1.
Commonwealth of Nations
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The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 member states that are mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Commonwealth dates back to the century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which established the states as free. The symbol of free association is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The Queen is also the monarch of 16 members of the Commonwealth, the other Commonwealth members have different heads of state,31 members are republics and five are monarchies with a different monarch. Member states have no obligation to one another. Instead, they are united by language, history, culture and their values of democracy, free speech, human rights. These values are enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter and promoted by the quadrennial Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth covers more than 29,958,050 km2, 20% of the worlds land area, and spans all six inhabited continents. She declared, So, it marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations. As long ago as 1884, however, Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire—as some of its colonies became more independent—as a Commonwealth of Nations. Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, the Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. Newfoundland never did, as on 16 February 1934, with the consent of its parliament, Newfoundland later joined Canada as its 10th province in 1949. Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively, after World War II ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, there remain the 14 British overseas territories still held by the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word British was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature, burma and Aden are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Hoped for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four minute mile in 1954, however, the humiliation of the Suez Crisis of 1956 badly hurt morale of Britain and the Commonwealth as a whole. More broadly, there was the loss of a role of the British Empire. That role was no longer militarily or financially feasible, as Britains withdrawal from Greece in 1947 painfully demonstrated, Britain itself was now just one part of the NATO military alliance in which the Commonwealth had no role apart from Canada
2.
Order (honour)
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Modern national orders and orders of merit developed in the 19th century, emerging out of the culture of chivalric orders of the Middle Ages. The modern distinction between orders and decorations is somewhat vague, except that most historic chivalric orders imply a membership in a group, in a few exclusive European orders, membership is or was also limited in number. Orders often come in multiple classes, including knights and dames in imitation of the chivalric orders. They were essentially courtly in nature, characterised by close personal relations between the members and the orders sovereign. By the time of the Renaissance, most European monarchs had acquired an existing order of chivalry, or created new ones of their own, to reward loyal civilian. Such orders remained out of reach to the public, however. In the 18th century, these ideas gradually changed and the orders developed from honourable societies to visible honours, an example of this gradual development can be seen in two orders founded by Maria Theresa of Austria. Still today many dynastic orders are granted by royal families to worthy individuals for service, in 1802 Napoleon created the Légion dhonneur, which could be awarded to any person, regardless of status, for bravery in combat or for 20 years of distinguished service. While still retaining many trappings of an order of chivalry, it was the first modern order of merit and is still Frances highest award today. Curiously, orders of merit based on the French Legion of Honour typically retain five classes in accordance with habits of chivalric orders. In communist countries, orders of merit usually come in one to three grades, with only a badge worn with or without a ribbon on the chest, an example of a communist order of merit was the one-class Order of Lenin of the Soviet Union. Unlike Western orders, however, communist orders could be awarded more than once to an individual, after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, most Eastern European countries reverted to the Western-style orders originally established before the rise of communism. Today many countries have some form of order of merit or national decorations, both Thailands Order of the White Elephant and Japans Order of the Rising Sun are over 100 years old. In Canada and some Commonwealth Realms, the Order of Merit is the highest civilian honour, Canada has the Order of Canada and provincial orders such as the Order of Nova Scotia. Australia has the Order of Australia, and New Zealand awards the Order of New Zealand, the Order of Mapungubwe is the highest honour in South Africa, while the Orders of Luthuli, and the Baobab exist alongside other decorations. The United States awards the Medal of Honor to members of its military for acts of valour, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, switzerland does not award any orders. Article 12 of the 1848 Swiss Constitution prohibited the acceptance of honours, the current Constitution of 1999 has no specific prohibition, but a federal statute effectively continues the prohibition by barring holders of foreign orders from holding public office. In 1974 the Cabinet of Sweden passed a regulation forbidding the Monarch of Sweden from awarding membership in orders to Swedish citizens
3.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
4.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive
5.
Edward VII
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Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was excluded from political power. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, as king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War. He reinstituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised and he died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. Edward was born at 10,48 in the morning on 9 November 1841 in Buckingham Palace and he was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle and he was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the family throughout his life. As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall, as a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 8 December 1841, Earl of Dublin on 17 January 1850, a Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863, he renounced his rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on an educational programme devised by Prince Albert. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, Edward did not excel in his studies and he tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent, after the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce. After an educational trip to Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, he spent the summer of that year studying at the University of Edinburgh under, among others, in October, he matriculated as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. Now released from the strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time
6.
George V
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary
7.
George VI
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George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth, known as Albert until his accession, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his life in the shadow of his elder brother. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy, in 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame. Georges elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936, however, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman, Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During Georges reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the countrys constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland, from 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively, though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and his mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. His birthday was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Albert, uncertain of how the Prince Consorts widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been rather distressed. Two days later, he again, I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her. Consequently, he was baptised Albert Frederick Arthur George at St. Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham three months later, within the family, he was known informally as Bertie
8.
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
9.
Royal 22nd Regiment
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The mostly francophone regiment comprises three Regular Force battalions, two Primary Reserve battalions, and a band, making it the largest regiment in the Canadian Army. The maison-mère or home of the regiment is La Citadelle in Quebec City and is where the museum is housed. The regimental headquarters is located in Quebec City, with all three of its regular battalions stationed at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec, the regiment serves as the local infantry regiment for Quebec where it draws most of its recruits. The first contingent of 30,000 volunteers, which became the 1st Canadian Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, were grouped into numbered battalions, regardless of origin. The existing reserve regiments were not mobilized, due to the belief of the Defence Minister, Sam Hughes, in the process, the new structure failed to create French-speaking units, such as those that had existed in the reserves. Over 1000 French-Canadian volunteers were scattered into different English-speaking units, the second contingent was based, more logically, on battalions raised and trained in the various military districts in which they had been recruited, but still on an impersonal numbered basis. In September 1914, French Canadian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Arthur Mignault communicated with Prime Minister Robert Borden, Mignault offered the government $50,000 to pursue this end. Borden had recently committed his country into the providing of half a million soldiers to the Allied cause, Borden eagerly accepted Mignaults proposal and accordingly, on 14 October 1914, the 22nd Battalion, CEF, was authorized. Mignault participated in the recruitment campaign, which resulted in a remarkable success, Arthur Mignault is as such considered the founder of the 22nd regiment. The 22nd went to France as part of the 5th Canadian Brigade and the 2nd Canadian Division in September 1915, two members of the 22nd were awarded the Victoria Cross in that war, Lieutenant Jean Brillant and Corporal Joseph Kaeble. After the war, the 22nd Battalion was disbanded on 20 May 1919, sharing the fate of the other numbered battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Initially the regiment, which was given the guard of the Citadelle of Quebec, was simply the 22nd Regiment, in 1928, the anomaly of a French-language unit with an English name was resolved, and the regiment became the Royal 22e Régiment in both languages. However, the English version of the R22eR is still seen occasionally, in 1940, the regiment became the first Francophone Canadian unit to mount the Kings Guard in London and was the first of the three current Regular Force infantry regiments to do so. During the Korean War, 1951–1953, the regiment expanded to three battalions, each serving in turn as part of the Canadian brigade in the 1st Commonwealth Division, thus the Van Doos represented one-third of Canadas infantry contingent throughout the war. The regiment also served during the Oka Crisis, during the life of the Canadian Airborne Regiment the 1er Commando was manned as a French-speaking sub-unit by soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment. In the 1950s, the Canadian Army promoted a scheme of administratively associating reserve infantry regiments with a regular one, however, in 1968, Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent dropped the subsidiary title, and ended their administrative association with the R22eR. The 64th Voltigeurs de Beauharnois were called out on service from 9 to 29 April. The battalion served on the Huntingdon frontier, details of the 64th Châteauguay and Beauharnois Regiment were placed on active service on 6 August 1914 for local protective duty
10.
Dieppe Raid
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The raid took place on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5,00 a. m. and it involved 5,000 Canadians,1,000 British troops, and 50 United States Army Rangers. Objectives included seizing and holding a major port for a short period, upon retreat, the Allies also wanted to destroy coastal defences, port structures and all strategic buildings. The raid had the objectives of boosting morale and demonstrating the firm commitment of the United Kingdom to open a western front in Europe. Virtually none of these objectives were met, Allied fire support was grossly inadequate and the raiding force was largely trapped on the beach by obstacles and German fire. Less than 10 hours after the first landings, the last Allied troops had all either killed, evacuated. Instead of a demonstration of resolve, the bloody fiasco showed the world that the Allies could not hope to invade France for a long time, some intelligence successes were achieved, including electronic intelligence. Of the 6,086 men who made it ashore,3,367 were either killed, wounded or captured, the Royal Air Force failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle, and lost 106 aircraft, compared to 48 lost by the Luftwaffe. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and one destroyer, the events at Dieppe influenced preparations for the North African and Normandy landings. This was accompanied by development of techniques and equipment for amphibious warfare, in late 1941 a scheme was put forward for the landing of 12 divisions around Le Havre based on a withdrawal of German troops to counter Soviet success in the east. From this came a proposed test of the scheme in the form of Operation Rutter, when these missions involved two or three fighters, they were known as rhubarbs, and rodeos if they involved more than three aircraft. In the second half of 1941, the offensive over France was greatly stepped up, leading to the losses of 411 British or Canadian aircraft in the rhubarb. In response, in the spring of 1942 the Luftwaffe deployed the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter to its airfields in France. The Fw 190 fighters were greatly superior to the Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes used by the British and Canadian pilots and it was largely because of pressure from the RAF to fight the greatest air battle over the French coast that Operation Rutter/Jubilee went ahead. Dieppe, a town in the Seine-Inférieure department of France, is built along a long cliff that overlooks the English Channel. The River Scie is on the end of the town. In 1942, the Germans had demolished some seafront buildings to aid in defence and had set up two large artillery batteries at Berneval-le-Grand and Varengeville-sur-Mer. One important consideration for the planners was that Dieppe was within range of the Royal Air Forces fighter aircraft, there was also intense pressure from the Soviet government to open up a second front in Western Europe
11.
Buckingham Palace
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Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and it has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a residence for Queen Charlotte. During the 19th century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb during World War II, the original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream, many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London, the state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September and on some days in winter and spring. In the Middle Ages, the site of the palace formed part of the Manor of Ebury. The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which flows below the courtyard. Where the river was fordable, the village of Eye Cross grew, ownership of the site changed hands many times, owners included Edward the Confessor and his queen consort Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey, in 1531, King Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey. These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier, various owners leased it from royal landlords and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long fallen into decay. Needing money, James I sold off part of the Crown freehold, clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana refers to new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. Jamess, this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies, possibly the first house erected within the site was that of a Sir William Blake, around 1624. The next owner was Lord Goring, who from 1633 extended Blakes house and he did not, however, obtain the freehold interest in the mulberry garden. Unbeknown to Goring, in 1640 the document failed to pass the Great Seal before King Charles I fled London and it was this critical omission that helped the British royal family regain the freehold under King George III. The improvident Goring defaulted on his rents, Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington obtained the mansion and was occupying it, now known as Goring House, Arlington House rose on the site—the location of the southern wing of todays palace—the next year
12.
Military awards and decorations
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While the United States Government does not consider all its military awards and medals as being decorations, other countries tend to refer to all their military awards and medals as decorations. Civil decorations awarded to military personnel should not be considered military decorations, although some orders of chivalry have civil, decorations received by police and fire brigade personnel may sometimes be considered alongside military decorations, on which they may be modelled, although they are strictly not military awards. Decorations have been known since ancient times, the Egyptian Old Kingdom had the Order of the Golden Collar while the New Kingdom awarded the Order of the Golden fly. Celts and Romans wore a torc or received other military decorations such as the hasta pura, dayaks wore and still wear tattoos, etc. Necklaces and bracelets were given during the early Middle Ages, evolving into richly jewelled big necklaces, the medal was instituted by Gustav III on 28 May 1789, during his war against Russia. Whilst technically it is active, in reality it as inactive. The next oldest was the Austro-Hungarian Tapferkeits Medaille Honour Medal for Bravery 1789-1792 and this medal was instituted on 19 July 1789 by the Emperor Joseph II. Another of the oldest military decorations still in use is Polands War Order of Virtuti Militari and it was first awarded in 1792. Medals have been forged by many people to make the medal appear more valuable or to make one look like a decorated soldier. Medal forgeries can include, Adding bars, engraving a famous soldiers name on it or creating a new medal. Medal forgery is illegal in most countries and can be punishable by jail time, in most NATO militaries, only the service ribbons are normally worn on everyday occasions
13.
The London Gazette
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The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is made by the Stamford Mercury and Berrows Worcester Journal. It does not have a large circulation, in turn, The London Gazette carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in The London Gazette, the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are published by TSO on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office. They are subject to Crown Copyright, the London Gazette is published each weekday, except for Bank Holidays. The official Gazettes are published by The Stationery Office, the content, apart from insolvency notices, is available in a number of machine-readable formats, including XML and XML/RDFa via Atom feed. The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, the Gazette was Published by Authority by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, the Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public. Her Majestys Stationery Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889, publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when HMSO was sold and renamed The Stationery Office. In time of war, dispatches from the conflicts are published in The London Gazette. People referred to are said to have mentioned in dispatches. When members of the forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here. Man tally-ho, Miss piano, Wife silk and satin, Boy Greek and Latin, the phrase gazetted fortune hunter is also probably derived from this. Notices of engagement and marriage were also published in the Gazette. Gazettes, modelled on The London Gazette, were issued for most British colonial possessions
14.
Major
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Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank senior to that of an army captain and it is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers, in some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. The rank of major is used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police. As a police rank, major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of superintendent, the term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major. Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present
15.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
16.
Staff (military)
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A military staff is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian personnel that are responsible for the administrative, operational and logistical needs of its unit. It provides bi-directional flow of information between an officer and subordinate military units. A staff also provides a function where it filters information needed by the commander or shunts unnecessary information. One of the key purposes of a staff is to provide accurate. A goal is being able to suggest approaches or help produce well-informed decisions that effectively manage. In addition to generating information, the staff also manages the flow of communication within the unit, while controlled information flow toward the commander is a priority, those useful or contingent in nature are communicated to lower-level units and/or through their respective staffs. If the information is not pertinent to the unit, it is redirected to the level which can best utilize the condition or information. Staffs are generally the first to know of issues that affect its group, issues that require major decisions affecting the units operational capability are communicated to the commanding officer. However, not all issues will be handled by the commander, in addition, a staff aims to carefully craft any useful situations and utilize that information. In a generic command staff, more seasoned and senior officers oversee staff sections of groups organized by the needs of the unit, senior Enlisted Personnel task personnel in the maintenance of tactical equipment and vehicles. Senior Analysts are tasked with the finalizing of reports, and their enlisted personnel participate in the acquisition of information from subordinate staffs and this frees up the most senior members of the command at each level for decision making and issuing direction for further research or information gathering. Prior to the late 18th century, there was no organizational support for staff functions such as military intelligence, logistics. Unit commanders handled such functions for their units, with help from subordinates who were usually not trained for or assigned to a specific task. A great deal of mythology surrounds the origin of the modern staff system as a tool of army management. It was perfected by the Prussians, but despite the claims of many American and British authors, it did not originate in France, especially not with Napoleon, the claims made about Pierre-Joseph Bourcet and his staff college at Grenoble are myths. Staff officers were drawn from units and would later return to them. In a battle or when the army had detached corps, a number of staff would be allocated to the column commander as a smaller version of headquarters. The senior man, usually a Major, would be the chief of the column staff, the Archduke set out the position of a modern Chief of Staff, “The Chief of Staff stands at the side of the Commander-in-Chief and is completely at his disposal
17.
Mentioned in dispatches
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In a number of countries, a servicemembers name must be mentioned in dispatches as a condition for receiving certain decorations. In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette, for 1914–1918 and up to 10 August 1920, the decoration consisted of a spray of oak leaves in bronze. This decoration was established in 1919, but it had retroactive effect. From 1920 to 1993, the decoration consisted of a bronze oak leaf. In a change introduced in 2014 to the British Armed Forces, prior to this change, even if the soldier was mentioned in dispatches more than once, only a single such decoration was worn. In Britain, since 1993, the decoration is a silver oak leaf. In each case the decoration is pinned or sewn diagonally on to the campaign medal ribbon. If no campaign medal is awarded, the oak leaf is worn on the left breast of the dress uniform, prior to 1979, a mention in dispatches was one of the three awards that could be made posthumously, the others being the Victoria Cross and George Cross. The 1979 reform removed the all or nothing lottery, soldiers can be mentioned multiple times. The British First World War Victoria Cross recipient John Vereker, later Field Marshal Viscount Gort, was mentioned in dispatches nine times, the Australian general Gordon Bennett was mentioned in dispatches a total of eight times during the First World War, as was Field Marshal Sir John Dill. Similarly, the equivalents of the MiD for acts of bravery by civilians, the reformed and comprehensive system is now as follows, The Commendation for Gallantry is now the fourth level decoration for gallantry. The Commendation for Brave Conduct recognises acts of bravery carried by soldiers not directly fighting the enemy, a mention in dispatches – in French, Citation à lordre du jour – gives recognition from a senior commander for acts of brave or meritorious service, normally in the field. The Mention in dispatches is among the list of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, personnel can be mentioned in dispatches posthumously and multiple awards are also possible. A recipient of a mention in a dispatch is entitled to wear an emblem and they are also issued with an official certificate from the Ministry of Defence. The emblem, which was regarded as a decoration, was worn on the ribbon of the Victory Medal, only one emblem was worn, irrespective of the number of times a recipient had been mentioned. The Afrikaans rendition of mentioned in dispatches is Eervolle Vermelding in Berigte, the mention in dispatches was one of only four awards which could be made posthumously. The others were the Victoria Cross, the George Cross, the oak leaf emblem was worn on the ribbon of the War Medal 1939–1945. The Kings Commendation was denoted by a bronze King Protea flower emblem worn on the ribbon of the Africa Service Medal and it could be awarded posthumously and was the equivalent of a mention in dispatches for services rendered away from the battlefield
18.
Captain (armed forces)
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The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers. The rank is used by some air forces and marine forces. Today, a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery, in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, a captain may also command a company, or be the second-in-command of a battalion. In NATO countries, the rank of captain is described by the code OF-2 and is one rank above an OF-1, the rank of captain is generally considered to be the highest rank a soldier can achieve while remaining in the field. The rank of captain should not be confused with the rank of captain or with the British-influenced air force rank of group captain. The term ultimately goes back to Late Latin capitaneus meaning chief, prominent, in Middle English adopted as capitayn in the 14th century, the military rank of captain was in use from the 1560s, referring to an officer who commands a company. The naval sense, an officer who commands a man-of-war, is earlier, from the 1550s. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant, the funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government, the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed, otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire. In most countries, the air force is the junior service, many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army. However, the United Kingdoms Royal Air Force, many other Commonwealth air forces, a group captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain. In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, the air force rank titles are pearl grey, a variety of images illustrative of different forces insignia for captain are shown below, Captain Captain Senior captain Staff captain
19.
Victoria Cross
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The Victoria Cross is the highest award of the United Kingdom honours system. It is awarded for gallantry in the face of the enemy to members of the British armed forces and it was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857 and these investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace. The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War, since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals,11 to members of the British Army, the traditional explanation of the source of the metal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Some research has suggested a variety of origins for the material, research has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons that were captured from the Russians in 1855. Owing to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction, a number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded, following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museums Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010. These are unique awards of honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country. In 1854, after 39 years of peace, Britain found itself fighting a war against Russia. The Crimean War was one of the first wars with modern reporting, before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces. This structure was limited, in practice awards of the Order of the Bath were confined to officers of field rank. Brevet promotions or Mentions in Despatches were largely confined to those who were under the notice of the commanders in the field. Other European countries had awards that did not discriminate against class or rank, France awarded the Légion dhonneur and The Netherlands gave the Order of William. There was a feeling among the public and in the Royal Court that a new award was needed to recognise incidents of gallantry that were unconnected with a mans lengthy or meritorious service. Queen Victoria issued a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual on 29 January 1856 that officially constituted the VC, the order was backdated to 1854 to recognise acts of valour during the Crimean War. Queen Victoria had instructed the War Office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class, the medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services
20.
Merchant navy
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A merchant navy or merchant marine is the fleet of merchant vessels that are registered in a specific country. The following is a partial list of the merchant navies or merchant marines of various countries, in many countries the fleets proper name is simply the capitalized version of the common noun. The British Merchant Navy comprises the British merchant ships that transport cargo and people during time of peace and war. For much of its history, the merchant navy was the largest merchant fleet in the world, in 1939, the merchant navy was the largest in the world with 33% of total tonnage. By 2012, the merchant navy—still remaining one of the largest in the world—held only 3% of total tonnage, as of the year ending 2012, British Merchant Marine interests consists of 1,504 ships of 100 GRT or over. This includes ships either UK directly owned, parent owned or managed by a British company and this amounts to,59,413,000 GRT or alternatively 75,265,000 DWT. This is according to the maritime shipping statistics provided by the British government. British Shipping is represented nationally and globally by the UK Chamber of Shipping, canada, like several other Commonwealth nations, created its own merchant navy in a large-scale effort in World War II. Established in 1939, the Canadian Merchant Navy played a role in the Battle of the Atlantic bolstering the Allies merchant fleet due to high losses in the British Merchant Navy. Eventually thousands of Canadians served in the merchant navy aboard hundreds of Canadian merchant ships, notably the Park Ship, a school at St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, trained Canadian merchant mariners. Manning pools, merchant navy barracks, were built in Canadian ports, the Greek maritime fleet is today engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience. Greece is a nation by tradition, as shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks. Greece is also ranked in the top for all kinds of ships, including first for tankers, the birth of the modern Indian Merchant Navy occurred before independence from the United Kingdom, when in 1919 SS Loyalty sailed from India to Britain. Today, India ranks 15th in the world in terms of total DWT, India currently supplies around 12. 8% of officers and around 14. 5% of ratings to the world seafaring community. This is one of the highest of any country, in December 1939,3000 seafarers were employed and 186 merchant vessels were on the New Zealand Registry. Some foreign vessels were impressed, including the barque, Pamir. New Zealand, like several other Commonwealth nations, created a merchant navy, although some ships were involved in the Atlantic and North Pacific trade, mostly this involved domestic and South Pacific cargos
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Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
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The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross is a second level military decoration of the British Armed Forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in the awarding of gallantry decorations, the Victoria Cross is the only higher combat gallantry award presented by the United Kingdom. The CGC was instituted in the aftermath of the 1993 review of the honours system, the CGC also replaced the Distinguished Service Order, in its role as an award to officers for gallantry. The DSO was retained as an award for outstanding leadership, the CGC now serves as the second level award for gallantry for all ranks across the whole armed forces. The CGC, which may be awarded posthumously, is awarded in recognition of an act or acts of gallantry during active operations against the enemy. All ranks of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army, bars are awarded to the CGC in recognition of the performance of further acts of gallantry meriting the award. Recipients are entitled to the postnominal letters CGC, the medal is in the shape of a cross pattée in silver. Arranged behind the cross, visible between the arms is a laurel wreath, on the obverse of the medal, the circular medallion in the centre depicts St. Edwards crown. The reverse is plain which allows room for the engraving of the rank, name, the award date is also engraved on the reverse of the medal. The medal is suspended by a ribbon with two narrow dark blue stripes at the edge and one centre stripe in crimson. The following is a full list of recipients who have been Gazetted to date, orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom Mackay, J and Mussell, J – Medal Yearbook –2007, Token Publishing, Honiton, Devon
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Medal bar
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A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. When used in conjunction with decorations for service, such as gallantry medals. In the example, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO, a British convention is to indicate bars by the use of asterisks, thus, DSO** would denote a DSO and two bars. Bars are also used on long service medals to indicate the length of service rendered. The two terms are used because terms bar and clasp both refer to two parts of the medal, the indicator discussed in article, and the part of the medal connected to the ribbon. One exception was the Army Gold Medal issued to higher ranking participants in the Peninsular War, a medal was given for service, with a clasp for each battle fought. After four clasps were earned the medal was turned in for a cross with the names on the arms. The maximum was achieved by the Duke of Wellington, with a cross, over the next 40 years, it became customary for governments to present a medal to all soldiers and officers involved in a campaign. These medals were engraved with the names of the major battles the recipient had fought in during the campaign. The Sutlej Medal was the earliest medal to use such bars and it was awarded to British Army and Honourable East India Company soldiers who fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War between 1845 and 1846. The first battle the recipient participated in would be engraved on the medal itself, if the recipient had participated in multiple engagements, silver bars bearing the name of each additional battle were attached to the medals ribbon. The creation of bars led to the development of General Service medals, bars would be awarded to denote the particular campaign or war the recipient fought in. The 1854 India General Service Medal was awarded to soldiers over a 41-year period, twenty-three clasps were created for this award, becoming one of the more extreme uses of this system. The Crimea Medal was issued with ornate battle bars, since then the general trend has been to have simple horizontal devices. Campaign bars or battle bars are used to denote the campaign, battle. This is the most common use of bars on military decorations. In the United Kingdom, campaign bars are known as clasps. Examples of ones that were issued are the enemy fire clasp on the 1914 Star
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Medal
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A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for sporting, military, scientific, academic, or various other achievements. Military awards and decorations are more precise terms for types of state decoration. Medals may also be created for sale to commemorate particular individuals or events, an artist who creates medals or medallions is called a medallist or medalist. There are also devotional medals which may be worn for religious reasons, Medals have long been popular collectible items either as a variety of exonumia or of militaria. Medallions may also be called table medals because they are too large to be worn and can only be displayed on a wall, table top, desk, the word medallion has the same ultimate derivation, but this time through the Italian medaglione, meaning large medal. The main or front surface of a medal is termed the obverse, the reverse, or back surface of the medal, is not always used and may be left blank or may contain a secondary design. It is not uncommon to only an artistic rendering on the obverse, while all details. The rim is only occasionally employed to display an inscription such as a motto, privy mark, engraver symbol, assayer’s marking. Medals that are intended to be hung from a ribbon also include a suspension piece at the crest with which to loop a suspension ring through. It is through the ring that a ribbon is run or folded so the medal may hang pendent, Medals pinned to the breast use only a small cut of ribbon that is attached to a top bar where the brooch pin is affixed. Top bars may be hidden under the ribbon so they are not visible, be a device from which the ribbon attaches. Some top bars are elaborate and contain a whole design unto themselves, Medals that are made with inexpensive material might be gilded, silver-plated, chased, or finished in a variety of other ways to improve their appearance. Medals have also made of rock, gemstone, ivory, glass, porcelain, terra cotta, coal, wood, paper, enamel, lacquerware. Honorary awards, as a button, which it is custom to give the kings kinsmen. Roman emperors used both military awards of medals, and political gifts of medallions that were very large coins, usually in gold or silver. Both these and actual golden coins were often set as pieces of jewellery, the bracteate is a type of thin gold medal, usually plain on the reverse, found in Northern Europe from the so-called Dark Ages or Migration Period. They often have suspension loops and were intended to be worn on a chain as jewellery. They imitate, at a distance, Roman imperial coins and medallions, the surviving example is mounted for wearing as jewellery
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Vitreous enamel
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Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, so in technical terms fired enamelware is an integrated layered composite of glass and metal. Enamelling is an old and widely adopted technology, for most of its history mainly used in jewelry, enamelled and enamelling are the preferred spellings in British English, while enameled and enameling are preferred in American English. The term enamel is most often restricted to work on metal, enamelled glass is also called painted, and overglaze decoration to pottery is often called enamelling. The word enamel comes from the Old High German word smelzan via the Old French esmail, or from a Latin word smaltum, used as a noun, an enamel is usually a small decorative object coated with enamel. Since the 19th century the term also to industrial materials and many metal consumer objects, such as some cooking vessels, dishwashers, laundry machines, sinks. The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to stone objects, pottery, and sometimes jewellery, the ancient Greeks, Celts, Georgians, and Chinese also used enamel on metal objects. Enamel powder could be produced in two ways, either by powdering coloured glass, or by mixing colourless glass powder with pigments such as a metallic oxide, designs were either painted freehand or over the top of outline incisions, and the technique probably originated in metalworking. Once painted, enamelled glass vessels needed to be fired at a high enough to melt the applied powder. Ancient Persians used this method for colouring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colours that are decorated in an intricate design and called it Meenakari. Gold has been used traditionally for Meenakari Jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer, initially, the work of Meenakari often went unnoticed as this art was traditionally used as a backing for the famous kundan or stone-studded jewellery. This also allowed the wearer to reverse the jewellery as also promised a special joy in the secret of the hidden design, the Byzantine enamel style was widely adopted by the barbarian peoples of Migration Period northern Europe. The Byzantines then began to use cloisonné more freely to create images, the champlevé technique was considerably easier and very widely practiced in the Romanesque period. In Gothic art the finest work is in basse-taille and ronde-bosse techniques, from either Byzantium or the Islamic world, the cloisonné technique reached China in the 13-14th centuries. The first written reference to cloisonné is in a book from 1388, cloisonné remained very popular in China until the 19th century and is still produced today. Starting from the century, the Japanese also produced large quantities of very high technical quality. A resurgence in enamel-based art took place near the end of the 20th century in the Soviet Union, led by artists like Alexei Maximov, in Australia, abstract artist Bernard Hesling brought the style into prominence with his variously sized steel plates. Enamel was first applied commercially to sheet iron and steel in Austria, industrialization increased as the purity of raw materials increased and costs decreased
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Laurus nobilis
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Laurus nobilis is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous leaves, in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking and its common names include bay laurel, sweet bay, bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree or simply laurel. Laurus nobilis figures prominently in classical Greek, Roman, and Biblical culture, the laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching 7–18 metres tall. The genus Laurus includes four accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap, the bay laurel is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Each flower is pale yellow-green, about 1 cm diameter, the leaves are glabrous, 6–12 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an entire margin. On some leaves the margin undulates, the fruit is a small, shiny black berry-like drupe about 1 cm long that contains one seed. A recent study found considerable genetic diversity within L. nobilis, Laurus nobilis is a widespread relic of the laurel forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin when the climate of the region was more humid. With the drying of the Mediterranean during the Pliocene era, the forests gradually retreated. The most abundant component found in essential oil is 1, 8-cineole. Both essential and fatty oils are present in the fruit, the fruit is pressed and water-extracted to obtain these products. The fruit contains up to 30% fatty oils and about 1% essential oils, the plant is the source of several popular herbs and one spice used in a wide variety of recipes, particularly among Mediterranean cuisines. Most commonly, the leaves are added whole to Italian pasta sauces. They are typically removed from dishes before serving, unless used as a simple garnish, whole bay leaves have a long shelf life of about one year, under normal temperature and humidity. Whole bay leaves are used almost exclusively as flavor agents during the preparation stage. Ground bay leaves, however, can be ingested safely and are used in soups and stocks. Dried laurel berries and pressed leaf oil can both be used as robust spices, and the wood can be burnt for strong smoke flavoring, aqueous extracts of bay laurel can also be used as astringents and even as a reasonable salve for open wounds. In massage therapy, the oil of bay laurel is reputed to alleviate arthritis and rheumatism, while in aromatherapy, it is used to treat earaches. A traditional folk remedy for rashes caused by poison ivy, poison oak, the chemical compound lauroside B isolated from Laurus nobilis is an inhibitor of human melanoma cell proliferation at high concentrations in-vitro
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Imperial crown
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An Imperial Crown is a crown used for the coronation of emperors. Crowns in Europe during the medieval period varied in design, An open crown is one which consists basically of a golden circlet elaborately worked and decorated with stones or enamels. The medieval French crown was of this type, the closed crown, which had bands of metal crossing usually from one side to the other and from back to front so that they met in the middle, at the top of the head. A special case of a crown was that of the Holy Roman Empire. Strictly speaking, therefore, the type of crown whose characteristics can properly be regarded as imperial was one with a single crest running from front to back. In practice, in countries unfamiliar with closed crowns at all, during the medieval era the crowns worn by English kings had been described as both closed and open designs. This was in contrast with kings of France who always wore an open crown, the use of a closed crown may have been adopted by the English as a way of distinguishing the English crown from the French crown, but it also had other meanings to some. For example, Henry V wore helmet-crown of the type at the Battle of Agincourt which the French knight St. Remy commented was like the imperial crown. The Silk Imperial Crown of Russia was used as a coronation gift of the Russian Empire for the coronation of Nicholas II. Nicholas II was the first and only monarch to be presented with such a coronation gift. It was not intended as ceremonial regalia, but as private Imperial property - a memento to his coronation event. During the reign of Mary I the First Act of Supremacy was annulled, consort crown Coronation crown Royal crown State crown Grierson, Philip, The origins of the English sovereign and the sybolism of the closed crown, British Numismatic Society
27.
Royal cypher
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In the case where such a cypher is used by an emperor or empress, it is called an imperial cypher. In the system used by various Commonwealth realms, the title is abbreviated as R for rex or regina, previously, I stood for imperator or imperatrix of India. The cypher is displayed on some government buildings, impressed upon royal and state documents, the letter I for Imperatrix was added to Queen Victorias monogram after she became Empress of India in 1877. The purpose seems to have been simply to identify an individual sovereign, the initials were used mostly on government papers, duty stamps and similar objects, and were sometimes surmounted by a stylised version of the Tudor Crown or, more recently, St Edwards Crown. In Scotland, the Crown of Scotland appears in place of the Imperial Crown, though royal symbols differ among the sixteen Commonwealth realms, as they are separate monarchies, the one sovereign uses the same cypher throughout all of his or her countries. Nowadays, the initials are also called the royal cypher, but, to aid clarification, the present Queens cypher is EIIR, standing for Elizabeth II Regina. Cyphers for other members of the Royal Family are designed by the College of Arms or Court of the Lord Lyon and are approved by the Queen. These cyphers have been incorporated by the Canadian Heraldic Authority into the royal standards of Canada. Other royal houses have also use of royal or imperial cyphers. Ottoman sultans had a signature, their tughra. All the monarchs of Europes six other surviving kingdoms use cyphers, Philippe of Belgium uses the letters P and F intertwined, referring to the fact that his name is Philippe in French, but Filip in Dutch, the two main languages in Belgium. King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand uses a cypher made up of his initials in Thai script, Royal sign-manual Signum manus Heraldic badge Personal Flag of Queen Elizabeth II H7 Mon MacCormick v Lord Advocate Pillar Box War
28.
Naval rating
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A naval rating is an enlisted member of a countrys navy, subordinate to warrant officers and officers hence not conferred by commission or warrant. Historically the term also applied to ships, denoting their combat strength by the number. It is analogous to the rank as used, for example. However, the rank should not be used in lieu of rate when referring to U. S. naval enlisted personnel. A rating refers to the occupational specialty, combined with their paygrade. Navy personnel in pay grades E-1 to E-3 may not have a rate and are classed into one of five groups. Petty Officers and Chief Petty Officers are sometimes referred to by a combination of rate, for example, a Petty Officer Second Class with the rating of Gunners Mate may be addressed as Gunners Mate Second Class. Similarly, a Chief Petty Officer with the rating of Quartermaster is referred to in formal occasions as Chief Quartermaster, on less formal occasions, however, senior enlisted personnel are referred to simply as Chief, Senior Chief, or Master Chief, as applicable. Rate badges consist of insignia that indicate the rate and rating. Within these a number of further specializations are available such as aviation electrician, royal Navy ratings rank insignia Enlisted rank Military Occupational Specialty Ordinary seaman Able seaman Baker, Ernest A. The New English Dictionary, Odhams Press, London,1932, the Blue Jackets Manual Centennial Edition, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland,2002
29.
Royal Naval Reserve
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The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve, created in 1859, the Royal Naval Reserve has seen action in World War I, World War II, the Iraq War and Afghanistan. This led to a Royal Commission on Manning the Navy in 1858 and this established the RNR as a reserve of professional seamen from the British Merchant Navy and fishing fleets, who could be called upon during times of war to serve in the regular Royal Navy. The RNR was originally a reserve of only, but in 1862 this was extended to include the recruitment. From its creation, RNR officers wore on their uniforms a unique, after initial shore training, officers embarked in larger ships of the Royal Navys fleet for one year, to familiarise themselves with gunnery and naval practice. In 1910, the RNR was formed to recruit and train fishermen for wartime service in minesweepers, prior to the First World War, one hundred RNR officers were transferred to permanent careers in the regular navy—forever after referred to as the hungry hundred. In their professional careers, many RNR officers went on to command the largest passenger liners of the day and some also held positions in the shipping industry. On mobilisation in 1914, the RNR consisted of 30,000 officers, Officers of the permanent RNR on general service quickly took up seagoing appointments in the fleet, many in command, in destroyers, submarines, auxiliary cruisers and Q-ships. Others served in units of the battle fleet including a large number with the West Indies Squadron who became casualties at the Battle of Coronel. One such casualty was armed naval drifter HMT Frons Olivae, which hit a mine off Ramsgate on 12 October 1915 in an explosion killed at least five other seamen. One casualty, a Newfoundlander serving with the Royal Naval Reserve, was buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery, Deal. Merchant service officers and men serving in armed merchant cruisers, hospital ships, fleet auxiliaries, although considerably smaller than both the RN and the RNVR, the RNR had an exceptional war record, members being awarded twelve Victoria Crosses. Again, RNR officers found themselves in command of destroyers, frigates, sloops, landing craft and submarines, or as specialist navigation officers in cruisers, in convoy work, the convoy commodore or escort commander was often an RNR officer. As in the First World War, the RNR acquitted itself well, during the Second World War, no more ratings were accepted into the RNVR, which then became the main route for wartime officer entry. The service was called the Wavy Navy, after the 3/8-inch wavy sleeve rings that RNVR officers wore to differentiate them from RN/RNR officers. From 30 November 2007, mainly due to increasing involvement of the RNR in RN operations and deployments, similarly, RNR ratings no longer wear RNR shoulder flashes. From 1938 until 1957, the RNVR provided aircrew personnel in the form of their own Air Branch, in 1947, their contribution was cut to anti-submarine and fighter squadrons only. By 1957, it was considered by the UK government that the required to operate modern equipment was beyond that expected of reservists
30.
63rd (Royal Naval) Division
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The 63rd Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, the division fought at Antwerp in 1914 and at Gallipoli in 1915. As an Army formation, it fought on the Western Front for the remainder of the war and these included regular marines and those mobilised from the Fleet Reserve. Each battalion was drawn one of the big naval depot ports—Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth. The eight battalions were named after naval commanders, Drake, Benbow, Hawke, Collingwood, Nelson, Howe, Hood and Anson, the division was not provided with medical, artillery or engineer units, consisting solely of lightly-equipped infantry. Many of the men were then reclaimed for fleet service and recruits were taken over at the request of the War Office. On 26 August, the Marine Brigade was sent to Ostend to reinforce the Belgian garrison, Belgian troops were also withdrawn from ports along the Belgian coast. The Admiralty was concerned to deny the Germans submarine bases for operations in the Channel, on 24 August, German cavalry patrols were reported near Ostend and it was decided to land a small naval detachment to secure the town. The Admiralty planned to use the Channel ports as a base, to attack German land supply routes and they were ordered to hold the town until Belgian troops, who had retreated into France, could be transferred and 4,000 Belgian troops arrived on 30 August. The rapid Allied retreat led the War Office to decide that supplies would have to be brought through ports in western France and this would be more demanding on naval escort ships, leaving too few to support the force at Ostend. The Marines were re-embarked on 31 September and returned to their ports, the division participated in the Siege of Antwerp. At 9,30 p. m. the mistake was realised as the rest of the division began to cross the river from 10, 00–11,30 p. m. and moved west, parallel to the Dutch frontier. The 1st Naval Brigade reached the Scheldt at midnight, only to find that the bridges were being demolished, the troops crossed using barges and boats and set out for a rendezvous at Zwijndrecht, which was reached at 4,00 a. m. on 9 October. The British moved on to Sint-Gillis-Waas, where information arrived that the Germans had cut the railway at Moerbeke, the division was shipped to Egypt and fought at the Battle of Gallipoli at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles. Casualties before the campaign began included Rupert Brooke, who died at sea on 23 April 1915, the RND was one of two British divisions at the Gallipoli landings. Eleven troopships and Canopus, Dartmouth and Doris, two destroyers and trawlers rendezvoused off Bulair before dawn and the warships began a day-long bombardment, just after daybreak. A destroyer made a pass off the beach and later on, ships boats were swung out from the troopships. In the late afternoon men began to embark on the boats, during the night Lieutenant-Commander B. C
31.
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
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The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Queens Own, by the amalgamation of the 50th Regiment of Foot and the 97th Regiment of Foot. In January 1921, the regiment was renamed the Royal West Kent Regiment and, in April of the year, was again renamed. Throughout its existence, the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment was popularly and operationally known as the Royal West Kents, when the regiment was formed, Kent was one of five counties that was split to create more than one regiment. Kent was split into two areas, with those in West Kent forming the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, the dividing line that separated the two regimental areas was east of the River Medway. The regiments recruitment area covered both the towns and rural areas of West Kent and a number of south-east London suburbs that were included in the County of London. It then spent two years on duty in Cyprus before being transferred to Sudan, where it fought at the Battle of Ginnis during the Mahdist War. It spent the years up to the outbreak of the First World War on garrison duty, the 2nd Battalion was deployed to South Africa shortly after its formation, in the aftermath of the First Boer War. It was then posted to Ireland and spent the years of the 19th century in the United Kingdom before being sent back to South Africa for the Second Boer War. Its only action was a skirmish at Biddulphsberg, alongside the 2nd battalions of the Grenadier and it then served in Ceylon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Peshawar and Multan before the outbreak of the First World War. Between 1881 and 1913, the regiment lost 219 men,22 killed in action or died from wounding,12 by accident, a memorial for those who died in service exists in All Saints Church, Maidstone, which is located next to the regiments barracks. The 4th Volunteer Battalion was disbanded, and the 1st VB was formed into the 4th and 5th Battalions of the QORWK in the Kent Brigade of the TFs Home Counties Division, during the First World War, over 60,000 men served with the Queens Own. However,6,866 officers and other ranks lost their lives, among its first major engagements were the Battle of Mons on 23 August and the Battle of Le Cateau three days later. In October, the made a heroic stand at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. Out of 750 men, only 300 commanded by a lieutenant, the 2nd Battalion was shipped from Multan to Mesopotamia, via Bombay, arriving in Basra in February 1915, where it was attached to the 12th Indian Brigade. Two companies were attached to the 30th Indian Brigade and were captured in the Siege of Kut in April 1916, the remaining companies were attached to 34th Indian Brigade, and were transferred to 17th Indian Division in August 1917. The 2nd Battalion remained in Mesopotamia for the duration of the war, the 1/4th and 1/5th Battalions were both part of the Kent Brigade, alongside the 4th and 5th Buffs, of the Home Counties Division were both sent to British India in late October 1914. The 3/4th Battalion landed at Le Havre in June 1917 and served as a Pioneer battalion on the Western Front, several of the Service battalions of the New Army fought in France and Flanders and in the Italian Front
32.
Basil Embry
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Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Edward Embry, GCB, KBE, DSO & Three Bars, DFC, AFC was a senior Royal Air Force commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command from 1949 to 1953, Basil Embry was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1902 and as a young boy at Bromsgrove School he developed an avid interest in aviation. In 1921 he joined the Royal Air Force with a short service commission as an Acting Pilot Officer, in 1922 he was sent into Iraq, serving under future Air Marshals Arthur Harris and Robert Saundby. Promoted to flight lieutenant, Embry returned to Britain in 1927 as an instructor at the Central Flying School, in 1934 he was posted to India to serve in the Indian Wing on the North West Frontier. He was promoted Squadron Leader in 1935, and served in the Second Mohmand Campaign of 1935 and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for operations in Waziristan in 1938. He was further promoted in 1938 to wing commander, after five years service he returned to Britain in 1939. On the outbreak of the Second World War Embry was Commanding Officer of No 107 Squadron flying the Bristol Blenheim bomber. The energetic Embry led his squadron from the front, and he saw action during the campaigns in Norway and France, often in the face of heavy losses. On 25 September 1939 Embry led a 3-plane formation on a sortie into Germany. Intercepted by German fighters, Embry’s aircraft suffered damage to wings and fuselage. Throughout the remainder of 1939 and into early 1940 the unit made numerous attacks by day and night on a variety of targets, on 6 April 1940 RAF photo reconnaissance revealed that a German Naval force including battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst was at anchor off Wilhelmshaven. Embry and his 107 Squadron crews were involved in a series of attacks on this German force. Embry suffered with frostbite during this time, in April 1940 Embry was awarded a Bar to his DSO. His leadership and personal gallantry resulted in the award of a second Bar to his DSO, on 12 May he led No.107 Squadron and No.110 Squadron in an attack on two bridges across the Albert Canal at Maastricht. Heavily defended, the formation was savaged by ground fire and intercepted by numerous Messerschmitt fighters, two No.107 Squadron aircraft also crash-landed at Wattisham, and every surviving Blenheim had suffered some damage. He was to fly one more sortie before relinquishing command, on 26 May 1940, Embry was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Saint-Omer from 6,000 feet during a low level bombing mission against advancing German Army columns. Of his crew, observer Pilot Officer T. A. Whiting was made prisoner while Air Gunner Corporal G. E. Lang was killed. Captured by the German Army, Embry was being marched away in column of Allied prisoners when he saw a road sign Embry,3 km, taking this as a good omen, he rolled down a bank unnoticed by the columns guards and made his escape
33.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
34.
Bernard Freyberg
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Freyberg served as an officer in the British Army during the First World War. He liked to be in the thick of the action — Winston Churchill called him the Salamander due to his ability to pass through fire unharmed. During the Second World War, he commanded the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Crete, the North African Campaign, by the end of the Second World War, Freyberg had spent altogether ten and a half years fighting the Germans. Freyberg, born in Richmond, Surrey to James Freyberg and his second wife and he moved to New Zealand with his parents at the age of two. He attended Wellington College from 1897 to 1904, a strong swimmer, he won the New Zealand 100-yards championship in 1906 and 1910. On 22 May 1911, Freyberg gained formal registration as a dentist and he worked as an assistant dentist in Morrinsville and later practised in Hamilton and in Levin. While in Morrinsville he was asked to take up a subalternship in the local Territorial Army unit, Freyberg left New Zealand in March 1914. A1942 Life magazine article claims that Freyberg went to San Francisco and Mexico around this time, and was a captain under Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. Upon hearing of the outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914, he travelled to Britain via Los Angeles and New York, to money to cross the United States. Immediately on the outbreak of the First World War Freyberg went to England, G. S. Richardson arranged for him to join the 7th “Hood” Battalion of the Royal Naval Brigade, and he was on the Belgian front in September 1914. In April 1915 Freyberg became involved in the Dardanelles campaign, on the night of 24 April, during the initial landings by Allied troops following the unsuccessful naval attempt to force the straits by sea, Freyberg volunteered to swim ashore in the Gulf of Saros. Once ashore, he began lighting flares so as to distract the defending Turkish forces from the real landings taking place at Gallipoli, despite coming under heavy Turkish fire, he returned safely from this outing, and for his action he received the Distinguished Service Order. He received serious wounds on several occasions and left the peninsula when his division evacuated in January 1916, in May 1916 Freyberg was transferred to the British Army as a captain in the Queens Regiment. However, he remained with the Hood Battalion as a temporary major. When reinforced the next morning, he attacked and captured a fortified village. Although wounded twice more, the time severely, Freyberg refused to leave the line until he had issued final instructions. During his time on the Western Front Freyberg continued to lead by example. His bold leadership had a cost, Freyberg received nine wounds during his service in France and he was awarded a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George the same year
35.
Destroyer
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Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations, typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. After the war, the advent of the missile allowed destroyers to take on the surface combatant roles previously filled by battleships. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided missile destroyers more capable of independent operation, the emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy an enemy battle fleet using steam launches to launch torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called torpedo boats, the first seagoing vessel designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton HMS Lightning in 1876. She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons, these were replaced in 1879 by a torpedo tube in the bow. By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, in response to this new threat, more heavily gunned picket boats called catchers were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Dutch and, up until the Second World War, Polish. At that time, and even into World War I, the function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks. The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future, an important development came with the construction of HMS Swift in 1884, later redesignated TB81. This was a torpedo boat with four 47 mm quick-firing guns. At 23.75 knots, while still not fast enough to engage torpedo boats reliably. Another forerunner of the torpedo boat destroyer was the Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka, designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the London Yarrow shipyards in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. The 165-foot long vessel was armed with four 1-pounder quick-firing guns and six torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots, in her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger warships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the Kotaka, the first vessel designed for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats was the torpedo gunboat. Essentially very small cruisers, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes, by the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was HMS Rattlesnake, designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, the gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. Exactly 200 feet long and 23 feet in beam, she displaced 550 tons, built of steel, Rattlesnake was un-armoured with the exception of a 3⁄4-inch protective deck
36.
Sea captain
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A sea captain is a high-grade licensed mariner in ultimate command of the merchant vessel. A ships captain commands and manages all ships personnel, and is typically in charge of the accounting, payrolls. The captain is responsible for responding to and reporting in case of accidents and incidents, the captain ensures that the ship complies with local and international laws and complies also with company policies. One of a particularly important duties is to ensure compliance with the vessels security plan. The security plan also covers such as refugees and asylum seekers, smuggling. On ships without a purser, the captain is in charge of the ships accounting and this includes ensuring an adequate amount of cash on board, coordinating the ships payroll, and managing the ships slop chest. On international voyages, the captain is responsible for satisfying requirements of the local immigration, customs requirements can include the master providing a cargo declaration, a ships stores declaration, a declaration of crewmembers personal effects, crew lists and passenger lists. The master acts as a liaison to local investigators and is responsible for providing complete and accurate logbooks, reports, statements, specific examples of the ship causing external damage include collisions with other ships or with fixed objects, grounding the vessel, and dragging anchor. Some common causes of damage include heavy weather, water damage, pilferage. There is a belief that ship captains have historically been. In most countries of ships registry, ship captains are not, the United States Navy defined a captain’s powers in its 1913 Code of Regulations, specifically stating, The commanding officer shall not perform a marriage ceremony on board his ship or aircraft. New Jerseys 1919 Bolmer v. Edsall said a shipboard marriage ceremony is governed by the laws of the nation where ownership of the vessel lies. In the United Kingdom, the captain of a merchant ship has never permitted to perform marriages. In other countries of ships registry, the situation varies. Most do not permit performance of a marriage by the master of a ship at sea, japan allows ship captains to perform a marriage ceremony at sea, but only for Japanese citizens. Malta and Bermuda permit captains of ships registered in their jurisdictions to perform marriages at sea, princess Cruises, whose ships are registered in Bermuda, has used this as a selling point for their cruises since 1998. In 2011, Cunard announced its intention to move the registration of “Queen Mary 2″, “Queen Victoria” and “Queen Elizabeth” from Southampton, in the United Kingdom, to Bermuda. Some captains obtain other credentials, which allow them to perform marriages in jurisdictions where they would otherwise not be permitted to do so
37.
Arnold Jackson (British Army officer)
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Brigadier General Arnold Nugent Strode Strode-Jackson, CBE, DSO & Three Bars was a British athlete, British Army officer, and a barrister. He was the winner of the 1500 m at the 1912 Summer Olympics and he was a brigadier general and amongst the most highly decorated British general officers of the First World War. He was born Arnold Nugent Strode Jackson at Addlestone, Surrey and he was the son of Morton Strode Jackson and Edith Rosine Martin, and grandson of Lieutenant General George Jackson. His uncle was Clement Jackson, athlete, academic, bursar of Hertford College, Oxford and his sister was the novelist Myrtle Beatrice Strode Strode-Jackson. He was educated at Malvern College, where he was head of his house and head of the athletics team, Jackson entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1910, where he took a degree in law. Jackson rowed and played football and hockey for Brasenose College, being captain of the hockey team and he won the mile race for Oxford against Cambridge three times and was President of the Oxford University Athletic Club. In 1912, while still an undergraduate, Jackson cut short his holiday in Norway. He had to compete as an entry, not having been chosen by the Great Britain team, along with his friend from Cambridge. This was the last Olympics at which such private entries were allowed, even when compared to the amateurish race preparation of the era, Jacksons training regime of massage, golf and walking seemed very relaxed. At Stockholm, American hopes were high to win a gold in 1500 m, as the USA dominated mile racing at that time, the race started at a modest 65 second pace, until Norman Taber from USA took the lead and increased the pace. At the bell for the lap, Abel Kiviat, a world record holder in 1500 m from USA, was first, followed by Taber and John Paul Jones. On the final turn, Mel Sheppard and Jackson also joined the crowd on his heels, the three Americans ran abreast in an attempt to stop anyone from overtaking, so Jackson had to run wide. With 50 yards left, Jackson came even with Kiviat and Taber, as Jones, Jackson summoned one last burst and captured the gold in 3,56.8, an Olympic record. Kiviat and Taber both clocked 3,56.9, and the photo had to be reviewed before officials handed the silver to Kiviat, at the time, it was widely acclaimed as being the greatest race ever run. Aged 21, Jackson was the youngest ever Olympic 1500 m gold medalist until Asbel Kiprop in 2008, aged 19. He went over to France with the battalion and was with them until promoted lieutenant colonel in May 1918, in December 1914, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant. On 1 July 1916, he was promoted to captain and he was made an acting major by the time of his first DSO on 4 June 1917, and in August 1917, acting lieutenant colonel. He was made a lieutenant colonel in May 1918
38.
Douglas Kendrew
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Kendrew was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England on 22 July 1910, he was the elder son of Alexander John Kendrew, and was educated at Uppingham School. He married in 1936 Nora Elizabeth Harvey, of Malin Hall, County Donegal, the couple had a son and his daughter Marcia subsequently married Colonel Richard Abel Smith, the son of Sir Henry Abel Smith, a Governor of Queensland. Kendrew played rugby union for England 10 times and was captain of the team in 1935 and he was a member of the 1930 British Lions tour of Australasia but did not represent the Lions in any of the test matches. He captained the Army Rugby Union team in the Army Navy Match against the Royal Navy winning 11–8, Kendrew joined Uppingham School Officer Training Corps, and attained the rank of Cadet Under Officer. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant with the Leicestershire Regiment Supplementary Reserve of Officers on 18 January 1930 and he was promoted to lieutenant in 1934, captain in 1939 and major in 1946. From November 1936 until December 1938 he served as Assistant Instructor and Instructor at the Tank Driving, Kendrew was then an Instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst until 1 September 1939. During World War II, Kendrew served in North Africa and Italy as a Brigade Major from 1942, from 12 February 1943 until 18 March 1943 he was a General Staff Officer, 2nd grade at British First Army headquarters in Tunisia. His leadership and bravery saw the distinction of him being awarded the Distinguished Service Order three times during this period, after the war, from June until November 1946, he was General Staff Officer, 1st grade at Central Mediterranean Forces headquarters. Kendrew had been appointed several times as acting and temporary lieutenant colonel, colonel and brigadier from March 1943 and he was appointed to the Adjutant Generals and Quartermaster Generals Staff, Northern Ireland District in October 1950 and served there until 27 September 1952. During the Korean War, as a brigadier, Kendrew commanded the British 29th Infantry Brigade, Commonwealth Division. In 1954 and 1955 he served at the Imperial Defence College and he was Brigadier A/Q at the Adjutant Generals & Quartermaster Generals Staff at Headquarters Northern Command from 10 March 1955 until 28 September 1956. In September 1958 he survived an attempt by EOKA fighters which killed one of his escorts. During his time in Cyprus, Kendrews permanent rank was advanced to brigadier on 19 April 1957, for two years from December 1958, Kendrew was Director of Infantry at the War Office in London. He was the Director of Information at the War Office from 1959 to 1960 and he retired from the Army on 1 September 1963. Kendrew was appointed Governor of Western Australia on 23 September 1963 and he was so well-liked that his term was extended twice. He was Honorary Colonel of the Special Air Service Regiment, RWAR Australia in 1965, President of the Knights of the Round Table, Commissioner, Royal Hospital, Sir Douglas Kendrew died on 28 February 1989 at Islip, Northamptonshire. The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia
39.
Frederick Lumsden
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Brigadier General Frederick William Lumsden VC, CB, DSO & Three Bars was a British officer in Royal Marine Artillery and later the General Staff, during the First World War. Amongst his decorations was the Victoria Cross, the most prestigious available to British or Commonwealth troops. He was also the first of seven British officers to be awarded the DSO four times in the First World War, Frederick William Lumsden was born into a military family in Faizabad, India on 14 December 1872. His father, James Foot Lumsden, worked in the Indian Civil Service, at a young age he returned to Britain and attended Bristol Grammar School. Lumsden joined the Royal Marine Artillery as a officer in 1890. He served in the Marine Service until 1907, spending time in the Mediterranean and he entered the Staff College, qualifying in 1908. He then became the staff officer at Singapore, and was promoted to the rank of major in 1913. He returned home for war service in the leading up to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. He served in France with the Royal Marine howitzer brigade in France until 1915 and was seconded to serve in staff appointments with the British Army. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general to command the 14th Infantry Brigade in April 1917. On 1 January 1917, Major Lumsden was awarded his first Distinguished Service Order for distinguished service in the field, the first and second bars to his DSO were gazetted together in May 1917, and was the first person to receive a third bar in April 1918. On 8 June 1917, the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Major Lumsden was approved and this was for actions that took place between 3 and 4 April 1917 in Francilly, France. The citation in the London Gazette reads as follows, Maj. Frederick William Lumsden, for most conspicuous bravery, determination and devotion to duty. Six enemy field guns having been captured, it was necessary to them in dug-in positions,300 yards in advance of the position held by our troops. The enemy kept the guns under heavy fire. Maj. Lumsden undertook the duty of bringing the guns into our lines, in order to effect this, he personally led four artillery teams and a party of infantry through the hostile barrage. As one of these teams sustained casualties, he left the teams in a covered position. By force of example and inspiring energy he succeeded in sending two teams with guns, going through the barrage with the teams of the third gun
40.
Paddy Mayne
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During the course of the Second World War he became one of the British Armys most highly decorated soldiers. He was controversially denied a Victoria Cross, Robert Blair Paddy Mayne was born in Newtownard, County Down, the sixth of seven children in a Protestant family. The Maynes were prominent landowners who owned several businesses in the town. He was named Robert Blair after a cousin, who at the time of his birth was a British Army officer serving in the First World War. The family home, Mount Pleasant, is situated on the hills above Newtownards, a paternal ancestor was Gordon Turnbull, who led the famous Scotland Forever Charge at Waterloo. While growing up, his best friend was Sam Crockard, who lived in a farm just up the road at the foot of Scrabo Tower and ran up the hill each day to deliver milk to the women who lived there. Sam also shared Paddys passion for learning and rugby, going on to Regent House with Paddy and he attended Regent House Grammar School. It was there that his talent for rugby union became evident, while at school he also played cricket and golf, and showed aptitude as a marksman in the rifle club. On leaving school he studied law at Queens University of Belfast, while at university he took up boxing, becoming Irish Universities Heavyweight Champion in August 1936. He followed this by reaching the final of the British Universities Heavyweight Championship, with a handicap of 8, he won the Scrabo Golf Club Presidents Cup the next year. While at university Mayne was a cadet with the Queens University, Belfast Contingent. Maynes first full Ireland cap also came in 1937, in a match against Wales, after gaining five more caps for Ireland as a lock forward, Mayne was selected for the 1938 British Lions tour to South Africa. While the Lions lost the first test, a South African newspaper stated Mayne was outstanding in a pack which gamely and untiringly stood up to the tremendous task and he played in seventeen of the twenty provincial matches and in all three tests. On returning from South Africa, he joined Malone RFC in Belfast, in early 1939 he graduated from Queens and joined George Maclaine & Co in Belfast, having been articled to TCG Mackintosh for the five previous years. His legal and sporting careers were cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War, when the battery was assigned to 9th Anti-Aircraft Regiment for overseas service, Mayne was transferred out to 66th Light AA Regiment in Northern Ireland. Then, in April 1940, he was transferred again, this time to the Royal Ulster Rifles, following Churchills call to form a butcher and bolt raiding force following the evacuation of Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed No.11 Commando. He first saw action in June 1941 as a lieutenant with 11 Commando during the Syria–Lebanon Campaign, Mayne successfully led his men during the Litani River operation in Lebanon against Vichy French Forces. His leadership on the raid had attracted the attention of Captain David Stirling who recruited him as one of the members of the Special Air Service
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