Born, 1851, educated at University College School; read chemistry at University College London; ascended Mont Blanc, 1870; visited the USA and Canada, 1872; Egypt, 1873; expedition to find the source of the Congo, 1875-1876; died on the expedition 1876; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1875-1876.
No biographical information available at time of compilation.
Born, 1895; research plant pathologist in the Plant Pathology Department at the Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1917-1960; one of the original members of the newly formed Mycology Department, 1918; retired,1960; published her final paper in 1985; she was also a renowned climber and was one of the first women to scale mountains such as Fujiyama and the Matterhorn.
Unknown
Joined Royal Navy in 1859 and served on the Challenger Surveying Expedition, 1872-1875. Commanded survey vessels in the China Seas, the Red Sea, the Cape of Good Hope and elsewhere from 1877 to 1891. Rear Admiral 1898; Vice Admiral 1903; Admiral 1907. FRGS 1883-1930.
Robert Ernest Cheesman was born at Westwell, Kent, on 18 October 1878. His younger sister, (Lucy) Evelyn Cheesman (1881-1969), became a well-known entomologist, traveller, writer, and broadcaster. Cheesman was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Wye Agricultural College; worked for Sharpe and Winch, brewers, of Cranbrook, Kent and was a keen ornithologist. He was elected to the British Ornithologists' Union in 1908, and in 1912-1914 contributed notes to British Birds.
In 1914 Cheesman enlisted in the Buffs, served in India and in the attempted relief of Kut. In 1916 he met Sir Percy Cox, who shared his enthusiasm for birds. Together they undertook to collect the avifauna of Iraq. Cox wanted to organise the growing of vegetables for the troops and persuaded Cheesman to take a commission (1916) in the Indian army reserve of officers. Cheesman then became assistant to the deputy director of agriculture. While Cox was high commissioner in Iraq, Cheesman was his private secretary (1920-1923). He was elected to the British Ornithologists' Club in 1919, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1920, and a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London in 1921.
In 1921 Cheesman mapped the Arabian coast from Uqair to the head of the Gulf of Salwa. He was appointed OBE in 1923. In 1923-1924 he spent eleven weeks at Hufuf and then travelled to Jabrin, receiving the Royal Geographical Society's Gill memorial award in 1925 for this journey. In 1925 he became consul for north-west Ethiopia, resident at Dangila, as a member of the Sudan political service. He visited the source of the Blue Nile several times, first in March 1926. He mapped the river from Tisisat to Wanbera in January-April 1927, returning to Dangila through little-known country. He completed the map from Wanbera to the frontier in February-April 1929 and explored the river from its source to Lake Tana, correcting many cartographical errors, in 1932. He circumnavigated the lake, landing on all the bigger islands and making a compass traverse of the coast, in November 1932-April 1933. He retired in 1934, was made a commander of the Star of Ethiopia, and was appointed CBE, 1935. He received the Royal Geographical Society's patron's medal in 1936 for his explorations, which he described in Lake Tana and the Blue Nile (1936) and was Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1920-1962.
In 1940, at the request of the Governor-General of Sudan, Cheesman became head of the Ethiopian section of Intelligence, Sudan Defence Force, first as bimbashi, then as colonel. In 1942 Cheesman became oriental counsellor at the legation, Addis Ababa. In 1944 he retired finally to Cranbrook, having been mentioned in dispatches in both wars. He died on 13 February 1962 in Tunbridge Wells.
Dr Richard Julius Cyriax was born in Canonbury in 1885; educated at University College School, University College London and St Mary's Hospital and qualified in 1908 as Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London with the DPH in 1917. Cyriax entered the public health service in 1920 as an Assistant Tuberculosis Officer for the Warwickshire and Coventry Joint Committee for Tuberculosis in Nuneaton, later moving to Leamington Spa. Cyriax was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1944-1967. He retired in 1951 and died in 16 January 1967.
Richard Routley Adams Richards was Chief Paymaster on board HMS CHALLENGER. He was uncle of Herbert Arthur Richards, (1866-1957).
Born, 1944; educated, Eton, Liveryman, Vintners' Company, 1960; French Parachutist Wings, 1965; Lt, Royal Scots Greys, 1966; Capt, 1968; attached 22 SAS Regiment, 1966; Sultan of Muscat's Armed Forces, 1968; Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve, 1971; Capt, Royal Armoured Corps; leader of British expeditions: White Nile, 1969; Jostedalsbre Glacier, 1970; Headless Valley, 1971; (towards) North Pole, 1977; leader of the Trans Globe Expedition: first to journey around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, 1979-1982; North Polar unsupported expeditions, 1986 and 1990; South Polar unsupported expedition: first crossing of the Antarctic continent and longest polar journey, 1992-1993; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) from 1970; awarded the RGS Founder's Medal, 1984.
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society from 1964.
Born 1827; joined the merchant service, 1842; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1857-1915; volunteered for the Franklin search expedition of Captain Francis L McClintock, 1857-1860, and was sailing-master of the Fox during the voyage and commander of a sledge party, Feb-July, 1859, discovering 400 miles of new coast. Commanded an expedition to survey a route for a cable telegraph under the Atlantic ocean by way of Iceland and Greenland, 1860; assisted Admiral Sherard Osborn in equipping the Chinese navy and captain of the man-of-war Kwangtung during the Taiping rebellion, 1862-1864; attempted the northwest passage, and endeavoured to find the records of the lost Franklin expedition on King William's Land, in his yacht Pandora, 1875; refitted the Pandora for a second voyage with the same object and landed dispatches for Nares at Cape Isabella and Littleton Island, 1876; commanded the whaler Hope, chartered with government help, in order to search for the explorer, Benjamin Leigh Smith, 1882; died, 1915.
Studied at University College London and appointed lecturer at the London School of Economics in 1929. Served in the Geographical Intelligence Division of the Admiralty during World War Two, specialising in railways and south east Europe. In 1950 became founding Professor of Geography at Keele. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1930-1984. Member of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, 1943-1947. Received the Murchison Grant in 1962.
Born, 1796; entered the navy as midshipman, 1808; taken prisoner by the French at Deba, 1808; midshipman to the Akbar, 1814; Admiralty mate of the Bulwark, 1817; volunteered for service in the Trent, under Sir John Franklin, who was then entering on the first modern voyage of discovery in the Spitsbergen seas, 1818; expedition with Franklin by land to the Coppermine River,1819-1821; appointed to the Superb, 1823; join Franklin's expedition to the Mackenzie River, 1824-1826; expedition to find Captain Ross, 1833-1835; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1836-1878; Vice President and member of the RGS Council; RGS Gold Medallist - Royal award, 1835; commander of an expedition to complete the coast line between Regent's Inlet and Cape Turnagain, 1836; President of the Raleigh Club, 1844; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1847; employed by government to report on the harbour of Holyhead; died, 1878.
Winifred May A Brooke was an artist and botanist and was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1969-1981.
Alan Cawley was a Geological Surveyor in the Department of Lands and Mines, Tanganika in late 1930s and became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1936-1949.
Paul Belloni du Chaillu was born in France on 31 July 1835. He accompanied his father to Gabon at a young age and in 1852 travelled to United States and was entrusted by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia with a mission to West Africa, setting out in 1855 to Gabon. Du Chaillu was, or claimed to be the first European to kill a gorilla in the wild. In 1867 he again travelled to Africa and hoped to reach the Congo and the Nile. The map accompanying the account of the expedition 'A journey to Ashango Land' (London, 1867) is based upon 15 observed latitutes and 7 longitudes and until his obituary was published in 1903, was the only authority on the geography of the greater part of the country delineated. He was rewarded with honorary membership of the Royal Geographical Society. Following this he spent a few years in United States and wrote books for children including 'Stories of the Gorilla Country' (1867), he died in 1903.
No biographical information available at time of compilation.
Augustine Courtauld was born on 26 August 1904 at Bocking, Braintree, Essex; educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read engineering and geography, graduating in 1926. In 1926 he joined James Wordie's summer expedition to east Greenland as photographer and in 1927 Courtauld travelled with Francis and Peter Rodd to the mountains of Aïr in the southern Sahara. Courtauld attempted unsuccessfully to become a stockbroker and consequently returned to Greenland in the summer of 1929 on another expedition with Wordie.
In 1930 Courtauld met H. G. Watkins, who was planning an expedition to Greenland to explore the possibilities of an air route from the United Kingdom to western Canada over the ice cap. Part of the meteorological programme was the establishment of the ice-cap station some 140 miles north-west of the base camp manned continually by two men who would be relieved at approximately monthly intervals by dog sledge or aircraft. However, it took six weeks to reach the ice-cap station from the base camp and it became clear there was not enough food for two men to be left safely at the camp. Courtauld persuaded the party to allow him to man the station alone and he was left there on 5 December 1930. Courtauld spent five months alone, part of the time imprisoned beneath the snow and in darkness. In 1932 he was awarded the polar medal by George V.
Before World War Two Courtauld joined the organisation which was to become the Special Operations Executive, and in the summer of 1939 was asked by naval intelligence to take Duet up the Norwegian coast from Bergen to Trondheim gathering as much intelligence as he could. Courtauld served throughout World War Two in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as sub-lieutenant, 1939, and lieutenant, 1940-1945.
After the war, he devoted himself to local government and community service, serving on Essex County Council from 1945 to 1955; becoming a JP and Deputy Lieutenant in 1946 and High Sheriff of Essex in 1953. He was a governor of Felsted School, chairman of Essex Association of Boys' Clubs, and vice-president of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1957. He served three times on the council of the Royal Geographical Society; was Honorary Secretary between 1948 and 1951 and served on the committee of management of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Courtauld died in hospital in London on 3 March 1959.
No biographical history was available at the time of compilation.
Jean-Denis Barbier du Bocage was a French geographer and philologist.
Vero Louis Bosazza was born 21 January 1911; graduated in geography from University of Witswatersrand and obtained his Doctor's degree from University of South Africa; and worked as a practical field geologist, gaining extensive knowledge of South and Central Africa. During World War Two, Bosazza served with the South African Forces and on his return home worked in the Mineral Research Laboratories. Bosazza had an interest in the work of David Livingstone, maintaining that the scientific results of the Zambesi expedition of 1854-1864 were more important than previously considered. Bosazza was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1947-1980. Bosazza died in Johannesburg on 26 March 1980.
F S A Bourne was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1886-1912. He worked for the China Consular Service and was in charge of the Blackburn Commercial Mission to China. No biographical history concerning Tratman was available at the time of compilation.
The Tristan da Cunha Fund was set up c 1886, by Douglas M Gane, a London solicitor. The purpose of the fund was to send aid to Tristan da Cunha following the failure of the potato crop and the loss of 15 of the islands best boat men at sea. The fund provided provisions for the islanders including wood, food and candles. Gane, Honorary Secretary of the Fund, who had visited the island aboard the clipper Ellora, repeatedly wrote to The Times in London to ensure the islanders were not forgotten. The Fund survived Gane's death in 1935, and his son, Irving B Gane, took over as Honorary Secretary. The Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Empire Society were the Fund's trustees. The fund was wound up sometime after 1951, as changes on the island meant that it was no longer dependant upon the Fund for survival.
Led expeditions in Canada including Southampton Island, 1936, Baffin Island, [1943] and Hudson Bay, [1947]; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1933- ; awarded the Patron's Medal in 1948.
Verney Lovett Cameron was born in 1844. A naval Lieutenant, Cameron was selected by the Royal Geographical Society to lead an expedition to find David Livingstone in 1872; Livingstone had died when Cameron reached central Africa; Cameron then crossed tropical Africa from east to west, the first European to do so; awarded the CB by Queen Victoria and the Gold Medal of the RGS. Cameron was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 1876-1894 and died in 1894.
Alley was an English merchant who was active in the East India trade as an interloper where his flamboyant behaviour caused considerable irritation to the East India Company. Numerous pious interjections suggest he may have been a Puritan. He mentions that his wife travelled with him.
Lt William Harvey Hooper was ship's purser on HMS ALEXANDER, HMS HECLA and HMS FURY, 1818-1825. He died, 1833.
Born, 1788; merchant service; Royal Navy, 1805; surveying in Italian, Adriatic, Greek, and north African waters; Founder member of the Royal Geographical Society of London (RGS), 1830; President of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1845-1846; retired, 1846; President of the RGS, 1849-1850; Vice-President and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society; Vice-President and Director of the Society of Antiquaries; died, 1865.
Born, 1846; Aberdeen grammar school, 1865; studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen, 1867; Anderson's Medical College; graduated MB, 1872 and MD, 1874; practised medicine in Scotland; Assistant Medical Officer in the Seychelles, 1873; Resident Surgeon in the civil hospital at Port Louis, Mauritius, 1874; Chief Medical Officer for the colony of Fiji, 1875; first Administrator of British New Guinea, 1888-1895; Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, 1895-1898; Founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1896; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1898-1919; Governor of Lagos, 1899-1904; Governor of Newfoundland, 1904-1909; conducted a scientific expedition to Labrador, [1906]; Governor of Queensland, 1909-1914; retired, 1914; died, 1919.
Born, 1817; expedition to search for the companions of Sir John Franklin, 1850; expeditions off Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, [1855-1857]; throughout his life he endeavoured to enlist public interest on behalf of the companions of Sir John Franklin; died, 1895.
During the early existence of Bedford College, the Professors were all part-time, some with second jobs elsewhere. Appointments were made in a haphazard fashion by the Council, giving the staff no period of notice if their services were dispensed with. Various Committees were set up to recommend candidates to the Council. Following the Incorporation of 1869, the staff were accorded the right of appeal to the Members of the College if dismissed, but not until 1892 was a three month period of notice instituted. Assistant members of staff, of which there were a growing number, mainly former students, were also employed by the Council, who received nominations from the Professors concerned. After 1896 the Board of Education had advisory powers relating to staff appointments.
For some time, staff files remained in the keeping of the Principal, though it appears that the day to day organisation of personnel matters resided with the Secretary until recent times.
Student societies began to emerge at Bedford College in the 1880s, and were actively encouraged by the first Principal, Emily Penrose, in order to increase the sense of community felt by the students. Types of society included subject-based academic groups, sporting societies such as the Boating Club, and political clubs. The Bedford College Union Society was created in 1913, and all the student societies except the Athletics Union and restricted societies (such as religious groups) came under its control. The Athletics Union, also formed in 1913, was responsible for sporting groups. Each society had its own set of rules (some even had magazines) and reported regularly in the College news sheet until World War Two. The number of student societies continued to increase, with 32 in 1936, 42 in the 1950s and 51 in 1980-1981. The Athletics Union ceased to exist as a separate body in 1969-1970, when it was replaced by a Sports Committee of the Bedford College Union Society.
The Bedford College Staff Association was founded in 1917, and brought together (on an irregular basis) all members of staff, both academic and administrative, to deliberate on matters of common interest. Later it became responsible for organising the Senior Common Room and a varying programme of social events, such as Christmas celebrations and the end of session Summer party. The Bedford College Assistant Staff Association was formed in 1918 to ensure that the Assistant Staff had a voice in various issues affecting the government of the College and their own status. Its meetings were few, however, due to the creation of the Association of University Teachers in the following year (1919), which had the same preoccupations. The AUT was founded for the 'advancement of University education and research, and the promotion of common action among University teachers and the safeguarding of the interests of its members'. The first Annual Meeting of the AUT was held at Bedford College in Jun 1920.
Following deliberations in 1849 by various provisional committees, the management structure of Bedford College was arranged into a Board, a Council, a Ladies Committee and a Professors Committee, coming into effect as a corporate body in Sep 1849.
The Council was the most important of these bodies, being the holder of the executive functions and responsible for the general and educational management of Bedford College. It comprised nine members: one Trustee, two representatives of the Board, three Lady Visitors, and three Professors, the women on the Council being the final authority for 'all matters in which female propriety and comfort is concerned'. The Ladies Committee and the Professors Committee were intended to report to the Council, which would mediate between and unite the opinions of the two advisory bodies. Other powers included appointment and remuneration of staff and overseeing of College finances. Various decisions made by the Council included new plans for the conduct of finances, 1850, including a rigorous procedure for the drawing of cheques and the appointment of an auditor to oversee the accounts; the drawing up in 1856 of a systematic four year course of study for pupils, including a terminal examination; and the creation of a Committee of Education to assess and advise students.
The draft constitution of Bedford College, however, had never been formally adopted by the Board, and lacked any legal power. Despite numerous attempts, no formal charter could be agreed upon by all sections of the management structure, and the College was also suffering under financial pressures and suspicions of inadequate teaching methods. Following the death of Mrs Reid, her Trustees instigated the replacement of the College government by a Committee of Management chaired by Mark Pattison and containing several members of the old Council. After a period of autocratic rule, the Committee of Management framed a Constitution that was accepted by the Board and came into force in 1869. The College was incorporated as an Association under the Board of Trade, and the Articles of Association placed the government of Bedford College in the hands of a body of Members named 'The College', who took the place of the previous Board. The Council remained the main executive body, though it was no longer made up of representatives from different sections of the College, but was consist of ten Members, nine elected by 'The College' in General Meeting (with one third being women) and the Honorary Secretary. This Council had full executive powers and was also empowered to create Committees: a Committee of Education was instituted immediately.
The membership of the Council was changed from ten to twenty in 1892 to allow for the presence of representatives of the Residence, and a need for closer communication between Staff and the College government led to Staff representatives being awarded the position of assessors on the Council in 1902.
Following the grant of a Royal Charter in 1909, the Council was restructured to include representatives of the University of London, the London County Council, the teaching Staff, and the Governors, with the Principal becoming an ex officio member. One-third of the Councillors were still to be women. Meetings were held at least once a term, with the annual election of a Chairman, Vice Chairman and Honorary Treasurer at the first Council meeting after the Annual General Meeting. One-fifth of the elected Councillors (those chosen from among the Governors) was to resign at every AGM.
The Council conducted the general business of College, with powers to appoint and dismiss the Principal, Secretary, teaching staff and other employees, to appoint Standing or Special Committees (the Chairman of Council being an ex officio member of all committees), and supervise the overall revenue and expenditure of the College. They also maintained the Common Seal of the College, the affixing of which had to be attested by two Councillors and the Secretary of Council.
The size and makeup of the Bedford College Council has varied over the years, the final total being fixed at 32 by the Governors in 1982. Student Councillors were admitted to the Council in 1973 - elected by whole student body in secret ballot - and had to include the President and former President of Bedford College Union Society.
The early management structure of Bedford College was decided upon in 1849 by several provisional committees set up for the purpose, and, despite the original wish of Mrs Reid and her friends to keep the management of the College in the hands of women, relegated the executive authority over the propriety and comfort of the pupils to the four women who sat on the Council. Owing to the lack of Committee experience of the women involved in the venture, made clear in the provisional stages of the project, a decision was made that the Ladies Committee should retain no executive function, but merely be an advisory body.
The Ladies Committee was active as an advisory force, giving the Council its opinion on developments in the College and educational questions, but it faced a constant struggle to maintain adequate Committee procedures, only drawing up the requested by-laws in 1850-1851. These provided for the title of President for the Chairman of the Committee, but the office of Chair was not appointed systematically, and the meetings were often disorderly. Revised by-laws and Rules were drawn up in 1855, in which systems for electing representatives to the Council were outlined. The Committee also undertook yearly appointment of a salaried Lady Resident who was responsible for fees, household supervision and discipline in the College, until tenure of the office became permanent in 1854.
A group of Lady Visitors was formed from the original members of the Ladies Committee (which was often known as the 'Committee of Lady Visitors'), mainly for the purpose of chaperonage and discipline of the young ladies attending lectures. At a meeting of the provisional Ladies Committee in Aug 1849, rules for the conduct of students were drawn up, as was a timetable of supervision. No Professor's wife was permitted to be a Lady Visitor, and no Professor could reprimand a pupil except in the presence of a Lady Visitor. Twenty-one Lady Visitors were appointed in Oct 1849, though the draft constitution allowed for a maximum of forty, and numbers soon increased to thirty-nine. A locked book was kept for the Lady Visitors to enter remarks and suggestions. As the years went on, numbers became more and more difficult to maintain due to the expenditure of time required from the role. Despite the introduction of auxiliaries and chaperonage fees, numbers continued to decline until chaperonage was dispensed with in 1893.
Already on the wane due to the emergence of the Reid Trustees and the prominence of the ladies on the Council, the powers of the Ladies Committee were further reduced upon the Incorporation of the College in 1869, when it failed to be given an important place in the constitution and had its numbers limited to 14. The last meeting was held in April 1893, though it had ceased to exert any real power for the preceding twenty-four years.
The Reid Trust came into existence in 1866, following the death of Mrs Reid, and provided a capital sum of £16,400 to be used 'for the promotion and improvement of female education'. It stipulated that there should be at least three (and no more than five) Reid Trustees, all unmarried women: the first Trustees were Elizabeth Ann Bostock, Jane Martineau and Eleanor Elizabeth Smith, who also served as Managers of the Residence. Control of capital which could help the financially precarious College, as well as control of the property leases, put the three in a position to determine a new structure of management for Bedford College. Due to their demands, the School attached to the College was closed and the Bedford College Council ceased to exist in Jun 1868, replaced for eighteen months by a Committee of Management. After a period of autocratic rule, the Committee of Management proposed a Constitution that was accepted by the Board and came into force in 1869. The College was incorporated as an Association under the Board of Trade, with Memoranda and Articles of Association, and the management structure consisted of a body of Members termed 'The College', which replaced The Board, and a new Council elected from amongst the Members.
Following this period of change, the Reid Trust used its income to promote female education, and, rather than giving an annual lump sum to Bedford College, chose to devote funds to the creation of scholarships, exhibitions and grants for entrance to the College made directly by the Trustees to the recipient. This was done through the creation in 1872 of a Scholarship Fund with capital of £2000. They also promoted higher education by making contributions to Bedford College Council for stated purposes such as the increase of the salaries of lecturers and a yearly public examination of the standard of teaching. Donations were made to the Library and laboratories, and money was sometimes provided for building or extension work.
After the first Government grant to Bedford College in 1895, the Reid Trust discontinued its contributions to higher education, and widened its donations to take in other institutions, such as the London School of Medicine for Women. A travelling scholarship named for Rachel Notcutt was founded in 1918 to commemorate her long service with the Trust, and the Trust has maintained close links with the affairs of the College. The Reid scholarships, which were suspended in [1985], were recently reinstated.
Various unofficial records collated by members of Bedford College on an ad-hoc basis.
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.
Berry went to sea as a volunteer in 1779 and served in the guardship Magnificent between 1787 and 1788. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1794. He later served in the AGAMEMNON and the Captain with Nelson (q.v.), 1796 to 1797 and was then promoted to captain. After service with Nelson at the battle of the Nile, 1798, he commanded the FOUDROYANT and captured the GENEREUX and GUILLAUME TELL. He was appointed to the AGAMEMNON in 1805 and fought at Trafalgar. Subsequent commands took him to the West Indies and in 1812 he was appointed to the Barfleur. Berry commanded the royal yacht ROYAL SOVEREIGN, 1813 to 1814. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1821.
Robert Barrie was born in 1774 or 1775. His mother was a sister of Admiral Lord Gardner. After the death of Barrie's father she married George Clayton of Lostock Hall, Preston, Lancashire. Barrie entered the navy in his uncle's ship in 1786. He sailed on Vancouver's expedition 1791-1794, and was promoted lieutenant in 1795 and to captain in 1802. He commanded the BRILLIANT on the Irish Station between 1804 and 1805 and the POMONE in the Channel and the Mediterranean between 1806 and 1811. In 1810 he was responsible for apprehending Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, one of Bonaparte's brothers, and his family who were subsequently sent to England where they remained until 1814. In 1811 the POMONE was wrecked but Barrie was acquitted at his court martial. He commanded the DRAGON on the North American Station 1813 to 1815. From 1819 to 1834 he was Superintendant of HM Dockyard Kingston, Canada. See: biographical article by T L Brock with a family memoir and notes on Barrie's ancestry, and transcripts of his Canadian letters in BGY/19. See also: Section 4 (DXN) diaries of Anne Dixon, nee Gardner (1733-1803), sister of Admiral Lord Gardner and Barrie's aunt.
Blake entered the Navy in 1897, was made a lieutenant in 1904, specialising in gunnery and was promoted to commander in 1914. Between 1914 and 1918 he served in the Grand Fleet flagships IRON DUKE and QUEEN ELIZABETH as Fleet Gunnery Commander and Executive Officer respectively. In 1918 he was promoted to captain and served as Naval Attache in Washington between 1919 and 1921. From 1921 to 1923 he commanded QUEEN ELIZABETH and from 1923 he served on the staff of the War College for two years. Between 1925 and 1929 he was Deputy Director and then Director of the Royal Naval Staff College, after which, for three years, he was Commodore in command of the New Zealand Station and First Naval Member of the New Zealand Naval Board. In 1931 he was made rear-admiral. He became Fourth Sea Lord in 1932 and was promoted to vice-admiral in 1935. His last active command was that of the Battle Cruiser Squadron. He retired because of ill-health in 1938, was recalled in 1940 and served on the Board of Admiralty as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. From 1942 to 1945 he was Flag Officer, Liaison, with the United States Navy in Europe.
Bougainville served in the French army in Canada, where he was aide-de-camp to Montcalm (1712-1759). In 1763 he sailed on a private enterprise to colonise the Falkland Islands with French Canadian refugees but when France sold her interest in the islands to Spain in 1766, he sailed to the South Seas and in the next three years circumnavigated the world. He subsequently proposed undertaking a voyage towards the North Pole hut his scheme was dropped when the Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) was dismissed in 1770. In 1775 Bougainville was granted naval rank and was second-in-command to de Grasse (1722-1788) in the West Indies during the American War of Independence. In 1791 he was offered the post of Ministre de la Marine but refused it. He narrowly escaped the guillotine and he later enjoyed the patronage of Napoleon. In 1796 he was elected to the Institut National. He was also a member of the Bureau des Longitudes and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. See Jean Etienne Martin-Allanic, Bougainville, navigateur et les decouvertes de son temps (Paris, 1964).
By the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, the responsibility for maintaining a systematic wreck register was taken over by the Marine Department of the Board of Trade; for a short period before this date it had been the responsibility of the Admiralty. Between 1864 and 1867 the Wreck Department was created to deal with wrecks, salvage and related matters.
Edward Eden Bradford joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1872, serving on HMS HERCULES in the channel. Promoted to Midshipman in 1876, he then served aboard HMS DORIS, HMS DANAE and HMS RALIEGH, before taking up position on the schooner HMS SANDFLY as her Sub-Lieutenant. It was during his time on th SANDFLY that Bradford was forced to take charge of the vessel, following the murder of her Commanding Officer and five crew by natives whilst surveying ashore in the Solomon Islands. Bradford's subsequent actions in recovering the bodies of his shipmates and the punishment of the natives earned him a special promotion to Lieutenant in December 1880. Bradford then joined HMS ACHILLES in 1881 and took part in the bombardment of Alexandria, for which he was decorated. He served in the China Station from 1883 to 1891 aboard HMS SAPPHIRE and HMS MUTINE, after which he joined HMS BOADICEA, flagship of the East Indies Squadron as a Commander. Promoted to Captain in 1899, Bradford then served under Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson as his Flag-Captain in HMS MAJESTIC, HMS REVENGE and HMS EXMOUTH. Commodore of Chatham Naval Barracks from 1907 to 1908, Bradford was then made Rear-Admiral of the Home Fleet, with his flag in HMS HIBERNIA. He then commanded the Training Squadron aboard HMS LEVIATHAN from 1911 to 1913, before being promoted to Vice-Admiral and given command of the 3rd Battle Squadron, with which he supported Admiral Beatty at Dogger Bank. At his own request, Bradford retired in 1918 with the rank of Admiral.
Brown entered the Navy in 1890 and served in the DREADNOUGHT in the Mediterranean until 1893, when he joined the TOURMALINE in the West Indies. He then joined the VOLAGE in the Training Squadron and took part in the summer cruise of 1896. His next ship was the TRAFALGAR, Mediterranean and Channel Stations, and between 1900 and 1902 he served in the ARGONAUT on the China Station. Brown was promoted to commander in 1905, to captain in 1912 and held a succession of cruiser appointments during the First World War. He then served as head of the naval mission to Greece between 1917 and 1919 and was made rear-admiral in the Royal Hellenic Navy in 1918. In 1922 he was promoted to rear-admiral, placed on the retired list and in 1927 was advanced to vice-admiral.
David Beatty entered the navy in 1884 as a cadet on board the BRITANNIA. Two years later he was posted as a midshipman to the ALEXANDRA, flagship of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, after which he served in the CRUISER and TAMAR. As an acting Sub-Lieutenant, he underwent training between 1890 and 1892 at Portsmouth and at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Promoted Lieutenant in 1892, he spent most of the next four years in the RUBY corvette, and battleships CAMPERDOWN and TRAFALGAR. Between 1896 and 1898, in the efforts to retain the Sudan under Egyptian control, he distinguished himself in operations involving a flotilla of gunboats on the Nile; in addition in 1898 he commanded a rocket battery on shore. For these services he was promoted Commander in November 1898 (see BTY/1/2 and BTY/24/1-6).
The following year, Beatty went as commander in the BARFLEUR to China, then in the throes of the Boxer rebellion. Again he distinguished himself in reinforcing the garrison at Tientsin and in leading sorties against the besieging rebels (see BTY/1/3). Although only 29, in November 1900 he was promoted captain. Between 1902 and 1910, Beatty commanded the cruisers JUNO, ARROGANT, DIANA and SUFFOLK and the battleship QUEEN. Memoranda survive relating to his command of the JUNO (BTY/2/1). In 1910 Beatty was promoted Rear-Admiral, the youngest flag-officer for over a hundred years, at 39. In 1911 he was offered a Flag post in the Atlantic Fleet, which he refused (see BTY/2/2), and after Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty in October 1911, he chose Beatty for his naval secretary (see BTY/2/3). To test Beatty's aptitude for sea command, Churchill gave him commane of a cruiser squadron during the manoeuvres of 1912 (see BTY/22/1). In 1913 Churchill gave Beatty command of the battlecruiser squadron based at Scapa Flow, with his flag in the LION (see BTY/2/4). Beatty took a leading part in the naval operations of the Grand Fleet throughout the First World War Admiral Sir John Jellicoe became first Sea Lord and Beatty as Commander-in-Chief and Jellicoe's subordinate, the correspondence with Jellicoe is a key source for the history of naval operations for the whole war (see BTY/13/21-23).
Other important correspondence is that between Beatty and Sir Rosslyn Wemyss (1864-1933) (see BTY/13/39, 40). In 1901 Beatty married Ethel (1874-1932), daughter of Marshall Field of Chicago and former wife of the american, Arthur Tree. They had two sons, David (1905-1981) and Peter (b 1910). Their correspondence (BTY/17 and 18) is an important source for the war as well as for pre- and post-war periods, extending from 1900 to 1927. In 1919 Beatty succeeded Wemyss as first sea lord at the Admiralty, a post he held until 1927. Beatty's correspondence with W H Long (1854-1924), then First Lord, covers the terms of his appointment and his first three years at the Admiralty (BTY/13/28). Dominating his first three years at the Admiralty was the controversy over what actually happened at the battle of Jutland, and the succession of efforts to produce a version of events for public comsumption. Particularly important are the memoranda relating to the production by Captain J E T Harper (1874-1949) of the 'Official Record' of the battles and the decision not to publish it (BTY/9/2 and 3). In 1927 Beatty was elevated to the peerage and took his place in the House of Lords. He died in 1939 and was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
Burton was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Royal Marines in 1806. From 1811 to 1812 he served in the ROTA in the Channel. He was promoted to captain in 1827 and served in the Mediterranean in the ALFRED, 1831 to 1834.
Osborn served in the Mediterranean before becoming a lieutenant in 1717. In 1718 He took part in the action off Cape Passaro in the Mediterranean and the following year served in a squadron on the north coast of Africa. His first command was the SQUIRREL in 1728. In 1734 he commanded the PORTLAND in the Channel and in 1738 the SALISBURY in the Mediterranean. He was appointed to the PRINCE OF ORANGE in 1740, returning to England in the CHICHESTER in 1741, when he moved to the PRINCESS CAROLINE, Channel, until 1743. Osborn was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1747 and in 1748 was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands; in the same year he became a Vice-Admiral. He was promoted Admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in 1757 but after blockading the French fleet in 1758, he suffered a stroke and saw no more active service. Osborn was Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire, 1758 to 1761.
Abdy began his career by serving in the East India Company's ships TRUE BRITON, 1750 to 1752, on a voyage to China and Stafford, 1753, to India. He then entered the Navy and was commissioned as lieutenant in 1758. He was promoted to commander in 1761 and served in the BEAVER, 1761 to 1766, in home waters and then in the West Indies. In 1766 he was promoted to Captain of the ACTEON in the West Indies, but he returned home before the end of the year and did not serve again because of ill-health.
Chatfield attended the School of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth. He was Assistant Master Shipwright at Deptford, 1848 to 1853, and Master Shipwright between 1853 and 1860. He was a member of the Dockyard Committee of Enquiry, which concluded its report in 1861 and to which he attached a minority report.