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.
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)
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Please see lieutenant general for other countries which use this rank Lieutenant general, formerly more commonly lieutenant-general, is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank, some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, Lieutenant general is a superior rank to major general, but subordinate to a general. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-8, equivalent to a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and an air marshal in the Royal Air Force, the rank insignia for both the Army and the Royal Marines is a crown over a crossed sabre and baton. Since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the St Edwards Crown, prior to 1953, the Tudor Crown, commonly known as the Kings Crown was used. Ordinarily, lieutenant general is the held by the officer in command of an entire battlefield corps. The General Officer Commanding NATOs Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is a British lieutenant general, historically, I Corps and II Corps were commanded by British lieutenant generals. Additionally, three lieutenant general appointments also exist within the extant British Armys Headquarters and they are the Commander Field Army, the Commander Home Command and the Chief of Materiel in Defence Equipment and Support. Examples include Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Fry, Lieutenant-General Sir James Dutton, from 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of lieutenant general. It was superseded by the rank of air marshal on the following day, although Sir David Henderson was an RAF lieutenant general, the then RAF Chief-of-Staff, Sir Hugh Trenchard never held this rank. Additionally, the retired Royal Navy admiral, John de Mestre Hutchison, the RAF lieutenant general rank insignia was similar to the naval rank insignia for a vice-admiral, with a broad band of gold being worn on the cuff with two narrower bands above it. Unlike the naval insignia the RAF lieutenant general insignia did not have an executive curl
4.
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
5.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
6.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
7.
Order of the Bath
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The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the medieval ceremony for appointing a knight. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath, George I erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order. Prior to 1815, the order had only a class, Knight Companion. Recipients of the Order are now usually senior officers or senior civil servants. Commonwealth citizens who are not subjects of the Queen and foreign nationals may be made Honorary Members, in the Middle Ages, knighthood was often conferred with elaborate ceremonies. These usually involved the taking a bath during which he was instructed in the duties of knighthood by more senior knights. He was then put to bed to dry, clothed in a special robe, he was led with music to the chapel where he spent the night in a vigil. At dawn he made confession and attended Mass, then retired to his bed to sleep until it was fully daylight, in the early medieval period the difference seems to have been that the full ceremonies were used for men from more prominent families. Knights Bachelor continued to be created with the form of ceremony. The last occasion on which Knights of the Bath were created was the coronation of Charles II in 1661. From at least 1625, and possibly from the reign of James I, Knights of the Bath were using the motto Tria iuncta in uno, and wearing as a badge three crowns within a plain gold oval. These were both adopted by the Order of the Bath, a similar design of badge is still worn by members of the Civil Division. Their symbolism however is not entirely clear, the three joined in one may be a reference to the kingdoms of England, Scotland and either France or Ireland, which were held by English and, later, British monarchs. This would correspond to the three crowns in the badge, another explanation of the motto is that it refers to the Holy Trinity. The prime mover in the establishment of the Order of the Bath was John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, the Court remained the centre of the political world. The King was limited in that he had to choose Ministers who could command a majority in Parliament, the leader of an administration still had to command the Kings personal confidence and approval. A strong following in Parliament depended on being able to supply places, pensions, the attraction of the new Order for Walpole was that it would provide a source of such favours to strengthen his political position
8.
Order of St Michael and St George
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It is named in honour of two military saints, St Michael and St George. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it, British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed as KCMGs or CMGs. It is the award for members of the FCO. The Orders motto is Auspicium melioris ævi and its patron saints, as the name suggests, are St. Michael the Archangel, and St. George, patron saint of England. One of its symbols is that of St Michael trampling over. The third of the aforementioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse, the last of the Orders on the list, related to India, has also been in disuse since that countrys independence in 1947. In 1864, however, the protectorate ended and the Ionian Islands became a part of Greece, accordingly, numerous Governors-General and Governors feature as recipients of awards in the order. In 1965, the order was open for women, with Evelyn Bark becoming the first CMG, the British Sovereign is the Sovereign of the Order and appoints all other members of the Order. The next-most senior member is the Grand Master, the office was formerly filled by the Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, now, however, Grand Masters are chosen by the Sovereign. Members of the Royal Family who are appointed to the Order do not count towards the limit, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, like many other heraldic officers. The Usher of the Order is known as the Gentleman Usher of the Blue Rod, he not, unlike his Order of the Garter equivalent. On the left side is a representation of the star, the mantle is bound with two large tassels. The collar, worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold and it consists of depictions of crowned lions, Maltese Crosses, and the cyphers SM and SG, all alternately. In the centre are two winged lions, each holding a book and seven arrows, at less important occasions, simpler insignia are used, The star is an insignia used only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross and Knights and Dames Commanders. It is worn pinned to the left breast, the Knight and Dame Grand Cross star includes seven-armed, silver-rayed Maltese Asterisk, with a gold ray in between each pair of arms. The Knight and Dame Commanders star is a slightly smaller eight-pointed silver figure formed by two Maltese Crosses, it does not include any gold rays, in each case, the star bears a red cross of St George. In the centre of the star is a blue ring bearing the motto of the Order. Within the ring is a representation of St Michael trampling on Satan, the badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order, it is suspended on a blue-crimson-blue ribbon
9.
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
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The RMC was reorganised at the outbreak of the Second World War, but some of its units remained operational at Sandhurst and Aldershot. In 1947, the Royal Military College was merged with the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, general Sir William Harcourt was appointed as the first Governor of the Royal Military College at Great Marlow and continued in post until 1811. In 1799, a school for officers had been established at High Wycombe. In 1858 this became an institution, the Staff College. In 1942, this moved to Mons Barracks, Aldershot. In 1812, the posts of Lieutenant Governor and Commandant were merged into the role of Commandant, in 1888 the two remaining senior posts, Governor and Commandant, were merged into the single appointment of Governor and Commandant, which in 1902 was retitled as Commandant
10.
Officer (armed forces)
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An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. In this sense, officers are not enlisted, but hold appointments from their government that typically remain in force indefinitely unless resigned, the proportion of officers varies greatly. Officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel, in 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13. 7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers, in the early twentieth century, the Spanish army had the highest proportion of officers of any European army, at 12. 5%. Within a nations armed forces, armies tend to have a proportion of officers. For example,13. 9% of British army personnel and 22. 2% of the RAF personnel were officers in 2013, having officers is one requirement for combatant status under the laws of war, though these officers need not have obtained an official commission or warrant. Commissioned officers are typically the only persons, in an armed forces environment, a superior officer is an officer with a higher rank than another officer, who is a subordinate officer relative to the superior. Non-commissioned officers in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command per se, many advanced militaries require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning, even from the enlisted ranks. In the Israel Defense Forces, a university degree is a requirement for an officer to advance to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the IDF often sponsors the studies for its majors, while aircrew and naval officers obtain academic degrees as a part of their training programmes. In the United Kingdom, there are three routes of entry for British Armed Forces officers, the first, and primary route are those who receive their commission directly into the officer grades following completion at their relevant military academy. The third route is similar to the second, in that they convert from an enlisted to a commission, but these are taken from the highest ranks of SNCOs. LE officers, whilst holding the same Queens Commission, generally work in different roles from the DE officers, in the infantry, a number of Warrant Officer Class 1s are commissioned as LE officers. For Royal Navy and Royal Air Force officer candidates, a 30-week period at Britannia Royal Naval College or a 30-week period at RAF College Cranwell, Royal Marines officers receive their training in the Command Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines during a grueling 15-month course. The courses consist of not only tactical and combat training, but also leadership, management, etiquette, until the Cardwell Reforms of 1871, commissions in the British Army were purchased by officers. The Royal Navy, however, operated on a more meritocratic, or at least socially mobile, AOCS also also included the embedded Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate and Naval Aviation Cadet programs. NAVCADs were personnel who held associates degrees, but lacked bachelors degrees, nAVCADs would complete the entire AOCS program, but would not be commissioned until completion of flight training and receiving their wings. After their initial tour, they would be assigned to a college or university full-time for no more than two years in order to complete their bachelors degree
11.
Second lieutenant
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Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1b rank. Like the United Kingdom, the rank of second lieutenant replaced the rank of ensign, the rank of second lieutenant was phased out in the Australian Regular Army in 1986. The Canadian Forces adopted the rank insignia of a single gold ring around the service dress uniform cuff for both army and air personnel upon unification in 1968 until the late 2000s. For a time, naval personnel used this rank but reverted to the Royal Canadian Navy rank of acting sub-lieutenant, currently, the Canadian Army insignia for second lieutenant is a pip and the Royal Canadian Air Force insignia for lieutenant is one thick braid. The equivalent rank for the Royal Canadian Navy is acting sub-lieutenant, also known as an Ensign in the Foot Guards units. The insignia consists of a bar in accordance with the color of the ceremonial uniform buttons. For cavalry or forest rangers, ceremonial dress buttons were silver, as was the horn on the forest commissioned officers képi. The insignia consists of a silver star. Officers holding this rank should be addressed as Kyrie Anthypolochage by their subordinates, in Indonesia, Second lieutenant is known as Letnan Dua which is the most junior ranked officer in the Indonesian Military. Cadets who graduate from the Indonesian Military Academy achieve this rank as young officers, senior Non-commissioned officers promoted to becoming commissioned officers go to the Officers Candidate School in Bandung for achieving the Second Lieutenant rank. The Lieutenant rank has two levels, which are Second lieutenant and First lieutenant, lieutenants in Indonesia usually command a Platoon level of troops and are referred to as Danton abbreviated from Komandan Pleton in Indonesian. Since 1951 in the Israel Defense Forces (סגן-משנה (סגמ segen mishne has been equivalent to a second lieutenant, from 1948 –1951 the corresponding rank was that of a segen, which since 1951 has been equivalent to lieutenant. Segen mishne means junior lieutenant and segen literally translates as assistant, typically it is the rank of a platoon commander. Note that the IDF uses this rank across all three of its services, the equivalent rank in Norway is fenrik. This is the first rank, where they are commanding officer, Fenriks are usually former experienced sergeants but to become a fenrik one has to go through officers training and education. Fenriks fill roles as second in command within a platoon, Fenriks are in some cases executive officers. Most fenriks have finished the War Academy as well, and are fully trained officers, to qualify for the Military Academy, Fenriks are required to do minimum 6 months service in international missions, before or after graduation. The Pakistan Army follows the British pattern of ranks, a second lieutenant is represented by one metal pip on each shoulder in case of khaki uniform and one four quadric printed star on the chest in case of camouflage combat dress
12.
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
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The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was an Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1968. The regiment was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th Regiment of Foot, on 1 July 1881 the 27th Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment of Foot were redesignated as the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers respectively. In 1903 the Regiment was granted a grey hackle for their fusilier raccoon skin hats to commemorate the original uniforms of the Inniskilling Regiment. The regimental district comprised the City of Londonderry and the counties of Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh in Ireland, the local militia regiments also became part of the new regiment, becoming the 3rd to 5th Battalions. Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a command within the United Kingdom with Command Headquarters at Parkgate Dublin. Under the Childers system, one battalion of each regiment was to be at a home station. Every few years, there was to be an exchange of battalions, the 1st Battalion landed at Durban, where they became part of the 5th Brigade. The battalion was involved in a series of military reverses at the hands of the Boers that became known as the Black Week, the unit subsequently took part in the Tugela Campaign before helping relieve Ladysmith in early 1900. The regiment lent its name to Inniskilling Hill, which was taken by the 5th brigade on 24/25 February 1900, the 2nd Battalion only arrived in South Africa from India in the late stages of the war and saw little action. The 7th Battalion and 8th Battalion landed in France as part of the 49th Brigade in the 16th Division in February 1916 for service on the Western Front. The 9th Battalion, the 10th Battalion and the 11th Battalion landed in France as part of the 109th Brigade in the 36th Division in October 1915 for service on the Western Front. The 12th Battalion fought against Irish rebels who were fighting to end British rule in Ireland, two of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were killed and seven more wounded. After the war, the Childers system was resumed, with the 1st Battalion moving to India for foreign service, with the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922 all the Irish line infantry regiments of the British army regiments were to be disbanded. These were the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, the old 89th Foot, and the 2nd Battalion, Inniskillings, the Inniskillings moved from India to Iraq in 1922, returning to Shorncliffe, England in 1925. They were stationed in Northern Ireland from 1927 to 1933, before moving to Aldershot and they resumed foreign service in 1934, moving to Shanghai and then Singapore two years later. In 1937 there was an expansion of the army, and the 2nd Battalion was re-raised at Omagh, the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers was also reformed, and the arrangement of 1922 ended. The 1st Inniskillings moved to Wellington, Madras in 1938, the two battalions were in these locations when the Second World War broke out in 1939. In addition to the 1st and 2nd Battalions, both part of the Regular Army, the regiment raised three battalions to fight in the Second World War
13.
Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)
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Lieutenant is a junior officer rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above lieutenant and below captain and has a NATO ranking code of OF-1. Unlike some armed forces which use first lieutenant, the British rank is simply lieutenant, the rank is equivalent to that of a flying officer in the Royal Air Force. Although formerly considered senior to a Royal Navy sub-lieutenant, the British Army, the Army rank of lieutenant has always been junior to the Navys rank of lieutenant. In the 21st-century British Army, the rank is held for up to three years. A typical appointment for a lieutenant might be the command of a platoon or troop of approximately thirty soldiers. Before 1871, when the whole British Army switched to using the current rank of lieutenant, during the First World War, some officers took to wearing similar jackets to the men, with the rank badges on the shoulder, as the cuff badges made them conspicuous to snipers. This practice was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an alternative, the cuff badges were, From 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the rank of Lieutenant. It was superseded by the rank of flying officer on the following day, in the United Kingdom, Lieutenant is a rank which is not used as a form of address, unlike Captain and higher ranks. A Lieutenant called Smith is addressed and referred to as Mr Smith, from 1856 to 1880 a lieutenants rank insignia was worn on the collar and comprised a single crown, the current insignia for a major. In 1881 lieutenants had their insignia changed to single pip and moved to the shoulder, in 1902 they received a second pip, the badge of rank which has been kept to the present
14.
Military history of the North-West Frontier
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The North-West Frontier region of the British Indian Empire was the most difficult area to conquer in South Asia, strategically and militarily. The borderline between is known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan. The two main gateways on the North West Frontier are the Khyber and Bolan Passes, since ancient times, the Indian subcontinent has been repeatedly invaded through these northwestern routes. With the expansion of the Russian Empire into Central Asia in the century, stability of the Frontier. Much of the Frontier was occupied by Ranjit Singh in the early 19th century, between 1849 and 1947 the military history of the frontier was a succession of punitive expeditions against offending Pashtun tribes, punctuated by three wars against Afghanistan. Many British officers who went on to distinguished command in the First and Second World Wars learnt their soldiering on the North-West Frontier, which they called the Grim. In 1747 when Ahmad Khān Abdālī seized control of Kandahar, Kabul, and Peshawar and he went on to conquer Herat and Khorassan, and established an empire from the Oxus to the Indus. On his death in 1773, the Afghan domain included Baluchistan, Sindh, the Punjab, Ahmad Shah was succeeded by his son Timur Shah Durrani, whose rule of twenty years saw the Afghan tide begin to ebb. Timur left many sons but no heir, and the resultant internecine struggles for the throne lasted more than thirty years, during this period the Punjab was effectively ceded to its erstwhile governor Ranjit Singh, Iran recovered Khorassan, and Sindh broke away. In 1813 Sikh forces from the Punjab crossed the Indus and seized the old Mughal fort at Attock, in 1819 Kashmir was lost, and west of the Indus Derajat also. Four years later the capital at Peshawar came under attack. In 1826 Dost Mohammad Khan emerged as undisputed ruler in Kabul and he defeated a further attempt to oust him by his exiled rival Shuja Shah Durrani in 1833, however the Sikhs seized all of Peshawar the following year. In 1837 Dost Mohammad launched a counter-attack through the Khyber, Dost Mohammad had sought assistance from the East India Company against the resurgent Punjab, but was rebuffed. So Dost Mohammad turned to Imperial Russia for help, maharaja Ranjit Singh, also called Sher-e-Punjab was a Sikh ruler of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire. His Samadhi is located in Lahore, Pakistan and he then spent the following years fighting the Afghans, driving them out of western Punjab, taking opportunity of the Afghans being embroiled in civil war. The deposed Afghan king Shah Shuja rallied a significant number of tribes, the civil war in Afghanistan coupled with a British backed assault meant that the Sikhs could virtually walk into Peshawar. They managed to capture Pashtun territory including Peshawar which was under direct British supervision, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the East India Company controlled southern India, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Dominance was gained at the expense of its French equivalent, the Compagnie des Indes, by 1819 only Sindh and the Sikh Empire remained outside the Companys control
15.
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
16.
Tirah Campaign
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The Tirah Campaign, often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah Expedition, was an Indian frontier war in 1897–1898. Tirah is a tract of country in what is now a federally administered tribal area of Pakistan. Suddenly, however, the rose, captured all the posts in the Khyber held by their own countrymen. The Battle of Saragarhi occurred at this stage and it was estimated that the Afridis and Orakzais could, if united, bring from 40,000 to 50,000 men into the field. The preparations for the expedition occupied some time, and meanwhile British authorities first dealt with the Mohmand rising northwest of the Khyber Pass. The general commanding was General Sir William Lockhart commanding the Punjab Army Corps, he had under him 34,882 men, British and Indian, the frontier post of Kohat was selected as the base of the campaign, and it was decided to advance along a single line. On 18 October, the operations commenced, fighting ensuing immediately, the Dargai heights, which commanded the line of advance, were captured without difficulty, but abandoned owing to the want of water. On 20 October the same positions were stormed, with a loss of 199 of the British force killed and wounded, the force, in detached brigades, now traversed the Tirah district in all directions, and destroyed the walled and fortified hamlets of the Afridis. The two divisions available for this duty numbered about 20,000 men, on 11 November, Saran Sar was again attacked by the brigade of Brigadier-General Gaselee. Experience enabled better dispositions to be made, and the casualties were only three, the traversing of the valley continued, and on 13 November a third brigade under Brigadier General Francis James Kempster visited the Waran valley via the Tseri Kandao Pass. Almost daily the Afridis, too wise to risk general engagements, waged guerrilla warfare. On 21 November, a brigade under Brigadier-General Westmacott was detached to visit the Rajgul valley, the road was exceedingly difficult and steady opposition was encountered. The objectives were accomplished, but with 23 casualties during the retirement alone, the last task undertaken was the punishment of the Chamkannis, Mamuzais, and Massozais. This was carried out by Brigadier-General Gaselee, who joined hands with the Kurram movable column ordered up for the purpose, the Mamuzais and Massozais submitted immediately, but the Chamkannis offered resistance on 1 and 2 December, with about 30 British casualties. The Kurram column then returned to its camp, and Lockhart prepared to evacuate Tirah, the base was thus to be transferred from Kohat to Peshawar. The return march began on 9 December, the cold was intense,21 degrees of frost being registered before leaving Tirah. The movement of the first division though arduous was practically unopposed, the actual march down the Bara valley commenced on 10 December, and involved four days of the hardest fighting and marching of the campaign. The road crossed and recrossed the icy stream, while snow, sleet, on the 10th, the casualties numbered about twenty
17.
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
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See Captain for other versions of this army and marines rank. Captain is an officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. The rank is equivalent to a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, the rank of captain in the Royal Navy is considerably more senior and the two ranks should not be confused. In the 21st-century British Army, captains are appointed to be second-in-command of a company or equivalent sized unit of up to 120 soldiers. A rank of second captain existed in the Ordnance at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, from 1 April 1918 to 31 July 1919, the Royal Air Force maintained the junior officer rank of captain. RAF captains had a rank based on the two bands of a naval lieutenant with the addition of an eagle and crown above the bands. It was superseded by the rank of lieutenant on the following day. Badges of rank for captains were introduced on 30 January 1855 and were worn on shoulder epaulets, after the Crimean War a new rank system was introduced which contained the first complete rank insignia in British Army history. A captains rank insignia was worn on the collar and displayed a crown, the rank insignia were returned to the shoulder boards in 1880 for all officers in full dress, when the system of crowns and stars was reorganised. From this time, until 1902, a captain had just two stars, the 1902 change gave captains three stars, which continues to be used. In addition to the badges, officers ranks were also reflected in the amount. Based on equivalent naval ranks, captains had two rings of braid, in the case of Scottish regiments, the rings were around the top of the gauntlet-style cuff and the badges on the cuff itself. During World War I, some took to wearing similar jackets to the men, with the rank badges on the shoulder. This practice was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an alternative, being made permanent in 1920 when the cuff badges were abolished
18.
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
19.
Queen's South Africa Medal
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Altogether twenty-six clasps were awarded to recipients of the Queens South Africa Medal, to indicate particular actions and campaigns of the Second Boer War. Three versions of the medal are known, since the war was initially expected to be of short duration and to reach its conclusion in 1900, the first medals were struck with the years 1899 and 1900 on the reverse. Approximately fifty of these medals were awarded before it became evident that the war was going to drag on much longer, the rest of the dated medals which had already been minted, therefore had these dates machined off. The third version was minted with a reverse and without the years. Poor logistics and disease, combined with having to fight against a disciplined and capable enemy of excellent horsemen and marksmen who perfected guerrilla warfare, made this a hard-won medal. In addition to men often having to go without basics such as food and water, the published casualty rolls run to over 50,000 names, while studies of contemporary publications and reports put the actual figure for all casualties at 97,000. Exact mortality figures in the 64 concentration camps for black displaced farm workers and their families are not known, the Queens South Africa Medal was awarded to all British forces who served in South Africa from 11 October 1899 up to the end of the war on 31 May 1902. This included those such as the New Zealand 10th Contingent, who arrived in Durban in May 1902, the medal, without a clasp, was also awarded to troops who guarded Boer prisoners at the prisoner of war camp on the island of Saint Helena. Troops on the Mediterranean islands, however, were awarded the Queens Mediterranean Medal, altogether twenty-six clasps were awarded to recipients of the Queens South Africa Medal, to indicate each action and campaign of the Second Boer War. They were authorised in Army Order 94, April 1902, as amended, as a result, such clasps were often lost over time or attached in the wrong order of wear, since the recipients either knew no better or did not care. Examples of clasps affixed in correct and incorrect orders of wear are shown alongside, five unofficial clasps are known to exist, as follows, COLENSO GLENCOE ORANGE RIVER COLONY PIETERS HILL ZAND RIVER The official clasps fall into three groups, State, Date and Battle clasps. A Queens South Africa Medal could therefore not carry both a State clasp and a Battle clasp for actions within the same state, the same rule applied to the RHODESIA clasp, which was not awarded along with the RELIEF OF MAFEKING clasp. The CAPE COLONY and NATAL clasps were not awarded together, with the exception of Private Wingell, SOUTH AFRICA1901 - Awarded to all troops who served in South Africa between 1 January 1901 and 31 December 1901 inclusive, who were not eligible for the Kings South Africa Medal. SOUTH AFRICA1902 - Awarded to all troops who served in South Africa between 1 January 1902 and 31 May 1902 inclusive, who were not eligible for the Kings South Africa Medal. Recipients could not be awarded both the DEFENCE OF and RELIEF OF clasps for Mafeking, Kimberley or Ladysmith and this list of clasps is sorted alphabetically and not in order of wear. BELMONT - Awarded to all troops under Lieutenant General Lord Methuens command who were north of Witteputs, DEFENCE OF KIMBERLEY - Awarded to all troops in the garrison of Kimberley, Cape of Good Hope between 14 October 1899 and 15 February 1900 inclusive. DEFENCE OF LADYSMITH - Awarded to all troops in Ladysmith, Natal, DEFENCE OF MAFEKING - Awarded to all troops in the garrison of Mafeking, Cape of Good Hope, between 13 October 1899 and 17 May 1900 inclusive. DRIEFONTEIN - Awarded to all troops with Army Headquarters, and Lieutenant General John Frenchs column which advanced from Poplar Grove in the Orange Free State on 10 March 1900
20.
John Jordan (diplomat)
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Sir John Newell Jordan GCMG GCIE KCB PC was a British diplomat. Jordan was born in Balloo, County Down, Ireland, the son of a wealthy Presbyterian farmer and he apparently never lost his Irish accent. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, Queens College, Belfast and Queens College, in 1876 he joined the Chinese Consular Service as a student interpreter. He held various posts in South China before being appointed Chinese Secretary at the British Legation in Peking in 1891, in 1896 he was appointed Consul-General at Seoul, Korea, becoming Chargé daffaires in 1898 and Minister-Resident in August 1901. He remained there until November 1905, being appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael, Jordan received the Queen Victoria Jubilee Medal in 1897 followed by the King Edward VII Coronation Medal in 1902. In 1906 he was appointed HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China as the successor to Sir Ernest Satow and he was also appointed to the Privy Council in 1915, entitling him to the style The Right Honourable. In 1920, Jordan became a director of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, Jordan, despite his retirement, was a delegate to the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922. At his death he left estate valued at £39,409, Jordan Road in Hong Kongs Kowloon District is named after him. Biography, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
21.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
22.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
23.
Colonel (United Kingdom)
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Colonel is a rank of the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking below brigadier, and above lieutenant colonel. British colonels are not usually field commanders, typically they serve as staff officers between field commands at battalion and brigade level, the insignia is two diamond-shaped pips below a crown. The crown has varied in the past with different monarchs, the current Queens reign has used St Edwards Crown, the rank is equivalent to captain in the Royal Navy and group captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of colonel was popularized by the tercios that were employed in the Spanish Army during the 16th and 17th centuries, general Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba divided his troops in to coronelías ). These units were led by a coronel and this command structure and its titles were soon adopted as colonello in early modern Italian and in Middle French as coronel. The modern English pronunciation of the word is derived from the French variant, the British Army has historically been organized around the regiment, with each regiment being raised, uniformed, and equipped or either directly by the crown or by a nobleman. By the end of 17th century in Great Britain, the colonel of a regiment was often a person who had been given Royal Assent to raise it for service. As such, he was required to cover all costs of the equipment, uniforms. Until the late 18th century most British regiments were known by the name of the colonelcy. It occasionally raised its own fighting units, such as battoemen, the reforms meant that the British government was now financially responsible for the pay, clothing and equipment of the troops in the service of the British Crown. Colonels were also no longer permitted to directly from the sale of officer commissions in their regiments. A lieutenant-colonel commanded the regiment in battle, by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, the title colonel of the regiment had become a sinecure appointment for distinguished generals and members of the royal family or British nobility. Despite an individual only being permitted to hold one colonelcy, it was a position as they were in financial charge of their regiments allowance from the government. This meant they could hope to make a profit on the allocated for equipment, supplies. As generals were mostly on half-pay, a colonelcy was a method of providing them with extra income, however it should be noted that many colonels spent large sums of their own money on their regiments. Some of the duties associated with the title Colonel of the Regiment continue to be used in the modern British Army. The ceremonial position is often conferred on retired general officers, brigadiers or colonels who have a link to a particular regiment. Non-military personnel, usually for positions within the Army Reserve may also be appointed to the ceremonial position, when attending functions as Colonel of the Regiment, the titleholder wears the regimental uniform with rank insignia of colonel, regardless of their official rank
24.
British Empire Exhibition
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The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925, running from 23 April 1924 to 31 October 1925. In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park, a British Empire Exhibition had first been proposed in 1902, by the British Empire League, and again in 1913. One of the reasons for the suggestion was a sense that other powers were challenging Britain on the world stage, despite victory in the First World War this was in some ways even truer in 1919. The country had economic problems and its supremacy was being challenged by two of its former allies, the USA and Japan. Wembley Urban District Council were opposed to the idea, as was The Times, a world tour headed by Major Ernest Belcher in 1922 that lasted 10 months was mounted to promote participation in the Exhibition, with Agatha Christie and her husband among the participants. The British Empire Exhibition would run from 1924 to 1925 and made Wembley a household name. The Prince, at the time, also wished for the Exhibition to boast a great national sports ground, a purpose built “great national sports ground”, called the Empire Stadium, was built for the Exhibition. The first turf for this stadium was cut, on the site of the old tower,250,000 tons of earth were then removed, and the new structure constructed within 10 months, opening well before the rest of the Exhibition was ready. Designed by John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, and built by McAlpine, the building was an unusual mix of Roman imperial and Mughal architecture. Although it incorporated a pitch, it was not solely intended as a football stadium. Its quarter mile running track, incorporating a 220 yard straight track were seen as being at least equally important, the only standard gauge locomotive involved in the construction of the Stadium has survived, and still runs on Sir William McAlpine’s private Fawley Hill railway near Henley. Wembley Park station was rebuilt for the British Empire Exhibition and a new station, Exhibition Station, was built on a spur to connect the station to Marylebone, Exhibition Station opened on 28 April 1923, the day of Wembley Stadiums first FA cup final. It was later renamed Wembley Exhibition, and then, in February 1928 and it was only really used to transport spectators to Wembley events. It stopped carrying passengers in May 1968 and officially closed on 1 September 1969, the Exhibition presented a creative challenge, in that its concept required a large number of buildings in a variety of styles. This offered the architects a unique opportunity to experiment, to simplify construction, the main building material used for the Exhibition buildings was reinforced concrete, selected for its speed of construction. Wembley Park thus earned the title of the first “concrete city” the world had ever seen, like the Stadium, the other Exhibition buildings were designed by John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, assisted by engineer Owen Williams. All three had previous experience of using concrete. Nearly 2,000 men were employed in constructing the Exhibition buildings during 1923-4, the Indian pavilion had towers and domes, the West African pavilion looked like an Arab fort, the Burmese pavilion was a temple and the South African building reflected the Dutch style
25.
The London Gazette
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The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665 as The Oxford Gazette. This claim is made by the Stamford Mercury and Berrows Worcester Journal. It does not have a large circulation, in turn, The London Gazette carries not only notices of UK-wide interest, but also those relating specifically to entities or people in England and Wales. However, certain notices that are only of specific interest to Scotland or Northern Ireland are also required to be published in The London Gazette, the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are published by TSO on behalf of Her Majestys Stationery Office. They are subject to Crown Copyright, the London Gazette is published each weekday, except for Bank Holidays. The official Gazettes are published by The Stationery Office, the content, apart from insolvency notices, is available in a number of machine-readable formats, including XML and XML/RDFa via Atom feed. The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, the Gazette was Published by Authority by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The King returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, the Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, not printed for sale to the general public. Her Majestys Stationery Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889, publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when HMSO was sold and renamed The Stationery Office. In time of war, dispatches from the conflicts are published in The London Gazette. People referred to are said to have mentioned in dispatches. When members of the forces are promoted, and these promotions are published here. Man tally-ho, Miss piano, Wife silk and satin, Boy Greek and Latin, the phrase gazetted fortune hunter is also probably derived from this. Notices of engagement and marriage were also published in the Gazette. Gazettes, modelled on The London Gazette, were issued for most British colonial possessions
26.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
27.
John Cowans
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General Sir John Stephen Jack Cowans, GCB, GCMG, MVO was a senior British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1912 to 1919, covering the period of the First World War. Educated at Burneys Academy at Gosport, Cowans was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1881 and he became a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at Army Headquarters in 1898 before moving on to be Assistant Quartermaster-General for 2nd Division at Aldershot Command in 1903. In 1906 he was appointed Director-General of Military Education for the Indian Army and in 1907 he became Director of Staff Duties and he then became Commander of the Presidency Brigade in Calcutta in 1908. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described Cowans as the best Quartermaster since Moses. In October 1919, Cowans was appointed a Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer by Alexander of Greece, King of the Hellenes, in 1884, he married Eva Mary Coulson, they had no children. He died at Menton, France, in April 1921 aged 59, and was buried at St Marys Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London
28.
Archibald Murray
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General Sir Archibald James Murray GCB, GCMG, CVO, DSO was a British Army officer who served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. After serving as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff for much of 1915 and he was appointed adjutant of his regiment on 12 February 1886. After promotion to captain on 1 July 1887 and taking part in the suppression of a Zulu uprising in 1888, he became adjutant of the 4th Battalion and he attended Staff College, Camberley in 1897. He was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General on 6 March 1900, promoted to lieutenant colonel on 29 October 1900 and he was again mentioned in despatches in February 1901. Murray was appointed Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, stationed in India, in October 1901 and he was deployed to Northern Transvaal in February 1902 where he was seriously wounded in April 1902 and mentioned in despatches once more in July 1902. After the end of hostilities in South Africa, he returned to England in June 1902, and became Assistant Adjutant-General at Headquarters 1st Division at Aldershot on 3 November 1902. Promoted to colonel on 29 October 1903, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Kings Birthday Honours 1904 and he also took part in the procession for the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911. Murray became Inspector of Infantry on 9 December 1912, at the General Staff Conference in January 1914 he rejected proposals to adopt what he saw as a stereotyped French fire-and-movement doctrine. He then briefly commanded 2nd Division from 1 February 1914, when the First World War started in July 1914 Murray was not appointed QuarterMaster-General of the British Expeditionary Force as was originally intended. Instead he became Chief of Staff, Murray had already earned a high reputation as a staff officer in South Africa and under French at the War Office. It is sometimes claimed that Murray was given the position largely because Frenchs initial choice for the post, although this claim was made after the war by Edmonds, Kirke and Murray, there is no contemporary evidence, even in Wilson’s diary, to confirm it. Wilson, Sir John French and Murray crossed to France on 14 August, the code books had been left behind in London, and Lieutenant Spears had to go back to London for another set. During the retreat of August 1914 the BEF staff, who had not rehearsed their roles, French was a dynamic leader but no manager. This staff included Colonel Harper, GSO1, Murray summoned the Corps Chiefs of Staff at around 1am on 24 August, and ordered them to retreat, but gave them no detailed plans, leaving them to work out the details themselves. French agreed to Haig’s request that I Corps retreat east of the Forest of Mormal without, apparently, on 24 August Harper refused to do anything for Murray, so that Lord Loch had to write messages even though it was not his job. Loch wrote in his diary for that day that Murray was “by nature petulant”, Murray and his staff were working flat out in intense heat at Bavai, and recorded that he had passed 24 hours without undressing or sleeping. Smith-Dorrien visited GHQ to request detailed orders on the evening of 24 August, Murray noted in his diary that GHQ had moved back from Le Cateau to St Quentin and that I Corps was being heavily engaged by night – making no mention of what II Corps were up to. When 4th Division arrived Snow’s orders were to prepare a defensive position on the Cambrai-Le Cateau position
29.
Claude Auchinleck
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Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a soldier who spent much of his military career in India. He served as Commander-in-Chief India until Partition in 1947, when he assumed the role of Supreme Commander of all British forces in India and Pakistan until late 1948. Born at 89 Victoria Road in Aldershot, the son of Colonel John Auchinleck and Mary Auchinleck, Auchinleck attended Eagle House School at Crowthorne and then Wellington College on scholarships. He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 April 1905 and then spent the two years in Tibet and Sikkim before moving to Benares in 1907 where he caught diphtheria. After briefly serving with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Aldershot he returned Benares in 1909, Auchinleck saw active service in the First World War and was deployed with his regiment to defend the Suez Canal, in February 1915 he was in action against the Turks at Ismaïlia. His regiment moved into Aden to counter the Turkish threat there in July 1915, the 6th Indian Division, of which the 62nd Punjabis were a part, was landed at Basra on 31 December 1915 for the Mesopotamian campaign. In July 1916 Auchinleck was promoted acting major and made second in command of the regiment. He took part in a series of attacks on the Turks at the Battle of Hanna in January 1916 and was one of the few British officers in his regiment to survive these actions. He became acting commanding officer of his regiment in February 1917 and led his regiment at the Second Battle of Kut in February 1917, Auchinleck attended the Staff College, Quetta between 1920 and 1921. He married Jessie Stewart in 1921, Jessie had been born in 1900 in Tacoma, Washington, to Alexander Stewart, head of the Blue Funnel Line that plied the west coast of the United States. When he died about 1919, their mother took her, her twin brother Alan and her younger brother Hepburne back to Bun Rannoch, holidaying at Grasse on the French Riviera, Auchinleck, who was on leave from India at the time, met Jessie on the tennis courts. She was a high-spirited, blue-eyed beauty, things moved quickly, and they were married within five months. Sixteen years younger than Auchinleck, Jessie became known as the little American girl in India and he attended the Imperial Defence College in 1927 and, having been promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 21 January 1929 he was appointed to command his regiment. Promoted to full colonel on 1 February 1930 with seniority from 15 November 1923, he became an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta in February 1930 where he remained until April 1933. On leaving his command in April 1936 Auchinleck was on the unemployed list until September 1936 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff. He was then appointed to command the Meerut District in India in July 1938 and he received promotion to acting lieutenant-general on 1 February 1940 and to the substantive rank of lieutenant-general on 16 March 1940. In May 1940 Auchinleck took over command of the Anglo-French ground forces in Norway, Montgomery later wrote, In the 5th Corps I first served under Auchinleck
United Kingdom
British Army