what was then the National Heritage Select Committee. In 1997, Kaufman criticised the then Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House Mary Allen over alleged financial misconduct, which ultimately contributed to her tendering her resignation. He voted with the government on the 2003 invasion of Iraq saying in Parliament Even though all our hearts are heavy and he was knighted for services to Parliament in the 2004 Queens Birthday Honours. Kaufman was implicated in the 2009 expenses scandal, where a number of British MPs made excessive expense claims, misusing their permitted allowances, Kaufman was found to have submitted expense claims that included £8,865 for a 40-inch LCD television and £225 for a rollerball pen. Between 2005 and 2007, Kaufman claimed £28,834 for home improvements and he was subsequently summoned to the Parliamentary Fees Office to explain these claims, and in the end was paid £15,329. Kaufman wrote many books and articles, some are political, How to be a Minister is an irreverent look at the difficulties faced by ministers trying to control the civil service. Some are cultural, Meet Me in St Louis is a study of the 1944 Judy Garland film and he contributed a chapter about John Hodge, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton elected in 1906, to Men Who Made Labour, edited by Alan Haworth and Diane Hayter. Kaufman was an opponent of hunting with hounds
21.
Alec Douglas-Home
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Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister from 19 October 1963 to 16 October 1964. His reputation, however, rests more on his two spells as the UKs foreign secretary than on his brief premiership, in 1940, he was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and was immobilised for two years. By the later stages of the war he had recovered enough to resume his political career, under the premierships of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan he was appointed to a series of increasingly senior posts, including Leader of the House of Lords and Foreign Secretary. In October 1963, Macmillan was taken ill and resigned as Prime Minister, Home was chosen to succeed him. The manner of his appointment was controversial, and two of Macmillans cabinet ministers refused to take office under him, as Prime Minister Douglas-Homes demeanor and appearance remained aristocratic and old-fashioned. His understanding of economics was primitive, and he gave his chancellor Reginald Maudling free reign to handle financial affairs, Douglas-Homes domestic proposals were not notable and he gained little credit. He enjoyed dealing with policy, but there were no major crises or issues to resolve. His Foreign Minister Rab Butler was not especially energetic, Britains application to join Europe had already been vetoed by De Gaulle, the Cuban missile crisis had been resolved, and Berlin was again on the back burner. Decolonization issues were largely routine, and the Rhodesia and South African crises lay in the future, Homes premiership was the second briefest of the twentieth century, lasting two days short of a year. Among the legislation passed under his government was the abolition of resale price maintenance, bringing costs down for the consumer against the interests of producers of food and other commodities. After narrow defeat in the election of 1964, Douglas-Home resigned the leadership of his party, having instituted a new. After the defeat of the Heath government in 1974 he returned to the House of Lords as a life peer, Douglas-Home was born in Mayfair, London, the first of seven children of Lord Dunglass and his wife, the Lady Lilian Lambton. The boys first name was abbreviated to Alec. Among the couples children was the playwright William Douglas-Home. In 1918 the 12th Earl of Home died, Dunglass succeeded him in the earldom, and the title passed to Alec Douglas-Home. The young Lord Dunglass was educated at Ludgrove School, followed by Eton College, in the 18th century he would have become Prime Minister before he was 30. As it was, he appeared honourably ineligible for the struggle of life, after Eton, Dunglass went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a third-class honours BA degree in modern history in 1925. In addition to representing Eton at Fives, he was a cricketer at school, club and county level
22.
Hugh Gaitskell
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Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell, CBE, PC was a politician and Leader of the British Labour Party. With Labour in opposition from 1951, Gaitskell won bitter leadership battles with Bevan and his supporters to become the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in 1955. He opposed British military action at Suez in 1956, but against a backdrop of a booming economy led the Labour Party to another defeat in 1959. His revisionist views on the right of Labour were sometimes called Gaitskellism and he was loved and hated for his confrontational leadership and brutal frankness. He died suddenly in 1963, when he appeared to be on the verge of leading Labour back to power and he was known as “Sam” as a child. The Gaitskells had a family connection with the Indian Army. After his fathers death his mother remarried and returned to Burma. Gaitskell was educated at the Dragon School from 1912 to 1919 and he then attended Winchester College from 1919 to 1924. He attended New College, Oxford, from 1924 to 1927, studying under G. D. H. Cole, Gaitskell became a socialist and wrote a long essay on Chartism, arguing that the working class needed middle-class leadership. Gaitskells first political involvement came about as a result of the General Strike of 1926, most students supported the government and many volunteered for civil defence duties, or helped to run essential services. After the collapse of the General Strike, Gaitskell spent another six months raising funds for the miners and he graduated with a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1927. In 1927-28 Gaitskell lectured in economics for the Workers Educational Association to miners in Nottinghamshire and his essay on Chartism was published as a WEA booklet in 1928. This was his first experience of interaction with the working class, Gaitskell helped to run the New Fabian Research Bureau, set up by G. D. H. Cole in March 1931. He was selected as Labour candidate for Chatham in autumn 1932, Gaitskell moved to University College London in the early 1930s at the invitation of Noel Hall. In 1934 he joined the XYZ Club, a club for Labour financial experts, Dalton and Gaitskell were often referred to as “Big Hugh and Little Hugh” over the next fifteen years. In 1934 Gaitskell was in Vienna on a Rockefeller scholarship and this event made a lasting impression, making him profoundly hostile to conservatism but also making him reject as futile the Marxian outlook of many European social democrats. This placed him in the socialist revisionist camp, in the 1935 General Election, he stood unsuccessfully for election at Chatham. Gaitskell helped to draft “Labour’s Immediate Programme” in 1937 and this had a strong emphasis on planning, although not as much as his mentor Dalton would have liked, with no plans for the nationalisation of banks or the steel industry
23.
Aneurin Bevan
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Aneurin Bevan, often known as Nye Bevan, was a Welsh Labour Party politician who was the Minister for Health in the post-war Attlee government from 1945 to 1951. The son of a miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice, rights of working people. He was a long-time Member of Parliament, representing Ebbw Vale in South Wales for 31 years and he was one of the chief spokesmen for the Labour Partys left wing, and of left-wing British thought generally. He resigned when the Attlee government decided to transfer funds from the National Insurance Fund to pay for rearmament, the left-wing group within the party, known as Bevanite, was named after him, but he did not control it. Bevan remains one of Waless most revered politicians, in 2004, over 40 years after his death, he was voted first in a list of 100 Welsh Heroes, having been credited for his contribution to the welfare state. Bevan was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, in the South Wales Valleys and on the edge of the South Wales coalfield, the son of coal miner David Bevan and Phoebe née Prothero. Both Bevans parents were Nonconformists, his father was a Baptist, one of ten children, Bevan did poorly at school and his academic performance was so bad that his headmaster made him repeat a year. At the age of 13, Bevan left school and began working in the local Ty-Trist Colliery. David Bevan had been a supporter of the Liberal Party in his youth, Aneurin Bevan also joined the Tredegar branch of the South Wales Miners Federation and became a trade union activist, he was head of his local Miners Lodge at only 19. Bevan became a well-known local orator and was seen by his employers, the manager of the colliery found an excuse to get him sacked. But, with the support of the Miners Federation, the case was judged as one of victimisation, in 1919, he won a scholarship to the Central Labour College in London, sponsored by the South Wales Miners Federation. There, he spent two years studying economics, politics and history and he read Marxism at the college, developing his left-wing political outlook. Reciting long passages by William Morris, Bevan gradually began to overcome the stammer that he had had since he was a child. Bevan remained at the College until 1921, attending at a time when a number of his contemporaries from South Wales, however, some historians have questioned how influential the College was on his political development. He was not, apparently, one of the most diligent students, Bevan was one of the founding members of the Query Club with his brother Billy and Walter Conway. The club started in 1920 or 1921 and they met in Tredegar and they would collect money each week for any member who needed it. The club intended to break the hold that the Tredegar Iron, upon returning home in 1921, he found that the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company refused to re-employ him. He did not find work until 1924 and his employer, the Bedwellty Colliery, Bevan then had to endure another year of unemployment
24.
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal, the Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional role. The name for the position has a mixed history and it is used to designate the lead economic spokesman for the Opposition, although some Shadow Cabinets have not used the term. The term has been used interchangeably with economic spokesperson by the Liberal Democrats as well as the opposition party. The current position of Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer is held by John McDonnell, lewis Baston Reggie, The Life of Reginald Maudling
25.
Roy Jenkins
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Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, OM, PC was a British Labour Party, SDP and Liberal Democrat politician, and biographer of British political leaders. The son of a Welsh trade unionist, Roy Jenkins was educated at Oxford University, elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1948, he served in several major posts in Harold Wilsons First Government. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1967–1970, he pursued a tight fiscal policy, on 8 July 1970, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but resigned in 1972 because he supported entry to the Common Market, while the party opposed it. In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Partys leftward swing under Michael Foot, in 1987, Jenkins was elected to succeed Harold Macmillan as Chancellor of the University of Oxford following the latters death, he held this position until his death. A few months after becoming Chancellor, Jenkins was defeated in his Hillhead constituency by the Labour candidate, Jenkins accepted a life peerage and sat as a Liberal Democrat. In the late 1990s, he was an adviser to Tony Blair, Roy Jenkins died in 2003, aged 82. In addition to his career, he was also a noted historian. His A Life at the Centre is regarded as one of the best autobiographies of the later 20th century, born in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, in south-eastern Wales, as an only child, Roy Jenkins was the son of a National Union of Mineworkers official, Arthur Jenkins. His father was imprisoned during the 1926 General Strike for his involvement in disturbances. Roy Jenkins mother, Hattie Harris, was the daughter of a steelworks manager and his university colleagues included Tony Crosland, Denis Healey, and Edward Heath, and he became friends with all three, although he was never particularly close to Healey. During the Second World War, Jenkins served with the Royal Artillery and then as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, reaching the rank of captain. Having failed to win Solihull in 1945, he was elected to the House of Commons in a 1948 by-election as the Member of Parliament for Southwark Central, becoming the Baby of the House. His constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the 1950 general election and he won the seat and represented the constituency until 1977. Like Healey and Crosland, he had been a friend of Hugh Gaitskell and for them Gaitskells death. After the 1964 general election Jenkins was appointed Minister of Aviation and was sworn of the Privy Council, while at Aviation he oversaw the high-profile cancellations of the BAC TSR-2 and Concorde projects. In January 1965 Patrick Gordon Walker resigned as Foreign Secretary and in the ensuing reshuffle Wilson offered Jenkins the Department for Education and Science and he declined it, preferring to stay at Aviation. In the summer of 1965 Jenkins eagerly accepted an offer to replace Frank Soskice as Home Secretary, however Wilson, dismayed by a sudden bout of press speculation about the potential move, delayed Jenkins appointment until December. Once Jenkins took office – the youngest Home Secretary since Churchill – he immediately set about reforming the operation and organisation of the Home Office, the Principal Private Secretary, Head of the Press and Publicity Department and Permanent Under-Secretary were all replaced
26.
Robert Carr
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Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, PC was a British Conservative Party politician. Robert Carr was educated at Westminster School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, after graduation he applied his knowledge of metallurgy at John Dale & Co, the family metal engineering firm. He was elected Member of Parliament for Mitcham in 1950 and served there until 1974 when the seat was merged, in 1971 he escaped injury when The Angry Brigade anarchist group exploded two bombs outside his house. More than thirty years later a member of the group issued an apology to Carr. In 1972 he served a period as Lord President of the Council and was then appointed Home Secretary after the resignation of Reginald Maudling. After his defeat in the first ballot of the 1975 Conservative leadership contest and he was created a life peer as Baron Carr of Hadley, of Monken Hadley, North London, in 1976. Carr died in 2012 at the age of 95, he was survived by his wife Joan, leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Robert Carr
27.
Mottingham
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Mottingham is a district of south east London with parts in both the London boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. It is located south of Eltham, and 9 miles southeast of Charing Cross, the earliest records of Mottingham are from 862 AD when it was recorded as Modingahema, which means the land of Modas people and is commonly interpreted as the proud place. The compasse of the hole was about eighty yards, and so profound, the cause of the incident, referred to as a marvellous accident at the time, was then unknown, and it is likely that a sinkhole had developed. The area is well coursed with streams, both above and below ground, and the collapse or shifting of subsoil might be attributed to them, the site of the sinkhole is now unknown, and the incident is also largely unknown. The only body of standing water that is in the area today is a lake at The Tarn Bird Sanctuary, in the NW corner of The Tarn opposite Mottingham Station is an ice well dating from about 1760 which supplied Eltham Lodge. Mottingham was originally a hamlet in Eltham parish, in the Blackheath hundred of Kent, in 1840 it was included in the Metropolitan Police District by the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. A key year in the history of Mottingham was 1866, when the area connected to the railway system with the construction of Mottingham station. Also in 1866, Mottingham received separate civil parish status, thus separating itself from Eltham, in 1881 the parish had a population of 779 and covered an area of 642 acres. When the County of London was created in 1889, Mottingham was excluded from the new county and now formed a protrusion of Kent, bordering London to the west, north and east. From 1894 to 1934 it formed a part of the Bromley Rural District and had its own parish council. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2,120, in 1934 the rural district and the Mottingham civil parish were abolished and the area was transferred to Chislehurst and Sidcup Urban District. In 1965 the urban district was abolished and the area was transferred from Kent to Greater London, the boundary between Bromley and Greenwich, and between Bromley and Lewisham, around Mottingham was adjusted in 1994. The first church in Mottingham was St Andrews Church on Court Road which was established in 1884, and which further helped establish Mottingham as separate from Eltham. A local landmark is Eltham College, a school founded in 1842 as the London Missionary Societys School for the Sons of Missionaries. The famous cricketer Dr W. G. Grace lived in retirement for years in Mottingham – a blue plaque marks his residence. He was buried in Beckenham Crematorium, Mottingham borders Eltham to the north, New Eltham to the east, Chislehurst to the south, Elmstead to the south west, Grove Park to the west and Lee to the north west. London County Council bought the Court Farm estate in the early 1930s, the first houses were to the west of Mottingham Road and completed in 1935. The estate was fairly self-contained, the community included a shopping centre
28.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
29.
Alfriston
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Alfriston is a village and civil parish in the Sussex district of Wealden, England. The village lies in the valley of the River Cuckmere, about four miles north-east of Seaford and south of the main A27 trunk road, the parish has a population of 769, increasing to 829 at the 2011 census. In Saxon times the village was recorded as Aelfrictun, from which the Domesday Book records the town as Elfricesh-tun, one building of historical importance is the Star Inn. Wooden figures grace the upper part of the building, whilst in the front is a ships figurehead representing a red lion. The latter is connected with the Alfriston smuggling gang who used the inn as a base, an electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Chalvington with Ripe and has a population taken at the 2011 census of 2,321. It sits on a small, flint-walled mound in the middle of the Tye, overlooking the River Cuckmere and it is built in the form of a cross. Today it is part of the united benefice which includes St Michaels Church at Litlington, alfristons former United Reformed Church is included in that grouping. The 14th Century Alfriston Clergy House close by, was originally the vicarage and it was the very first property brought by the Trust in 1896 and it is a classic example of a Wealden hall house with thatched roof and timber-framed walls. It also has a garden and orchard on the banks of the Cuckmere. The east side of the village lies by the River Cuckmere and is home to the village green, in the centre of the Tye is St. Andrews Church which lies on a raised mount surrounded by a flint wall. Next to it is the Alfriston Clergy House, a National Trust property, also on the Tye is the Georgian Unitarian Chapel. The wooden sign for the village at the entrance to the Tye was carved by a vicar of the village who also repaired the Star Inns red lion. The centre of the village is the Market Square which contains a market cross, the village contains three pubs, the Star Inn, the Smugglers Inn and the George Inn. The South Downs Way crosses the river in Alfriston, and then continues up onto the Downs. During the week leading up to the August bank holiday weekend, there is the Alfriston Festival and it is attended by a large number of people from many miles around. In December there is also an Alfriston Christmas Weekend, the village also has its own clay pigeon shooting club. The Alfriston Cricket Club has won the Cuckmere Valley League on nine occasions, with the earliest being 1920, in 1931 Eleanor Farjeon wrote the popular hymn Morning Has Broken in Alfriston, the hymn is supposedly about the beauty she saw around her in this village
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East Sussex
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East Sussex /ˈsʌsᵻks/ is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent to the north and east, Surrey to the north west and West Sussex to the west, archaeological remains are plentiful, especially in the upland areas. The areas position on the coast has also meant that there were invaders, including the Romans. Earlier industries have included fishing, iron-making, and the trade, all of which have declined. Sussex is traditionally sub-divided into six rapes, from the 12th century the three eastern rapes together and the three western rapes together had separate quarter sessions, with the county town of the three eastern rapes being Lewes. This situation was formalised by Parliament in 1865, and the two parts were made into administrative counties, each with distinct elected county councils in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, in East Sussex there were also three self-administered county boroughs, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. In 1974 East Sussex was made a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county, at the same time the western boundary was altered, so that the Mid Sussex region was transferred to the county of West Sussex. In 1997, Brighton and Hove became a unitary authority, it was granted city status in 2000. East Sussex is divided into five local government districts, three are larger, rural, districts are, Lewes, Wealden, and Rother. Eastbourne and Hastings are mainly urban areas, the rural districts are further subdivided into civil parishes. To the north lie parallel valleys and ridges, the highest of which is the Weald itself, the sandstones and clays meet the sea at Hastings, the Downs, at Beachy Head. East Sussex, like most counties by the south coast, has an average total of around 1,750 hours of sunshine per year. This is much higher than the UKs average of about 1,340 hours of sunshine a year, the relief of the county reflects the geology. The chalk uplands of the South Downs occupies the coastal strip between Brighton and Eastbourne, there are two river gaps, the Rivers Ouse and Cuckmere. The Seven Sisters, where the Downs meet the sea, are the remnants of dry valleys cut into the chalk, to the east of Beachy Head lie the marshlands of the Pevensey Levels, formerly flooded by the sea but now enclosed within a deposited beach. At Bexhill the land begins to rise again where the sands and clays of the Weald meet the sea, further east are the Pett Levels, more marshland, beyond which is the estuary of the River Rother. On the far side of the estuary are the dunes of Camber Sands, the highest point of the Downs within the county is Ditchling Beacon, at 814 feet, it is termed a Marilyn. The Weald occupies the northern borderlands of the county, between the Downs and Weald is a narrow stretch of lower lying land, many of the rivers and streams occupying this area originate in the Weald
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Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
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Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
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Balliol College, Oxford
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Balliol College /ˈbeɪliəl/, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Among the colleges alumni are three former ministers, five Nobel laureates, and numerous literary and philosophical figures, including Adam Smith, Gerard Manley Hopkins. In 2012 Balliol had an endowment of £62. 5m, Balliol College was founded in about 1263 by John I de Balliol under the guidance of the Bishop of Durham. Under a statute of 1881, New Inn Hall was merged into Balliol College in 1887, Balliol acquired New Inn Halls admissions and other records for 1831–1887 as well as the library of New Inn Hall, which largely contained 18th-century law books. Along with many of the ancient colleges, Balliol has evolved its own traditions and customs over the centuries, the patron saint of the College is Saint Catherine of Alexandria. On her feast day, a dinner is held for all final year students within Balliol. This festival was established by 1550. Another important feast is the Snell Dinner and this dinner is held in memory of John Snell, whose benefaction established exhibitions for students from the University of Glasgow to study at Balliol one of whom was Adam Smith. The feast is attended by fellows of Balliol College, the current Snell Exhibitioners, by far the most eccentric event is The Nepotists carol-singing event organised by the Colleges Arnold and Brackenbury Society. This event happens on the last Friday of Michaelmas term each year, on this occasion, Balliol students congregate in the college hall to enjoy mulled wine and the singing of carols. The evening historically ended with a rendition of The Gordouli on Broad Street, outside the gates of Trinity College, verses of this form are now known as Balliol rhymes. The best known of these rhymes is the one on Benjamin Jowett and this has been widely quoted and reprinted in virtually every book about Jowett and about Balliol ever since. This and 18 others are attributed to Henry Charles Beeching, the other quatrains are much less well known. For many years, there has been a traditional and fierce rivalry shown between the students of Balliol and those of its neighbour to the east, Trinity College. It has manifested itself on the field and the river, in the form of songs sung over the dividing walls. The rivalry reflects that which exists between Trinity College, Cambridge and Balliols sister college, St Johns College, Cambridge. In college folklore, the rivalry back to the late 17th century. In fact, in its form, the rivalry appears to date from the late 1890s
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
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Major (United Kingdom)
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Major is a military rank which is used by both the British Army and Royal Marines. The rank is superior to captain, and subordinate to lieutenant colonel, the insignia for a major is a crown. The equivalent rank in the Royal Navy is lieutenant commander, by the time of the Napoleonic wars, an infantry battalion usually had two majors, designated the senior major and the junior major. The senior major effectively acted as second-in-command and the majors often commanded detachments of two or more companies split from the main body, the second-in-command of a battalion or regiment is still a major. This practice was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an alternative, from 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of major. It was superseded by the rank of squadron leader on the following day, by World War I, majors were often commanding independent companies, squadrons and batteries, but those that were organically part of a regiment or battalion were still usually commanded by captains. After World War II, major became the rank held by officers commanding all companies, squadrons. In the 21st century British Army, officers normally attain the rank after around eight to 10 years of commissioned service, a common job for a major is the command of a sub-unit of 120 or fewer junior officers and soldiers
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Royal Engineers
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The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers, and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It is highly regarded throughout the military, and especially the Army and it provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is headed by the Chief Royal Engineer. The Regimental Headquarters and the Royal School of Military Engineering are in Chatham in Kent, the corps is divided into several regiments, barracked at various places in the United Kingdom and around the world. In Woolwich in 1716, the Board formed the Royal Regiment of Artillery and established a Corps of Engineers, the manual work was done by the Artificer Companies, made up of contracted civilian artisans and labourers. In 1782, a Soldier Artificer Company was established for service in Gibraltar, ten years later the Gibraltar company, which had remained separate, was absorbed and in 1812 the name was changed to the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners. The Corps has no battle honours, in 1832, the regimental motto, Ubique Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt, was granted. The motto signified that the Corps had seen action in all the conflicts of the British Army. In 1911 the Corps formed its Air Battalion, the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces, the Air Battalion was the forerunner of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. In 1915, in response to German mining of British trenches under the then static siege conditions of the First World War, before the Second World War, Royal Engineers recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 4 inches tall. They initially enlisted for six years with the colours and a six years with the reserve or four years. Unlike most corps and regiments, in which the age limit was 25. They trained at the Royal Engineers Depot in Chatham or the RE Mounted Depot at Aldershot, the Royal Engineers Museum is in Gillingham in Kent. Britain having acquired an Empire, it fell to the Royal Engineers to conduct some of the most significant civil engineering schemes around the world, some examples of great works of the era of empire can be found in A. J. Smitherss book Honourable Conquests. The Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, commanded by Richard Clement Moody, was responsible for the foundation, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the UKs most treasured and distinctive buildings, recognisable the world over. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on its stage. The Hall was designed by Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers, the designers were heavily influenced by ancient amphitheatres, but had also been exposed to the ideas of Gottfried Semper while he was working at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much of the British colonial era infrastructure of India, of which survive today, was created by engineers of the three presidencies armies and the Royal Engineers. In 1838 he designed and built sea defences for Vizagapatam and he masterminded the Godavery Delta project where 720,000 acres of land were irrigated and 500 miles of land to the port of Cocanada was made navigable in the 1840s
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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North African Campaign
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The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco, the campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had colonial interests in Africa dating from the late 19th century. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe, the United States entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, on 14 June, the British Armys 11th Hussars crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. Information gleaned via British Ultra code-breaking intelligence proved critical to Allied success in North Africa, victory for the Allies in this campaign immediately led to the Italian Campaign, which culminated in the downfall of the fascist government in Italy and the elimination of a German ally. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht had started the Battle of France, one month later, it was plain to see that France would have to surrender within two weeks. On 10 June 1940, the Kingdom of Italy aligned itself with Nazi Germany and declared war upon France, British forces based in Egypt were ordered to undertake defensive measures, but to act as non-provocatively as possible. However, on 11 June they began a series of raids against Italian positions in Libya, following the defeat of France on 25 June, Italian forces in Tripolitania—facing French troops based in Tunisia—redeployed to Cyrenaica to reinforce the Italian Tenth Army. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the Tenth Army to invade Egypt by 8 August, two days later, no invasion having been launched, Mussolini ordered Marshal Graziani that, the moment German forces launched Operation Sea Lion, he was to attack. The battle plan was to advance along the road, while limited armoured forces operated on the desert flank. To counter the Italian advance, Wavell ordered his forces to harass the advancing Italians, falling back towards Mersa Matruh. Positioned on the flank was the 7th Armoured Division, which would strike the flank of the Italian force. By 16 September, the Italian force had advanced to Maktila, around 80 mi west of Mersa Matruh, in response to the dispersed Italian camps, the British planned a limited five-day attack, Operation Compass, to strike at these fortified camps one by one. The British Commonwealth force, totalling 36,000 men, attacked the forward elements of the 10-division-strong Italian army on 9 December, following their initial success, the forces of Operation Compass pursued the retreating Italian forces. In January, the port at Bardia was taken, soon followed by the seizure of the fortified port of Tobruk. Some 40,000 Italians were captured in and around the two ports, with the remainder of the Tenth Army retreating along the coast road back to El Agheila. Richard OConnor sent the 7th Armoured Division across the desert, with a reconnaissance group reaching Beda Fomm some ninety minutes before the Italians. Although desperate attempts were made to overcome the British force at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the Italians were unable to break through, and the remnants of the retreating army surrendered
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Italian Campaign (World War II)
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The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, some 60, 000–70,000 Allied and 60, overall Allied casualties during the campaign totaled about 320,000 and the corresponding German figure was well over 600,000. Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing. Besides them, over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 15,197 anti-Fascist partisans and 13,021 troops of the Italian Social Republic. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2,1945, the independent states of San Marino and the Vatican, both surrounded by Italian territory, also suffered damage during the campaign. Even prior to victory in the North African Campaign in May 1943, the British, especially the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, advocated their traditional naval-based peripheral strategy. The United States, with a larger army, favoured a more direct method of fighting the main force of the German Army in Northern Europe. The ability to such a campaign depended on first winning the Battle of the Atlantic. There was even pressure from some Latin American countries to stage an invasion of Spain, the British argued that the presence of large numbers of troops trained for amphibious landings in the Mediterranean made a limited-scale invasion possible and useful. A contributing factor was Franklin D. Roosevelts desire to keep US troops active in the European theatre during 1943 and it was hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the conflict, or at least increase the pressure on them and weaken them further. A combined Allied invasion of Sicily began on 10 July 1943 with both amphibious and airborne landings at the Gulf of Gela, the land forces involved were the U. S. Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the original plan contemplated a strong advance by the British northwards along the east coast to Messina, with the Americans in a supporting role along their left flank. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, the Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare and mass airborne drops. Forces of the British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943 in Operation Baytown, the armistice was publicly announced on 8 September by two broadcasts, first by General Eisenhower and then by a proclamation by Marshal Badoglio. Although the German forces prepared to defend without Italian assistance, only two of their divisions opposite the Eighth Army and one at Salerno were not tied up disarming the Royal Italian Army, on 9 September, forces of the U. S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W, although none of the northern reserves were made available to the German 10th Army, it nevertheless came close to repelling the Salerno landing, due mainly to the cautious command of Clark. As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain, the Apennine Mountains form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east, the rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which constantly thwarted the Allied commanders plans. This would make the most of the natural geography of Central Italy, whilst denying the Allies the easy capture of a succession of airfields
United Kingdom
British Army
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