1.
Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor
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Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, CH was the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat. She was an American-born English socialite who made a marriage to Waldorf Astor as a young woman in England. Her first husband was an American, Robert Gould Shaw II and she served in Parliament as a member of the Conservative Party for Plymouth Sutton until 1945, when she was persuaded to step down. Nancy Witcher Langhorne was born at the Langhorne House in Danville and she was the eighth of eleven children born to railroad businessman Chiswell Dabney Langhorne and his wife Nancy Witcher Keene. After her birth, her father gained a job as an auctioneer in Danville, the center of bright leaf tobacco. In 1874, he won a contract with the Chespeake and Ohio Railroad. By 1892, when Nancy was thirteen years old, her father had re-established his wealth, Chiswell Langhorne later moved his family to an estate, known as Mirador, in Albemarle County, Virginia. Nancy Langhorne had four sisters and three brothers who survived childhood, all of the sisters were known for their beauty, Nancy and her sister Irene both attended a finishing school in New York City. They married in New York City on 27 October 1897, when she was 18, shaws friends said Nancy became puritanical and rigid after marriage, her friends said that Shaw was an abusive alcoholic. During their four-year marriage, they had one son, Robert Gould Shaw III, Nancy left Shaw numerous times during their marriage, the first during their honeymoon. In 1903, Nancys mother died, at time, Nancy Shaw gained a divorce and moved back to Mirador to try to run her fathers household. Nancy Shaw took a tour of England and fell in love with the country, since she had been so happy there, her father suggested that she move to England. Seeing she was reluctant, her father said this was also her mothers wish, Nancy and Phyllis moved together to England in 1905. Their older sister Irene had married the artist Charles Dana Gibson, Nancy Shaw had already become known in English society as an interesting and witty American, at a time when numerous wealthy young American women had married into the aristocracy. Her tendency to be saucy in conversation, yet religiously devout and almost prudish in behavior, confused many of the English men, Nancy also began to show her skill at winning over critics. She was once asked by an English woman, Have you come to get our husbands and her unexpected response, If you knew the trouble I had getting rid of mine. Charmed her listeners and displayed the wit for which she became known, the couple were well matched, as they were both American expatriates with similar temperaments. They were of the age, born the same day,19 May 1879
2.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
4.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
5.
Eton College
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Eton College /iːtən/ is an English independent boarding school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It educates more than 1,300 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years and it was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor, making it the 18th oldest Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference school. Eton is one of the seven public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. Eton has educated 19 British prime ministers and generations of the aristocracy and has referred to as the chief nurse of Englands statesmen. The school is headed by a Provost and Fellows, who appoint the Head Master and it contains 25 boys houses, each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members of the teaching staff, which numbers some 155. Almost all of the pupils go on to universities, about a third of them to Oxford or Cambridge. The Head Master is a member of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, Eton has a long list of distinguished former pupils. David Cameron was the 19th British prime minister to have attended the school, about 20% of pupils at Eton receive financial support, through a range of bursaries and scholarships. In early 2014, this figure had risen to 263 pupils receiving the equivalent of around 60% of school fee assistance, Eton has been described as the most famous public school in the world, and been referred to as the chief nurse of Englands statesmen. The Good Schools Guide called the school the number one public school, adding that The teaching. The school is a member of the G20 Schools Group, Eton today is a larger school than it has been for much of its history. In 1678, there were 207 boys, in the late 18th century, there were about 300, while today, the total has risen to over 1,300. Eton College was founded by King Henry VI as a charity school to free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to Kings College, Cambridge. Henry took Winchester College as his model, visiting on many occasions, borrowing its Statutes and removing its Headmaster, when Henry VI founded the school, he granted it a large number of endowments, including much valuable land. He persuaded the then Pope, Eugene IV, to grant him a privilege unparalleled anywhere in England, the school also came into possession of one of Englands Apocalypse manuscripts. Legend has it that Edwards mistress, Jane Shore, intervened on the schools behalf and she was able to save a good part of the school, although the royal bequest and the number of staff were much reduced. Construction of the chapel, originally intended to be slightly over twice as long, only the Quire of the intended building was completed. Etons first Headmaster, William Waynflete, founder of Magdalen College, Oxford and previously Head Master of Winchester College, as the school suffered reduced income while still under construction, the completion and further development of the school has since depended to some extent on wealthy benefactors
6.
New College, Oxford
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New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham, the name of the college is The Warden. The name New College, however, soon came to be used following its completion in 1386 to distinguish it from the existing college of St. Mary. In 2013, the college ranked second in the Norrington Table, having been ranked third in the 2011-12 tables, maintaining its place from 2010 to 2011, New College jumped to 1st after the 2012-13 academic year. The college is between Holywell Street and New College Lane, next to All Souls College, Harris Manchester College, Hertford College, The Queens College, the colleges sister college is Kings College, Cambridge. The college is one of the main foundations of the University of Oxford. The college choir is regarded as one of the choirs of the world. New College is one of the wealthiest colleges in Oxford University, as of June 2015, it had a financial endowment in excess of £190 million, and net assets of over £220 million. In 1379 William of Wykeham had purchased land in Oxford and was able to apply to King Richard II for a charter to allow the foundation of a de novo. In his own charter of foundation, Wykeham declared the college to consist of a warden, the site on which the college would be built was acquired from several sources, including the City of Oxford, Merton College and Queens College. This land had been the City Ditch, a haunt of thieves, on 5 March 1380, the first stone of New College was laid. By 14 April 1386, the college entered formal possession of the buildings, Wykeham set to drawing up the statutes of the college, with a first draft presented in 1390. The statutes were not completed until the year before Wykeham died, the coat of arms of the college is one adopted by William Wykeham. It features two black chevrons, one said to have been added when he became a bishop and the other representing his skill with architecture, Winchester College uses the same arms. The grand collection of buildings is a testament to Williams experience in administering both ecclesiastical and civil institutions as the Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor of England. Both Winchester College and New College were originally established for the education of priests, William of Wykeham ordained that there were to be ten chaplains, three clerks and 16 choristers on the foundation of the college. The original choristers were accommodated within the walls of the college under one schoolmaster, since then the school has expanded and in 1903 moved to New College School in Savile Road. In August 1651, New College was fortified by the Parliamentarian forces, in 1685, Monmouths rebellion involved Robert Sewster, a fellow of the college, who commanded a company of university volunteers
7.
Polo
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Polo is a team sport played on horseback. The objective is to score goals against an opposing team, players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing teams goal using a long-handled mallet. The traditional sport of polo is played on a grass field up to 300 by 160 yards, each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. Field polo is played with a plastic ball which has replaced the wooden version of the ball in much of the sport. In arena polo, only three players are required per team and the game involves more maneuvering and shorter plays at lower speeds due to space limitations of arenas. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small football, the modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkas. Polo is played professionally in 16 countries and it was formerly an Olympic sport. Its invention is dated variously from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD, Persian Emperor Shapur II learnt to play polo when he was seven years old in 316 AD. The game was learnt by the neighbouring Byzantine Empire at an early date, a tzykanisterion was built by emperor Theodosius II inside the Great Palace of Constantinople. Emperor Basil I excelled at it, Emperor Alexander died from exhaustion while playing, naqsh-i Jahan Square in Isfahan is a polo field which was built by king Abbas I in the 17th century. Qutubuddin Aibak, the Turkic slave from Central Asia who later became the Sultan of Delhi in Northern India, ruled as a Sultan for only four years, from 1206 to 1210, but died accidentally in 1210. While he was playing a game of polo on horseback, his horse fell and he was buried near the Anarkali bazaar in Lahore. Aibaks son Aram died in 1211 CE, so Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, another ex-slave of Turkic ancestry who was married to Aibaks daughter, after the Muslim conquests to the Ayyubid and Mameluke dynasties of Egypt and the Levant, their elites favoured it above all other sports. Notable sultans such as Saladin and Baybars were known to play it, Polo sticks were features on the Mameluke precursor to modern day playing cards. Valuable for training cavalry, the game was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages. It is known in the East as the Game of Kings, the name polo is said to have been derived from the Balti word pulu, meaning ball. The modern game of polo is derived from Manipur, India and it was the anglicised form of the last, referring to the wooden ball that was used, which was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam, India, the origins of the game in Manipur are traced to early precursors of Sagol Kangjei. This was one of three forms of hockey in Manipur, the ones being field hockey and wrestling-hockey
8.
Cliveden House
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Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate in Buckinghamshire, on the border with Berkshire. It crowns an outlying ridge of the Chiltern Hills by the village of Taplow. Set on banks 40 metres above the River Thames, its grounds slope down to the river, the site has been home to an earl, three countesses, two dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor. As home of Nancy Astor, the house was the place of the Cliveden set of the 1920s and 1930s — a group of political intellectuals. Later, during the 1960s, it became the setting for key events of the notorious Profumo Affair, during the 1970s, it was occupied by Stanford University, which used it as an overseas campus. Today owned by the National Trust, the house is leased as a hotel run by London & Regional Properties. Cliveden means valley among cliffs and refers to the dene which cuts through part of the estate, Cliveden has been spelled differently over the centuries, some of the variations being Cliffden, Clifden, Cliefden and Clyveden. The 375 acres gardens and woodlands are open to the public, there have been three houses on this site, the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house was also destroyed by fire, in 1849. The present Grade I listed house was built in 1851 by the architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1851 to replace a house previously destroyed by fire, the present house is a blend of the English Palladian style and the Roman Cinquecento. The Victorian three-storey mansion sits on a 400-foot long, 20-foot high brick terrace or viewing platform which dates from the mid-17th century, the exterior of the house is rendered in Roman cement, with terracotta additions such as balusters, capitals, keystones and finials. The roof of the mansion is meant for walking on, and there is a view, above the tree-line. Below the balustraded roofline is a Latin inscription which continues around the four sides of the house and recalls its history, it was composed by the then prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. On the west front it reads, POSITA INGENIO OPERA CONSILIO CAROLI BARRY ARCHIT A MDCCCLI, the main contractor for the work was Lucas Brothers. In 1984–86 the exterior of the mansion was overhauled and a new roof installed by the National Trust. In 2013, restoration work on the house was carried out including the restoration of 300 sash windows and 20 timber doors. The interior of the house today is different from its original appearance in 1851–52. This is mainly due to the 1st Lord Astor, who altered the interior layout. His aim was to make the interior as much like an Italian palazzo as possible, the ceiling and walls were panelled in English oak, with Corinthian columns and swags of carved flowers for decoration, all by architect Frank Pearson
9.
Major
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Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank senior to that of an army captain and it is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers, in some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. The rank of major is used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police. As a police rank, major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of superintendent, the term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major. Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present
10.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
11.
United Kingdom general election, January 1910
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The United Kingdom general election of January 1910 was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a crisis caused by the rejection of the Peoples Budget by the House of Lords. Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party, a second election was soon held in December. The Labour Party, led by Arthur Henderson, continued to gain strength, the Peers, the Parties and the People, The General Elections of 1910 Clarke, P. F. The electoral position of the Liberal and Labour parties, 1910-1914, F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts, 1832-1987 O’Brien, Phillips Payson. The 1910 Elections and the Primacy of Foreign Policy, in William Mulligan and Brendan Simms, eds. The Primacy of Foreign Policy in British History, 1660–2000 pp. 249-259, social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 Sykes, Alan. Tariff Reform in British Politics, 1903-1913 Sykes, Alan, the Confederacy and the purge of the Unionist free traders, 1906–1910. Class and the vote before the first world war, British Journal of Political Science 8#4, 441-457. Online Spartacus, Political Parties and Election Results United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979
"Astor, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922. This article is mostly about Waldorf Astor.
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