Showing 15887 results

In 1807 Frederick Albert Winsor, a Moravian, issued a prospectus for the grandiose New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat Company. In the same year a group of influential backers, led by James Ludovic Grant, met at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand to try to launch some sort of public venture. At that time any company raising capital by selling shares was deemed a partnership: if it failed, all its members were held personally liable for losses. It was therefore decided to seek a charter by act of Parliament. An initial application in 1809 seeking to raise £1 million failed, largely through opposition by rivals such as Murdock and the younger James Watt. However, a more modest application for £200,000 was successful in 1810, though stringent conditions were attached. By 1810 these had been fulfilled and on 9 June the Gas Light and Coke Company - commonly known as the chartered company - was formally established, with Grant as its first governor. A Charter was granted by the Prince Regent in 1812.

The Company constructed the first operational public gas-works in Peter Street, Horseferry Road, Westminster, and began producing gas in September 1813. The Company absorbed 27 smaller companies and several undertakings during its period of operation, including the Aldgate Gas Light and Coke Company (1819), the Brentford Gas Company (1926), the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company (1870), the Equitable Gas Light Company (1871), the Great Central Gas Consumer's Company (1870), Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the Independent Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the London Gas Light Company (1883), Pinner Gas Company (1930), Richmond Gas Company (1925), Southend-on-Sea and District Gas Company (1932), Victoria Docks Gas Company (1871) and Western Gas Light Company (1873). In May 1949, after the passing of the Gas Bill 1948, the Company handed over its assets to the North Thames Gas Board.

In 1807 Frederick Albert Winsor, a Moravian, issued a prospectus for the grandiose New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat Company. In the same year a group of influential backers, led by James Ludovic Grant, met at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand to try to launch some sort of public venture. At that time any company raising capital by selling shares was deemed a partnership: if it failed, all its members were held personally liable for losses. It was therefore decided to seek a charter by act of parliament. An initial application in 1809 seeking to raise £1 million failed, largely through opposition by rivals such as Murdock and the younger James Watt. However, a more modest application for £200,000 was successful in 1810, though stringent conditions were attached. By 1810 these had been fulfilled and on 9 June the Gas Light and Coke Company - commonly known as the chartered company - was formally established, with Grant as its first governor. A Charter was granted by the Prince Regent in 1812.

The Company constructed first operational public gas-works in Peter Street, Horseferry Road, Westminster, and began producing gas in September 1813. The Company absorbed 27 smaller companies and several undertakings during its period of operation, including the Aldgate Gas Light and Coke Company (1819), the Brentford Gas Company (1926), the City of London Gas Light and Coke Company (1870), the Equitable Gas Light Company (1871), the Great Central Gas Consumer's Company (1870), Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the Independent Gas Light and Coke Company (1876), the London Gas Light Company (1883), Pinner Gas Company (1930), Richmond Gas Company (1925), Southend-on-Sea and District Gas Company (1932), Victoria Docks Gas Company (1871) and Western Gas Light Company (1873). In May 1949, after the passing of the Gas Bill 1948, the Company handed over its assets to the North Thames Gas Board.

The Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company was the first gas undertaking in the world, concerned chiefly, until the 1880s, with the production of gas for lighting purposes. It was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1810 and the charter was granted by the Prince Regent in 1812.

The origins of the gas industry lay with the discovery of coal gas in the early 18th century. Gas lighting for homes, buildings and streets was pioneered by William Murdoch, a Scottish engineer, who with his pupil Samuel Clegg of Manchester and John Malam of Hull, designed and built gas works for mills and factories from 1800 to enable them to be lit. They worked with entrepreneurs such as F A Winsor to secure financial backing. Winsor's ideal was to have a central gas works making gas for illumination in every town and city in the country. Samuel Clegg joined the Chartered Company and constructed the first operational public gas works in Peter Street, Horseferry Road, Westminster, which began producing coal gas in September 1813.

The gas light alternative proved to be popular; simple open flame gas burners provided a much brighter light than could be obtained from candles or oil lamps and also proved to be safer and cheaper. By 1823 it was reported that the Company's three stations at Peter Street, Brick Lane and Curtain Road, were annually consuming 20,678 chaldrons of coal, producing 248,000,000 cubic feet of gas, and lighting 30,735 lamps through 122 miles of gas mains.

Developments at Westminster were followed by the rapid expansion of gas works and their Companies across London and other cities and large towns in England and Wales. By 1830, there were 200 gas Companies, by 1850 there 800 gas Companies, 13 of which were in London, and by 1860 there were nearly 1,000 gas Companies.

The Chartered Company was quick to explore more effective and efficient means of manufacturing gas. Coal gas was first produced using retorts (horizontal tubes) which were charged (filled with coal) and, having given off the gas, discharged (the coke removed) by hand through a door at one end. These retorts were made of iron and distorted badly with prolonged heating. Fire clay retorts with iron lids were introduced around 1822 and the through retort, a coal-gas retort with charging door and discharge door, 20 feet long and sharing heat at the former dead-end space, was developed in 1831 by George Lowe, the Company's Superintendent of Works. The through retort raised the charge to 600 pounds and lowered heating fuel to 400 pounds.

Falling dividends caused by the rising competition between companies in London impelled the Company's Directors in 1850 to nominate a special committee to consider the question of amalgamation. The Gas Act 1860 ended the severe competition and encroachment on Companys' gas supply areas, by permitting companies to arrange for the lighting of allotted districts. However this also encouraged London Companies to exact greater profits. It was reported to the House of Parliament that the public were paying £1,700,000 a year for gas, a far greater sum than outside London. Public opinion and the Parish Boards became increasingly dissatisfied with the monopoly of the private companies. In 1866, the Board of Trade and the Metropolitan Board of Works wished to restrict the powers and heighten the obligations of the 13 Companies supplying London with gas. The City Corporation considered buying out the Companies' rights and managing a municipal supply.

A committee in the House of Pariament advocated amalgamation in 1867. The City of London Gas Act 1868 brought the Chartered, City of London and Great Central Companies to a working agreement and reserved their rights to 10% dividends, and to raise money via loans. In return they submitted their production and finance records for Government inspection. The new Act also enabled the right of further amalgamation with any Metropolitan gas company without Parliamentary sanction. During the 1870s and 1880s the Chartered Company absorbed the other large gas Companies operating in London:

• Brentford Gas Company: established 1820 and amalgamated 1926 (Gas Works at Brentford and Southall, Harrow, Norwood, and Richmond
• City of London Gas Light and Coke Company: amalgamated 1870: (Gas Works at Dorset Street, Blackfriars, Fetter Lane, Aldgate and Whitechapel)
• Equitable Gas Light Company: amalgamated 1871: (Gas Works at Pimlico)
• Great Central Gas Consumers Company: amalgamated 1870: (Gas Works at Bow Common)
• Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company: established 1821 and amalgamated 1876: (Gas Works at Bromley, Fulham, Saint Pancras, Shoreditch, Bow and Limehouse)
• Independent Gas Light and Coke Company: amalgamated 1876: (Gas Works at Haggerston)
• London Gas Light Company: amalgamated 1883: (Gas Works at Nine Elms, Vauxhall)

• Western Gas Light Company: established 1844 and amalgamated 1873: (Gas Works at Kensal Green)

  As a result of amalgamation, the Company's output of gas increased dramatically from 1,285,602 cubic feet in 1869, 9,934,489 in 1877, to 21,357,687 in 1900. From 1878, the Company began to experience increasing competition from newly established electrical lighting Companies which were applying to the Government for powers. The passing of the Electric Lighting Bill 1882 granted these Companies right of exploitation in public areas. At the same time the expanding Company broadened its business into the letting of gas stoves for heating and cooking. In 1879 the Company applied to Parliament to seek 'powers to apply capital to the purchase or manufacture of engines and apparatus which they proposed to sell or let on hire, with the object of encouraging the use of gasfor cooking, warming, and other purposes'.

  In 1949, the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company was nationalised and placed under control of North Thames Gas Board.

  Chartered Gas Work Sites: Brick Lane, Curtain Road, Cannon Row (Westminster), and Peter Street (Westminster). In 1868, Beckton Gas Works (North Woolwich) was erected and named after Simon Adams Beck the Company's Governor. Beckton replaced City gas works and operated up to 1949.

  Chartered Chief Office: Horseferry Road (Westminster)

  Governors: James Ludovic Grant 1812-1813
  David Pollock 1815-1846
  William Bateman 1846-1850
  George Wigg 1850-1851
  Benjamin Hawes 1851- 1860
  Simon Adams Beck 1860-1876
  Richard Howe Browne 1876-1883
  Sir William Thomas Makins 1883-1906
  Sir Corbet Woodall 1906-1916
  John Miles 1916-1918
  Sir David Milne-Watson 1919-1945
  Arthur Edgar Sylvester 1945-1946
  Michael Milne-Watson 1947-1949

  Secretaries: John Pedder 1812-1823
  Richard Gude 1823-1832
  Charles Burls 1832-1862
  John Orwell Phillips 1862-1892
  John William Field 1892-1903
  H Rayner 1903-1916
  Beckford Long 1916-1917
  William Lyle Galbraith 1917-1937
  Brian Wood 1937-1949

  Chief Engineers and Chief Superintendents of Works: Samuel Clegg 1812-1817
  George Lowe 1832-1863 (Lowe was appointed Superintendent of Curtain Road Gas Works in 1821 and was later transferred to Brick Lane)
  Frederick John Evans 1863-1872 (died 1880)
  George Careless Trewby 1884-1904
  Thomas Goulden 1904-1922
  Thomas Hardie 1922-1935
  Robert W Hunter 1935-1941
  Falconer Moffat Birks 1941-1945
  Norrie Willsmer 1945-1949
  Alexander Angus Croll (born 1808, died 1887) was Deputy Superintendent, then became Principal Superintendent. He took an active part in the formation of Great Central Gas Consumers Company in 1849, and became the President of the British Association of Gas Managers.

The London Gas Museum, Bromley-by-Bow, held material inherited from the North Thames Gas Board and its predecessors. In 1998 the museum began to disperse its collections as it prepared to close.

The company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1812 and the first meeting of what was known as the Court of Directors was held at 27 Norfolk Street, Strand on 24 June 1812. Offices were set up at 96 Pall Mall and a wharf and house rented at Cannon Row, Westminster, became the site for the works. In 1818 the company leased premises at Orchard Street, Poplar to establish a tar works and the Brick Lane and Westminster works began their own ammonia products works so the company could make the most of coal burning by-products. This also led to a large Products Works being built at Beckton in 1868. Another by-product coke was sold on to a wide domestic market. The rapid expansion of the Gas Light & Coke Co. led to the need for a large transport fleet. Every type of transport was used and usually owned by the company. Shipping, barges and railway engines were often used for the import and export of coal and by-products at the works. Road transport ranging from horse drawn carts to wagons catered for other supplies and maintenance needs. The expansion of the company and competition from electricity in the late nineteenth century led to development of the domestic market. Lady Demonstrators were employed to promote gas cooking and the Home Service eventually developed into a full advisory service on domestic gas use. As a large employer the company took its social obligations seriously and provided various pension, sickness and benefit funds. Links were established with the Territorial Army and by the time of the Boer War in 1899, company employees were eligible for duty as reservists and volunteers were given leave of absence. The company was so large that after nationalisation of the gas industry in 1949 the area it covered, which stretched from Pinner in North West London to Southend-on-Sea in Essex, became a single regional Gas Board called North Thames.

Born 1903; educated Eton and Sandhurst; 2 Lieutenant, Grenadier Guards, 1923; instructor, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1935; Staff College Camberley, 1938-1939; commander, 1 Battalion Grenadier Guards, 1941-1942; commander, 201 Guards Brigade, 1942-1943; North Africa and Italy, 1943; Imperial Defence College, 1946; Deputy Commander British Joint Services Mission (Army Staff), Washington DC, USA, 1947-1949; General Officer in Command, London District, 1950-1953; Major General commanding Household Brigade, 1950-1953; retired, 1953; Colonel Commandant, Honorable Artillery Company, 1954-1959; Governor and Commander in Chief, Bermuda, 1959-1964; died 1989.

Sir Stephen Gaselee: b 1882; Educated at Eton College and King's College Cambridge; Fellow of Magdalen College Cambridge, 1908-1943 and Librarian, 1908-1919; Librarian and Keeper of the Papers at the Foreign Office, 1920-1943; author of several books on Latin and the early printing press. He was a member of the Committee on the Relations of the Church of England with the Eastern Churches; died 1943

Born in Bucharest, eldest son of Abraham Emanuel Gaster, who was attached to the Netherlands legation in Bucharest, and his wife Phina Judith Rubinstein, 1856; Bachelier dès lettres et sciences, University of Bucharest, 1873; PhD, Leipzig, 1877; returned to Rumania, 1880; Rabbinical Diploma, Theological Seminary, Breslau, 1881; lecturer on Rumanian language and literature and comparative mythology, University of Bucharest, 1881-1885; a versatile scholar, his publications included the first translation of the Jewish liturgy into Rumanian, 1883, and his seminal work on the study of Rumanian language and literature ('Chrestomatie Românk'), 1891; his agitation on behalf of persecuted Jews in Rumania led the government to expel him, and Gaster became domiciled in England; Ilchester Lecturer on Slavonic and Byzantine literature at Oxford, 1886, 1891; appointed Chief Rabbi (Haham) of the Sephardic community in England, 1887; married Leah Lucy, only child of Dr Michael Friedlander (d 1910; Principal of Jews' College, London, 1865-1907), 1890; chosen Principal of the Judith Lady Montefiore College at Ramsgate, 1890; naturalized, 1893; a prominent member of Anglo-Jewry and active in many of its principal institutions; serious differences of opinion over the management of the College at Ramsgate led him to resign as Principal, 1896; for a time after his arrival in England he continued to support the Choveve Zion movement in which he had been active in Rumania, but later supported Theodor Herzl's Zionist movement, and was a founder and President of the English Zionist Federation and Vice-President of Zionist congresses in Basel and London, 1898-1900; his house was the venue for talks between prominent Zionists and the Foreign Office before the issue of the Balfour declaration, 1917; failing eyesight compelled him to retire his rabbinate, 1919; honorary member of the Rumanian Academy, 1929; Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, 1930; Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society, Anglo-Jewish Association, and Jewish Historical Society of England; Vice-President and President of the English Folk Lore Society; holder of Rumanian Orders "Bene merenti" 1st class, for literary achievements, and Commander of Rumanian Crown; an outspoken leader in public causes, often involved in controversy, and an arresting orator; as an eminent Jewish linguist, literary historian, folklorist, and pioneer of the study of Rumanian literature, accumulated a large library of printed and manuscript material in his fields of interest, namely Hebraica and Judaica, Samaritana, and Rumanian and related studies; died, 1939. Publications include: 'Literatura Populara Romana' (1883), on Rumanian popular literature; 'Ilchester Lectures on Greeko-Slavonic literature' (1887); 'Chrestomatie Românk' (2 volumes, 1891); reports of the Montefiore College (1891-1896); 'The Sword of Moses' (1896); 'The Chronicles of Jerahmeel' (1899); 'Geschichte der rumanischen Literatur', in 'Grundriss der Romanischen Philologie', vol ii (1900); 'Hebrew Illuminated Bibles of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries and a Samaritan Scroll of the Pentateuch' (1901); 'History of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the cathedral synagogue of the Jews in England, situate in Bevis Marks ... 1701-1901' (privately printed, 1901); edited 'The Book of Prayer and Order of Service according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' (6 volumes, 1901-1907), a new edition of the Sephardic service books with revised English translation; 'The Hebrew Version of the "Secretum Secretorum"' (1907-1908); 'Das Buch Josua' (1908), on the Samaritan Book of Joshua; 'Rumanian Bird and Beast Stories' (1915); 'Children's Stories from Roumanian Legends and Fairy Tales' [1923]; 'The Exempla of the Rabbis' (1924); 'The Samaritans' (Schweich lectures, 1925); 'The Asatir: the Samaritan Book of the Secrets of Moses' (1927); 'The Story of Chanucah' (1928); 'The Tittled Bible' (1929); 'The Story of Passover' (1929); 'The Story of Purim' (1929); 'The Story of Shavuoth' (1930); 'The Story of the High Festivals and the Feast of Tabernacles' (1931); 'Ma'aseh Book' (1934), translated from the Judeo-German; various Biblical Apocrypha in 'Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archæology'; contributions to the 'Encyclopædia Britannica', 'Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics', and other journals and reviews. 'Gaster Centenary Publication' (1936) provides a 'List of Publications of Dr M Gaster', by Bruno Schindler.

Jacob (Jack) Gaster was the twelfth of the thirteen children born to Moses Gaster, the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Community of England, and his wife, Leah (daughter of Michael Friedlander, Principal of Jews' College). Rumanian by birth, Moses Gaster was a distinguished scholar and linguist. He was also keenly active in early twentieth century Zionist politics.

Never attracted by Zionism and from 1946, a supporter of a "one state" solution to Israel/Palestine, Gaster still never broke with his father, merely with his father's ideas, becoming acutely aware of working class politics (and conditions of life) during the General Strike in 1926. While his favourite brother, Francis actually worked as a blackleg bus driver, Jack Gaster sided with the strikers. It was at this time that he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP), then headed by James Maxton. Despite his admiration for Maxton (who remained with the ILP), as a leading member of the Revolutionary Policy Committee (RPC) within the ILP, Jack Gaster led the 1935 "resignation en masse", taking a substantial group within the ILP with him to join the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).

In the immediate post war period, Jack Gaster was elected (as one of just two Communist councillors) to the London County Council (LCC). Representing the working class area of Mile End, Stepney, he immersed himself in the bread and butter issues of housing, employment and transport, while in 1952, (along with seven other representatives of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers) he made an illegal journey at the height of the Korean War to North Korea. The prime mission was to discover if the United Nations was using any biological weapons (germ warfare) against the North Korean civilians. On his return to Britain, Jack Gaster published a 38- page dossier, Korea… I Saw the Truth, indicting Washington not only for their use of germ, but other barbaric forms of warfare in North Korea. Jack Gaster was denounced by the patriotic press and there were serious calls for him to be indicted for treason.

A solicitor by profession, for some sixty years Jack Gaster was deeply involved with the legal aspects of political struggle, representing communists, trades union, civil rights and peace activists and also individuals of the left as different in temperament and ideology as Joe Slovo and Tariq Ali. He was for many years the Communist Party's principle legal adviser. A member of the CPGB until its dissolution, he had no sympathy with those who left the party over Hungary or Czechoslovakia, he viewed the Paris events of 1968 and the New Left as "subjectively progressive and objectively reactionary". He was totally opposed to Revisionism and the destruction of the CPGB seeing with absolute clarity that the fall of the Soviet Union would result not in a "Peace Dividend", but in new and more brutal "Imperialistic" wars.

In the 1990's Jack Gaster joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) headed by Arthur Scargill; though in his very ultimate years he was in no political party, he remained a vice-President of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers.

The Privy Council is, historically, the British sovereign's private council. It lost most of its judicial and political functions in the middle of the 17th century, when the sovereign ceased to have responsibility for political decisions. It retained, however, the power to hear appeals to the sovereign, which were dealt with by a General Committee of the Privy Council.

Born Middleton, Nova Scotia, 1882; educated Middleton High School; BSc, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, 1899-1903; McGill University, 1903-1904; Vice-Principal of Middleton High School, 1904; Demonstrator in Botany, McGill University, 1905; research at Woods Hole, Massachusetts 1906-1908; Senior Fellow and graduated PhD, University of Chicago, 1908; first major visit to Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and England), 1910; moved to England, 1911; research in laboratory of Farmer, Imperial College of Science, 1911; awarded Mendel Medal, 1911; Married Dr Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, 1911 (annulled 1916); Lecturer in Biology, St Thomas's Hospital, London, 1912-1914; Huxley Medal and Prize, Imperial College, University of London, 1913; Lecturer in Cytology, Bedford College, London, 1912, 1914 and on Heredity in Relation to Cytology, Oxford University, 1914; moved to USA, 1914; Associate Professor in Zoology, University of California, [1915]; worked at the New York botanical garden [1915-1916]; returned to England and enlisted in the Artists' Rifles, 1916; Instructor in aerial gunnery, Royal Flying Corps (Corporal), 1917-1918; Reader in Botany, University of London King's College, 1919-1921; Professor of Botany, University of London King's College, 1921-1942; Society of Experimental Biology, Secretary, 1923-1928; Amazon expedition, 1925; expedition to Kola Peninsula tundra and inspecting Russian plant breeding stations, 1926-1927; Canadian Arctic expedition (the Mackenzie River) recording blood group frequencies amongst the Inuit and indigenous Canadian population, 1928, South African expedition, making photographic records of South African peoples 1929; married Jane Williams, 1929 (dissolved); Consultative Council, Eugenics Society; Royal Anthropological Institute, Council, 1927-1933, 1935-1937; Council, Linnean Society, 1928-1932, Fellow of the Royal Society, 1931; Vice-President, 1931-1932; Council Royal Microscopical Society, Secretary, 1928-1930, President, 1930-1932, Honorary Fellow, 1951; delegate from British and American Associations to Indian Science Congress, Calcutta (Kolkata), 1937 also travelled in India during this time collecting botanic material and photographing jungle tribes; De Lamar Lectures at Johns Hopkins University on Human Heredity and Society, 1932; Lecture tour in American Universities, 1940-1942; Emeritus Professor, King's College London, 1943; Fellow of King's College; Lowell Lectures on Human Heredity, 1944; Research Fellow in Biology, Harvard University, 1946-1950; Honorary President of 7th International Botanical Congress, Stockholm, 1950 and of 8th Botanical Congress, Paris, 1954, while in Sweden visited Lapland to study Arctic vegetation and the Lapps; expedition to Cuban to study mixed race families, 1952; visit to North Africa, 1953; expedition to Mexico to study mixed race people, 1953; expedition to Eastern Canada to study indigenous Canadians, 1953; expedition to Japan to study Ainu people, racial genetics of the Japanese, and mixed race Japanese children, 1954; anthropological studies in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, 1955; married Laura Greer, 1955; studies in Australia, especially of mixed race indigenous Australians, 1958, studies in New Guinea, New Zealand, 1958; studies in India, including the Kurumbas and the Kanikars in South India and the Asurs, Bihors and Muria Gonds in North India, 1959; Far East, 1960; Anthropological Studies in Iran, 1961; Guest of Indian Statistical Institute, 1961-1962; died 1962.

Publications (selection only):

The mutation factor in evolution, with particular reference to Oenothera (Macmillan & Co, New York, 1915)

Heredity and eugenics (Constable & Co, London, 1923)

A botanist in the Amazon valley (Witherby, London, 1927)

Heredity and man (Constable & Co, London, 1929)

Human genetics 2 vols(Macmillan & Co, London and New York, 1946)

Human ancestry (Harvard University Press, 1948)

Pedigrees of Negro families (Blakiston & Co, Philadelphia and Toronto, 1949)

Genetic linkage in man (W Junk, The Hague, 1955)

Taxonomy and genetics of oenothera : forty years study in the cytology and evolution of the Onagraceae (W Junk, The Hague, 1958).

Information not available at present.

Ellen V Gatter is thought to have been a nurse at St Thomas' Hospital.

The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) grew out of the Gay News Defence Committee set up to support Gay News against a blasphemy charge and organise a large support demonstration on 11 Feb 1978. On 15 Feb, a special meeting agreed to form an umbrella organisation to monitor issues concerning gay people and generate and publicise action. GAA had no social function, but simply drew together individuals and groups concerned with gay issues. Regional groups were formed in Brighton, London, Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham. A secretariat coordinating the work of these local groups rotated between them on a six-monthly basis. Local groups were autonomous and the secretariat had no decision-making powers. The GAA concerned itself with issues such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Scotland, the refusal of W H Smith's to stock Gay News, paedophilia, opposition to the National Festival of Light, the age of consent and police harassment.

Founded in 1979 in the aftermath of the Gay News blasphemy trial, GALHA is the only autonomous national organisation worldwide for gay and lesbian Humanists. It has members in many parts of the UK and in other countries. GALHA is affiliated to the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the International Lesbian and Gay Association. GALHA is also affiliated to Amnesty International, whose UK section has its own active Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network.

GALHA provides a fellowship and voice for the many non-religious in the lesbian and gay community. It aims to promote an awareness and understanding of the Humanist outlook in that community, as well as bringing gay and lesbian rights to the attention of its kindred Humanist organisations.

GALHA plays a part in the campaign to combat prejudice and discrimination against lesbians and gay men and to achieve their complete legal equality with heterosexuals. It also takes up issues of concern to Humanists. It lobbies MPs, the media and others. It makes submissions to government committees and responds to government consultative documents concerning lesbian/gay and Humanist rights. It takes part in demonstrations and rallies concerning these rights.

GALHA is an integral part of the British Humanist movement and has close links with other organisations in it. These include the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society, which have each consistently backed homosexual law reform and supported making the age of sexual consent for gay men equal to that for heterosexuals. GALHA is represented on the Humanist Forum (a liaison committee) and it co-sponsors Humanist functions.

The Gay Christian Movement (GCM) was founded in 1976 as an ecumenical organisation with the aim of encouraging fellowship, friendship and support amongst gay Christians, helping the Church to re-examine its understanding of human sexuality, encouraging the witness of Christian faith within the gay community and maintaining links with other gay Christian groups in Britain and elsewhere. Peter Ellers and Giles Hibbert were elected President and Vice-President, and by 1977 membership had reached 300. The first Bulletin of the Gay Christian Movement appeared in May 1976, and was renamed Gay Christian in 1977. The leadership of GCM was altered in 1977 following an extraordinary general meeting which criticised the input of GCM to a BBC programme entitled The Lord is my shepherd and he knows I am gay. Motions to replace the President with a Chairperson and to have collective leadership were defeated, but the meeting refused to elect another President. Several groups have been created within the GCM, including the Womens' Group (1978), the Evangelical Fellowship (1979) and a Young Gay Christian Group (1982). There are also a number of local GCM groups, some of which were established in the very first year of its existence. GCM has been active in commenting upon and providing information for reports by several denominations on human sexuality, and holds regular conferences and seminars. It became known as the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) in 1987. In 1988, the LGCM set up a charitable arm known as the Institute for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality. A chronology of the first 10 years of the GCM can be found in Gay Christian, 39, Feb 1986.

The Gay Community Organisation was formed in 1982, following the establishment of a Special Commission investigating the future of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), which recommended a restructuring. The minority report noted a failure to meet the needs of most gay people and suggested that CHE should become two interlinked organisations devoted to campaigning and social activities. A working party suggested the establishment of local gay co-operatives working under the Industrial and Providential Societies Act. These groups would organise local activities and support, and would in turn purchase shares in the national Gay Community Organisation, which would act as a central fund holder and co-ordinator. The decision to establish the Gay Community Organisation was taken in June 1982 at Hastings National Council, and the scheme was launched at the Sheffield Gayfest the same August. GCO officially came into existence on 1 September 1982, with a National Council and a General Management Committee at the centre and 24 groups throughout the country, mostly former CHE groups. By April 1983 it was clear that there were problems with the development of the local groups and their relation to the central organisation. The central body of the GCO ceased to exist in 1984, though some local groups continued an independent existence.

The first meeting of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) took place on 13 Oct 1970 in a basement classroom at the London School of Economics, and was instigated by Aubrey Walters and Bob Mellors, who had been influenced by the development of the GLF in the USA. It was the beginning of a three year period of great activity, including demonstrations, debates, street theatre, the establishment of a new gay press, and the establishment of communes. Local GLF groups were founded across the country, with Leeds and West Sussex being particularly active. The first ever public gay protest in Britain took place on 27th. November 1970, when approximately 80 GLF members gathered for a torchlight demonstration on Highbury Fields, Islington. In August 1971 the GLF organised a further public event when members marched along Islington's Upper Street back to Highbury Fields. This was an exclusively GLF event but led to the first real Pride in London in 1972. In the spring of 1973 the London GLF set up the support group Icebreakers. The first issue of Come Together, the journal of Gay Liberation was produced in 1971. By the mid-seventies, the influence of the GLF in the USA and elsewhere had begun to decline. Throughout its existence the GLF had no formal management structure. An account of the GLF entitled No bath but plenty of bubbles: an oral history of the Gay Liberation Front, 1970-1973 was written by Lisa Power.

The Gay Monitoring and Archive Project was established by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) in 1980 with the purpose of scrutinising the media for evidence of discrimination and caring for material deposited with CHE by earlier gay rights organisations. The Gay Monitoring and Archive Project later became separate from CHE, and spent some time in the care of one of its founders, Julian Meldrum, who was employed on a part-time basis by a Manpower Services Commission grant. It was incorporated in 1982 as a limited company under the name of the Hall-Carpenter Memorial Archive Ltd, forming the basis for the Hall-Carpenter Archives

Gay Sweatshop was formed in London in 1975 and had its roots in the lunchtime theatre club "Ambience" held at the Almost Free theatre. Inter-Action, a co-operative community arts resource centre, staged a popular Women's season at the Almost Free theatre in 1974 and, inspired by their success, advertised for gay actors to take part in a gay theatre season planned for autumn 1974. The aim was to encourage gay people to produce a season of gay plays and eventually form a company. The season was postponed until early 1975 and after holding meetings throughout the autumn of 1974, a small group of founder members emerged. These included Drew Griffiths, Alan Pope, Roger Baker, Alan Wakeman, Laurence Collinson, John Roman Baker, Ed Berman, Gerald Chapman, Philip Osment, Suresa Galbraith and Norman Coates. The intention of the group was to counteract the prevailing conception in mainstream theatre of what homosexuals were like, therefore providing a more realistic image for the public. The season was called "Homosexual Acts" and included three plays, all of which were written and directed by homosexuals. "Homosexual Acts" was originally scheduled to last until April but was extended to June and additional plays were requested.

By 1975 the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) had local groups established in most towns. They invited Gay Sweatshop to perform at the annual conference in Sheffield. Initially this was problematic as Gay Sweatshop had no resources to put on a touring production. However, an Arts Council grant allowed them to put together "Mister X", jointly written by the group. The play was based on a combination of personal experiences and a book called "With Downcast Gays: Aspects of Homosexual Self-Oppression", written by Andrew Hodges and David Hutter. "Mister X" was a huge success at Sheffield and so the decision was made to take it on tour. News of the tour spread quickly throughout the gay communities and the tour was seen by many whom would not have usually had the courage to attend a gay play.

In 1976 Gay Sweatshop put on a lunchtime season at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) running from February through to July. Productions included "Mister X", "Any Woman Can" by Jill Posener, "Randy Robinson's Unsuitable Relationship" by Andrew Davies, Ian Brown's play "The Fork", "Stone" by Edward Bond and "Indiscreet", a follow up to "Mister X" written by Roger Baker and Drew Griffiths. The ICA season was a turning point for Gay Sweatshop. They received an Arts Council grant for the first half of the year, "Mister X" broke box office records for lunchtime theatre and women were participating in productions for the first time. The company had invited the women because they felt that lesbian actors, directors and writers were needed to provide a more complete picture of homosexuality. In November 1976 the company took "Mister X" and "Any Woman Can" on tour to Dublin. Although there was considerable opposition the Irish Gay Rights Movement welcomed the productions and the company returned in January 1977 to repeat the plays. During the Christmas of 1976 the company produced "Jingleballs", a gay pantomime starring both lesbians and gay men. The pantomime was successful but the Irish tour had revealed fundamental differences in how the men and women viewed the company. In 1977 two artistically separate companies were formed under the umbrella organisation of Gay Sweatshop. At the same time the company realised the need for a full-time administrator and appointed David Thompson. In April 1977 the company obtained an annual programme award of £15,000, which although it had to be re-applied for every year was enough to guarantee a year's worth of productions.

As separate companies both went on to produce critically acclaimed plays. The women produced "Care and Control", a piece focusing on child custody. This theme had been raised at many of the post performance discussions. The men produced "As Time Goes By", a three-part production set in 1896 after the Oscar Wilde trial, in Berlin in the 1930s and in 1969 when Gay liberation was born. The play was a collaborative effort between Noel Greig and Drew Griffiths.

In early 1978 the first Gay Times festival was held at the Drill Hall. This was based on the three sections of "As Time Goes By" and included workshops, discussion groups and performances. It was followed by a tour of "As Time Goes By" that concluded with a visit to Holland. It was here that the men's touring company split up following tension within the group. Meanwhile the women's group produced "What the Hell is she doing here?" that toured until the end of July. During the summer of 1978 a new nucleus of people emerged including Angela Stewart Park, Stephanie Pugsley, Sharon Nassauer, Sandra Lester, Noel Greig, Philip Timmins, John Hoyland and Jill Posener. They devised a mixed show called "Iceberg". This focussed on the lives of gay men and women in a repressive society and sought to show that they were central to any kind of anti-fascist struggle. The production went on tour to Queen's University in Belfast where a rally was arranged against the play by the Democratic Unionist party.

During 1979 and 1980 a number of productions were put on. The men's company produced "The Dear Love of Comrades" in March 1979 while the women produced "I like me like this", a radical lesbian musical written by Angela Stewart Park and Sharon Nassauer. 1980 saw another mixed production written by Angela Stewart Park and Noel Greig. The play, "Blood Green" is set in the future and deals with issues of genetic engineering, transexualism, sado-masochism and violence against women.

In 1980 the Arts Council announced the suspension of their programme grants. This meant that Gay Sweatshop would have to apply for individual project grants for specific productions. The company had to give up their full-time administrator and recently acquired office and rehearsal space. Although they tried to continue it became too much of a burden for the two remaining directors, Noel Greig and Philip Timmins, and the administrator, Gean Wilton, and at the end of March 1981 Gay Sweatshop was closed as a company.

Gay Sweatshop was revived in 1983 as a mixed company rather than the two artistically separate companies that had existed since 1977. Noel Greig, inspired by the issue of Greenham Common, wrote "Poppies" that put forward a response to the nuclear threat and militarism from a radical gay male perspective. He applied for project funding from the Arts Council and with the help of Martin Humphries as administrator, began planning the tour from a room in his house. The play toured from November to December. In 1984 a new management committee was formed consisting of Noel Greig, Martin Humphries, Philip Timmins, Kate Owen and Philip Osment. They began planning a 10th anniversary festival for 1985. At the same time Martin Humphries and Noel Greig applied to the Greater London Council for a grant to supplement their touring subsidy from the Arts Council. Gay Sweatshop eventually received a grant in 1985 that allowed them to put on a second production of "Poppies" with the tour running from March to May.

By the 1980s the Gay movement had become somewhat apathetic. In part this was due to the belief held by some that the ideals that had originally inspired the movement had become redundant and old-fashioned. There was also a feeling of pessimism about the future due to the growing paranoia about AIDS. At the same time they realised that Gay Sweatshop was very much an all-white group. The festival scheduled for the 10th anniversary of the company provided them with an opportunity to respond to the new challenges and serve as a platform for a wide range of work including; Gay teachers, problems facing young gays and lesbians, lesbian custody, experiences and black lesbians and the issue of AIDS. In response to the success of "Gay Sweatshop x 10" the Greater London Council awarded the company an annual grant that allowed them to get a full-time administrator and office space. The following year Gay Sweatshop was finally awarded charitable status in recognition of its educational work.

"Compromised Immunity" by Andy Kirby developed from the festival and was first staged in 1986 with external funding. Gay Sweatshop took the production on tour from April to June 1987. The company decided to stage another festival in 1987, this one called "Gay Sweatshop x 12". Nine plays were given staged rehearsed readings, including "This Island's Mine" by Philip Osment and "Twice Over" by Jackie Kay. "This Island's Mine" was initially performed in February and then on tour from March until April. "Twice Over" was seen as a breakthrough play for Gay Sweatshop as it was the first play by a black author. The Arts Council awarded a grant and the play was on tour from October to November 1988.

The late 1980s saw a new management group emerge after the departures of Philip Timmins in 1986, Martin Humphries and Noel Greig in 1987 and Kate Owen and Philip Osment in 1988. In 1990 Bryony Lavery was commissioned to write "Kitchen Matters", a play about theatre and the problems of putting on a show with project funding. The Greater London Arts was at this point giving Gay Sweatshop an annual grant of £21000 although the amount had been fixed for three years.

November 1990 saw the company struggling for funds once again. The Arts Council had turned down their application for a grant and it looked likely that the company would have to close. However, in 1991 Gay Sweatshop was promised revenue funding providing that there was both a male and female director. Lois Weaver and James Neale -Kennerley were appointed. 1992 saw productions of "Drag Act" by Claire Dowie, "Jack" by David Greenham and "Entering Queens" by Phyllis Nagy. During the season of 1993/4 the company produced two plays, "Stupid Cupid" by Phil Willmott and a company devised piece called "In your Face". The season 1994/5 again saw the company putting on two plays. The first was a piece adapted by Malcolm Sutherland called "F***king Martin" and the second, "Lust and Comfort", another company devised piece. In 1995 Stella Duffy's play "The Hand" was performed. During the early 1990s most of the company's funding was being spent on touring productions.

Gay Sweatshop eventually collapsed in 1997. The Arts Council withdrew all its funding and the company failed to attract any major sponsorship because of the controversial nature of the productions.

Revd Thomas Gayfere was a patient of the Gloucester County Lunatic Asylum.

Educated at Guy's Hospital which he entered 1856.

No information was available at the time of compilation.

Geary entered the Navy in 1727, became a lieutenant in 1734, a captain in 1742 and served through the War of Austrian Succession. During the early part of the Seven Years War he was in North America and then returned, in 1757, to take command at the Nore for a few months, in the PRINCESS ROYAL. In 1758 he moved into the LENOX, Channel Fleet, and in the following year served on the same station in the RESOLUTION and then in the SANDWICH. It was in the latter ship that he hoisted his flag in 1759 as rear-admiral and commanded detached squadrons in the Channel until late in 1760. After this he became Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth until 1762, when he became vice-admiral. His next service was in the same command between 1769 and 1771. Having been promoted to admiral in 1775, in 1780 he took up his last appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.

Joshua Gee was a London merchant, who was frequently consulted by the Government, particularly the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on matters of trade, manufacturing and the colonies. He died in 1730, leaving a large fortune to his family. Publications: The trade and navigation of Great-Britain considered (Sam. Buckley, London, 1729).

Samuel Jones Gee was born on 13 September 1839 in London, son of William Gee, a businessman. He was educated at Enfield for two years from 1847, and at home, under the tutelage of his father, before being sent to University College School in London, 1852-54. He then studied medicine at University College London, graduating MB in 1861, and MD in 1865.

Gee was appointed as a house surgeon both at University College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1865. He became assistant physician at the latter in 1866. In 1868 he received the same appointment at St Bartholomew's Hospital, due to the influence of Sir Thomas Smith, surgeon at St Bartholomew's, to whom he had become known at Great Ormond Street. Ten years later he was elected physician there, and then in 1904 consulting physician. In the medical school at St Bartholomew's he was a demonstrator of morbid anatomy, 1870-74, lecturer on pathological anatomy, 1872-78, and lecturer on medicine, 1878-93. He also became physician at Great Ormond Street, 1875-94, where he became a leading authority on childhood diseases and was the first to identify coeliac disease.

Gee wrote many papers on medical subjects, nearly all of which have permanent value' (DNB, 2nd supplement, vol. II, 1912, p.92). His early papers, on chicken pox, scarlet fever, and tubercular meningitis, appeared in Sir John Russell Reynolds' System of Medicine (Volumes I and II, 1866; 1868). 46 other papers appeared in the Saint Bartholomew's Hospital Reports. In 1870 his work, Auscultation and Percussion, Together with Other Methods of Physical Examination of the Chest (1870) was published, and was recognised asa minor classic in its day' (Munk's Roll, vol. IV, 1955, p.183). Of almost equal recognition was the collection of his Medical Lectures and Aphorisms (1902), by Dr T.J. Horder, formerly his house physician. The aphorisms represented well the form of Gee's teaching at the bedside. In his writings it was his description of the child's head in hydrocephalus as distinct from the enlarged skull of rickets, and his observations on enlarged spleen in children, which `may most justly be considered as scientific discoveries' (DNB, 2nd supplement, vol. II, 1912, p.92).

He was elected Resident Fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1866. This was despite his reluctance to join any clubs; indeed his voice was seldom heard at the medical societies of the day. In 1879 however he became a member of the scientific committee appointed to investigate 'membranous croup' and diphtheria. He was deeply knowledgeable about the history of medicine and so became the Society's librarian from 1887-99. Gee was also prominent in the affairs of the Royal College of Physicians, he was elected Fellow in 1870. In 1871 he delivered the Goulstonian Lectures, in 1892 the Bradshaw Lecture, and the Lumleian Lectures in 1899. He was a Censor of the College, 1893-94, and was Senior Censor in 1897.

Gee built up a large practice in London, first at 54 Harley Street, and then at 31 Upper Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, and was consulted in all branches of medicine. He was appointed physician to George, Prince of Wales, in 1901. It is said that his observation was acute and systematic' and that the treatment he prescribed wasalways judicious' (ibid). He also continued to work as consulting physician at St Bartholomew's, from his appointment in 1904, until his death.

Gee married Sarah Cooper in 1875. They had two daughters, one of his daughters died in 1893, and his wife died in 1904. Gee died suddenly of a heart attack at Keswick, whilst on holiday with his surviving daughter, on 3 August 1911. His body was returned to London, he was cremated and his ashes were placed in the Columbarium at Kensal Green.

Publications:
Papers on chicken pox, scarlet fever, and tubercular meningitis, System of Medicine, Sir John Russell Reynolds (vol. I & II, 1866; 1868)
Auscultation and Percussion, Together with Other Methods of Physical Examination of the Chest (London, 1870) On the Coeliac Affection',Rheumatic Fever without Arthritis', in St Bartholomew's Hospital Report, vol. 24, 1888, pp.17-20, pp.21-23 (in total, 46 papers appeared in the journal)
`Sects in Medicine' (tract) (London, 1889)
Medical Lectures and Aphorisms (London, 1902)

Nicolas Geffe owned Barking Abbey and certain lands in Essex from 1586. The book appears to have been compiled prior to 1593, probably for legal or business purposes.

William Gelder was a chemist and druggist he was a dispensing and visiting assistant to [R Lucie] Reed, surgeon, at Whitechapel Road, London, Mar-Nov 1832, and in the employ of Mr Cope, a wholesale, retail and manufacturing chemist and druggist in Edinburgh, Mar-Aug 1834.

Robert Gell was Surgeon at Wirksworth, Derbyshire.

Wilson Herbert Geller was born on 26 December 1868 at Thaxted in Essex. He trained at Harley College. In 1897 he was appointed to Siaokan in Central China as Lay Evangelist for the London Missionary Society. On 5 January 1901 he married Mabel Love Neal, also of the London Missionary Society, at Union Church, Hong Kong. His work was mainly pastoral and evangelistic with the oversight of a large country district comprising about 25 churches. He took a large part in the production of a Chinese hymnbook, and composed many of the tunes. He also planned and built Siaokan Church. He retired in 1936, and died on 20 November 1949.

Mabel Love Neal was born on 18 December 1872 at Stoke Newington. She was appointed to Canton and sailed on 9 November 1897. Her chief work in China was building up a Bible school for women, as well as taking part in general work for women and girls at Siaokan Mission. She died on 17 December 1953.

Leon Maxwell Gellert was born in Adelaide, Australia, into a family of Hungarian origin. He studied at the University of Adelaide and became a teacher. During the First World War, he saw active service in the Mediterranean, but was invalided out of the army in 1916 and returned to teaching. Songs of a Campaign, Gellert's first book of poetry, was published in 1917. Gellert lived in Sydney for many years, working as a journalist. He was the co-editor of Art and Australia from 1922 and became known as a columnist in Sunday newspapers. He died in Adelaide in 1977.

Born 1925; educated Prague English Grammar School, St Albans County School, and Balliol Coll., Oxford University; Private, Czechoslovakian Armoured Brigade, BLA, 1944-45; on staff of London School of Economics, 1949-84, where he received a PhD in Social Anthropology, 1961, and became Professor of Philosophy, 1962-84; Visiting Fellow at Harvard, 1952-53; Co-editor of European Journal of Sociology, 1966-84, and Government and Opposition, 1980; Visiting Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1968; FBA, 1974; Visiting Fellow, Centre de Recherches et d'Études sur les Sociétés Méditerranéens, Aix-en-Provence, 1978-79; Member of the Council, Social Science Research Council (later Economic and Social Research Council), 1980-86 (Chairman, International Activities Committee, 1982-84); Member of Council, British Academy, 1981-84; Visiting Scholar, Institute of Advanced Studies, Tel Aviv University, 1982; William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University, 1984-93; Professorial Fellow, 1984-1992, and Supernumerary Fellow, 1992-1995, King's College, Cambridge University; Honorary Fellow, LSE, 1986; Guest of Academy of Sciences of USSR, Moscow, 1988-89; Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1988; President, Royal Anthropological Institute, 1991-94; First President, Society for Moroccan Studies, 1990-[1995]; Tanner Lecturer, Harvard University, 1990; Member, American Philosophical Society, 1992; FRSA, 1992; Member, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea, Salzburg, 1993; Resident Professor, and Director, Centre for Study of Nationalism, Central European University, Prague, 1993-[1995]; Visiting Lecturer, Center for European Studies, Harvard University, 1994; Erasmus Visiting Professor, Warsaw University, 1995; Member of Senate, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 1994-[1995]; Member, Editorial or Advisory Boards for the British Journal of Sociology, the American Journal of Sociology, Inquiry, Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of Peasant Studies, Society and Theory, Government and Opposition, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, Journal of Mediterranean Studies, Third World Review, Nations and Nationalism, Anthropology and Archaeology of Eurasia, Sociological Papers, Moderniyzzazio e Sviluppo; died 1995.
Publications: Cause and meaning in the social sciences (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1973); Contemporary thought and politics (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1973); Legitimation of belief (Cambridge University Press, 1974); Options of belief (South Place Ethical Society, London, 1975); Saints of the Atlas (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969); The devil in modern philosophy (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1974); Thought and change (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1964); Words and things: a critical account of linguistic philosophy and a study in ideology (Victor Gollancz, London, 1959); editor of Arabs and Berbers: from tribe to nation in North Africa (Duckworth, London, 1973); editor of Populism: its meanings and national characteristics (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1969); editor of The nature of human society (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1962); Language and solitude: Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Hapsburg dilemma (Cambridge University Press, 1998); Nationalism (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1997); Encounters with nationalism (Blackwell, Oxford, 1994); Anthropology and politics: revolutions in the sacred grove (Blackwell, Oxford, 1995); Liberalism in modern times: essays in honour of José Merquior (Central European University Press, Budapest and London, 1996); Conditions of liberty: civil society and its rivals (Hamish Hamilton, London, 1994); The psychoanalytic movement: the cunning of unreason (Granada, London, 1985); Postmodernism, reason and religion (Routledge, New York and London,, 1992); Reason and culture: the historic role of rationality and rationalism (Blackwell, Oxford, 1992); The concept of kinship, and other essays on anthropological method and explanation (Blackwell, Oxford, 1987); Nations and nationalism (Blackwell, Oxford, 1983); Culture, identity and politics (Cambridge University Press, 1987); Relativism and the social sciences (Cambridge University Press, 1979); Spectacles and predicaments: essays in social theory (Cambridge University Press, 1979); Muslim society (Cambridge University Press, 1981); Transition to modernity: essays on power, wealth and belief (Cambridge University Press, 1992); State and society in Soviet thought (Blackwell, Oxford, 1988); Plough, sword and book: the structure of human history (Collins Harvill, 1988); editor of Islamic dilemmas: reformers, nationalists and industrialisation (Mouton, Berlin, 1985); editor of Soviet and Western anthropology (Duckworth, London, 1980); editor of Patrons and clients in Mediterranean societies (Duckworth, London, 1977).

The company was established in 1868 for accident and fidelity guarantee. It amalgamated with the Accident Insurance Company in 1870 at which time its guarantee business was transferred to the General Guarantee Company. The Accident Insurance Company was acquired by the Commercial Union Assurance Company in 1906.

General Apothecaries Co. Ltd was in active operation from 1856. It claimed (in 1941) to be 'the only company that is run by medical men for the benefit of the medical profession'.

Between 1832 and 1847 Parliament authorised the establishment of eight commercial cemetery companies in the vicinity of London. The insanitary and indecent conditions in the existing overcrowded metropolitan graveyards were the motivating forces. The General Cemetery Company at Kensal Green, North Kensington, was the first of these. The company was established in 1830 and incorporated by an Act of Parliament of 1832. To obviate the opposition of the metropolitan clergy, a fee was paid to the incumbent of the parish in which each body originated.

The original Charter of King's College London established a Corporation comprising the governors and proprietors of King's, including four perpetual ecclesiastical representatives, five perpetual lay governors and King's shareholders. The General Court was the Annual General Meeting of the Corporation at which a treasurer and auditors were appointed and new members of the Council elected. Fellows were admitted to the Corporation according to the new Charter of 1882. The Corporation and Council retained overall responsibility for the theological King's College London following the King's College London (Transfer) Act of 1908, while the secular side of King's was incorporated in the University of London under the broad direction of the University Senate and managed by a Delegacy.

The society was taken over by Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in 1952.

The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) is a national trade union centre in the United Kingdom. It has 35 affiliates with a membership of just over 214,000 and describes itself as the "federation for specialist unions". In the 1890s, the development of socialist organisations and socialist thinking also found expression in the British trade union movement. Many of the new unions formed during that period were committed to the socialist transformation of society and were critical of the conservatism of the craft unions. The debate revolved around concept of building "one-big-union" which would have the resources to embark on a militant course of action and even change society. This thinking gained strength after the 1897 Engineering Employers Federation lockout which resulted in a defeat for engineering workers. The view that it was necessary to develop a strong, centralised trade union organisation by forming a federation, which had been rejected only two years earlier, was now endorsed at the Trades Union Congress of September 1897. This resulted in the establishment of the General Federation of Trade Unions at a special Congress of the TUC in 1899, the principal objective of which was to set up a national organisation with a strike fund which could be drawn upon by affiliated trade unions. The GFTU participated in the foundation of the International Federation of Trade Unions at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in July 1919. The GFTU now concentrates on servicing the needs of specialist unions. It does this by providing courses, undertaking research for its affiliated Unions and administering a Pension Scheme for officials and staff of affiliated Unions. In keeping with its original objectives, the Federation pays dispute benefit in appropriate cases to affiliated Unions. The Governing Body is the Biennial General Council Meeting, attended by delegates from affiliated Unions, at which policy and rule changes are debated and an Executive Committee of 14 members elected to meet on a monthly basis between Biennial General Council Meetings.

In 1884 the Leeds and General Friendly Society was established in Manchester. By 1902, the name had changed to the General Friendly Collecting Society. It was taken over by Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in 1909.

The General Hydraulic Power Company Limited, was formed in 1882, the date of incorporation being 29 June. It incorporated the Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company, formed in 1872, which became the London Hydraulic Power Company in January 1884 (as authorised by the London Hydraulic Power Company Acts 1871 and 1884) and the Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company (authorised by the Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company Acts, 1884 and 1887). Registered Office in 1976: Renforth Street, Rotherhithe, London, SE16.

According to website "Subterranea Britannica" (accessed Oct 2009): The Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company was formed in 1871 to operate in London's Docklands. In 1884 it became the London Hydraulic Power Company, providing hydraulic power over most of London, for the operation of lifts, cranes, presses and similar equipment. Central pumping plants supplied high pressure water to a pipe network, which was extended progressively up to 1939. Post war damage and electrification led to the decline of the Company. In 1981 control of the Company was acquired by a group led by Rothschilds, which recognised the importance of the pipe network for the coming generation of communications systems. The network of 150 miles of pipes, ducts and conduits was sold in 1985 to Mercury Communications Ltd, now owned by Cable and Wireless Ltd, and subsequently many miles of optical fibre cable have been laid in this network.

See http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/h/hydraulic_power_in_london/index.shtml.

This collection also contains records of the predeccessor companies Wharves and Warehouses Steam Power and Hydraulic Pressure Company, London Hydraulic Power Company (which had pumping stations at Falcon Wharf, Rotherhithe, Wapping; City Road, Islington; and Grosvenor Road, Westminster) and Liverpool Hydraulic Power Company, and records of the following associated companies: Aldous Campbell Hypower Limited; Grosvenor Hypower Limited; Hatfield Insurance Company Limited (of 19 Hatfields, London, SE1); Hypower Limited; and De Trafford Estate Company.

Operating within the Director's Office was the General Library, set up by resolution of the Trustees in March 1880 to house books and periodicals which were not appropriate for one of the four departmental libraries. Bernard Barham Woodward (1853-1930) was transferred from Bloomsbury to take charge of the new Library, which was located in a corridor to the east of Central Hall. Responsibility for the General Library was initially in the hands of a committee of keepers, but was transferred to the Director in 1884. Woodward had the services of an attendant from 1884, and was given much help with acquisitions by both Charles Davies Sherborn (1861-1940), a natural history bibliographer, and Frederick Justen (1832-1906) of Dulau and Co. Although Woodward's authority was limited to the General Library, he did devise a classification scheme for books which was used in both the General and Geological libraries, and was responsible for cataloguing books across the Museum. He built up a card catalogue of books in all the libraries, which was published as 'Catalogue of the Books, Manuscripts, Maps and Drawings ...', 5 volumes 1903-1915, with supplement, 3 volumes 1922-1940. By the time that Woodward retired in 1920 the Museum libraries had an international reputation.

Woodward was followed by Basil Harrington Soulsby (1864-1933), who had worked in Printed Books at Bloomsbury, and then in the Natural History Museum Director's Office. Soulsby devoted much time to building up the Linnaeus collection, and published 'Catalogue of the Works of Linnaeus in the British Museum ...' in 1929. Soulsby had a staff of two, with George William Frederick Claxton as Clerk.

Alexander Cockburn Townsend (1905-1964), who succeeded Soulsby, presided over the wartime evacuation of the most valuable books and manuscripts, and the move of the General Library into the North Building in 1959. He tried unsuccessfully to wrest control of the departmental libraries from the keepers, but did succeed in centralising cataloguing, purchasing, bookbinding and accounts within the General Library in 1949. Townsend also started a subject catalogue and the publication of lists of accessions. He gained the services of a cataloguer in 1938, and had a staff of nine by 1964, when he was killed in a railway accident.

Maldwyn Jones Rowlands (1918-1995), who had worked in the Science Museum and the Patents Office as well as at the Museum, succeeded Townsend as Librarian in 1965. He oversaw the expansion of the General Library into the Northeast Building in 1973, and the formation of a unified library service for the Museum in the Department of Library Services in October 1975. At the end of 1975 the new department had a staff of forty two, who operated six reading rooms and received nearly 8,500 visitors a year. The Department was acquiring 25,000 items of stock each year, and operated an extensive advisory service.
The Department was renamed the Department of Library and Information Services in 1994 to reflect its wider remit.

The General Lying-In Hospital was opened in April 1767 as the Westminster New Lying-In Hospital. In 1818 this name was changed to the General Lying-In Hospital. It was founded by Dr John Leake, a lecturer in Midwifery, who in 1765 obtained the site on what is now Westminster Bridge Road and made a public appeal for funds. The hospital's aim was to provide "Relief of those Child-bearing Women who are the Wives of poor industrious Tradesmen or distressed House-keepers and who either from unavoidable misfortunes or the Expences of maintaining large Families are reduced to real Want. Also for the reception and immediate relief of indigent Soldiers' and Sailors' Wives, the former being very numerous in and about the City of Westminster" (from the address of Dr Leake at the first meeting of sponsors, August 7 1765).

The leases for the hospital site expired in 1826 and so in 1825 the Governors decided to purchase a new site for the hospital in York Road, Lambeth. The hospital moved there in September 1828. It was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1830. A program of modernisation and extension was begun in 1878, and in 1879 a training school for midwifes and monthly nurses was established. Sir Joseph Lister was appointed Consulting Surgeon in March 1879 and served in this capacity until 1911. He had also been President from 1897 to 1911. Under his leadership the hospital was the first in Britain to practise antiseptic midwifery.

Extensive rebuilding of the hospital took place between 1929 and 1933, when a new Out-Patient Department and Nurses Home were opened. At the outbreak of war in 1939 the hospital was evacuated to St Albans, not returning until 1946. The Out-Patient Department stayed at York Road throughout the war. In 1948 the hospital became part of the National Health Service in the Saint Thomas' Hospital Group. It was administered centrally but the old name was retained, and it became the maternity wing of the hospital. It was closed in 1971.

The General Maritime Assurance Company appears to have been established in London in 1839 with an authorised capital of one million pounds. At a time when there was a great deal of activity in the promotion of specialist marine insurance companies, of the authorised ten thousand shares, only 7,500 were allotted; by 1848 only five thousand were still registered. The affairs of the company did not flourish, and the company seems to have ceased trading in 1848. The directors of the company, who also took charge of its liquidation, were defendants in Hallet v Dowdall, 1852, a case concerning the liability of shareholders in insurance claims.

Established to mine in Nova Scotia and North America, the Association arose out of the General South American Mining Association originally proposed in 1825 to mine in Brazil.

The General Optical Council (GOC) is the statutory body which regulates the Optical professions (Dispensing Opticians and Optometrists). The GOC's main aims are to protect the public and promote high standards of professional conduct and education amongst Opticians. It was created following the Opticians Act 1958 in order to implement the provisions of the Act.

The powers and duties of the GOC are outlined in the Opticians Act 1989. They are responsible for registering Opticians, enrolling Bodies Corporate and maintaining and publishing registers and lists. In addition they approve training institutions and qualifications enabling registration and supervise training institutions and examinations, promoting proper professional conduct. The Council also prosecutes criminal offences under the Act in order to enforce the Act's provision in the public interest.

The GOC holds registers of Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians as well as lists of Bodies Corporate who carry on business as Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians. It is made up of a number of Committees, including the Education Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the Standards Committee. They consist of representatives from the College of Optometrists, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, and the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, as well as Ophthalmic Training Institutions, Registered Ophthalmic Opticians and Registered Dispensing Opticians.

The pardon frees Thomas Moss, James Moss, Thomas Clements, John Walker and Henry Lubbett, Joseph Roberts and Mary Coran who were all awaiting transportation.

In 1821 a small group of London businessmen and steam packet operators formed a syndicate for the purpose of developing steam-ship communication. The success of this venture prompted the membership to turn the existing arrangement into a joint stock undertaking and in 1824 the General Steam Navigation Company was incorporated by private Act of Parliament. One of the earliest steamship concerns on the Thames and almost certainly the first to operate a steamer service to foreign ports, the new company began to increase its tonnage and by the time of the first half-yearly meeting of the shareholders owned fifteen steamers; by 1834 it had won the contract for carrying the mails from London to Boulogne, Ostend, Rotterdam and Hamburg. Earlier, in the mid-1820s, the company had gained permission for its ships to engage in the movement of goods as well as passengers, whereupon it moved into the carriage of live cattle from the Continent, a trade upon which the prosperity of the company was to be founded for much of the nineteenth century. In 1836 the company acquired the London and Edinburgh Steam Packet Company, a purchase which included six steamers and property in both London and Edinburgh. Soon afterwards the Margate Steam Packet Company was also taken over and by 1840 the General Steam Navigation Company operated forty steamers serving all the principal East Coast and near Continental ports. After its early success the company encountered a number of setbacks. The railways began to affect the passenger business while the cattle trade was adversely affected, by an outbreak of plague on the Continent and also by the Order-in-Council of 1884 prohibiting the carriage of live cattle, which by the early 1890s had virtually put an end to this trade. In 1902, under the chairmanship of Richard White (d.1926), the structure of the company was reorganised and its capital reduced. During this period the company consolidated its long association with the London river, where in the 1880s it had successfully revived the excursion trade between the capital, Southend and the North Kent resorts. At the same time it took over the firm of John Crisp and Sons, whose activities included not only a service between London and East Anglia, but the river trade as well, a transaction which incidentally made G.S.N. the operator of a fleet of Norfolk wherries. At this time the G.S.N. company also began to develop its wharf age interests near Tower Bridge, an extension of its shore-side activities which had begun in 1825 when it had taken over a yard at Deptford for the building, maintenance and repair of its ships. At the end of the First World War, the company was able to expand its interests in several fields but larger companies, keen to acquire a fleet of smaller ships to provide feeder services and a network of agency services for their own vessels, began to look at the potential of G.S.N. in this respect and in 1920 it was taken over by the P and 0 Company. In turn, G.S.N. acquired several other small companies. Although wholly owned by the larger company, the G.S.N. Company led a largely autonomous existence until 1971. In this year the P and 0 Group, as it had now become, reorganised its subsidiaries and the old G.S.N. Company became a part of P and 0 European and Air Transport Division. See L Cope Cornford, A Century of sea trading (London, 1924); H.E. Hancock, Semper Fideles: The Saga of the Navvies (London, 1949).

The General Teaching Council (GTC) (England and Wales) was the culmination of a series of initiatives intended to push for the creation of an English General Teaching Council. There had been previous attempts by CATEC (Campaign for a General Teaching Council) in 1980-1981; the Joint Council of Heads in 1982; and a UCET (Universities Council for the the Education of Teachers) led the initiative from 1983-1990. This last was a grouping of educational and teaching organisations which led to the creation of a GTC working party chaired by John Sayer. The working party held meetings, wrote papers on the role and function of a GTC and put together an outline for a development action plan.

This work was taken forward by the creation of a registered company named GTC (England and Wales), incorporated in August 1988. Its first directors were Mary Russell and John Sayer, and the company lay dormant for a year until it could take over officially from the UCET initiative ( in February 1990). Its aims were to promote' the establishment of a statutory GTC for England and Wales' and '... to liaise with the teaching profession and its representative associations, with statutory and non-statutory educational bodies, and with others representing key public interests'.

The elected executive committee of GTC (England and Wales) comprised 8 Honorary Directors and 1 Honorary Secretary. The Directors were taken from various associations which had been meeting on an informal basis to further the idea of a general council, a grouping which was known as the Forum. John Sayer became the Honorary Secretary. For the next nine years, the Executive Committee met one month before and after each of the termly Forum meetings. Following an initial rotation of the Chair, John Tomlinson was approached to act as a permanent Chairman in 1990. In 1994, Malcom Lee became the Honorary Treasurer, John Sayer became Vice-Chair, and Roger Haslam took over as Secretary. Administration was undertaken on shoe-string budget provided by contributions from Forum associations, and the work was mostly voluntary. Tomlinson, Sayer, Haslam and Lee remained as the main administrators untill 2000. The GTC (England and Wales) was housed in a NATFHE building in Britannia Street, London.

Alongside the GTC (England and Wales), which acted as a political pressure group, the GTC (England and Wales) Trust was created as registered educational charity. This parallel organisation focused on the non-political aspect of the work and served as a vehicle for deliberations on professional matters. Its charitable status allowed it to accept money from funding bodies such us the Paul Hamlym Trust, the NATFHE Educational Trust and the Association of Education Committees Trust.

The GTC (England and Wales) and the associated Trust worked hard to promote legislation for a statutory GTC. It also produced written proposals and responses on teacher induction, initial teacher education and training, and continuing professional development. Links were formed with other teaching councils, especially Scotland, as well as organisations such as CATE (later the TTA), OFSTED, SCAA (now QCA), FEDA, and local authority associations such as WJEC, ACC and AMA.

A General Teaching Council for England was formally agreed in 1998 by the Teaching and Higher Education Act, which also made provision for the establishment of a General Teaching Council for Wales. The GTC for England was finally founded in September 2000 after several years of negotiotions. The GTC ( England and Wales) and GTC ( England and Wales) Trust were dissolved in 2001.

Born Würzburg, Germany, 30 Jun 1884; entered 3 Royal Bavarian Field Artillery Regt, 1902; Second Lt, 1904; attended Artillery School, Munich, Germany, 1906-1907; attended Bavarian Staff College, 1911-1912; promoted to Lt, 1912; Ordnance Officer, 3 (Bavarian) Infantry Corps Headquarters, 1914; General Staff Officer, 6 (Bavarian) Div, 1915; Capt, 1915; Staff Officer, German 2 Army Headquarters, 1917; General Staff Officer, German 4 Army, 1917; General Staff Officer, Bavarian Cavalry Div, 1917; General Staff Officer, Supreme Commander, East, 1917; Staff Officer, German 15 Reserve Corps Headquarters, 1917; Staff Officer, Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht, West, 1917; Adjutant, Bavarian General Staff, 1918; Training Branch, Reichswehr Ministry, 1919; Tactics Instructor, Staff Courses, Munich, Germany, 1921; Officer Commanding 4 Mountain Battery, 7 Artillery Regt; Maj, 1923; Director of General Staff Training, Munich, 1927-1929; Lt Col, 1929; Chief of Staff, Wehrkreis, the Divisional Military District of the German Army, Westphalia, 1931; Col, 1931; Maj Gen, 1934; General Officer Commanding, German 7 Div, 1935; Lt Gen, 1936; Commander, German Army Manoeuvres Staff, 1936; Head, Training Branch, General Staff of the Army, 1936; General of the Artillery, 1938; Chief of the General Staff, Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), Supreme Command of the German Army, 1938; awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, 1939; suffered nervous collapse, having been forced to alter plans at the last moment for a German winter offensive in the West, 1940; Col Gen, 1940; instructed staff to formulate plans for an Eastern offensive, 1940; removed from office following the failure of German advances in the East, 1942; arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of complicity in the Jul assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler's life, 1944; dismissed from the German Army, 1945; imprisoned at Flossenburg and Dachau concentration camps, 1945; prisoner of war, United States, 1945-1947; released, 1947; Head, Historical Liaison Group, Historical Division, US Army, 1948-1961; awarded Meritorious Civilian Service Award of the USA, 1961; died 2 Apr 1972; Halder's journal first published in translated form, 1950.