1.
Order of the Bath
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The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for appointing a knight. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath, George I erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order. Prior to 1815, the order had only a class, Knight Companion. Recipients of the Order are now usually senior officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the Queen and foreign nationals may be made Honorary Members, in the Middle Ages, knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the taking a bath during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry, clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel where he spent the night in a vigil. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until it was fully daylight, in the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661. From at least 1625, and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria iuncta in uno, and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval. These were both adopted by the Order of the Bath, a similar design of badge is still worn by members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not entirely clear, the three joined in one may be a reference to the kingdoms of England, Scotland and either France or Ireland, which were held by English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge, another explanation of the motto is that it refers to the Holy Trinity. The prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, the Court remained the centre of the political world. The King was limited in that he had to choose Ministers who could command a majority in Parliament, the leader of an administration still had to command the Kings personal confidence and approval. A strong following in Parliament depended on being able to supply places, pensions, the attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political position
2.
Order of Merit
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The Order of Merit is an order of merit recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. While all members are awarded the right to use the post-nominal letters OM and a medallion for life, however, Sir Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. From its inception, the order has been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, several individuals have refused admission into the Order of Merit, such as Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Housman, and George Bernard Shaw. To date, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, remains the youngest person inducted into the Order of Merit, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968. All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are eligible for appointment to the Order of Merit, since 1991, it has been required that the insignia be returned upon the recipients death. However, it has been claimed by Stanley Martin, in his book The Order of Merit 1902–2002, One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour, that the Order of Merit is the pinnacle of the British honours system. Some orders of precedence are as follows, Martin, Stanley, The Order of Merit, One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour, New York City, I. B
3.
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
4.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé
5.
Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso
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Born in Chelsea, London, Sinclair was the son of a Scottish father and an American mother. He was the great-great-grandson of Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet, in 1912, he succeeded his grandfather, Sir John Sinclair, 3rd Baronet, as fourth Baronet, of Ulbster. Educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Sinclair served on the Western Front during the First World War and rose to the rank of Major in the Guards Machine Gun Regiment. They formed a friendship, which would become a significant political alliance in later decades. His constituency was the largest, in terms of area, in the United Kingdom and he rose through the Liberal ranks as the party shrank in Parliament, becoming Chief Whip by 1930. In 1931, the Liberal Party joined the National Government of Ramsay MacDonald and he was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time. In 1932, he, together with other Liberal ministers, resigned from the government in protest at the Ottawa Conference introducing a series of tariff agreements, Sinclair and the Liberal leader, Sir Herbert Samuel, were thus the last Liberal politicians to sit in the Cabinet until 2010. In the 1935 general election, Samuel lost his seat, Sinclair became the partys leader at the head of only 20 MPs. When Churchill formed an all-party coalition government in 1940, Sinclair became Secretary of State for Air, however, he did not sit in the small War Cabinet but was invited to attend meetings discussing any political matter. As Secretary for Air, his first task was to work with the RAF in planning the Battle of Britain, towards the end of the war he found himself at odds with Churchill, arguing against Bomber Harriss strategy for the Bombing of Dresden. He remained a minister until May 1945 when the coalition ended, in the 1945 general election, he narrowly lost his seat. His margin of defeat is one of the tightest on record, he came third, Sinclair awaited the imminent by-election, which never materialised. At the 1950 general election, Sinclair again stood for his old seat and moved to second place, in 1952, the year of his first stroke, he accepted elevation to the House of Lords as Viscount Thurso, of Ulbster in the County of Caithness. Sinclair married Marigold, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Stewart Forbes, in 1918 and they had four children, the Hon. Catherine, the Hon. Elizabeth, Robin, and the Hon. Angus. Sinclair was one of the largest landowners in the United Kingdom and he was handsome and charming and regarded as a daredevil, but in private life he was rather shy, reserved and antisocial, with a slight speech impediment. In the 1990s, his grandson, John Sinclair, entered politics and sat from 2001 to 2015 as the Liberal Democrat MP for his grandfathers seat, Caithness, Sutherland, sinclairs granddaughter, Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater of Butterstone, has also become a Liberal Democrat politician. 1890-1912, Mr Archibald Sinclair 1912-1922, Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt 1922, Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt CMG 1922-1931, Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt CMG MP 1931-1941, Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt CMG MP 1941-1945, The Rt Hon. Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt KT CMG MP 1945-1952, The Rt Hon, Sir Archibald Sinclair Bt KT CMG 1952-1970, The Rt Hon
6.
David Lloyd George
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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government, during and he was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers. He made an impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader. Furthermore, in foreign affairs he played a role in winning the First World War, redrawing the map of Europe at the peace conference. His main political problem was that he was not loyal to his Liberal party—he was always a political maverick, while he was Prime Minister he favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal party as a hopeless minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He gave weak support to the Second World War amidst fears that he was favourable toward Germany, Lloyd George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, to Welsh parents, and was brought up as a Welsh-speaker. He is so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and his father, William George, had been a teacher in both London and Liverpool. He also taught in the Hope Street Sunday Schools, which were administered by the Unitarians, in March of the same year, on account of his failing health, William George returned with his family to his native Pembrokeshire. He took up farming but died in June 1864 of pneumonia, Lloyd George was educated at the local Anglican school Llanystumdwy National School and later under tutors. He added his uncles surname to become Lloyd George and his surname is usually given as Lloyd George and sometimes as George. The influence of his childhood showed through in his entire career, brought up a devout evangelical, as a young man he suddenly lost his religious faith. Biographer Don Cregier says he became a Deist and perhaps an agnostic, though he remained a chapel-goer and he kept quiet about that, however, and was hailed as one of the foremost fighting leaders of a fanatical Welsh Nonconformity. It was also during this period of his life that Lloyd George first became interested in the issue of land ownership, by the age of twenty-one, he had already read and taken notes on Henry Georges Progress and Poverty. This strongly influenced Lloyd Georges politics later in life through the Peoples Budget which heavily drew on the georgist tax reform ideas, the practice flourished, and he established branch offices in surrounding towns, taking his brother William into partnership in 1887. Although many Prime Ministers have been barristers, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office, by then he was politically active, having campaigned for the Liberal Party in the 1885 election, attracted by Joseph Chamberlains unauthorised programme of reforms. The election resulted firstly in a stalemate with neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives having a majority, William Gladstones proposal to bring about Irish Home Rule split the party, with Chamberlain eventually leading the breakaway Liberal Unionists
7.
Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer
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Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE was a senior British Army officer of the First World War. He joined his regiment in India and became adjutant of his battalion on 29 April 1879, promoted to captain on 29 May 1882, he accompanied his battalion to the Sudan in 1884 as part of the Nile Expedition. Plumer was present at the battle of El Teb in February 1884 and the battle of Tamai in March 1884 and he spent from 1886 to 1887 attending the Staff College, Camberley, before being appointed Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in Jersey on 7 May 1890. He became deputy assistant adjutant-general at Aldershot with promotion to lieutenant colonel on 8 May 1897. He was promoted to colonel on 29 November 1900 and was given command of a mixed force which captured General Christiaan de Wets wagon train at Hamelfontein in February 1901. Plumer arrived back in the United Kingdom in April 1902, few officers have rendered better service. Promoted to major general on 22 August 1902, he was appointed Commander of the 4th Brigade within I Army Corps later the same year and he became General Officer Commanding 10th Division within IV Army Corps and General Officer Commanding Eastern District in December 1903. He became Quartermaster-General to the Forces in February 1904, General Officer Commanding 7th Division in April 1906, promoted to lieutenant general on 4 November 1908, he went on to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in November 1911. Plumer was sent to France in February 1915 and given command of V Corps which he led at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. He took command of the Second Army in May 1915 and, having promoted to full general on 11 June 1915. The battle started with the explosion of a series of mines placed by the Royal Engineers tunnelling companies beneath German lines. The detonation created 19 large craters and was described as the loudest explosion in human history, after the mines were fired, Plumers soldiers left their trenches and advanced 3,000 yards. In November 1917 Plumer was given command of the British Expeditionary Force sent to the Italian Front after the disaster at Caporetto. Early in 1918, Plumer was sought by Lloyd George for the position of Chief of the Imperial General Staff as a replacement for William Robertson, Plumer instead commanded Second Army during the final stages of the war, during the German Spring Offensive and the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. Plumer became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the British Army of the Rhine in December 1918 and he was promoted to field marshal on 31 July 1919 and was created Baron Plumer of Messines and of Bilton on 18 October 1919. In October 1925 he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine and he resisted Arab pressure to reverse commitments made by the British in the Balfour Declaration and dealt firmly with both the Zionists and the Arab Nationalists. On 24 July 1927 he conducted the ceremony for the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres in Belgium. Plumer was created Viscount Plumer for his long and distinguished services on 3 June 1929
8.
Home Secretary
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The office is a British Cabinet level position. The Home Secretary is responsible for the affairs of England and Wales. The remit of the Home Office also includes policing in England and Wales and matters of security, as the Security Service. The current Home Secretary is Amber Rudd, appointed formally by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her Prime Minister Theresa May on 13 July 2016. Mrs. May had been the incumbent, appointed on 12 May 2010 by Prime Minister, David Cameron. May was reappointed by Cameron on 8 May 2015 to serve as Home Secretary in the Conservative government and she stood down from this role on 13 July 2016 upon assuming the office of Prime Minister, succeeding Cameron
9.
Ramsay MacDonald
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Historians credit MacDonald, along with Keir Hardie and Arthur Henderson, as one of the three principal founders of the Labour Party. His speeches, pamphlets and books him an important theoretician. He entered Parliament in 1906 and was the Chairman of the Labour MPs from 1911 to 1914 and he was widely denounced for his opposition to the First World War, and he lost his seat in 1918. The antiwar mood of the 1920s led to his rehabilitation in the 1920s and he returned to Parliament in 1922, the first Labour government—formed with Liberal support—in 1924 lasted only nine months but demonstrated that the Labour Party was sufficiently competent to run a government. In 1931, MacDonald formed a National Government in which two of his Labour colleagues agreed to serve. His majority came from the Conservatives and he abandoned the gold standard and called a general election in 1931 seeking a doctors mandate to do whatever was necessary to fix the economy. MacDonalds National coalition won a landslide and the Labour Party was reduced to a rump of around 50 seats in the House of Commons. Nevertheless budget pressures, and a strong popular pacifist sentiment, forced a reduction in the military and his health rapidly deteriorated and he became increasingly ineffective as a leader. He stood down as Prime Minister in 1935, losing his seat at the election that autumn. He remained in the Cabinet as Lord President of the Council until retiring from the government in 1937 and dying, still an MP, later that year. Since 1931 MacDonald has been denounced by Labour supporters as a traitor to their cause. Since the late 1970s historians have defended his reputation, emphasising his role in building up the Labour Party. MacDonald was born at Gregory Place, Lossiemouth, Morayshire, Scotland, the son of John MacDonald, a farm labourer, and Anne Ramsay. Although registered at birth as James McDonald Ramsay, he was known as Jaimie MacDonald and his mother had worked as a domestic servant at Claydale farm, near Alves, where her future husband was also employed. Ramsay MacDonald received an education at the Free Church of Scotland school in Lossiemouth from 1872 to 1875. He left school at the end of the term in 1881, at the age of 15. In December 1881 he was appointed as a teacher at Drainie parish school. In 1885 he left to take up a position as an assistant to Mordaunt Crofton and it was in Bristol that Ramsay MacDonald joined the Democratic Federation, a Radical sect
10.
J. R. Clynes
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John Robert Clynes PC was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament for 35 years, and as Leader of the Labour Party and he was the first Englishman to serve as leader of the Labour Party. The son of a labourer named Patrick Clynes, he was born in Oldham, Lancashire, at the age of 16, he wrote a series of articles about child labour in the textile industry, and a year later he helped form the Piercers Union. He was mainly self-educated, although he went to school after his days work in the mill. His first book was a dictionary and then, by careful saving of coppers, he bought a Bible, Shakespeares plays, later in life, he would amaze colleagues in meetings and in parliamentary debates by quoting verbatim from the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton and Ruskin. He married Mary Elizabeth Harper, a worker, in 1893. In 1892, Clynes became an organiser for the Lancashire Gasworkers Union, having joined the Independent Labour Party, he attended the 1900 conference where the Labour Representation Committee was formed, this committee soon afterwards became the Labour Party. Clynes stood for the new party in the 1906 general election and was elected to Parliament for Manchester North East, in 1910, he became the partys deputy chairman. The next year, he was appointed Minister of Food Control and, at the 1918 general election, Clynes became leader of the party in 1921 and led it through its major breakthrough in the 1922 general election. Before that election, Labour only had 52 seats in parliament but, as a result of the election, MacDonald had resigned as Labour leader in 1914, due to his wartime pacifism, and at the 1918 general election, he lost his seat. He did not return to the House of Commons for another four years, by that stage, MacDonalds pacifism had been forgiven. When the occupant of the Labour leadership had to be decided on through a vote of Labour parliamentarians, when MacDonald became Prime Minister he made Clynes the partys leader in the Commons until the government was defeated in 1924. During the second MacDonald government of 1929–1931, Clynes served as Home Secretary, Clynes had then been immortalised by the scathing criticism of his concept of the right to asylum, voiced by Trotsky in the last chapter of his autobiography My Life entitled The planet without visa. In 1931, Clynes sided with Arthur Henderson and George Lansbury, Clynes split with MacDonald when the latter left Labour to form a National Government. In the 1931 election, Clynes was one of the casualties, nevertheless, he regained this constituency in 1935, and then remained in the House of Commons until his retirement ten years later, at the 1945 general election. After retiring, Clynes was living in straitened circumstances, with no other income than trade union pension of £6 per week. This pension debarred him from the Commons Ex-Members Fund, doctors and nursing fees in respect of his invalid wife had hit him heavily. MPs opened a fund to help and raised about £1.000, thus, after a lifetime spent in advancing the material conditions of the people, he died in relative poverty in October 1949
11.
Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet
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Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet, GCVO, DSO, TD, PC, JP, DL, was a Scottish Unionist politician. He notably served as Home Secretary from 1932 to 1935, Gilmour was the son of Sir John Gilmour, 1st Baronet, chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party, who was created a baronet in 1897. His mother was Henrietta, daughter of David Gilmour and he was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, the University of Edinburgh and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Gilmour was a lieutenant in the Fifeshire Volunteer Light Horse, and was among the officers of the Fife and he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Imperial Yeomanry on 7 February 1900, and served in South Africa with the 20th Company of the 6th Battalion. For his service, he was awarded the Queens medal with 4 clasps and was mentioned in despatches. His letters from the Boer War were published in 1996 under the title Clearly My Duty by his son, Sir John Gilmour and he again served in World War I with the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, where he was again mentioned in despatches and awarded the DSO with bar. His service after the war saw him rise to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel when he commanded the Fife, on 8 May 1931 he was made the Honorary Colonel of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry. He unsuccessfully contested East Fife in 1906 and was elected as Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire from 1910–1918 and he was a Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1921-1922, Scottish Unionist Whip from 1919–1922 and in 1924. He was appointed as Secretary for Scotland in 1924, and became the first Secretary of State for Scotland when the post was upgraded in 1926. A member of the Orange Order, Gilmour, as Secretary for Scotland, repudiated the Church of Scotlands report, later in his career he served as Minister of Shipping during the early months of the Second World War but died in office in 1940. Gilmour was Master of the Fife Fox Hounds, 1902–1906 and a Member of Fife County Council 1901-1910 and he was a Brigadier with the Royal Company of Archers. He was made Vice-Lieutenant for the County of Fife on 27 March 1936, Gilmour first married Mary Louise Lambert, daughter of Edward Tiley Lambert, on 9 April 1902 at St. Mary´s church, Battle, Sussex. After her death in 1919 he married secondly his first wifes sister, Violet Agnes, in 1920. Gilmour died of an attack in London on 30 March 1940, aged 63, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son from his first marriage, John. His daughter from his first marriage, Dame Anne Margaret Bryans worked for the British Red Cross and his great-nephew, George Younger, was also a Conservative MP and served as Scottish Secretary from 1979-1986
12.
H. H. Asquith
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He had a central role in the design and passage of major liberal legislation. In August 1914, Asquith took the United Kingdom into the First World War, Asquiths father owned a small business but died when Asquith was seven. Asquith was educated at City of London School and Balliol College and he trained as a barrister and after a slow start to his career achieved great success. In 1886, he was adopted as Liberal candidate for East Fife, in 1892, he was appointed as Home Secretary in Gladstones fourth ministry, remaining in the post until the Liberals lost the 1895 election. In 1908, Asquith succeeded him as minister, with David Lloyd George as chancellor. With their first majority government since the 1880s, the Liberals were determined to advance their agenda, an impediment to this was the unelected House of Lords, dominated by the Conservatives. When Lloyd George proposed, and the House of Commons passed, the Peoples Budget of 1909, meanwhile the South Africa Act 1909 passed. Asquith called an election for January 1910, and the Liberals won, Asquith was less successful in dealing with Irish Home Rule. Repeated crises led to gun running and violence, verging on civil war, bitter rivalries inside and between the three major parties worsened when Asquith was unable to forge the coalition into a harmonious team. It was weakened by his own indecision over strategy, conscription, Lloyd George organised his overthrow and replaced him as Prime Minister in December 1916. Asquith remained as leader of the Liberal Party, but was unable to quell the internal conflict, the party rapidly declined in popularity and was ruined by the 1918 general election. Asquith accepted a peerage in 1925 and died, aged 75 and his roles in creating the modern British welfare state, 1906-1911 have been celebrated, but his weaknesses as a war leader and as a party leader after 1914 have been emphasised by historians. Asquith was born in Morley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the couple also had three daughters, of whom only one survived infancy. The Asquiths were an old Yorkshire family, with a long nonconformist tradition and it was a matter of family pride, shared by Asquith, that an ancestor, Joseph Asquith, was imprisoned for his part in the pro-Roundhead Farnley Wood Plot of 1664. Both Asquiths parents came from families associated with the Yorkshire wool trade, Dixon Asquith inherited the Gillroyd Mill Company, founded by his father. Emilys father, William Willans, ran a successful wool-trading business in Huddersfield, both families were middle-class, Congregationalist, and politically radical. Dixon was a man, cultivated and in his sons words not cut out for a business career. He was described as a man of character who held Bible classes for young men
13.
John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon
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John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon GCSI GCVO OBE PC was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second. He is one of three people to have served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He also served as Lord Chancellor, the most senior position in the British legal system, beginning his career as a Liberal, he joined the National Government in 1931, creating the Liberal National Party in the process. At the end of his career, he was essentially a Conservative, Simon was the son of Edwin Simon, a Congregational minister in Manchester, and Fanny Allsebrook. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and Wadham College, Oxford and he became a fellow of All Souls in 1897 and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1899. Simon became a lawyer and entered the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Walthamstow at the 1906 general election. While serving in Parliament, Simon spoke out strongly in support for David Lloyd Georges progressive Peoples Budget and he entered the Government in October 1910 as Solicitor-General, succeeding Rufus Isaacs, and was knighted later that month. He was promoted in October 1913 to Attorney-General, again succeeding Isaacs and he was the leader of the Cabinet rebels against Winston Churchills 1914 naval estimates and contemplated resigning in protest at the declaration of war in 1914 but in the end changed his mind. He proved his patriotism by serving briefly as an officer on Trenchards staff in the Royal Flying Corps, after Asquiths fall in late 1916, Simon remained in opposition as an Asquithian Liberal until he lost his seat, at the Coupon Election in 1918. In 1919, he attempted to return to Parliament at the Spen Valley by-election, unlike Lloyd George, Simon opposed the general strike in 1926. Simon spoke for Newfoundland in a dispute with Canada, before announcing his permanent retirement from the Bar. From 1927 to 1931 he chaired the Simon Commission on Indias constitution, in June 1931, before the formation of the National Government, Simon resigned the Liberal whip and was accused by Lloyd George of leaving the slime of hypocrisy as he crossed the floor. He attracted particular opprobrium for a speech in Geneva in December 1932 in which he failed to condemn Japanese actions explicitly, Simon then served as Home Secretary, during which time he passed the Public Order Act 1936, restricting the activities of Oswald Mosleys Blackshirts. Stanley Baldwin appointed Simon as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Neville Chamberlain, of whom he had become a close political ally. Simon was cursed with an unfortunately chilly manner, and from at least 1914 onwards and his awkward attempts to strike up friendships with his colleagues often fell flat. Neville Chamberlain wrote of Simon, I am always trying to like him, Harold Nicolson described him more pithily as a toad and a worm. In 1945, Churchill formed a brief Caretaker administration but once again excluded Simon from the Cabinet, after Churchills defeat in 1945, Simon never held office again. In 1951, Churchill did not offer him a return to the Woolsack, Simons portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery
14.
George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave
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George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave GCMG PC KC was a British lawyer and Conservative politician. He was Home Secretary under David Lloyd George from 1916 to 1919 and served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1922 to 1924 and again from 1924 to 1928. Cave was born in London, the son of Thomas Cave, Member of Parliament for Barnstaple and he was educated at the Merchant Taylors School, London and St Johns College, Oxford. After being called to the bar in 1880, he practised as a barrister for a number of years, being made Kings Counsel and recorder of Guildford in 1904. Having served as standing Counsel to the University of Oxford for two years as well as Attorney General to the Prince of Wales, in 1915 Cave was appointed Solicitor General and knighted. The following year, he was made Home Secretary in Lloyd Georges coalition government, as Home Secretary, he introduced the Representation of the People Act 1918 and he was very prominent in the debates in the House of Commons on the police strike of August 1918. In 1918, Sir George Cave was ennobled as Viscount Cave, the following year, he became a Lord of Appeal, and chaired a number of commissions, including the Southern Rhodesian commission and the Munitions Enquiry Tribunal. In 1922, he became Lord Chancellor in Bonar Laws government and he chaired the post war report that led to cuts to the minimum wages and regulation of collective bargaining, recommended by the Cave Committee in 1922. Asquith was deeply upset by the defeat, partly because he felt that Cave and he has been described, perhaps too harshly, as the least distinguished Lord Chancellor in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Lord Cave married Anne Estella Sarah Penfold Mathews, daughter of William Withey Mathews and sister of Sir Lloyd Mathews, Lord and Lady Cave had three sons and one daughter, although all of them died in infancy. Their names were Ralph Wallas, Lloyd George, Honor E and they are all buried at St. Marys in Richmond. Cave died in March 1928, aged 72, at St Anns, Burnham, Somerset, and was buried at Berrow in the same county. On the day of his death his resignation as Lord Chancellor had been accepted and it had announced that he would be created an earl. Having no children who lived to adulthood, the viscountcy became extinct on Lord Caves death, as did the earldom when his widow died in 1938
15.
Postmaster General of the United Kingdom
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The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster Generals right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs. This would subsequently extend to telecommunications and broadcasting, the office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969. A replacement public authority governed by a chairman was established under the name of the Post Office, in England, the monarchs letters to his subjects are known to have been carried by relays of couriers as long ago as the 15th century. The earliest mention of Master of the Posts is in the Kings Book of Payments where a payment of £100 was authorised for Tuke as master of the posts in February 1512. Belatedly, in 1517, he was appointed to the office of Governor of the Kings Posts. In 1609 it was decreed that letters could only be carried and delivered by persons authorised by the Postmaster General, in 1657 an Act entitled Postage of England, Scotland and Ireland Settled set up a system for the British Isles and enacted the position of Postmaster General. The Act also reasserted the postal monopoly for letter delivery and for post horses, after the Restoration in 1660, a further Act confirmed this and the post of Postmaster-General, the previous Cromwellian Act being void. 1660 saw the establishment of the General Letter Office, which would become the General Post Office. A similar position evolved in the Kingdom of Scotland prior to the 1707 Act of Union, the office was abolished in 1969 by the Post Office Act 1969. A new public authority governed by a chairman was established under the name of the Post Office, from 1691 to 1823 there were two Postmasters General, to divide the patronage between the Whigs and Tories. In 1823 the idea of a Whig and a Tory sharing the post was abolished
16.
Charles Hobhouse
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Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, TD, PC, JP was a British Liberal politician. He was a member of the Liberal cabinet of H. H. Asquith between 1911 and 1915. The eldest son of Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse, 3rd Baronet, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, Hobhouses first attempt to get elected was at North Buckinghamshire. He was Liberal Member of Parliament for Devizes between 1892 and 1895 and for Bristol East between 1900 and 1918 and he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Colonial Office from 1892 to 1895 and a Church Estates Commissioner from 1906 to 1907. He was a member of Asquiths cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1911 and 1914 and as Postmaster-General between 1914 and 1915, in 1909 he was sworn of the Privy Council. Apart from his career in national politics Hobhouse was a County Alderman for Wiltshire from 1893 to 1924 and he succeeded his father as fourth Baronet in 1916. At the Coupon election in 1918 he lost his seat, as did Asquith, McKenna, Runciman, Simon, Samuel, in 1922 Hobhouse chose to stand in North Buckinghamshire but was swept aside by both Conservative and Labour party candidates. As most Liberals found their party and principles were in retreat, Hobhouse, long associated with Bristol was appointed President of the Western Counties Liberal Federation from 1924 to 1935 and President of the National Liberal Federation from 1926 to 1930. Sir Charles Hobhouses wife, Lady Nina died in 1927 and he married again to Aimee Gladys Brendon. They lived at Monkton Farleigh until he died on 26 June 1941, under-Secretary of State for India Financial Secretary to the Treasury Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Postmaster General Primary Sources David, Edward, ed. Inside Asquiths Cabinet, from the Diaries of Charles Hobhouse, secndary Sources Craig, F. W. S. Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bt
17.
Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford
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Joseph Albert Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford PC, DL, JP, known as Jack Pease before 1917, was a British businessman and conservative Liberal politician. He was a member of H. H. Asquiths Liberal cabinet between 1910 and 1916 and also served as Chairman of the BBC between 1922 and 1926. Pease was born in Darlington, County Durham, the second and youngest son of Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet, of Hutton Hall, Guisborough, and Mary, daughter of Alfred Fox. He was the brother of Sir Alfred Pease, 2nd Baronet, the nephew of Arthur Pease and the first cousin of Sir Arthur Pease, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Grove House, Tottenham, a Quaker school, Pease served as Mayor of Darlington from 1889 to 1890. He was private secretary to John Morley, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, when the Liberals came to power in 1905 under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Pease was appointed a Junior Lord of the Treasury. After H. H. Asquith became Prime Minister in 1908 he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, in 1917 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Gainford, of Headlam in the County of Durham. In 1922 he was appointed Chairman of the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, a post he held until 1926, from 1927 to 1928 he was President of Federation of British Industry. Lord Gainford married Ethel, daughter of Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, 1st Baronet and they had one son, Joseph, and two daughters, Miriam and Faith. Lady Gainford died in October 1941, Lord Gainford survived her by two years and died in February 1943, aged 83. He was succeeded in the barony by his son, Joseph, the family seat was Headlam Hall, Co Durham. List of political families in the United Kingdom Joseph Albert Pease, by Cameron Hazlehurst in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Jack Pease
18.
Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
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Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton GCMG PC was a radical British Liberal politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Buxton was the son of Charles Buxton and grandson of social reformer Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and his mother was Emily Mary, daughter of the physician and traveller Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet. He was born in London and educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1880, Buxton became prominent in political circles by the publication of his Handbook to the Political Questions of the Day, a work which eventually went through 11 editions. That same year, he ran for Parliament for Boston, however, he became an MP in 1883 by winning a by-election in Peterborough. He was defeated in the 1885 general election, but returned to Parliament the very next year and he would represent this constituency in Parliament until 1914. From 1892-95, Buxton served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1905, he earned his first Cabinet post, that of Postmaster-General. In this capacity he introduced such services as penny postage to the United States, the Canadian magazine post, in 1910, Buxton was named President of the Board of Trade, in this position he oversaw the passage or amendment of many trade and commerce laws. Upon the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, he asked Lord Loreburn and this commission eventually came to be headed by Lord Mersey. In February 1914, Buxton was appointed Governor-General of South Africa, thereafter, Buxton and Botha formed an effective partnership, planning and executing South African actions in the war, including the invasion of the neighbouring German colony of South West Africa. Buxton travelled widely throughout South Africa, and endeared himself to the people, upon his retirement in 1920, the people demonstrated their affection for him. He continued his interest in South African affairs after returning to England and he was created Earl Buxton in 1920, and continued to be a member of the Liberal Party, often supporting his close friend and colleague Sir Edward Grey. In his later years, he had to undergo amputation of his leg due to an injury sustained earlier in his life. He died at Newtimber on 15 October 1934, Buxton was twice married, firstly in 1882 to Hon. By his first wife, he had two sons and one daughter, of whom the sons died in his lifetime. By his second wife, he had one son and two daughters, of whom the son and the daughter died in his lifetime. By his first wife Hon. Constance Mary Lubbock, Charles Sydney Buxton, the elder son Charles Sydney Buxton, the only surviving son by his first wife Constance, proposed marriage to Octavia Wilberforce, a descendant of the reformer, but she refused him. Kenneth Sydney Buxton, died in childhood, aged seven, Lady Phyllis Sydney Buxton, later Lady Phyllis Ponsonby OBE, married 23 September 1918 Rev. She died aged 25, shortly after the birth of her third child, after her death, her husband remarried
19.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Chancellor is answerable to Parliament for the governance of the Duchy, however, the involvement of the Chancellor in the running of the day-to-day affairs of the Duchy is slight, and the office is held by a senior politician whose main role is usually quite different. The position is held by Patrick McLoughlin. The position has often given to a junior Cabinet minister with responsibilities in a particular area of policy for which there is no department with an appropriate portfolio. In 1491, the office of Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster was created, in recent times, the Chancellors duties have been said to occupy an average of one day a week. Under the Promissory Oaths Act 1868, the Chancellor is required to take the oath of allegiance, the Office of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is part of the Cabinet Office. From 1997 until 2009, the holder of the title served as the Minister for the Cabinet Office. This was true of Alan Milburn, who was given the title by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, however, in the reshuffle of 5 June 2009, the Chancellorship went to the Leader of the House of Lords, the Baroness Royall. In David Camerons first cabinet, announced on 12 May 2010, the position is currently held by Patrick McLoughlin, who is also Chairman of the Conservative Party, following Theresa Mays appointment as Prime Minister. The last holder of the post was Oliver Letwin, having been appointed in July 2014 when he was also Minister for Government Policy, following the 2015 general election, he was also given overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office and made a full member of the Cabinet. He has also been the Member of Parliament for West Dorset since 1997, list of Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster County Palatine of Lancaster
20.
Winston Churchill
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PC DL FRS RA was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall, in 1963, he was the first of only eight people to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Churchill was born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough and his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a charismatic politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his mother, Jennie Jerome, was an American socialite. As a young officer, he saw action in British India, the Anglo–Sudan War. He gained fame as a war correspondent and wrote books about his campaigns, at the forefront of politics for fifty years, he held many political and cabinet positions. Before the First World War, he served as President of the Board of Trade, Home Secretary, during the war, he continued as First Lord of the Admiralty until the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign caused his departure from government. He then briefly resumed active service on the Western Front as commander of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and he led Britain as Prime Minister until victory over Nazi Germany had been secured. After the Conservative Party suffered a defeat in the 1945 general election. He publicly warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet influence in Europe, after winning the 1951 election, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His second term was preoccupied by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building. Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955. Upon his death aged ninety in 1965, Elizabeth II granted him the honour of a state funeral and his highly complex legacy continues to stimulate intense debate amongst writers and historians. Born into the family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the noble Spencer family, Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, like his father. His ancestor George Spencer had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in 1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to highlight his descent from John Churchill, Churchill was born on 30 November 1874, two months prematurely, in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy, Churchills brother, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, was born during this time in Ireland
21.
Edwin Samuel Montagu
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Edwin Samuel Montagu PC was a British Liberal politician who served as Secretary of State for India between 1917 and 1922. Montagu was a radical Liberal and the second Jew to serve in the British cabinet, Montagu was the second son and sixth child of Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling, by his wife Ellen, daughter of Louis Cohen. He was educated at Clifton College, the City of London School, University College London, at Cambridge, he was the first student president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club from 1902 to 1903. In 1902, he was president of the Cambridge Union. Montagu was elected Member of Parliament for Chesterton in 1906, a seat he held until 1918, in 1915 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In 1916 he was promoted to Minister of Munitions, Montagu was a friend of Asquith, Gertrude Bell, Lord Lloyd, and Maurice Hankey, with whom he dined frequently. When Hankey was promoted to the newly created post of Cabinet Secretary, he recommended Montagu as Minister for National Service, instead he was initially left out of David Lloyd Georges coalition government in December 1916, but in August 1917 he was appointed Secretary of State for India. Montagu was not initially part of Lloyd Georges inner circle, when he became Prime Minister, Montagu led the Indian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he opposed plans for dividing Turkey. On this subject, at the Council of Four on 17 May 1919, he introduced representatives of Muslim India and he was primarily responsible for the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which led to the Government of India Act 1919, committing the British to the eventual evolution of India towards dominion status. Montagu was the third British Jew to enter the Cabinet, the circle of government. In a memo to the Cabinet, he outlined his views on Zionism thus, perhaps also citizenship must be granted only as a result of a religious test. He was opposed by his cousin Herbert Samuel, a moderate Zionist who became the first High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1912, Montagu accompanied the prime minister on holiday in Sicily. H. H. Asquith brought along his daughter Violet, and she in turn brought her friend Venetia Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley and it appears that during this holiday, both men fell in love with Stanley. During the next three years, Asquith wrote more and more frequently to her, even during Cabinet meetings, at the same time, Montagu was attempting to court her, unsuccessfully proposing marriage in 1913. She liked him but did not reciprocate his love, also, Montagu had to marry within his Jewish faith to keep his inheritance. Although Stanley was from a family and was not a devout Anglican. As a result, she finally accepted Montagus proposal on 28 April 1915 and she converted to Judaism, and the couple were wed on 26 July 1915. A2012 book argues that the marriage was one of convenience to cover both Montagus homosexuality and Venetias earlier affair with Asquith
22.
Edmond Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice
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Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice PC, styled Lord Edmond FitzMaurice from 1863 to 1906, was a British Liberal politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1883 to 1885 and again from 1905 to 1908, however, illness forced him to resign the following year. His elder brother was the statesman Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Fitzmaurice was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union in 1866. He was called to the Bar at Lincolns Inn in 1871 and he was appointed Commissioner at Constantinople in 1880, overseeing the reorganisation of the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire under the Berlin Treaty of 1878. However, his ambitious plans and ideas for the area were never implemented, the Calne constituency he had represented since 1868 was abolished in 1885, and he was instead chosen as the Liberal candidate for the Glasgow constituency of Blackfriars and Hutchesontown. However, illness forced Fitzmaurice into semi-retirement before the elections and he returned to public life in 1887 but was unsuccessful in his attempts to return to Parliament when he stood for Deptford in the 1892 general election and for Cricklade in the 1895 general election. However, in 1898 he was returned for Cricklade in a by-election. He was in fact offered the position of Foreign Secretary should Sir Edward Grey refuse it, Fitzmaurice chose not to stand in the 1906 General Election, and was instead raised to the peerage as Baron Fitzmaurice, of Leigh in the County of Wiltshire. He remained at the Foreign Office after Asquith became Prime Minister in April 1908 and was admitted to the Privy Council the same month, in October 1908 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with a seat in the Cabinet. Moreover, he was a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, Lord Fitzmaurice married Caroline FitzGerald, daughter of William John FitzGerald of Connecticut, in 1889. Their marriage was annulled in 1894 and produced no children and he died in June 1936, two days after his 89th birthday. The title became extinct on his death, portraits of Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice at the National Portrait Gallery, London Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Lord Fitzmaurice
23.
John Burns
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John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and he was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman. After retiring from politics, he developed an expertise in London history, when the Liberal cabinet made a decision for war on 2 August 1914, he resigned and played no further role in politics. Burns was born in Vauxhall, the son of Alexander Burns, a Scottish fitter and he then had a succession of jobs until he was fourteen years old and started a seven-year apprenticeship to an engineer at Millbank and continued his education at night-schools. He read extensively, especially the works of Robert Owen, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Paine and he was ruled out as a try hard. He began practising outdoor speaking, with the advantage of physical strength. In 1878, he was arrested and held overnight for addressing an open-air demonstration on Clapham Common and he worked at his trade in various parts of England, having joined the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1879. In 1881 he formed a branch of the Social Democratic Federation in Battersea and he worked on a ship, and went for a year to the West African coast at the mouth of the Niger as a foreman engineer for the United Africa Company. He disapproved of treatment of Africans and spent his earnings on a six months tour to study political and economic conditions in France, Germany and he stood for Parliament in the 1885 General Election at Nottingham West but was unsuccessful. He was arrested and later acquitted at the Old Bailey of charges of conspiracy and he was arrested again the following year on 13 November 1887 for resisting police attempts to break up an unlicensed meeting in Trafalgar Square. The demonstration ended in the Bloody Sunday clashes, Burns was imprisoned for six weeks, in August 1889, Burns played a major part in the London Dock Strike. By this time he had left the SDF and, with fellow socialist Tom Mann, was focusing on trade union activity as a leader of the New Unionist movement, with other London radicals such as Ben Tillett, Will Crooks and John Benn, Burns helped win the dispute. He was still working at his trade in Hoes printing machine works and was an member of the executive of the Amalgamated Engineers Union. In 1889, he became a Progressive member of the first London County Council in which he was supported by his constituents and he was connected with the Trades Union Congresses until 1895. In 1892, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Battersea as the candidate of the Battersea Liberal Association and he displayed fervent Parliamentary opposition to the Second Boer War. Burns became well known as an independent Radical, but while fellow socialist Keir Hardie argued for the formation of a new political party, in December 1905 Campbell-Bannerman included him in the cabinet as President of the Local Government Board, the second workingman to serve as a government minister. Burns remained proud of his working class roots, declaring to the Commons in a speech in 1901, whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Womens Enfranchisement Bill. He received praise for his policy and was retained in the government after H. H. Asquith became Prime Minister in 1908
24.
Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long
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Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long PC JP FRS was a British Unionist politician. He is also remembered for his links with Irish Unionism, Long was born at Bath, the eldest son of Richard Penruddocke Long, by his wife Charlotte Anna, daughter of William Wentworth FitzWilliam Dick. Richard Chaloner, 1st Baron Gisborough, was his younger brother, on his fathers side he was descended from an old family of Wiltshire gentry, and on his mothers side from Anglo-Irish gentry in County Wicklow. A young Walter lived at Dolforgan, Montgomeryshire, a property owned by his grandfather, whilst living there, his father inherited the Rood Ashton estate. Long went to Hilperton school, Amesbury, where he was disciplined by Edwin Meyrick. At Harrow, Walter was popular, proving a sporty captain of cricket and it was during his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, that his father had a mental breakdown, and two years later died in Feb 1875. Upon his fathers death, he took over management of the family properties and it was a stressful time, during which he was frequently summoned by his mother, and his younger brother also accumulated gathering debts. Long continued to box, ride and hunt, as well as play college cricket, afternoons spent with the Bicester, Heythrops, and South Oxfordshire hunts, were matched by the university Drag Hunt. His proficiency was reflected in the offer to become Master of the Vale of White Horse. On coming down from Oxford in 1877, he purchased a Coach, after a year in Wiltshire, he married Lady Boyle. Long was determined on a career in politics, campaigning at Marlborough in a traditional Liberal seat in 1879, but Sir George Jenkinson agreed to resign in North Wiltshire, where he was adopted by half a dozen country gentlemen. At the 1880 general election, Long was elected to parliament as a Conservative for North Wiltshire, a supporter of Lord Beaconsfield, empire, church and state, he was against extending education, but favoured bible teachings in schools. A two-member constituency North Wiltshire, he won the seat by more than 2000 votes. At the time Beaconsfield died on 19 April 1881, he was making a record of his days in the Commons, I rose somewhere about 8.30, the Liberal government was in trouble over Egypt and the Bradlaugh incident, and the Conservatives were internally divided. He hunted for the Beaufort Hounds, I selected as my time, midnight until, if necessary, eight in the morning. I used to leave London at 5.30 in the morning, providing the House was up, take the train down to Chippenham, have my hunt, I was at the House at midnight and I would stay there till it rose. He made his first speech on 26 July 1880 during the reading of the Compensation for Disturbances bill. Long won his seat with a majority of 95 votes at the Nov 1885 General Election
25.
Darwen (UK Parliament constituency)
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Darwen was a county constituency in Lancashire, centred on the town of Darwen. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election. During the 1920s, the constituency was a fiercely contested marginal between the Liberal and Conservative Parties, with the sitting MP defeated at each election, at the 1924 general election, it saw a 92. 7% turnout, a record for an English constituency. It was largely replaced by the new Rossendale & Darwen constituency, 1885-1918, The Municipal Boroughs of Blackburn and Over Darwen, the Sessional Divisions of Darwen and Walton-le-Dale, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Blackburn and Clitheroe. 1918-1950, The Municipal Borough of Darwen, the Urban District of Turton, 1950-1983, The Municipal Borough of Darwen, the Urban Districts of Turton and Withnell, and the Rural District of Blackburn. General Election 1914/15, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1915
26.
Cleveland (UK Parliament constituency)
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Cleveland was a county constituency in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the British House of Commons, all elections were conducted with a secret ballot, which had been introduced under the Ballot Act 1872. In 1948 it was redefined again to cover Eston, Guisborough, Loftus, Redcar, Saltburn and Marske by the Sea and Skelton and Brotton, the new boundaries were first used for the 1950 general election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election and it was replaced by the new Redcar and Cleveland & Whitby constituencies. General Election 1914/15, Another General Election was required to place before the end of 1915. Leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with C
27.
Sir Alfred Pease, 2nd Baronet
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Sir Alfred Edward Pease, 2nd Baronet, was a British Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1902 and who became a pioneer settler of British East Africa, now Kenya. Alfred Pease was a member of the family of Quaker industrialists and he was the elder son of Joseph W. Pease, 1st Bt and his wife Mary Fox. His younger and only brother, was to later in his own career, accept a peerage and become Joseph Albert Pease, Alfred was educated at Grove House School, Tottenham, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He began his career in the bank, J. & J. W. Pease. He held similar positions in Pease & Partners, whose subsidiary interests embraced collieries, Ironstone mines, limestone quarries, as well as iron manufacturing, in the course of his years, he served as managing director, Vice-Chairman and chairman of the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate. From 1885 until 1892 he was one of the two Liberal Members of Parliament returned for York, and then from 1897 until 1902 the Cleveland division of Yorkshire. With the failure of the business interests in 1902, he brought his political career to a close and amidst the wreckage sought out new opportunity. During this time he continued to write of his travels and experiences, and Travels and Sport in Africa. The Book of the Lion, and Memoir of Edmund Loder, in 1906, he leased more than 6,000 acres of prairie land in the Athi Plains region of British East Africa, southwest of present-day Nairobi. There he founded an ostrich-ranch and hunted the game which was at that time plentiful on Kenyas high plateaus. The Pease property, Kitanga near Machakos was situated close to the Uganda Railway, as a result, he is mentioned in many of the personal accounts of the period. In 1909 he became one of the members of the Shikar Club formed to promote the activity of hunting and shooting Big Game animals. Specimens from Sir Alfreds animal collections can be seen at the Dorman Museum, Sir Alfreds first cousin was Katherine Routledge, who visited him in Kenya in 1904. His first marriage in 1880, was to his first cousin, Helen Ann Fowler, third child of Sir Robert Fowler, the marriage produced two sons and a daughter. His second marriage, in 1912, was to Laure Marianne Sugnet de Montmagny and was childless and his last marriage, in 1922, was to Emily Elizabeth Smith and produced two more sons and two more daughters. Sir Alfreds second son, Captain Christopher York Pease, was a casualty of the First World War, as might be expected, he was serving in a firmly Yorkshire unit. A cousin of what would become the Daryngton branch, Lt. Ronald Herbert Pike Pease – serving in the Coldstream Guards, the Guards regiment for the North of England, had already been killed in 1916. The unit was now styled the 9th Bn. of the West Yorkshire Regiment and, as such, Captain Pease was older than the norm and was 39 years of age when he died, with a new-born son, Ingram, who then just 3 months old
28.
Toxteth
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Toxteth is an inner city area of Liverpool, England. Historically in Lancashire, Toxteth is located to the south of the city, Toxteth is bordered by Liverpool City Centre, Edge Hill, Wavertree, the district lies within the borders of the ancient township of Toxteth Park. Industry and commerce are confined to the docks on its western border, Toxteth is primarily residential, with a mixture of old terraced housing, post-World War II social housing and a legacy of large Victorian houses. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as Liverpool expanded the ancient park of Toxteth was gradually urbanised, large Georgian houses were built in the Canning area, followed in the Victorian era by more grand houses, especially along the tree-lined Princes Road/Avenue boulevard and around Princes Park. The district quickly became home to the slave merchants of Liverpool. Now, some of these streets of terraces are boarded up, two of the citys largest parks, Sefton Park and Princes Park, are located in or around Toxteth. Sefton Park was created by the Corporation of Liverpool in 1872, inspired partly by Birkenhead Park, across the River Mersey. Sefton Park has a large glass Palm House, which contains a statue of William Rathbone V unveiled in 1887, and originally had many features including an aviary. There is some ambiguity as to the origin of the name, one theory is that the etymology is Tokis landing-place. Before the time of the Norman Conquest, Toxteth was divided into two manors of equal size, one was owned by Bernulf and the other by Stainulf. After the conquest, part was granted by Count Roger of Poitou to the ancestor of the Earl of Sefton, from this time to about 1604, the land formed part of West Derby forest. In 1327, Toxteth was granted to Henry, Earl of Lancaster, over the years, various leases and grants were made and the park was owned by Adam, son of William de Liverpool, in 1338. In 1385, William de Liverpool had licence to take two cartloads of gorse weekly from the park for 12d, in 1383 a grant was made to William Bolton and Robert Baxter, in 1394 the lease was resigned and handed over to Richard de Molyneux. The park finally came into the hands of Sir Thomas Stanley in 1447, the parkland descended within the Stanley family until 1596, when it was sold by William Stanley, Earl of Derby, to Edmund Smolte and Edward Aspinwall. In 1604, the Earl sold it to Richard Molyneux of Sefton at a cost of £1,100, the estate descended from this time until 1972 with the death of the 7th Earl. The ancient township of Toxteth contains the village of Smeedon or Smithdown and it stretches over an area of three miles along the River Mersey and two miles inland, the highest point being on the corner of Smithdown Lane and Lodge Lane. A brook ran from the end of the area, near the boundary of Parliament Street. At some time in history the creeks were filled in, the Dingle is now in the area where the old northern creek was situated, and St Michaels Hamlet is situated around the southern creek
29.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
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Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
31.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
32.
Liberal Party (UK)
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The Liberal Party was a liberal political party which was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th century. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free-trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American, by the end of the nineteenth century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite splitting over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to power in 1906 with a landslide victory, by the end of the 1920s, the Labour Party had replaced the Liberals as the Conservatives main rival. The party went into decline and by the 1950s won no more than six seats at general elections, apart from notable by-election victories, the partys fortunes did not improve significantly until it formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic Party in 1981. At the 1983 General Election, the Alliance won over a quarter of the vote, at the 1987 General Election, its vote fell below 23% and the Liberal and Social Democratic parties merged in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats. A splinter group reconstituted the Liberal Party in 1989 and it was formed by party members opposed to the merger who saw the Lib Dems diluting Liberal ideals. Prominent intellectuals associated with the Liberal Party include the philosopher John Stuart Mill, the economist John Maynard Keynes, the Liberal Party grew out of the Whigs, who had their origins in an aristocratic faction in the reign of Charles II, and the early 19th century Radicals. The Whigs were in favour of reducing the power of the Crown, although their motives in this were originally to gain more power for themselves, the more idealistic Whigs gradually came to support an expansion of democracy for its own sake. The great figures of reformist Whiggery were Charles James Fox and his disciple, after decades in opposition, the Whigs returned to power under Grey in 1830 and carried the First Reform Act in 1832. The Reform Act was the climax of Whiggism, but it brought about the Whigs demise. As early as 1839 Russell had adopted the name of Liberals, the leading Radicals were John Bright and Richard Cobden, who represented the manufacturing towns which had gained representation under the Reform Act. They favoured social reform, personal liberty, reducing the powers of the Crown and the Church of England, avoidance of war and foreign alliances, for a century, free trade remained the one cause which could unite all Liberals. This allowed ministries led by Russell, Palmerston, and the Peelite Lord Aberdeen to hold office for most of the 1850s and 1860s, a leading Peelite was William Ewart Gladstone, who was a reforming Chancellor of the Exchequer in most of these governments. The formal foundation of the Liberal Party is traditionally traced to 1859 and this was brought about by Palmerstons death in 1865 and Russells retirement in 1868. After a brief Conservative government Gladstone won a victory at the 1868 election. The establishment of the party as a membership organisation came with the foundation of the National Liberal Federation in 1877. John Stuart Mill was a Liberal MP from 1865 to 1868, for the next thirty years Gladstone and Liberalism were synonymous. William Ewart Gladstone served as prime minister four times, called the Grand Old Man later in life, Gladstone was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to the working class and to the lower middle class
33.
Edwin Samuel, 2nd Viscount Samuel
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Edwin Herbert Samuel, 2nd Viscount Samuel CMG, was the son of Beatrice Franklin and Herbert Samuel, and the father of Professor David Samuel and Dan Judah Samuel, 4th Viscount Samuel. He served in the Jewish Legion and he also served as the last Mandate-era Director of the Palestine Broadcasting Service. He was educated at Westminster School and Balliol College, Oxford, in the spring of 1917 he joined the Royal Artillery and was posted to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. After the First World War he joined the Mandatory Government in Palestine, as a Viscount, he served as a peer in the House of Lords. There, one of his significant acts was to have the law forbade marriage between a woman and her brother-in-law repealed. His explicit intent was to allow a man to fulfill his responsibility under the biblical Judaic law of Levirate marriage and that Judaic Levirate law stated that when a womans husband dies, it was the explicit responsibility of her brother-in-law to marry her and take care of her. Edwin Samuel, A Lifetime in Jerusalem, the Memoirs of the Second Viscount Samuel
34.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
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Balliol College, Oxford
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Balliol College /ˈbeɪliəl/, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Among the colleges alumni are three former ministers, five Nobel laureates, and numerous literary and philosophical figures, including Adam Smith, Gerard Manley Hopkins. In 2012 Balliol had an endowment of £62. 5m, Balliol College was founded in about 1263 by John I de Balliol under the guidance of the Bishop of Durham. Under a statute of 1881, New Inn Hall was merged into Balliol College in 1887, Balliol acquired New Inn Halls admissions and other records for 1831–1887 as well as the library of New Inn Hall, which largely contained 18th-century law books. Along with many of the ancient colleges, Balliol has evolved its own traditions and customs over the centuries, the patron saint of the College is Saint Catherine of Alexandria. On her feast day, a dinner is held for all final year students within Balliol. This festival was established by 1550. Another important feast is the Snell Dinner and this dinner is held in memory of John Snell, whose benefaction established exhibitions for students from the University of Glasgow to study at Balliol one of whom was Adam Smith. The feast is attended by fellows of Balliol College, the current Snell Exhibitioners, by far the most eccentric event is The Nepotists carol-singing event organised by the Colleges Arnold and Brackenbury Society. This event happens on the last Friday of Michaelmas term each year, on this occasion, Balliol students congregate in the college hall to enjoy mulled wine and the singing of carols. The evening historically ended with a rendition of The Gordouli on Broad Street, outside the gates of Trinity College, verses of this form are now known as Balliol rhymes. The best known of these rhymes is the one on Benjamin Jowett and this has been widely quoted and reprinted in virtually every book about Jowett and about Balliol ever since. This and 18 others are attributed to Henry Charles Beeching, the other quatrains are much less well known. For many years, there has been a traditional and fierce rivalry shown between the students of Balliol and those of its neighbour to the east, Trinity College. It has manifested itself on the field and the river, in the form of songs sung over the dividing walls. The rivalry reflects that which exists between Trinity College, Cambridge and Balliols sister college, St Johns College, Cambridge. In college folklore, the rivalry back to the late 17th century. In fact, in its form, the rivalry appears to date from the late 1890s
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Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
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Atheist
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Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist, in an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists, the etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος, meaning without god. The term denoted a social category created by orthodox religionists into which those who did not share their religious beliefs were placed, the actual term atheism emerged first in the 16th century. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope, the first individuals to identify themselves using the word atheist lived in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. The French Revolution, noted for its unprecedented atheism, witnessed the first major movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason. Arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to social and historical approaches, although some atheists have adopted secular philosophies, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Since conceptions of atheism vary, accurate estimations of current numbers of atheists are difficult, an older survey by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2004 recorded atheists as comprising 8% of the worlds population. Other older estimates have indicated that atheists comprise 2% of the worlds population, according to these polls, Europe and East Asia are the regions with the highest rates of atheism. In 2015, 61% of people in China reported that they were atheists, the figures for a 2010 Eurobarometer survey in the European Union reported that 20% of the EU population claimed not to believe in any sort of spirit, God or life force. Atheism has been regarded as compatible with agnosticism, and has also been contrasted with it, a variety of categories have been used to distinguish the different forms of atheism. Some of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining atheism arises from difficulty in reaching a consensus for the definitions of words like deity, the plurality of wildly different conceptions of God and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheisms applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the pagan deities, gradually, this view fell into disfavor as theism came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity. Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist, Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas, as far back as 1772, Baron dHolbach said that All children are born Atheists, they have no idea of God. Similarly, George H. Smith suggested that, The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist, ernest Nagel contradicts Smiths definition of atheism as merely absence of theism, acknowledging only explicit atheism as true atheism
38.
Great Offices of State
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The Great Offices of State in the United Kingdom are the four most senior and prestigious posts in the British government. They are the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, james Callaghan is the only person to date to have served in all four positions. Rab Butler and Sir John Simon served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, the House of Lords has traditionally been restrained in the passage of financial bills, meaning that the office of Chancellor is effectively limited to the House of Commons. The last holder to remain a peer throughout his term as Prime Minister was the Conservative Marquess of Salisbury, Foreign Secretary, Conservative Lord Carrington, The Lord Carrington is the most recent peer to hold one of the Great Offices of State. Home Secretary, Conservative Viscount Cave, Sir George Cave was ennobled as The Viscount Cave while serving as Home Secretary in 1918. It is most exceptional that a holder of a Great Office of State should not hold a seat in Parliament at all, neither in the Commons nor in the Lords. It occurred briefly in 1963, when Alec Douglas-Home was appointed Prime Minister, he disclaimed his peerage on 23 October, only five women have held any of the Great Offices of State. Out of the four Offices, three have held by women, Chancellor of the Exchequer is the only position that has not
39.
The Belvedere Academy
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The Belvedere Academy is an all-ability state-funded girls’ Academy secondary school in Liverpool, England. Its predecessor, The Belvedere School, was founded in 1880 as Liverpool High School and it is non-denominational, non-feepaying, and one of the 29 schools of the Girls Day School Trust. In September 2007 it became an Academy, as one of the first two independent schools in the UK to do so, as of the 2011/12 academic year, the school educates over 730 pupils, between the ages of 11 and 18. Following the 2010/11 academic year, 96% of the left the school having achieved five GCSEs, with a grade of A* to C. This places the non-selective Belvedere Academy in second place in the Liverpool schools league tables, the school was founded in 1880 as Liverpool High School, by the then Girls Public Day School Company. The first building was at 17 Belvidere Road, and the school gradually acquired other premises in the road, the name was changed to The Belvedere School in 1911. The school was a direct grant grammar school while this scheme existed and this meant that girls admitted into the school were admitted solely on academic potential. In the first three years of the scheme 71% of the entrants had all or part of their fees paid, the first access girls entered the school in September 2000 and achieved record results in their GCSEs, taken Summer 2005. The schools buildings comprise five Victorian villas and some recent buildings. A major building programme was under way to create a new teaching block which is now completed and includes science laboratories, dance and drama studios. The name of the school is spelt differently from that of the road because of a made by the council when the school was first opened. The Academys predecessor, The Belvedere School, was rated the best school in Liverpool by the league tables. The same year, the schools Sixth Form was ranked Best Value for Money in the city area by locals, in 2008, 98% of all A-Level exams taken got A-C passes, and 74% of exams received A/B passes, a record for the school. As a result of the change to Academy status there are ongoing changes to the way the school is organised, the change to an Academy resulted in the abolition of school fees, as well as a change in the way in which the school selects its pupils. At the same time that the school became an Academy. This was subsequently sold in 2010 out of GDST ownership, renamed Belvedere Preparatory School, Open independent school doors to all. Tories back calls to open up independent school
40.
University College School
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University College School, generally known as UCS Hampstead, is an independent day school in Hampstead, northwest London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institutions progressive, according to the Good Schools Guide, the school Achieves impressive exam results with a relaxed atmosphere. UCS aims to combine the highest standards of achievement and pastoral care with outstanding facilities for all-round education with a distinctive liberal ethos. The UCS Hampstead Foundation is composed of four entities, The UCS Pre-Prep or The Phoenix as it was previously known. This was acquired by UCS in 2003, the Junior Branch, for boys aged 7 to 11 on the Holly Hill site in the heart of Hampstead. The Senior School, for boys aged 11 to 16 and co-educational for ages 16 to 18 on the Frognal site, the main campus and the Great Hall are noted examples of Edwardian architecture. Inside the hall is a magnificent Walker pipe organ, used for concerts, professional recordings and other festivities. The Playing Fields are situated in West Hampstead on Ranulf Road, UCS is a member of the Eton Group of twelve independent schools, the Haileybury Group of 26 independent schools, and the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference. It also has ties with the Equatorial College School in Uganda. The school motto is Paulatim Sed Firmiter, in 2016, the school updated its school logo to incorporate its widely known name of UCS Hampstead and to include the full motto in its distinctive roundel emblem. The schools colours are maroon and black which are shown to the distinctive vertical striped blazers. UCS publishes an online newsletter called The Frognal and a yearly printed magazine called The Gower sent to current. The latest editions are available on the school website, in the Lower School, there is one form per year in each house. Kestrel – Blue Eagle – Yellow Hawk – Black Falcon – Green Students in the Middle School and Upper School are arranged into Demes and this is similar to a school house. In the Middle School, there is one form per year in each Deme, as well as a Deme Warden, each deme has two or three Deme Captains. Deme, Half and Full Colours are awarded through an accumulation of academic, there are regular inter-Deme competitions in sport, music and drama throughout the year. In the Middle School, the school blazer carries a coloured school logo on the breast pocket depicting the pupils Deme. Entry at 4+, 5+, 6+ by assessment of the Headmistress, Junior Branch, at age 7, judged by a combination of internal exam and interview
41.
Hampstead
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Hampstead, commonly known as Hampstead Village, is an area of London, England,4 miles northwest of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath and it has some of the most expensive housing in the London area. The village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any area of the United Kingdom. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon words ham and stede, which means, and is a cognate of, the growth of Hampstead is generally traced back to the 17th century. Trustees of the Well started advertising the medicinal qualities of the waters in 1700. Although Hampstead Wells was initially most successful and fashionable, its popularity declined in the 1800s due to competition with other fashionable London spas, the spa was demolished in 1882, although a water fountain was left behind. Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s, in the area that is now the ward of Frognal & Fitzjohns. Much of this remains to this day. The large Victorian Hampstead Library and Town Hall was recently converted and extended as a creative industries centre, on 14 August 1975 Hampstead entered the UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm. As of November 2008 this record remains, Hampstead became part of the County of London in 1889 and in 1899 the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead was formed. The borough town hall on Haverstock Hill, which was also the location of the Register Office, Hampstead is part of the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, formed at the 2010 general election. It was formerly part of the Hampstead and Highgate constituency, since May 2015 the area has been represented on Camden Council by Conservative Party councillors Tom Currie, Oliver Cooper and Stephen Stark. The area has a significant tradition of educated liberal humanism, often referred to as Hampstead Liberalism, michael Idov of The New Yorker stated that the community was the citadel of the moneyed liberal intelligentsia, posh but not stuffy. As applied to an individual, the term Hampstead Liberal is not synonymous with champagne socialist, the term is also rather misleading. As of 2016, all the component wards of Hampstead elect a full slate of Conservative councillors, the bridge pictured is known locally as The Red Arches or The Viaduct, built in fruitless anticipation of residential building on the Heath in the 19th century. The largest employer in Hampstead is the Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, George Martins AIR recording studios, in converted church premises in Lyndhurst Road, is a current example, as Jim Hensons Creature Shop was before it relocated to California. It was recently restored by Notting Hill Housing Trust, notable and longstanding are La Gaffe, Gaucho Grill, Jin Kichi, Tip Top Thai, Villa Bianca and, in May 2016, Patara. Hampsteads rural feel lends itself for use on film, an example being The Killing of Sister George starring Beryl Reid
42.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
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