1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
3.
Infantry
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Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
4.
Line infantry
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Line infantry is the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century. For both battle and parade drill it consisted of 2 to 4 ranks of soldiers drawn up side by side in rigid alignment. By extension, the term came to be applied to the regiments of the line as opposed to skirmishers, foot guards, militia. Line infantry mainly used three formations in its battles, the line, the square and the column, a line consisted of 2,3 or 4 ranks of soldiers. During the time period that line infantry were prevalent, the object was to cause the formation to rout, which was done by breaking it. The line was considered as the battle formation as it allowed for the largest deployment of firepower. Troops in skirmish formation, though able to cover and use initiative, were highly vulnerable to cavalry. Line infantry provided an anchor for skirmishers and cavalry to retreat to if threatened, against surrounding enemy cavalry, line infantry could swiftly adopt square formations to provide protection. Such squares were hollow, unlike the pikemen and old-style musketeers square, movement in line formation was very slow, and unless the battalion was superbly trained, a breakdown in cohesion was virtually assured, especially in any kind of uneven or wooded terrain. As a result, line was used as a stationary formation, with troops moving in column formations. Usually, columns would be adopted for movement and melee attacks, line infantry was trained in the manual of arms evolutions, the main objectives of which were fast deployment of a line, rapid shooting and manoeuvre. Line tactics required a strict discipline and simple movements, practiced to the point where they became second-nature, during training, the drill and corporal punishments were widely used. Line infantry quickly became the most common type of infantry in European countries, musketeers and grenadiers, formerly elite troops, gradually became part of the line infantry, switching to linear tactics. In the middle of the 17th century, the muskets of some line infantry were equipped with bayonets. Bayonets were attached to the muzzles of muskets and were used when line troops entered melee combat and they also helped to defend against cavalry. In many countries, the new fusils retained the name musket, both muskets and fusils were smoothbore, which lessened their accuracy and range, but made for faster loading, lesser amount of bore fouling and more robust, less complicated firearms. The bulk of the infantry had no protective equipment, as armor that could provide protection from musket fire were considered too expensive. Only the former elite troops could keep by tradition some elements of protection, for example, initially, soldiers equipped with firearms formed only a small part of the infantry branch of most armies, because of their vulnerability to hostile cavalry
5.
Militia (United Kingdom)
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The Militia of the United Kingdom were the military reserve forces of the United Kingdom after the Union in 1801 of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland. The militia was transformed into the Special Reserve by the Territorial, for the period before the creation of the United Kingdom, in the home countries and their colonies, see Militia. A separate voluntary Local Militia was created in 1808 before being disbanded in 1816 By 1813 the British Army was experiencing a shortage of manpower to maintain their battalions at full strength. Some consideration was given to recruiting foreign nationals, however on 4 November 1813 a bill was introduced to parliament to allow Militia volunteers to serve in Europe. In the event only three battalions were raised and these were sent to serve under Henry Bayly arriving in Bordeaux on 12 April 1814, although muster rolls were prepared as late as 1820, the element of compulsion was abandoned, and the militia was transformed into a volunteer force. It was intended to be seen as an alternative to the army, men would volunteer and undertake basic training for several months at an army depot. Thereafter, they would return to life, but report for regular periods of military training. In return, they would receive pay and a financial retainer. Of course, many saw the camp as the equivalent of a paid holiday. The militia thus appealed to agricultural labourers, colliers and the like, men in casual occupations, until 1861 the militia were an entirely infantry force, but in that year a number of county regiments were converted to artillery. In 1877 the militia of Anglesey and Monmouthshire were converted to engineers, typically, an English, Welsh or Scottish regiment would have two militia battalions and Irish regiments three. The militia must not be confused with the units created in a wave of enthusiasm in the second half of the nineteenth century. In contrast with the Volunteer Force, and the similar Yeomanry Cavalry, the militia was transformed into the Special Reserve by the military reforms of Haldane in the reforming post 1906 Liberal government. In 1908 the militia battalions were redesignated as reserve and a number were amalgamated or disbanded. Numbered Territorial Force battalions, ranking after the Special Reserve, were formed from the units at the same time. Altogether,101 infantry battalions,33 artillery regiments and two regiments of special reservists were formed. Upon mobilisation, the reserve units would be formed at the depot. The original militiamen soon disappeared, and the battalions became training units pure, the Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to Supplementary Reserve in 1924, though the units were effectively placed in suspended animation until disbanded in 1953
6.
Army Reserve (United Kingdom)
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The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force and integrated element of the British Army. Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in the reorganisation, only one infantry unit, the London Regiment, has maintained a separate identity. Reservists in the past also served as constables or bailiffs, even holding positions of civic duty as overseer of their parish, the more modern Yeomen of the 18th century were cavalry-based units, which were often used to suppress riots. Several units that are now part of the Army Reserve bear the title militia, after the Second World War, for example, the Army Reserve - or Territorial Army as it was known then - was not demobilised until 1947. All Army Reserve personnel have their jobs protected to a limited extent by law should they be compulsorily mobilised. There is, however, no protection against discrimination in employment for membership of the Army Reserve in the normal course of events. As part of the process, remaining units of militia were converted to the Special Reserve. The TF was formed on 1 April 1908 and contained fourteen infantry divisions and it had an overall strength of approximately 269,000. The individual units that made up each division or brigade were administered by County Associations, the other members of the association consisted of military members, representative members and co-opted members. Associations took over any property vested in the volunteers or yeomanry under their administration, each regiment or battalion had a Regular Army officer attached as full-time adjutant. In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, territorial units were given the option of serving in France and, by 25 August, in excess of seventy battalions had volunteered. This question over the availability of territorial divisions for service was one of Lord Kitcheners motivations for raising the New Army separately. The first fully Territorial division to join the fighting on the Western Front was the 46th Division in March 1915, with divisions later serving in Gallipoli and elsewhere. As the war progressed, and casualties mounted, the character of territorial units was diluted by the inclusion of conscript. Following the Armistice all units of the Territorial Force were gradually disbanded, New recruiting started in early 1920, and the Territorial Force was reconstituted on 7 February 1920. On 1 October 1920, the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army, the 1st Line divisions were reconstituted in that year. However, the composition of the divisions was altered, with a reduction in the number of infantry battalions required, there was also a reduced need for cavalry, and of the 55 yeomanry regiments, only the 14 most senior retained their horses. The remaining yeomanry were converted to artillery or armoured car units or disbanded, the amalgamation of 40 pairs of infantry battalions was announced in October 1921
7.
Volunteer Force
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The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, most of the regiments of the present Territorial Army Infantry, Artillery, Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units. During the Crimean War, the War Office had been forced to send militia, the situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855. Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair, an attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have the bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire, and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in a wider European conflict. Volunteer corps were to be raised under the provisions of the Volunteer Act 1804, alfred Tennyson captured the spirit of the time by publishing his poem Riflemen Form in The Times on 9 May 1859. As a basis for the units, many communities had rifle clubs for the enjoyment of the sport of shooting, Corps were only to be formed on the recommendation of the county’s lord-lieutenant. The force was liable to be called out “in case of invasion, or of appearance of an enemy in force on the coast, or in case of rebellion arising in either of these emergencies. ”While under arms volunteers were subject to military law and were entitled to be billeted. Members were not permitted to quit the force during actual military service, members were to be returned as “effective” if they had attended eight days drill and exercise in four months, or 24 days within a year. The members of the corps were to provide their own arms and equipment, Volunteers were also permitted to choose the design of their uniforms, subject to the lord-lieutenant’s approval. Although volunteers were to pay for their own firearms, they were to be provided under the superintendence of the War Office, the number of officers and private men in each county and corps was to be settled by the war office, based on the lord-lieutenant’s recommendation. Originally corps were to consist of approximately 100 all ranks under the command of a captain, the purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy’s flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts. Although not mentioned in the letter, engineer corps were also formed. Stretcher-bearers attached to the rifle corps subsequently formed volunteer medical detachments affiliated to the Army Medical Corps, in a handful of counties, units of light horse or mounted rifles were formed. Two volunteer units whose services had been accepted by Queen Victoria during the early 1850s became the two senior rifle corps of the new force and these were the 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps who became the 1st Devonshire Rifle Volunteers and the Victoria Rifles who became the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. An order of precedence was established for other counties, depending upon the date of establishment of the first corps in the county. The most senior artillery corps was the 1st Northumberland formed at Tynemouth on August 2,1859, some also compared the initiative, small unit tactics and marksmanship principles of rifle regiments of the Napoleonic Wars compared with the linear tactics of the standing army
8.
Cavalry Barracks, Hounslow
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Cavalry Barracks is a British Army installation located north of Hounslow Heath in Hounslow, west London. Hounslow was one of 40 new barracks established around London to guard against possible French invasion in the late 18th, the area around Hounslow Heath has been used for centuries to garrison Armies of The Crown because of its proximity to London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace. In the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell marshalled an army on the heath at the end of the English Civil War in 1647, james II also camped his troops here to hold military exercises in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate the Parliament in London shortly before the Glorious Revolution. In 1793, the became a permanent barracks for troops using the heath when permanent buildings were erected as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution. The barracks became a depot for the London military district. Florence Nightingale undertook some of her training at Hounslow. In June 1846, Private Frederick John White was flogged after a Court-martial sentenced him to 150 lashes for insubordination at Hounslow Barracks and he died a month later making him the last soldier to die after a flogging in the British Army. White was buried in nearby St Leonards churchyard, Heston, calls for abolishment of flogging were made in Parliament, it was eventually outlawed in 1881. In 1875 the site was expanded to create infantry barracks. Two years earlier a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms, following the Childers Reforms, the regiment evolved to become the Royal Fusiliers with its depot in the barracks in 1881. In 1875 the barracks became the depot for the 57th Regiment of Foot. Following the Childers Reforms, the 57th and 77th regiments amalgamated to form the Middlesex Regiment with its depot in the barracks in 1881, by 1884, the barracks had its own railway station on the newly created London Underground. The Middlesex Regiment relocated from Hounslow Barracks to the newly-built Inglis Barracks in 1905, in late 1941, the 70th Battalion the Middlesex Regiment moved into Hounslow Cavalry Barracks. Known as the Young Soldiers Battalion because they were all 18- and 19-year-old volunteers, Hounslow was the first time the troops had been formed together as a battalion since their formation in May 1940, having been scattered in small units in and around London guarding Vulnerable Points. After the Second World War the barracks served as Headquarters Eastern Command until it moved to Wilton Park in 1954, until the 1970s, Cavalry Barracks was home to the West London Communication Centre and the Hounslow Regimental Pay Office manned by members of the Royal Army Pay Corps. From 1981 to 1986, Cavalry barracks was the home of the 1st Bn Grenadier Guards, during their stay they mounted public duties in London and Windsor. They were also responsible for providing support to the civilian services at Heathrow Airport at the time of high terrorist threat from the IRA. The Battalion also deployed from Hounslow to South Armagh in Northern Ireland, then the 2nd Bn Scots Guards were there until 1992, carrying out regular public duties, then moving to Redford Barracks in Edinburgh
9.
Inglis Barracks
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Inglis Barracks was a military installation in Mill Hill, London, NW7. Also was referred to as Mill Hill Barracks, Inglis Barracks was built in 1905. The site was triangular in shape bounded by Partingdale Lane to the north, Frith Lane to the east. It was a walk up the hill from Mill Hill East tube station. The rail service was built by the Edgware, Highgate. The barracks became the Regimental Depot for the Middlesex Regiment when they moved from the Hounslow Barracks following the opening of the barracks, all of the recruits for the Middlesex Regiment were processed through the Regimental Depot at Mill Hill during the First World War. The barracks ceased to be the home of the Middlesex Regiment when that regiment merged with three regiments to form the Queens Regiment at Howe Barracks in Canterbury in 1966. A Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Workshop moved onto the site in 1943 during the Second World War, the Home Postal Depot, Royal Engineers established their Postal Training School in the barracks in the mid-1950s. By 1962 the HPD RE had moved from its premises on Gorst Road, Acton, the company provided postal staff employed in the Home Postal Depot and clerical staff, who worked in the various War Office departments in London. Once the building works were completed the company was moved from their accommodation in Richmond Park, on 16 July 1982 Queen Elizabeth II, visited the Home Postal Depot as part of the RE centenary celebrations. On her arrival at the barracks she was met by Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, General Sir Hugh Beach, to mark the centenary Barnet Borough granted the Depot the Freedom of the Borough. The two storey building containing the single mens quarters was completely destroyed, the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, subsequently met officers to offer her condolences as the barracks was in her the Parliamentary constituency. To mark the occasion a parade was held at the barracks, the Chief Royal Engineer General Sir George Cooper inspected the troops and took the salute. The British Forces Post Office left the site and moved to RAF Northolt in 2007, the original barrack installation constituted two accommodation blocks, an officers mess, a small church and various out buildings. Other buildings were added over the years, particularly in the 1960/70s, to accommodate the growing establishment, the military presence at the barracks ceased in 2007 and the site was sold by the Ministry of Defence for residential development as part of Project MoDEL in 2012. In the 1970s the road names within the barracks complex reflected the presence of the RE, outside the Officers Mess there stood the Middlesex Regiments memorial, but that has since been moved to Mill Hill village near to Mill Hill School. The memorial was unveiled at 2. 30pm on 4 November 1922, sixty years later the Duke of Windsors niece, The Queen, unveiled a life-size statue entitled Letter from Home, which stood outside the Guard Room, on her visit to the barracks in 1982. The statue was moved to RAF Northolt when the barracks were vacated by the British Forces Post Office in 2007
10.
Mill Hill
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Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is an area situated nine miles north west of Charing Cross, Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until it was absorbed by London. Mill Hill consists of distinct parts, the original Mill Hill Village, the later-developed but now main hub of the area at Mill Hill Broadway. A further area at the edge of the suburb, The Hale, is on the borders of Mill Hill and Edgware. The areas name was first recorded as Myllehill in 1547 and appears to mean hill with a windmill, however, the workings of the original Mill are in the building adjacent to The Mill Field. Mill Hill Village is the oldest known inhabited part of the district and it is thought that the name Mill Hill may be derived from a mill on The Ridgeway, built on an area of open ground known as The Mill Field. The village is bounded on the north and the south by Green Belt land, the areas proximity to the city made it popular as a country retreat from the 17th century onwards, and large houses and quaint cottages survive. William Wilberforce and Sir Stamford Raffles both briefly resided here, the former being the patron of Mill Hill’s first church, Saint Paul’s. As of February 2011, the places in Mill Hill Village where money can be spent are The Three Hammers and Adam & Eve pubs. Inglis Barracks at Mill Hill East was home to the Middlesex Regiment between 1905 and 1966, the 1941 reopening of the railway station, under war-time conditions, was to allow easy access to the barracks. Situated along Partingdale Lane is Seafield House, now a private home, it was originally designed and operated as a nuclear bunker to house and protect the London North Group emergency regional government between about 1951 and 1985. Mill Hill was part of the ancient civil parish of Hendon within the county boundaries of Middlesex. Mill Hill as part of Municipal Borough of Hendon was merged into the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London in 1965, Mill Hill is one of 21 electoral wards in the borough. This ward has 3 out of the 63 seats on the Barnet Council, Mill Hill was in the parliamentary constituency of Hendon which was created in 1918. This lasted until 1945 when the constituency was split in two, Mill Hill in Hendon North, in 1997, the Hendon constituency was recreated. From then, until he lost his seat to the Conservative candidate, Matthew Offord, in the 2010 General Election, Hendon was represented in the House of Commons by the Labour MP, Mill Hills postal address is London NW7. The village is a development along The Ridgeway. It has green belt either side, Partingdale and Burtonhole form a distinct valley north of The Ridgeway
11.
Regiment
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A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, in Medieval Europe, the term regiment denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord of the soldiers. By the 17th century, a regiment was usually about a thousand personnel. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly-sized operational units. By the beginning of the 18th century, regiments in most European continental armies had evolved into permanent units with distinctive titles and uniforms, when at full strength, an infantry regiment normally comprised two field battalions of about 800 men each or 8–10 companies. In some armies, an independent regiment with fewer companies was labelled a demi-regiment, a cavalry regiment numbered 600 to 900 troopers, making up a single entity. With the widespread adoption of conscription in European armies during the nineteenth century, the regimental system underwent modification. Prior to World War I, a regiment in the French, German, Russian. As far as possible, the battalions would be garrisoned in the same military district, so that the regiment could be mobilized. A cavalry regiment by contrast made up an entity of up to 1,000 troopers. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administering all of a military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both and this is often contrasted to the continental system adopted by many armies. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required. Some regiments recruited from specific areas, and usually incorporated the place name into the regimental name. In other cases, regiments would recruit from an age group within a nation. In other cases, new regiments were raised for new functions within an army, e. g. the Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, a key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the fundamental tactical building block. This flows historically from the period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions of different origins, within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty
12.
57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot
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The 57th Regiment of Foot was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881, the regiment was raised in Somerset and Gloucester by Colonel John Arabin as the 59th Regiment of Foot in 1755 for service in the Seven Years War. It was re-ranked as the 57th Regiment of Foot, following the disbandment of the existing 50th and 51st regiments, the regiment, which originally operated as marines, was deployed to Gibraltar in 1757, to Minorca in 1763 and to Ireland in 1767. It was dispatched to Charleston, South Carolina in February 1776 for service in the American Revolutionary War, the regiment saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776 and stormed Fort Montgomery at the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777. The regiments light company then served under General Lord Cornwallis and was taken prisoner at the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 and it adopted a county designation as the 57th Regiment of Foot in August 1782. After this it moved to Nova Scotia in October 1783 and returned to England in November 1790, in 1793 the regiment embarked for the Low Countries for service in the Flanders Campaign and re-enforced the garrison at Nieuwpoort for some months before returning home later in the year. The regiment returned to Flanders in 1794 before returning again in 1795. It embarked for the West Indies in spring 1796 and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia in May 1796 before embarking for Trinidad in 1797, a second battalion was raised in 1803 to increase the strength of the regiment but spent most of the war in Jersey. The 1st battalion embarked for the Mediterranean Sea in November 1805 and, after four years at Gibraltar, the battalion fell back to the Lines of Torres Vedras in October 1810. The battalion earned the regiment its nickname of the Die Hards after their participation in the Battle of Albuera, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in May 1811. The commanding officer of the battalion, Colonel William Inglis, was struck down by a charge of shot which hit him in the neck. He refused to be carried to the rear for treatment, but lay in front of his men calling on them to hold their position, the casualties of the battalion were 422 out of the 570 men in the ranks and 20 out of the 30 officers. The battalion also fought at the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 and it then pursued the French Army into France and saw further action at the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813. The battalion embarked for North America in May 1814 for service in the War of 1812 but, without seeing any action, the regiment traveled to New South Wales in detachments as escorts to prisoners in 1824. It moved on to India in 1830 and, while there, the regiment did not embark for home until April 1846. In September 1854 the regiment embarked for service in the Crimean War, it fought at the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and it moved to Malta in June 1856 and then sailed for India to help suppress the Indian Rebellion in May 1858. It then sailed for Auckland in New Zealand in November 1860 for service in the New Zealand Wars, the regiment returned to England in 1867 and then moved to Ceylon in 1873. From Ceylon it sailed to South Africa in 1879 for service in the Anglo-Zulu War, on 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 77th Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment
13.
Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment
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The Queens Royal Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army which existed from 1959 to 1966. As a consequence of defence cuts in the late 1950s, the Queens Royal Regiment, in 1961 the 1st Queens Surreys was sent to Aden. In 1962 the regiment joined the Hong Kong garrison, remaining there on a 2-year posting before heading for Münster, when the regiment was formed, the Territorial Army battalions of the merging regiments continued to use their former titles. 4th Battalion was formed from former battalions of the East Surrey Regiment, the 6th East Surreys, the battalion headquarters were in Kingston upon Thames. The Queens Royal Surrey Regiment archives were put in storage when Regimental Headquarters, colonel JW Sewell reached agreement with the National Trust to re-establish the regiments museum at Clandon Park, West Clandon. The regiments archives and library are located at the Surrey History Centre in Woking, the Queens Royal Surrey Regiment Museum opened in 1981 with exhibits including uniforms, medals, weapons, regalia, photographs and memorabilia. The museum was upgraded in 2001, on Wednesday 29th April 2015, a blaze ripped through Clandon Park House with the remains of the roof and upper floors of the house collapsing into the basement area where the museum was based. It is not yet known what, if any, artefacts survived the inferno, the Colonels of the Regiment were, 1959–1964, Maj-Gen. John Francis Metcalfe, CB, CBE 1964–1966, Maj-Gen, the Queens Royal Surrey Regimental Association
14.
Royal Sussex Regiment
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The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th Regiment of Foot, the regiment saw service in the Second Boer War, and both World War I and World War II. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th Regiment of Foot, the 1st Battalion was sent to Egypt as part of General Garnet Wolseleys expedition to crush the ‘Urabi Revolt and conquer Egypt in the name of the Khedive. The 1st battalion was part of the Nile Expedition, an unsuccessful attempt to save General Charles Gordon. Twenty men of the regiment, led by Lieutenant Lionel Trafford, the battalion took part in the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885 when Muhammad Ahmad was defeated. The 2nd Battalion moved to India in 1885 and took part in the Hazara Expedition in 1888, the 1st Battalion fought at the Battle of Doornkop in May 1900 during the Second Boer War. A 3rd Militia Battalion was formed of the Royal Sussex Light Infantry and it was embodied in December 1899 and embarked for South Africa to take part in the Second Boer War in March 1901. Most of the officers and men returned home on the SS Wakool in July 1902, following the end of hostilities the previous month. The 1st Battalion, which formed part of the 1st Brigade in the 1st Division, was one of the few battalions that remained in India throughout the whole war. The 2nd Battalion landed in France as part of 2nd Brigade in the 1st Division in August 1914, during the Battle of Loos in September 1915 Sergeant Harry Wells was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, when the battalion took part in an attack. The 8th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 54th Brigade in the 18th Division in July 1915 also for service on the Western Front. The 9th Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 73rd Brigade in the 24th Division in September 1915 also for service on the Western Front, the 11th, 12th and 13th Battalions were all raised in late 1914 as part of the 116th Brigade of the 39th Division. All three battalions landed at Le Havre, France in March 1916 for service on the Western Front, all three battalions took part in the Battle of the Boars Head in June 1916. After a bombardment of the German trenches the 12th and 13th Battalions went over the top and, under fire, attacked the enemy trenches. The 11th Battalion supplied carrying parties, in regimental history this is known as The Day Sussex Died. Edmund Blunden, a lieutenant in the 11th Battalion, wrote an excellent account of his experiences in his memoirs. After the war, St Georges Chapel, in Chichester Cathedral, was restored and furnished as a memorial to the fallen of the Royal Sussex Regiment and it now has all their names recorded on the panels that are attached to the chapel walls. Harry Wells - Lt. Eric Archibald McNair - C. S. M, col. D. G. Johnson - The 1st Battalion was based in Egypt at the outbreak of the Second World War, having been sent to Palestine in 1938
15.
Queen's Regiment
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The Queens Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. In turn, the regiment became part of Princess of Waless Royal Regiment in an amalgamation with the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1992. The regiment was formed as a regiment on 31 December 1966 by the amalgamation of the four remaining regiments of the Home Counties Brigade as a consequence of the Defence Review of 1957. The four regiments formed four battalions, retaining their previous names in the titles and these were, 1st Battalion – formerly the Queens Royal Surrey Regiment. 2nd Battalion – formerly Queens Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, 3rd Battalion – formerly the Royal Sussex Regiment. 4th Battalion – formerly the Middlesex Regiment, 5th Battalion, a TAVR II unit, formed in 1967 to be employed for use with NATO forces in West Germany during tense times in the Cold War. The following year, on 1 July, the battalions discarded their previous regimental identification when the subtitles were omitted, 6th and 7th Battalions were formed in 1971 with headquarters at Wandsworth and Horsham respectively. On 1 April 1975 these two combined to form the 6th/7th Battalion, The Queens Regiment. 8th Battalion, Queens Fusiliers were formed on 16 May 1988 as a battalion composed of the Queens Regiment. A & B Companies were badged as Queens Regiment, C Company as RRF, shoulder titles for all companies read Queens Fusiliers. In 1992, the London Scottish and London Irish Rifles were removed from 1st Battalion, 51st Highland Regiment and 4th Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers, in 1993 8QF was retitled the London Regiment with the disbandment of the existing A Company. For example elements of the 1st battalion were almost continuously deployed to Northern Ireland between August 1969 and November 1976, in 1970 the 1st Battalion joined the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin, a small enclave in Communist-controlled East Germany, leaving in 1972. The 4th Battalion was disbanded that year, as every other junior battalion of the new large regiments. Also that year, the 3rd Battalion arrived in Gibraltar where it remained with the garrison for almost two years, by 1975 the 1st Battalion had arrived in Werl, Germany from where they did operational tours to Derry in 1976 and West Belfast in 1978. The 1st Battalion moved to Canterbury in 1980, from there it undertook a six-month tour of Belize before deploying in November 1982 to Omagh in Co Tyrone. It served there until January 1985 with south east Fermanagh as its primary focus, during this period all three battalions served in Ireland –2 Queens in Londonderry, also on a two-year tour, and 3 Queens in Belfast on a six-month tour. A freedom parade was held in Belfast in 1984 at which all three battalions Regimental Colours were paraded, in 1985 the battalion moved to Gibraltar for two years before returning to the United Kingdom in 1987 where it was to remain until 1990. During this period it undertook two 6-month tours of Northern Ireland – South Armagh in 1987 and Belfast in 1989/90, in 1990 the battalion moved to Minden in Germany where it disbanded in 1992
16.
Royal Hampshire Regiment
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The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th Regiment of Foot and the 67th Regiment of Foot. The regiment existed continuously for 111 years and served in the Second Boer War, World War I, in 1946, due to distinguished service in World War II, the regiment was retitled as the Royal Hampshire Regiment. At the turn of the 20th century, there were two battalions of the regiment. The 2nd Battalion was deployed to South Africa and took part in an action at Karee Siding on 29 March 1900, a third militia battalion was formed from the former Hampshire Militia, with headquarters in Winchester. The battalion was embodied in January 1900 for service in South Africa, a Volunteer battalion was also formed to serve in South Africa. Men from this battalion were involved in the worst train accident during the war, near Barberton, on 30 March 1902, following the accident, the battalion returned to the United Kingdom, arriving at Southampton in May 1902. During the First World War, the regiment expanded to 34 battalions, by the end of the First World War, the Hampshire Regiment had lost 7,580 officers and men killed in action. The 1st Battalion was a Regular Army unit stationed in Colchester on the outbreak of war in August 1914, the battalion was assigned to the 11th Brigade, 4th Division. With the division, the joined the British Expeditionary Force and was sent overseas to France in August 1914. The 1st Battalion saw its first combat against the German Army at Le Cateau, in 1914, on Christmas Day, men of the 1st Battalion participated in the legendary Christmas Truce of 1914 where British and German soldiers fraternised in No mans land. In 1915, the took part in the Second Battle of Ypres. In 1916 it fought at Albert and Le Transloy, which was part of the larger Somme offensive, the 2nd Battalion was also a Regular Army battalion that was serving in India at the outbreak of war and arrived in England on 22 December 1914. In early 1915, the became part of the 88th Brigade. The 2nd Battalion took part in the Battle of Gallipoli when engaged in the fatal Landing at Cape Helles in April 1915, in 1916, the 2nd Battalion was evacuated to Alexandria due to a mixture of heavy casualties from combat, disease and the terrible weather conditions. In March 1916, the battalion was sent to France and would serve on the Western Front for the rest of the war, participating in the battle of Albert and Le Transloy rides, alongside the 1st Battalion. The 1/5th Battalion landed at Karachi in India in November 1914, the 1/6th Battalion landed at Karachi in India in November 1914, it remained in India for the rest of the war. The 1/7th Battalion landed at Karachi in India in November 1914, the 1/9th Battalion sailed for India in February 1916 and then to Vladivostok in October 1918. The 2/4th Battalion sailed for India in December 1914 as part of 2/1st Hampshire Brigade in the 2nd Wessex Division and then sailed for Egypt in April 1917 and to France in May 1918
17.
Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
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Through its ancestry via the Queens Royal Regiment, the PWRR is the most senior English line infantry regiment. The current regiment was named in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the Princess divorced the Prince of Wales, she resigned as Colonel-in-chief and the Queen of Denmark has remained its Colonel-in-Chief since. The 1st Battalion served a tour of Iraq in 2004 with a second tour following in 2006. Many of the carried out by the battalion during the first tour were named after stations on the London Underground. Elements of 1 PWRR helped train the Iraqi National Army and oversaw the withdrawal of UK Forces from Basra, the 1st Battalion under Army 2020 will move from Paderborn, Germany to be stationed at Bulford Camp. The regiments 2nd Battalion were based in Shackleton Barracks, Northern Ireland, after two years at Alexandria Barracks in Dhekelia in Cyprus, they moved to Woolwich Garrison, London, to take up a public duties role in August 2010, a role they performed for three years. 2nd Battalion deployed to Cyprus again in 2014 and it remains one of the infantry units rotating between the UK and British Forces Cyprus. 3rd Battalion — Army Reserve Light Infantry serving with 7th Infantry Brigade, the Princess of Waless Royal Regiment Museum is located in Dover Castle, Dover, Kent. Exhibits trace the history, and include displays of photographs, paintings, weapons, badges, medals, uniforms. Private Johnson Beharry of the 1st Battalion, PWRR was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during his units deployment to Amarah, near Basra. Whilst attached to the 1st Battalion, Michelle Norris of the Royal Army Medical Corps became the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross following her actions on 11 June 2006
18.
Home counties
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The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties generally included in the list are Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, the origin of the term home counties is unknown and no exact definition exists, making their composition a matter of constant debate. The earliest use of the term cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1695, the term is sometimes understood to mean those counties which, on their borders closest to London, have been partly subsumed into London. Indeed, the county of Middlesex has been almost wholly within London since 1965 as have parts of Hertfordshire and Surrey. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defines the term as the English counties surrounding London and they comprise chiefly Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. Parts of all of historic counties are, since 1965, officially within London. An additional theory is that the derived from the Home Circuit of the courts of Assize which contained Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Sussex. The Home counties were described by one 1987 reference book as being inhabited on the whole by nice, comfortable, in fiction, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter of the television sitcom The Good Life, set in Surbiton, represent a typical home counties suburban couple. The home counties as a whole are more prosperous than other parts of the United Kingdom. The towns of Amersham, Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield, all in Buckinghamshire, were ranked as the top three most expensive in the country in one 2008 survey of average house prices. The area is so large, however, that it includes a number of areas of deprivation such as Margate, Hastings. Multiple definitions of the term have been used in legislation and by official bodies, in the twentieth century, for instance, as follows,1908, The Home Counties Division of the Territorial Force comprised units recruiting in Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. 1920, The London and Home Counties Electricity District consisted of the counties of London and Middlesex,1924, The London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee, covering the London Traffic Area, London, Middlesex, and parts of Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey. 1926, The Home Counties Licensing Act regulated activities in all parts of Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent,1938, Green Belt Act limited development in parts of Middlesex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Essex, Berkshire and Hertfordshire. 1948, The Home Counties Brigade was formed to administer the regiments of the City and County of London, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey. London commuter belt Metro-land The Association of British Counties
19.
Peninsular War
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The Peninsular War was a military conflict between Napoleons empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain and Portugal, for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807, the Peninsular War overlaps with what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Guerra de la Independencia Española, which began with the Dos de Mayo Uprising on 2 May 1808 and ended on 17 April 1814. The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarrelling provincial juntas, the British Army, under the then Lt. Gen. Arthur Wellesley, guarded Portugal and campaigned against the French in Spain alongside the reformed Portuguese army. The demoralised Portuguese army was reorganised and refitted under the command of Gen, in the following year Wellington scored a decisive victory over King Josephs army at Vitoria. The years of fighting in Spain were a burden on Frances Grande Armée. The Spanish armies were beaten and driven to the peripheries. This drain on French resources led Napoleon, who had provoked a total war. War and revolution against Napoleons occupation led to the Spanish Constitution of 1812, the burden of war destroyed the social and economic fabric of Portugal and Spain, and ushered in an era of social turbulence, political instability and economic stagnation. Devastating civil wars between liberal and absolutist factions, led by officers trained in the Peninsular War, persisted in Iberia until 1850. The cumulative crises and disruptions of invasion, revolution and restoration led to the independence of most of Spains American colonies, the Treaties of Tilsit, negotiated during a meeting in July 1807 between Emperors Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon, concluded the War of the Fourth Coalition. With Prussia shattered, and Russia allied with France, Napoleon expressed irritation that Portugal was open to trade with the United Kingdom, furthermore, Prince John of Braganza, regent for his insane mother Queen Maria I, had declined to join the emperors Continental System against British trade. After a few days, a large force started concentrating at Bayonne, meanwhile the Portuguese governments resolve was stiffening, and shortly afterward Napoleon was once again told that Portugal would not go beyond its original agreements. After he received the Portuguese answer, he ordered Junots corps to cross the frontier into Spain, while all this was going on, the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau had been signed between France and Spain. The document was drawn up by Napoleons marshal of the palace Géraud Duroc and Eugenio Izquierdo, the treaty proposed to carve up Portugal into three entities. Porto and the part was to become the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania. The southern portion, as the Principality of the Algarves, would fall to Godoy, the rump of the country, centered on Lisbon, was to be administered by the French. According to the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Junots invasion force was to be supported by 25,500 men in three Spanish columns, Gen. Taranco and 6,500 troops were ordered to march from Vigo to seize Porto in the north. Capt. Gen. Solano would advance from Badajoz with 9,500 soldiers to capture Elvas, Gen. Caraffa and 9,500 men were instructed to assemble at Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, and cooperate with Junots main force
20.
Battle of Albuera
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The Battle of Albuera was a battle during the Peninsular War. Acting on Napoleons orders, in early 1811 Marshal Soult led a French expedition from Andalusia into Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from the Lines and ease Massénas plight. Napoleons information was outdated and Soults intervention came too late, starving and understrength, however, Soult left Badajoz strongly garrisoned. In April, following news of Massénas complete withdrawal from Portugal, the Allies drove most of the French from the surrounding area and began the Siege of Badajoz. Soult rapidly gathered a new army from the French forces in Andalusia and, joining with the troops retreating before Beresford, with intelligence of another approaching force—a Spanish army under Gen. Joaquín Blake—he planned to turn Beresfords flank and interpose his army between the two. The opposing armies met at the village of Albuera, both sides suffered heavily in the ensuing struggle and the French finally withdrew on 18 May. Beresfords army was too battered and exhausted to pursue, but was able to resume the investment of Badajoz, despite Soults failure to relieve the town, the battle had little strategic effect on the war. Just one month later, in June 1811, the Allies were forced to abandon their siege by the approach of the reconstituted French Armies of Portugal, by 10 October 1810 only the British light division and some cavalry patrols remained outside the Lines. Massénas Army of Portugal concentrated around Sobral, apparently in preparation to attack, however, after a fierce skirmish on 14 October in which the strength of the Lines became apparent, the French dug themselves in rather than launch a costly full-scale assault. They remained entrenched for a month before falling back to a position between Santarém and Rio Maior, the Emperors orders were based on outdated intelligence and called for only a small force, by the time Soult received them the situation had changed considerably. Along with V Corps, this venture also pulled both infantry and cavalry from Marshal Victors I Corps who were besieging Cádiz at the time, following a successful campaign in Extremadura, on 27 January 1811 Soult began his investment of Badajoz. Almost immediately the Spanish Army of Extremadura arrived in the vicinity with some 15,000 troops under the command of Gen. Mendizabal. Soults army, too small to surround Badajoz, was unable to prevent 3,000 of Mendizabals men from reinforcing the fortress and this posed a major threat to the French, so Soult moved at once to engage. In the ensuing Battle of the Gebora the French inflicted 1,000 casualties on the Spanish field army and took 4,000 prisoners, the remnants of Mendizabals defeated army fled towards Badajoz or into Portugal. The garrison of Badajoz, ably commanded by Gen. Rafael Menacho, initially put up strong resistance and by 3 March the French had made little progress against the powerful fortress. On that day, however, Menacho was killed on the ramparts by a shot, command of the garrison fell to Brig. Gen. José Imaz. The walls were breached on 10 March. Concerned that the British would now be free to send a contingent to relieve Badajoz, Imaz duly capitulated and the French took possession of the fortress on 11 March
21.
William Inglis (British Army officer)
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Lieutenant General Sir William Inglis, KCB was a British officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Inglis served at several of the heaviest engagements of the Peninsula War, was wounded numerous times and earned national fame through his exhortation Die hard 57th, to his regiment as he lay seriously wounded behind their ranks at the height of the Battle of Albuera. Thanks to Inglis leadership, the regiment held and the battle was won and although his wounds proved fatal. Post-war, Inglis was knighted and served in several military governorships including a spell as Governor of Cork, in which position he died in 1835. Almost nothing is known of Ingliss childhood, save that he was born in 1764 and his mother was Margaret Spens, daughter of Thomas Spens. He was born in Edinburgh Scotland, no details of his education are known. Following the British defeat, Inglis and his regiment travelled to Nova Scotia, whilst stationed in North America, Inglis became a lieutenant in 1782 and a captain in 1785. When his unit returned to Britain in 1791, the French Revolution had occurred, when war with France broke out in 1793, the 57th was dispatched to the army of the Duke of York during his unsuccessful campaign against the French in the Low Countries. The same year, Inglis and his men were briefly detached to a failed expedition to Brittany. In 1796, Inglis and his regiment were posted to the West Indies, due to the consequent paucity of soldiers, Inglis was prominently involved in the British invasion of St. Lucia and the capture of the Morne Fortuné fort. Inglis had operated as second-in-command to Sir John Moore, who admired his subordinates abilities, whilst in the Caribbean, Inglis had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1802 returned to Britain during the Peace of Amiens. He was employed until 1804 in raising a new battalion of the 57th. In the islands, Inglis found his men to be lacking discipline when off duty, referring to them as fighting villains, the regiment left the Channel Islands in 1809 after five years and was attached to Sir Arthur Wellesleys army in Portugal for service in the Peninsula War. The action was a success and Inglis performed well, retaining command of the brigade into the year when the British army pursued the retreating Masséna. Albuera proved to be Ingliss most famous action, the British Army was led by William Beresford and tactical mistakes resulted in the destruction of the British left by French cavalry early in the action. Forced to face the main French attack with less support than anticipated, Hoghton was killed in the action and Inglis struck by a 4 lb grapeshot. The missile penetrated his neck and entered his shoulder and lodged in his back, causing massive blood loss. Refusing to leave the line during the battle, Inglis was laid behind the 57th by his men and as their numbers dwindled, he could be heard repeating Die hard 57th, eventually the line held and the French driven off, the British left in possession of the field
22.
St. Mary's Church, Chennai
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St. Marys Church located at Fort St George, is the oldest Anglican church East of Suez and also the oldest British building in India. The church is known as the Westminster Abbey of the East. It was at Masters initiative, and without the sanction of the Directors of the Company, the sum collected amounted to 805 pagodas with the Governor and other officers contributing. Construction was started on 25 March 1678 - Lady Day, whereby the church acquired its name, the church was rendered the only bomb-proof building at the time, in the Fort, on account of a peculiarly designed roof, details of which are provided under Architecture. Construction was completed in the course of two years and the church was consecrated on 28 October 1680 by the chaplain Rev. Richard Portman, the ceremony was marked by the firing of small arms and cannon by the forts garrison. The architect of the church was either Edward Foule, Master-Gunner of Fort St. George, or William Dixon, Chief Gunner of the Fort, in 1678. The building consists of a nave and two aisles, with the nave protruding about 12 feet further than the aisles, thus forming the sanctuary and this extension was carried out in 1884 to house the choir. At the west end of the nave is a gallery, resting on carved Burma teak pillars. In 1761, this was enlarged to incorporate an organ. In the nineteenth century, the gallery was reduced to its present size, and the organ removed later, in 1884, coincident with the building of the new sanctuary. Though it now has a tower to the west of the nave, the spire was added at the beginning of the eighteenth century and some old prints show the tower without the spire. The tower originally stood free of the church and was linked up with the building much later. Two vestries at the east end of each of the aisles were built in the nineteenth century, the internal dimensions of the building are 86 feet by 56 feet, with the outside walls 4 feet thick and the walls separating the nave from the aisles,3 feet thick. The extraordinary thickness of the walls was to protect the building from attack, however, it must be kept in mind that the bombs it was designed to withstand were seventeenth century cannonballs. Also, wood was avoided as much as possible in the design to obviate fires. The altar piece, a depiction of the Last Supper, is unsigned but is said to betray obvious signs of the Raphaelite school, the altar piece was brought to Madras as part of the spoils of war by the British troops who stormed Pondicherry in 1761. Originally, no church-yard existed and all those who died in the fort were buried in the Guava Garden and this grove was located where the High Court of Judicature, now stands. During the second siege of Madras by the French, in 1758-59, some of them were again removed during the investiture of the fort by Hyder Ali, when they were used as gun-platforms
23.
Royal Fusiliers
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The Royal Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881, the Royal Fusiliers Monument, a memorial dedicated to the Royal Fusiliers who died during the First World War, stands on Holborn in the City of London. Throughout its long existence, the regiment served in wars and conflicts, including the Second Boer War, the First World War. It was formed as a regiment in 1685 by George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth. Most regiments were equipped with matchlock muskets at the time, and this was because their task was to be an escort for the artillery, for which matchlocks would have carried the risk of igniting the open-topped barrels of gunpowder. The regiment went to Holland in February 1689 for service in the Nine Years War and fought at the Battle of Walcourt in August 1689 before returning home in 1690. It embarked for Flanders later that year and fought at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 and the Battle of Landen in July 1693 and the Siege of Namur in summer 1695 before returning home. The regiment took part in an expedition captured the town of Rota in Spain in spring 1702. The regiment became the 7th Regiment of Foot in 1751, although a variety of spellings of the word fusilier persisted until the 1780s, the Royal Fusiliers was sent to Canada in April 1773. The regiment was broken up into detachments that served at Montreal, Quebec, Fort Chambly, in the face of the American invasion of Canada in 1775/76, most of the regiment was forced to surrender. The 80 man garrison of Fort Chambly attempted to resist a 400-man Rebel force and this is where the regiment lost its first set of colours. Captain Owens company of the 7th, along with a handful of recruits, the men taken prisoner during the defence of Canada were exchanged in British held New York City in late 1776. Here, the regiment was rebuilt and garrisoned New York and New Jersey, in October 1777, the 7th participated in the successful assaults on Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery. In December 1777, the regiment reinforced the garrison of Philadelphia, during the British evacuation back to New York City, the regiment participated in the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. The 7th participated in Tryons raid in July 1779, in April 1780, the Royal Fusiliers took part in the capture of Charleston. Once Charleston fell, the regiment helped garrison the city, the Royal Fusiliers was in the first line during the battle, Tarleton was defeated and the regiments colours were lost in the heat of the battle. A contingent from the regiment fought through North Carolina participating in the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781, the regiment returned to England in 1783. The regiment embarked for Holland and saw action at the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 during the Gunboat War and it was then sent to the West Indies and took part in the capture of Martinique in 1809
24.
19th Battalion, London Regiment (St Pancras)
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The 19th Battalion, London Regiment was a Volunteer unit of the British Army in existence from 1860 to 1961 under various titles. A detachment served in the Second Boer War and two battalions fought in World War I, receiving the surrender of Jerusalem and crossing the Jordan among other exploits. During World War II the regiment operated as a unit and briefly as an infantry battalion. The invasion scare of 1859 led to the creation of the Volunteer Force, Salisbury merged the two into the 29th Middlesex RVC under Enfields command. The first commissions for officers of the 29th Middlesex were issued on 28 February 1860, the uniform was grey with scarlet facings and a grey fur Busby with a plume. The new unit had its first headquarters at Kent Lodge in Park Village East, near Regents Park and it was successful in attracting working-class recruits from the railway yards and densely populated areas of Camden Town, Kentish Town and Somers Town north of Euston Road. In 1880, following mergers and disbandments of less successful units, the following year it became the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Four of these died on service and are commemorated by a plaque now in St Pancras Parish Church. Under the Haldane Reforms, the former Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908, the 17th Middlesex became the 19th Battalion, The London Regiment and formed part of in the. Its new headquarters and drill hall was at 76 Camden High Street, the outbreak of war on 4 August saw the men of the 19th Londons at Perham Down on Salisbury Plain, where they had just arrived for their annual training camp with the rest of 2nd London Division. They were immediately recalled to Camden to complete their mobilisation and by mid-August the battalion had reached its war station at Hatfield, subsequently, a reserve or Third Line battalion was organised to supply drafts to the other two battalions. In October 1914, 2nd London Division was selected for service on the Western Front, men who had volunteered for Home Service only were transferred to the 2/19th Battalion. 5th London Bde was the element of the division to land in France on 9/10 March 1915. In May the division took its place in the line and was designated 47th Division, with the brigades numbered consecutively, the 1/19th served in this brigade throughout the war. It ended the day at its objective, the coal-mine winding gear known as Tower Bridge. 1/19th suffered the heaviest casualties in 47th Division that day, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Flers-Courcelette 15–19 September Capture of High Wood 15 September – the 1/19th were in the second wave of the attack, but got caught up in the confused fighting. Their CO, Lt-Col A. P. Hamilton, assembled all the men and went up into the wood to try to restore order. High Wood, which had held up the British for two months, was taken, but casualties were so heavy that 141 Bde had to be reorganised into a composite battalion
25.
London Regiment
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The London Regiment is an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Army Reserve. However, the regiment was raised again in 1993 and continues an existence in the present day and it was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the 26 Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. Now part of the Territorial Force, the London Regiment expanded to 88 battalions in the First World War, for example, the 10th London Regiment was transferred to the corps of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, becoming the 5th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. The London Regiment was reformed in 1992 through the regimentation of most of the successors of the original regiment. It is the reserve infantry battalion in London District and consists of an HQ. They are, HQ Company A Company B Company C D Company F Company Two companies of the Royal Green Jackets, F Company and G Company, formed part of the regiment between 1998 and 2004. In May 2004 Messines company, which was made up from an HQ, following the restructuring of the British Army in 2004, it was announced that the Guards Division would gain a TA battalion. This saw the London Regiment retaining its name and multi-badge structure, the two RGJ companies were transferred to the Royal Rifle Volunteers in preparation for the formation of The Rifles in 2007. The London battalions formed the London District, which consisted principally of the 1st, shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the formation of Reserve or 2nd-Line units for each existing Territorial Force unit was authorised. They were distinguished by a 2/ prefix from their parent unit, initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. Later they were mobilised for service in their own right. Unusually, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th London Battalions each sent three battalions overseas and formed 4th Line reserve units, thus the 26 pre-war battalions of the London regiment became 82 battalions. In June 1915, men of TF units who had volunteered for Home service were formed into composite Provisional Battalions for coast defence. For example, the 100th Provisional Battalion was formed from Home Service men of 173rd Brigade, nine provisional battalions were associated with the London Regiment and Honourable Artillery Company. British Army units from 1945 on Great War Forum London Regiment The Long, Long Trail Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth - archive site
26.
King's Royal Rifle Corps
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Later, ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire. The KRRC became the 2nd Battalion Royal Green Jackets, on the disbandment of 1/RGJ in 1992, the RGJs KRRC battalion was redesignated as 1/RGJ, eventually becoming 2/RIFLES in 2007. The Kings Royal Rifle Corps was raised in the American colonies in 1756 as the 62nd Regiment to defend the thirteen colonies against attack by the French and their Native American allies. After Braddocks defeat in 1755, royal approval for a new regiment, as well as funds, were granted by parliament just before Christmas 1755 – hence the regiments traditional birthday of Christmas Day. However, parliamentary delays meant that it was 4 March 1756 before an act of parliament created four battalions of 1,000 men each to include foreigners for service in the Americas. ”The Earl of Loudoun. About fifty officers’ commissions were given to Germans and Swiss, according to a modern history of the regiment, the idea for creating this unique force was proposed by Jacques Prevost, a Swiss soldier and adventurer who was a friend of the Duke of Cumberland. Prevost recognised the need for soldiers who understood forest warfare, unlike the regulars who were brought to America in 1755 by General Edward Braddock, the regiment was intended to combine the characteristics of a colonial corps with those of a foreign legion. Swiss and German forest fighting experts, American colonists and British volunteers from other British regiments were recruited and these men were Protestants, an important consideration for fighting against the predominantly Catholic French. The officers were recruited from Europe – not from the American colonies – and consisted of English, Scots, Irish, Dutch, Swiss. It was the first time officers were commissioned as British Army officers. In total, the regiment consisted of 101 officers,240 non-commissioned officers and 4,160 enlisted men, the battalions were raised on Governors Island, New York. The regiment was renumbered the 60th Regiment in February 1757 when the 50th and these were conventional battles on the European model, but fighting during Pontiacs War in 1763 was of a very different character. The frontier war threatened the British control of North America, the new regiment at first lost several outlying garrisons, but finally proved its mastery of forest warfare under Bouquets leadership at the victory of Bushy Run in August 1763. Two additional battalions of the regiment were raised in North America in 1775 for service in the American Revolutionary War and these battalions were deployed to Georgia and were involved in skirmishes at Sudbury in January 1779, at Savannah in October 1779 and at Augusta in September 1780. They went on to part in the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781. During the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment saw action in the Peninsular War, the mixing of rifle troops and muskets proved so effective that eventually line battalion light companies were replaced with rifle companies. The line battalions found themselves in different theatres, including the West Indies. The rifle battalion was joined by a second, and these found themselves in the Peninsula with Wellingtons army, serving along with the 95th Rifles
27.
9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
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The 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was an infantry battalion of the British Army. Part of the Volunteer Force, later the Territorial Force, the battalion was part of the Middlesex Regiment and it served as infantry in the Mesopotamian campaign during World War I and as an air defence regiment during and after World War II. The battalions origins lay in the enthusiasm for joining local Rifle Volunteer Corps engendered by an invasion scare in 1859, two of the many units formed in the populous county of Middlesex were the Marylebone & West Middlesex Rifles and the Harrow Rifles. The 9th Middlesex RVC was formed at Lords Cricket Ground on 14 October 1859 under the command of Lord Radstock, initially consisting of six companies, it rose to eight by April 1860. Under the Localisation of the Forces scheme introduced in 1872 by the Cardwell Reforms and its original uniform was grey with red facings, but in 1891 it adopted the KRRCs Rifle green with red facings. Its HQ was at 29 Park Road, Regents Park, the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a Mobilisation Scheme for units of the Volunteer Force, which would assemble by brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime the brigades provided a structure for collective training, the 5th Middlesex RVC formed part of the South London Volunteer Infantry Brigade. By the time the Volunteer Force was subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908, Volunteers from the unit served in the Second Boer War, earning it the Battle honour South Africa 1900–02. The 18th Middlesex RVC was formed at Harrow as a company on 30 December 1859. Many of the recruits came from the staff and senior pupils of Harrow School. The unit also ran its own athletic club and it was always associated with the West Middlesex, together, they formed a battalion-sized unit within the Volunteer Infantry Brigades. In the renumbering of 1880, the Harrow unit became the 9th Middlesex RVC and like the 5th was attached to the Royal Fusiliers in 1881 and its uniform was Rifle green with green facings. In 1899 it amalgamated with the West Middlesex, the Harrow School Cadet Corps becoming the 27th Corps until it too joined the West Middlesex, on the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the 5th RVC became the 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. It formed part of the Middlesex Brigade of the Home Counties Division and its headquarters moved to Pound Lane, Willesden Green. During the period of tension before the outbreak of war, the 9th Battalion sent two special service sections to guard a cable station at Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap. When the mobilisation orders were received on 4 August 1914, the Home Counties Division was on the march from Aldershot to Salisbury Plain for its annual training, the Middlesex Brigade had reached Larkhill, when the battalions were sent back to their headquarters to mobilise. The 9th Battalion entrained at Amesbury on 5 August and reached Willesden that morning, by the end of the day the battalion was entrained again for its war station at Sheerness. Here it dug trenches until relieved by Special Reserve troops and moved to Sittingbourne, on 11 August, in common with the majority of the men of the Home Counties Division, the 9th Battalion accepted liability for overseas service
28.
132nd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
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The 132nd Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that remained in British India during World War I. After the creation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Volunteer battalions of the Middlesex Regiment were organised into a brigade within the Home Counties Division, the brigade was designated the Middlesex Brigade. On the outbreak of World War I, the men of the division accepted liability for service to relieve Regular troops for the fighting fronts. The 7th and 8th Middlesex sailed for Gibraltar on 4 and 10 September 1914, the rest of the division was ordered to India, although the brigade staffs and Regular adjutants of the battalions were to remain behind. The Home Counties Division embarked at Southampton and sailed on 30 October 1914, on arrival, the divisions units were sent distributed to various peacetime stations across India, Aden and Burma to continue their training for war. The Border and KSLI battalions joined the Burma Division, the Brecon battalion went to Aden, the TF battalions had all taken the prefix 1 to distinguish them from their 2nd Line battalions forming in the United Kingdom. In March 1915, 2/4th Border Regiment was sent out to the brigade to replace 4th KSLI, in May 1915, the division was numbered 44th Division and the brigade formally became 132nd Brigade. By early 1916 it had become obvious that the Territorial Divisions in India were never going to be able to reform and they continued training in India for the rest of the war, providing drafts and detachments as required. 1/9th Middlesex was transferred to Mesopotamia at the end of 1917, landing at Basra on 11 December and transferring to 53rd Indian Brigade, by 1918 the only units still formally attached to 132nd Brigade were 1/10th Middlesex and 1/4th Border. During 1919 the remaining Territorial units in India were gradually reduced, during the First World War the Middlesex Brigade was composed as follows, Commander, Brigadier-General W. R. It was, however, reformed in the 1920s as the Territorial Army, the division was also reconstituted as the 44th Infantry Division. The brigade was reformed with the composition as it had before the First World War. However, in 1920, the 10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was converted into the Home Counties Divisional Signals and they were replaced in the brigade by the 5th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment from the 133rd Infantry Brigade. In the late 1930s, however, all three of the Middlesex battalions were posted away or converted to other roles, the 9th Battalion was, in 1938, converted into the 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment and transferred to the 40th Anti-Aircraft Group, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. In the same year, the Middlesex Regiment was designated as a Machine Gun regiment, also in 1938, all infantry brigades in the British Army were reduced from four battalions to three. The 7th and 8th Middlesex were replaced by the 4th Royal West Kents from the 133rd Brigade, in 1939 the brigade was redesignated 132nd Infantry Brigade. The brigade and division, alongside most of the rest of the Territorial Army, was mobilised in late August 1939 due to the situation in Europe deteriorating situation in Europe. 3 September 1939 saw the start of the Second World War after the German Army invaded Poland two days before, on 1 September 1939. T, steele Brigadier C. B. Robertson Brigadier L. G
29.
44th (Home Counties) Division
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The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, at the outbreak of World War I it accepted liability for overseas service and was posted to India in 1914 to relieve Regular Army units for service on the Western Front. On arrival in India it was broken up so did not see active service as a complete formation. However, most of its constituent units did serve in theatres, notably Mesopotamia from 1915. Reformed in the Territorial Army in 1920 as the 44th Division, once again, its component units continued to serve, in North Africa, Italy, North-West Europe, and Burma. The division was reformed in the Territorial Army in 1947 before being merged with the Home Counties District in 1961. On formation, the TF contained 14 infantry divisions and 14 mounted yeomanry brigades, one of the divisions was the Home Counties Division. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, two Army Troops battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment were also attached for training, but were not integral to the division. In peacetime, the headquarters was in Hounslow in Middlesex. However, on the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, therefore, TF units were split into 1st Line and 2nd Line units. 2nd Line units performed the home defence role, although in fact most of these were also posted abroad in due course, the Home Counties Division formed the 2nd Home Counties Division in this manner with an identical structure. The division mobilised on the outbreak of the war, early in September 1914, the division sent two battalions to Gibraltar to relieve regular battalions, 7th and 8th Middlesex left on 4 and 10 September respectively. On 22 September, India agreed to send 32 British and 20 Indian regular battalions to Europe in exchange for 43 partially trained TF battalions, accordingly, the division accepted liability for service in India. The division sailed from Southampton on 30 October 1914 with 13 infantry battalions and 3 artillery brigades, the division arrived at Bombay on 1–3 December 1914, with the Brecknockshire Battalion departing again on 9 December for Aden. The divisional commander, Major-General J. C. Young, accompanied the division to India, on arrival, he handed over the units and returned to England, arriving on 22 December. He took command of the 2nd Line 2nd Home Counties Division on 20 January 1915, the division was effectively broken up on arrival in India in December 1914, the units reverted to peacetime conditions and were dispersed throughout India and Burma. The battalions and batteries moved around the various stations in India, Burma. For example, the 1/4th Buffs moved from Mhow to Aden in August 1915, to Bareilly in January 1916, the 1/4th KSLI went further afield, on arrival in India, it was posted to Rangoon, with a detachment in the Andaman Islands
30.
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge
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The Duke was an army officer by profession and served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces from 1856 to 1895. He became Duke of Cambridge in 1850 and field marshal in 1862, deeply devoted to the old Army, he worked with the Queen to defeat or minimize every reform proposal, such as setting up a general staff. His Army became a moribund and stagnant institution, lagging far behind France and its weaknesses were dramatically revealed by the poor organization at the start of the Second Boer War. Prince George was born at Cambridge House in Hanover, Germany and his father was Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the 10th child and seventh son of King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His mother was the Duchess of Cambridge and he was baptised at Cambridge House on 11 May 1819, by the Reverend John Sanford, his fathers Domestic Chaplain. His godparents were the Prince Regent, the Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, Prince George of Cambridge was educated in Hanover and from 1830 in England by the Rev. J. R. Wood, a canon of Worcester Cathedral. Like his father, he embarked upon a career initially becoming a colonel in the Hanoverian Army and then, on 3 November 1837. He was attached to the staff at Gibraltar from October 1838 to April 1839, after serving in Ireland with the 12th Royal Lancers, he was appointed substantive lieutenant-colonel of the 8th Light Dragoons on 15 April 1842 and colonel of the 17th Lancers on 25 April 1842. From 1843 to 1845, he served as a colonel on the staff in the Ionian islands and he succeeded to his fathers titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Tipperary, and Baron Culloden on 8 July 1850. The Duke of Cambridge became Inspector of the Cavalry in 1852, in February 1854, at an early stage in the Crimean War, he received command of the 1st Division of the British army in the East. On 19 June 1854, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and he was present at the battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman, and at the siege of Sevastopol. Owing to illness the Earl of Cardigan returned first to Malta and then to England, in that capacity he served as the chief military advisor to the Secretary of State for War, with responsibility for the administration of the army and the command of forces in the field. He was promoted to the rank of general on 15 July 1856, the Duke of Cambridge served as commander-in-chief for 39 years. Under his command, the British Army became a moribund and stagnant institution and it is said that he rebuked one of his more intelligent subordinates with the words, Brains. You havent any, I know, Sir and he was equally forthright on his reluctance to adopt change, There is a time for everything, and the time for change is when you can no longer help it. In 1861,100 were issued to five battalions, in 1863. A years good behaviour would return them to the first class, cardwell succeeded in pushing through a number of reforms, including one that made the Commander in chief nominally report to the Secretary of State for War. The Duke was opposed to most of the reforms because they struck at the heart of his view of the Army and his fears seemed to be confirmed in 1873, when Wolseley raided battalions for the expedition against the Ashanti
31.
Prince of Wales
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Charles, Prince of Wales is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II. Known alternatively in South West England as Duke of Cornwall and in Scotland as Duke of Rothesay, he is the heir apparent in British history. He is also the oldest person to be next in line to the throne since Sophia of Hanover, Charles was born at Buckingham Palace as the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. After earning a bachelor of degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer and they had two sons, Prince William later to become Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, in 1996, the couple divorced, following well-publicised extramarital affairs. Diana died in a car crash in Paris the following year, in 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles. Charles has sought to raise awareness of the dangers facing the natural environment. As an environmentalist, he has received awards and recognition from environmental groups around the world. His support for alternative medicine, including homeopathy, has been criticised by some in the medical community and he has been outspoken on the role of architecture in society and the conservation of historic buildings. Subsequently, Charles created Poundbury, a new town based on his theories. He has authored a number of books, including A Vision of Britain, A Personal View of Architecture in 1989 and he was baptised in the palaces Music Room by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on 15 December 1948. When Prince Charles was aged three his mothers accession as Queen Elizabeth II made him her heir apparent. As the monarchs eldest son, he took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince. Charles attended his mothers coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953, seated alongside his grandmother, as was customary for upper-class children at the time, a governess, Catherine Peebles, was appointed and undertook his education between the ages of five and eight. Buckingham Palace announced in 1955 that Charles would attend school rather than have a private tutor, Charles then attended two of his fathers former schools, Cheam Preparatory School in Berkshire, England, followed by Gordonstoun in the north-east of Scotland. He reportedly despised the school, which he described as Colditz in kilts. Upon his return to Gordonstoun, Charles emulated his father in becoming Head Boy and he left in 1967, with six GCE O-levels and two A-levels in history and French, at grades B and C, respectively. Tradition was broken again when Charles proceeded straight from school into university
32.
Manley Power
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Lieutenant General Sir Manley Power, KCB, ComTE was a British military leader who fought in a number of campaigns for Britain and rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. He is chiefly remembered for leading a brigade of Portuguese troops under The Duke of Wellington in the Iberian Peninsular War, after his active military service Sir Manley Power was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Malta. His grandfather, Sir Henry Power, was a captain of the Battle-Axe Guards and he served in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Holland, and Minorca. He was part of the force under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Alexandria, one of Portugals strategies during the Peninsular War was to place troops under British command. Powers Portuguese formed part of the 3rd Division when it was led by Pakenham at Torres Vedras and Salamanca, Picton also led the 3rd when it broke through at Vitoria. Finally the 3rd was under the command of Charles Colville at the Battle of Nivelle where it took part in the main attack and then captured the bridge at Amotz under heavy resistance. Manley Power and two other successful Peninsular War veteran brigade leaders, Thomas Brisbane and Frederick Philipse Robinson, were sent to bolster British forces in the War of 1812 in North America, the veteran brigade leaders were deeply disappointed by Sir George Prevosts caution at the Battle of Plattsburgh. Prevost had placed Francis de Rottenburg in charge of infantry, with the brigades under his command, the brigade leaders were dismayed with the decision to withdraw from battle because they felt they could have easily captured Plattsburgh despite the unsuccessful British naval action. Their opinions carried significant weight in Britain, which led to the removal of Prevost as Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Wellington wrote on 30 October 1814, It is very obvious to me that you must remove Sir George Prevost. Another Peninsular War veteran and Manley Powers previous commanding officer, Sir Edward Pakenham, Manley Power took part in the Battle of New Orleans, where Pakenham was killed, which unbeknown to its participants occurred after the war had already been settled in Belgium. On 25 October 1818, General Murray appointed him to be the officer at Calais to oversee the evacuation of British troops from France. When it was completed, the mayor of Calais wrote a letter to express thanks for his treatment of the French. Sir Manley Power later served as the Lieutenant Governor of Malta for six years, Manley Power would have been familiar with the island, having been previously stationed there in 1802 with the 20th Regiment of Foot. In addition to his honours, for his role in Peninsular War, Portugal conferred on him Knight Commander of the Order of the Tower. The honour Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath was conferred on him on 2 January 1815, when in England, Manley Power and his family lived in Hill Court Manor, Walford, near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. Based on Burkes records, he was likely Lord of the Manor of Walford, Ross, Ross Foreign, Aston Ingham, Sir Manley Power died on 7 July 1826, in Bern, Switzerland, after a few hours illness while returning from Malta to England. He is buried at Bath Abbey in England, archival material relating to Manley Power. William Broadfoot, ‘Power, Sir Manley ’, rev, gordon L. Teffeteller, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press,2004, doi,10. 1093/ref, odnb/22668
33.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
34.
Second Boer War
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The Second Boer War, usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War, started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902. Great Britain defeated two Boer states in South Africa, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, Britain was aided by its Cape Colony, Colony of Natal and some native African allies. The British war effort was supported by volunteers from the British Empire, including Southern Africa, the Australian colonies, Canada, India. All other nations were neutral, but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain, inside Britain and its Empire there also was significant opposition to the Second Boer War. The British were overconfident and under-prepared, the Boers were very well armed and struck first, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking in early 1900, and winning important battles at Colenso, Magersfontein and Stormberg. Staggered, the British brought in numbers of soldiers and fought back. General Redvers Buller was replaced by Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener and they relieved the three besieged cities, and invaded the two Boer republics in late 1900. The onward marches of the British Army were so overwhelming that the Boers did not fight staged battles in defense of their homeland, the British quickly seized control of all of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, as the civilian leadership went into hiding or exile. In conventional terms, the war was over, Britain officially annexed the two countries in 1900, and called a khaki election to give the government another six years of power in London. However, the Boers refused to surrender and they reverted to guerrilla warfare under new generals Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey. Two more years of attacks and quick escapes followed. As guerrillas without uniforms, the Boer fighters easily blended into the farmlands, which provided hiding places, supplies, the British solution was to set up complex nets of block houses, strong points, and barbed wire fences, partitioning off the entire conquered territory. The civilian farmers were relocated into concentration camps, where very large proportions died of disease, especially the children, then the British mounted infantry units systematically tracked down the highly mobile Boer guerrilla units. The battles at this stage were small operations with few combat casualties The war ended in surrender, the British successfully won over the Boer leaders, who now gave full support to the new political system. Both former republics were incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910, the conflict is commonly referred to as simply the Boer War, since the First Boer War is much less well known. Boer was the term for Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans descended from the Dutch East India Companys original settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is officially called the South African War and it is known as the Anglo-Boer War among some South Africans. In Afrikaans it may be called the Anglo-Boereoorlog, Tweede Boereoorlog, in South Africa it is officially called the South African War
35.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
36.
Le Havre
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Le Havre is an urban French commune and city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northwestern France. It is situated on the bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux. Modern Le Havre remains deeply influenced by its employment and maritime traditions and its port is the second largest in France, after that of Marseille, for total traffic, and the largest French container port. The name Le Havre means the harbour or the port and its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises. Administratively the commune is located in the Normandy region and, with Dieppe, is one of the two sub-prefectures of the Seine-Maritime department, Le Havre is the capital of the canton and since 1974 has been the see of the diocese of Le Havre. Le Havre is the most populous commune of Upper Normandy, although the population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen. It is also the second largest subprefecture in France, the city and port were founded by the King Francis I of France in 1517. Economic development in the Early modern period was hampered by wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing, after the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. Changes in years 1990–2000 were numerous, the right won the municipal elections and committed the city to the path of reconversion, seeking to develop the service sector and new industries. The Port 2000 project increased the capacity to compete with ports of northern Europe, transformed the southern districts of the city. In 2005 UNESCO inscribed the city of Le Havre as a World Heritage Site. The André Malraux Modern Art Museum is the second of France for the number of impressionist paintings, the city has been awarded two flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Le Havre is a major French city located some 50 kilometres west of Rouen on the shore of the English Channel, numerous roads link to Le Havre with the main access roads being the A29 autoroute from Amiens and the A13 autoroute from Paris linking to the A131 autoroute. Administratively, Le Havre is a commune in the Haute-Normandie region in the west of the department of Seine-Maritime, the urban area of Le Havre corresponds roughly to the territory of the Agglomeration community of Le Havre which includes 17 communes and 250,000 people. It occupies the tip of the natural region of Pays de Caux where it is the largest city. Le Havre is sandwiched between the coast of the Channel from south-west to north-west and the estuary of the Seine to the south, Le Havre belongs to the MLG community Paris Basin which was formed in the Mesozoic period. The Paris Basin consists of sedimentary rocks, the commune of Le Havre consists of two areas separated by a natural cliff edge, one part in the lower part of the town to the south including the harbour, the city centre and the suburbs
37.
Line of communication
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A line of communication is the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication, therefore, a secure and open line of communication is vital for any military force to continue to operate effectively. Thus, a unit whose lines of communication were compromised was vulnerable to becoming isolated and defeated, as the means for requesting reinforcements, the standard military abbreviation is LOC, or SLOC for Sea line of communication or ALOC for air line of communication. The interdiction of supplies and reinforcements to units closer to the front lines is therefore an important strategic goal for opposing forces, some notable examples, The Siege of Vicksburg in the American Civil War, in which Ulysses S. S. Military. Copyright ©2001,2002 by Oxford University Press
38.
Western Front (World War I)
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The Western Front or Western Theater was the main theatre of war during World War I. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, the tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This line remained unchanged for most of the war. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front, the attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, as a result, no significant advances were made. In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new technology, including poison gas, aircraft. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored, the German Armys Spring Offensive of 1918 was made possible by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that marked the end of the conflict on the Eastern Front. In spite of the stagnant nature of this front, this theatre would prove decisive. The terms of peace were agreed upon with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, belgiums neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London, this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at 11 pm GMT on 4 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914, Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5–16 August, Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army retreated to Antwerp, leaving the garrison of Namur isolated, with the Belgian capital, Brussels, although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August, for their part, the French had five armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities, on 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine, in keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th Armies toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back
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8th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
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The 8th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was active in both World War I and World War II. It was briefly reformed in Syria in a role during 1942-3. The 8th Division was a Regular Army division that was formed by combining battalions returning from outposts in the British Empire at the outbreak of the First World War, major-General Francis Davies took command on 19 September 1914. The division moved to France in November,1914, following the First Battle of Ypres, in 1939 it was based in Palestine and consisted of two infantry brigades. Due to the needs of defence against German and Italian forces these units were sent to places of need and reformed as different formations, although it had infantry it had no divisional troops due to the shortage of artillery and engineers in the Middle East. Its units were dispersed and the Division was disbanded on 28 February 1940, the Division headquarters was reformed in Syria on 2 June 1942 from the headquarters of the 5th Cavalry Brigade with an administration and internal security role under the Ninth Army. On 3 September the divisional headquarters role was taken by the headquarters of 89 Sub-Area, in this second incarnation R. A. C. units from 9th Army were attached. The division Headquarters were disbanded on 31 October 1943
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Thessaloniki
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Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
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Boulogne-sur-Mer
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Boulogne-sur-Mer, often called Boulogne, is a city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais, Boulogne lies on the Côte dOpale, a tourist coast on the English Channel, and is the most-visited location in its region after the Lille conurbation. Boulogne is its departments second-largest city after Calais, and the 60th largest in France and it is also the countrys largest fishing port, specialising in herring. Boulogne was the major Roman port for trade and communication with Britain, the citys 12th-century belfry is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, while another popular attraction is the marine conservation centre Nausicaa. The French name Boulogne derives from the Latin Bononia, which was also the Roman name for Bologna in Italy, both places—and Vindobona —are thought to have derived from native Celtic placenames, with bona possibly meaning foundation, citadel, or granary. The French epithet sur-Mer distinguishes the city from Boulogne-Billancourt on the edge of Paris, in turn, the Boulogne in Boulogne-Billancourt originates from a church there dedicated to Notre-Dame de Boulogne, Our Lady of Boulogne. Boulogne-sur-Mer is in Northern France, at the edge of the Channel, Boulogne is a relatively important city of the North, exercising an influence on the Boulonnais territory. The coast consists of important tourist natural sites, like the capes Gris Nez and Blanc Nez, the hinterland is mainly rural and agricultural. Boulogne is close to the A16 motorway, metropolitan bus services are operated by Marinéo. The company Flixbus propose a bus line connecting Paris to Boulogne, there are coach services to Calais and Dunkerque. The city has railway stations, which the most important is Boulogne-Ville station, boulogne-Tintelleries station is used for regional transit. It is located near the university and the city centre, the former Boulogne-Maritime and Boulogne-Aéroglisseurs stations served as a boat connection for the railway. Boulogne currently has no cross channel ferry services since the closure of the route to Dover by LD Lines in 2010. The city is divided into parts, City centre, groups historic and administrative buildings. Fortified town, old-town where are a lot of monuments and also the city hall. It is surrounded by 13th-century ramparts very appreciated today by walkers, gambetta-Sainte-Beuve, tourist area situated in the northwest of the city, on the edge of the beach and the recreational harbour. Capécure, economic and industrial area, situated in the west of the city, saint-Pierre, former neighborhood of the fishermen, destroyed during the World War II and reconstructed after. Chemin Vert, zone borned in the 1950s, knowing today poverty and it is the neighborhood of Franck Ribéry
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8th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
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It was formed before the First World War as part of the 3rd Division. As part of division it spent the entire war on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918 in the First World War. The brigade was active during the Second World War. The brigade, part of the 3rd Division, was serving in England on the outbreak of the First World War and it was based at Ebrington Barracks, Derry, and covered the north and northwest of the province. The Brigade Headquarters moved to Shackleton Barracks, Ballykelly, County Londonderry in October 2003, the brigade was disbanded and handed over responsibility to HQ 39th Infantry Brigade, based at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, on 1 September 2006
United Kingdom
British Army
