Paulus Orosius was a Christian historian, theologian and disciple of St. Augustine who came from Gallaecia. He wrote Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII ("Seven Books of History Against the Pagans"), which he wrote in response to the belief that the decline of the Roman Empire was the result of its adoption of Christianity.
Orme, Stanley (1923-2005) Lord Orme of Salford, was born on April 5th 1923 in Sale, Cheshire. He left school at 15 to work as an engineer at Trafford Park. Orme continued his education at the National Council of Labour Colleges and the Workers' Education Association, and became an active member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). Orme joined the RAF in 1942 and served an navigator in the Pathfinder Force of Bomber Command. He was demobilized in 1947 and returned to work at Budenberg Gauge Company, Broadheath. Orme had joined the Labour Party in 1944, and on return to civilian life, became an important shop steward in the AEU. He married Irene Mary Harris in 1951. Orme served on Sale Borough Council between 1958-1965, and fought unsuccessfully the Parliamentary seat of Stockport South in 1959. He was elected to the Parliamentary seat of Salford West in 1964. Orme was an important member of the Tribune Group, and its chairman during the late 1960s. Orme was made Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office in 1974 and was involved in passing a bill against religious discrimination in the Province. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1975, and then made Minister of Social Security in the Cabinet in 1976. Following the Labour election defeat in 1979 Orme took up the post of Opposition Spokesman on Trade and Industry, before moving to shadow the Minister for Energy in 1983.
Orme was very closely involved with the miners' strike of 1984-1985, and was praised widely for his persistent efforts to encourage a negotiated settlement between the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Coal Board. Following the end of the strike, Orme campaigned against privatizations, increased nuclear power supply, and the closure of collieries. Orme increased his majority in the 1987 election, and was subsequently elected chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He retired as a Member of Parliament at the 1997, and was made a life peer, taking the title Lord Orme of Salford. He died on April 28th 2005.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Orion SAR de Petrol owned oilfields in Romania. Although a Romanian registered company, it was a Dutch undertaking, formed in 1910. Orion was acquired by Phoenix Oil and Transport Company in 1926 and amalgamated with Unirea SAR de Petrol, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phoenix Oil and Transport Company, in 1935.
Oriental Tea Company was based in Melbourne, Australia, with branches in Sydney and Brisbane. Robur Tea Company (CLC/B/112-134) held shares in the company.
This company was registered in 1919, to take over a firm of the same name registered in 1906. It was acquired in 1954 by the British Malay Rubber Company Limited, and in 1960 by London Asiatic Rubber and Produce Company. Oriental Rubber Company went into voluntary liquidation in 1976.
On 17 February 1824 the founding members of the Oriental Club met for the first time at the Royal Asiatic Society with the purpose of drawing up a prospectus for the creation of a club which would meet their specific needs. Their rational for doing so was recorded in the prospectus:
"The British Empire in the East is now so extensive, and the persons connected with it so numerous, that the establishment of an institution where they may meet on a footing of social intercourse seems particularly desirable".
The club was designed to attract persons who had resided or travelled in the East. Membership was initially almost exclusively reserved for servants of the East India Company, both civil and military, who, finding themselves in London after service abroad, sought the company of like minded gentlemen with whom they could share experiences of their travels.
In many respects the club was also a necessity. Many Company men found it difficult to gain membership to the numerous gentlemen's clubs in nineteenth century London. This was partly a reflection of London society's general prejudice towards returning Company men; but it was also a consequence of the fact that Company soldiers were often not eligible for membership at many of the clubs due to the fact that they were forced to relinquish their rank on returning from service in India (unlike King's officers serving abroad).
On 24 February 1824 the Oriental Club was officially formed. It was resolved to elect a committee and to offer the presidency of the club to the Duke of Wellington. Founding members included Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833 first chairman), Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm (1768-1838), Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm (1782-1851), Major James Rivett Carnac (1785-1846), Major Robert Haldane, Sir George Staunton, Thomas Snodgrass, William Bentinck, John Elphinstone (1779-1859), Charles William Wynn, and Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood.
Legend has it that the Duke of Wellington's advice to John Malcolm on setting up the Oriental was: 'Have your own club. Own your own property'. Whether or not this is true, the founding members of the Oriental were certainly keen to find a suitable property they could buy, deciding to rent a building at 16 Lower Grosvenor Street only until a suitable property became available for purchase.
On 2 March 1826 the committee offered £14,000 to JD Alexander for the freehold to his house at 18 Hanover Square, which included the use of a stable yard held under lease to City of London. Benjamin Wyatt was appointed architect charged with turning the townhouse into a clubhouse. He opted to pull down the existing house and build another at a cost of £17,000. The purchase of the Hanover Square property was financed partly by loans raised from members on the security of any property the Oriental would eventually own, with Some 100 signatories agreeing to loan £160 each in 1825. The new clubhouse was ready in 1828 and the Oriental remained there until 30 November 1961.
By 1850s the Oriental Club was well established. In 1851 and 1854 a possible amalgamation with the new East India United Services Club was suggested but on both occasions the two clubs were unable to agree on terms. In 1854, however, it was agreed that the Alfred Club, founded in 1808 in Albemarle Street, should merge with the Oriental and thereafter the club admitted Alfred members.
The amalgamation necessitated changes in membership qualifications as it brought members to the club who had no overseas connections. This trend was extended beyond Alfred members in the 1870s. Despite this, however, the identity of the club always remained centred on the experiences of the majority of its members in the East. Membership rules were further relaxed with regard to honorary members. Non-British subjects could be granted honorary member status from 1831. Throughout the nineteenth century they included the likes of Oman Effendi (1831), The Prince of Oudh (1839), Dwarkanath Tagore and Mohun Lal (1842), HH Maharajah Duleep Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, ruler of Punjab (1854), Sir Cursetjee Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (1860), HE Nazim Bey, Prime Minister of Turkey (1862), and Nawab Nazim of Bengal (1869).
The question of whether to admit women to the club was one repeatedly posed throughout the twentieth century. Initially women were tolerated only as guests, but the 1950s saw a change in policy. Wives and daughters of members were offered associate membership in an attempt to reverse the trend of falling subscriptions, and by 1953 some 270 had joined.
By the late 1950s the Oriental was again in financial difficulty. The club was fast outgrowing the clubhouse at Hanover Square and only very expensive building work could hope to convert it to the club's changing needs. At the same time income from subscriptions began to fall in the second half of the decade and the future of the Oriental suddenly seemed unsure.
The club was saved due to the work of Sir Arthur Bruce, chairman, and Sir Aynsley Bridgland, a property magnate. They both looked into the possibility of allowing a property developer to exploit the land at Hanover Square and came to the conclusion that the value of land in central London had risen to such an extent that the freehold to the Hanover Square site might provide the club with enough income to resurrect its finances.
It was decided that the club should not sell the freehold but rather that it should move to new premises and then develop the Hanover Square site itself. The plan required perfect co-ordination. The head lease at Hanover Square was taken on by the Legal and General Assurance Society for a building to be erected on site, and a sub-tenant was found in the Courtauld Group to occupy the building. Meanwhile an alternative clubhouse was found in the splendid Stratford House. By raising the cash to purchase the house through a fixed mortgage, the Club was then able to use the rent from the Hanover Square site both to repay the mortgage and generate a healthy excess. Thanks to this shrewd economic foresight, the club was able to guarantee its future, and by 1974, the 150th anniversary of the club, the Oriental was one of the most secure clubs in London.
The Orient Steam Navigation Company was established in 1878 and jointly managed by the London shipowning firms of Anderson, Anderson and Company and F. Green and Company until 1919, when the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company acquired a controlling interest in its shareholding capital; at approximately the same time the dual management of the undertaking by the Anderson and Green companies came to an end and the two businesses were merged into a private limited company formed for the purpose, Anderson, Green and Company Limited. The Orient company was a small enterprise operating a handful of very large ships in virtually one trade, the mail and passenger service to Australia and New Zealand. In due course it provided a co-ordinated service in this region with ships of the P&O fleet; in later years, similarly in collaboration with P&O, a passenger service between North American ports and Australia and New Zealand was instituted, and in attempts to promote passenger traffic in the Pacific, a series of voyages between North America, the Far East and Australia were inaugurated. The company's ships were also extensively employed in ocean cruising. Anderson, Green and Company Limited, the managers, were brought under the P and O umbrella in 1949, but the P and O and Orient companies maintained separate identities and independent shore organizations until 1960 when the services were run together and the balance of the ordinary share-holdings of the Orient company was bought up by P and O. A new company, P and O/Orient Lines Passenger Services Limited, better known under its trading name, Orient and Pacific Lines, was set up to run the services of the two companies, an arrangement which ceased to exist in 1966. In the following years the former Orient company vessels gradually came into P and O ownership and their livery was likewise altered. See 'Steam to Australia', Syren and Shipping, July 1938; Stephen Rabson, 'Orient -- a mark of quality', Wavelength, June 1977.
The Organisation for Comparative Social Research consisted of a group of social scientists from seven European countries, first brought together in 1951 by the Oslo Institute for Social Research as an international seminar for the planning of a common research programme. The purpose of the OCSR was to encourage co-operation among social scientists of different countries, to increase training facilities and to carry out studies of cross-national differences in respect of group behaviour. The British office of the OCSR was based at the LSE.
John Noel O'Reilly was born on 15 December 1904, in Oxford, where his father was a civil servant. He was educated at the City of Oxford School and then in 1923 entered Jesus College, Oxford, as a mathematics exhibitioner, where he was a keen athlete. After becoming interested in natural sciences he chose to study medicine. He studied at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London, where he had a distinguished academic career. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1929, and qualified BM BCh in 1930.
O'Reilly became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1932, and qualified MD from Oxford in 1936. He obtained a Medical Research Council travelling fellowship and went to Vienna, Heidelberg, and Munich to study tuberculosis in children. After returning to England he held registrar posts at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, before becoming consultant paediatrician to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the East End of London in 1934.
During the Second World War he was found to be unfit for service in the Armed Forces, due to having undergone gastrectomy. He became medical superintendent and physician of an Army hospital, from 1940-43.
In 1943 he was appointed consultant paediatrician to St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, where he remained for 25 years. He was responsible for starting one of the earliest premature baby units in the United Kingdom. His hard work and high standards enabled the paediatric unit of the hospital to thrive, amongst an underprivileged population that had recently been re-housed from London's East End. He was an inspiration to many junior staff, and it has been said that he `inspired confidence in his excellent medical skills and related well to children' (Munk's Roll, 1994, p.400).
He simultaneously held appointments as paediatrician at several hospitals, including the Croydon General Hospital, whose staff he joined in 1946. In 1966 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
He married Doreen Daly, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at St Helier's Hospital, in 1955. After retirement they travelled extensively and learnt Spanish, to add interest to their travels. O'Reilly suffered with diabetes towards the end of his life, and died at the age of 84 on 10 October 1989.
Born, 1920; Marlborough; Merton College Oxford, 1939; Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), 186 Field Ambulance Service in Middle East, 1940; Intelligence Corps (Field Services Wing), GHQ, Middle East, from May 1942, and Political Warfare Executive Military Training School, from Oct 1943; transferred to Special Operations Executive (SOE), 1944; organised French Resistance in southern France; No 1 Special Force with partisans in Italy, 1944; Force 136, Ceylon, 1945; Foreign Office, 1946; died 1961.
The Office of the Armoury and the Ordnance Office both evolved in the early 15th century from the activities of the Privy Wardrobe, one of the departments of the Royal Household, with offices at the Tower of London. The Tower was the most important arsenal in the kingdom, with its own workforce of armourers, bowyers, fletchers, etc., to maintain the arms and armour stored there.
The first Master of the Ordnance was appointed in 1414, and the Ordnance Office became responsible for the supply of munitions and equipment to the army and navy. Prior to the establishment of a standing army or navy, the Ordnance Office was the only permanent military department in England. As a result the importance and status of the Master rose steadily, and from 1483 all holders of the office were knights or peers.
The first mention of an official solely responsible for armour appears in 1423, and the first use of the title Master of the King's Armoury occurs in 1462. The Office of the Armoury was responsible for the provision and maintenance of body armour, and was much smaller than that of the Ordnance. It rose in importance briefly when Henry VIII established the royal workshops at Greenwich in 1515, but with the decrease in the use of armour during the 17th century, the Office of the Armoury was abolished in 1671, and its duties were taken over by the Board of Ordnance.
The role of the Board of Ordnance continued to grow and develop during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was responsible for the issue of all guns and warlike stores to the ships of the navy and the permanent fortifications (the Sea Service), and the issue of small arms, the provision of artillery and engineer trains to the army (the Land Service). It was also responsible for the development of weapons, and in addition to its headquarters at the Tower of London, it had numerous other establishments, such as the Royal Arsenal, Royal Academy and Royal Laboratory at Woolwich, and the powder mills at Faversham and Waltham Abbey. The Board was finally abolished in 1855 and its duties merged with those of the War Office.
The Royal Armouries museum has its basis in the arsenal maintained at the Tower of London, and the royal armours of the Tudor and Stuart kings. The first displays were opened to the public in the second half of the 17th century: the Line of Kings, a display of armours dedicated to the kings of England; the Spanish Armoury, celebrating the victory over the Armada; and the Grand Storehouse, displaying captured trophies, small arms and artillery.
In the early 19th century the Board of Ordnance, which was responsible for the maintenance of the collection, began the process of re-organising the displays on a more academic basis. It also purchased important historic pieces to augment the collections. When the Board was abolished in 1855, the Armouries came under the control of the War Office. The first part-time curator, Viscount Dillon, was appointed in 1897.
In 1904 responsibility for the Armouries was transferred from the War Office to the Office of Works, which was already responsible for the buildings of the Tower of London. The first full time curator, Charles ffoulkes, was appointed in 1910, and the ancient office of Master of the Armouries revived in 1935, as the Armouries achieved the status of a national museum.
The National Heritage Act 1983 transferred control of the Armouries from the Department of the Environment (the successor to the Office of Works) to the Board of Trustees, and the Museum was granted the prefix `Royal' in 1984. Fort Nelson, the national museum of artillery, was opened in 1995, the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds in 1996, and the redisplay of the White Tower completed in 1998.
The Order of Friars Minor was founded by Saint Francis in 1209 and is usually known as the Franciscan Order. The Order first came to England in 1224 and were known as the 'greyfriars'.
William Miller Ord was born on 23 September 1834; the son of George Ord, FRCS, and his wife Harriet (nee Clark). He was educated at St Thomas's Hospital London. Awarded MD London; FRCP, FLS. Ord was Consulting Physician St Thomas's Hospital; Treasurer of the Clinical Society; Fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. He married firstly in 1859, Julia Rainbow (died 1864), and secondly Jane Youl. He died on 14 May 1902.
Publications: Influence of Colloids upon Crystalline Forms, 1879; edited the Works of Francis Sibson, 1881; various papers on "Myxodema" (including the Bradshawe Lecture, 1898); Neurotic Dystrophies; Notes on Comparative Anatomy, 1871; papers on Neurotic Origin of Gout; The Relations of Arthritis; Lettsomian Oration; A Doctor's Holiday (oration to Medical Society, 1894); an edition of Nomenclature of Diseases, 1884; and many others.
William Wallis Ord was born in 1869, the son of William Miller Ord and his wife Julie nee Rainbow. He was a student at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, 1883-1887. Awarded MA, MD BCh Oxon, MRCP London, OBE.
Craven Ord (1756-1832) was Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He compiled a fine collection of impressions of brasses and of historical manuscripts. His Suffolk collections are in the British Museum. Publications: Description of a carving in the Church of Long Melford (London, 1794); Vain boastings of Frenchmen. The same in 1386 as in 1798. Being an account of the threatened invasion of England by the French the 10th year of King Richard II. Extracted from ancient chronicles (J. Pridden, London, 1798).
Albert Edward Oram, 1913-1999, was educated at Brighton Grammar School and the University of London (London School of Economics and Institute of Education). He became a teacher, but left the profession to become a research officer for the Co-operative Party, 1946-1955. He was a Labour and Co-operative Party MP for East Ham South, 1955-1974, Parliamentary Secretary, 1964-1969, and a Government Whip, 1976-1978. He was greatly interested in aiding development throughout the world and was a member of the Commonwealth Development Corp, 1975-1976, co-ordinator of the development programmes of the Co-operative Alliance, 1971-1973 and Chairman of the Co-operative Development Agency 1978-1981.
Oppenheimer, Nathan and Vandyk were run by Herbert Oppenheimer, Major Harry Louis Nathan and Arthur Vandyk. They were based at 1 Finsbury Square, EC2.
Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
Dorrith Sim (née Oppenheim) came to England on the Kindertransport, 26 July 1939. Her parents worked for the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland, c 1943, they were eventually pronounced verschollen in Auschwitz. Julius Oppenheim was the grandfather of Dorrith.
Barbara Whittingham Jones (married name Oppenheim) was a British journalist who spent some time living in Malaya. She became known for her forceful article 'Malaya Betrayed', which appeared in World Review, May 1946, during the Malayan Union controversy. The article caused a sensation throughout Malaya. In September 1947, she also became the first British correspondent to visit Patani, to observe the political oppression of the 700,000 Malays in this part of the Kingdom of Siam. She continued her work as a correspondent for various publications, covering political events in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. These publications included Eastern World, Straits Times, Straits Budget, letters to The Times, and radio broadcasts with Macassar Radio. Her husband was Henry Rolf Oppenheim (1902-1987).
Born, 1925; educated at University College School, Hampstead; Guy's Hospital Medical School; Lecturer in Child Health, University of Bristol, 1956-1960; Consultant Paediatrician, United Bristol Hospitals, 1960; Assistant Director, 1960-1964 and Director, 1964-1969, Paediatric Unit, St Mary's Hospital Medical School; Consultant Paediatrician, St Mary's Hospital, 1960-1990; Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, 1966; Consultant Adviser in Paediatrics, DHSS, 1971-1986, and member of DHSS committees, 1966-1988; University of London member of Board of Studies in Medicine, 1964-1990, member of Senate, 1981-1989, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, 1984-1986, member of Court, 1984-1989; member, General Medical Council, 1984-1988, British Medical Association, British Paediatric Association, European Society for Paediatric Research.
Publications: Modern Textbook of Paediatrics for Nurses (William Heinemann Medical Books, London, 1961); Neurological examination of children with Richmond Shepard Paine (London, Spastics Society Medical Education and Information Unit in association with Heinemann Medical, 1966); book chapters and papers on paediatrics and child health.
No history available
Open Door International for the Economic Emancipation of the Woman Worker (1929-1974) was established in 1929. After 1918, women over the age of thirty became entitled to vote for their MP and women's organisations that had previously campaigned for women's suffrage began to concern themselves with a wider range of issues. The sudden mass redundancy of women who had occupied traditionally male-dominated jobs between 1914 and 1918 focussed attention on the issue of women's employment and financial inequality. At the same time, they concerned themselves with the ongoing issue that had first been raised in the previous century: restrictive legislation such as limiting working hours which applied only to women and with the aim of 'protecting' them against industrial exploitation. However, there was no consensus within the movement regarding the appropriate response protective legislation. An ideological split occurred at this time between those who supported ideas such as an 'Endowment of Motherhood' to women to allow their financial independence and those who adopted a more strictly equalist position. In the mid-1920s, the Labour government proposed a series of bills which would extend this protective legislation and the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship of the time was being pressurised to change its equalist policies on the issue. In response to this situation, the Open Door Council was established in May 1926. Its object was to ensure a woman's opportunities, right to work and to protection at all stages of her life were the same as those of a man. From its creation, the group intended to organise an international group to further their aims. The Open Door Council always hoped to be an international group and in its first year, an international committee was formed. In Jun 1929 it held a conference in Berlin for individuals and organisations concerned with equality within the workplace. From this emerged a group called the Open Door International for the Economic Emancipation of the Woman Worker with Chrystal Macmillan as the first president. Sympathetic individuals and organisations from 21 countries supported the group until the Second World War, but when the first post-war meeting was called in 1945 for board members of international branches, several previously flourishing branches failed to send representatives. Conferences resumed in 1948, but its sphere of influence shrank to Scandinavia, Belgium and Britain in the 1950s and the decline continued through the next decade. The organisation dwindled until it came to an end, without any winding up meeting, in 1974.
The Open Door Council (1926-1965) was established in 1926. After 1918, women over the age of thirty became entitled to vote for their MP and women's organisations that had previously campaigned for women's suffrage began to concern themselves with a wider range of issues. The sudden mass redundancy of women who had occupied traditionally male-dominated jobs between 1914 and 1918 focussed attention on the issue of women's employment and financial inequality. At the same time, they concerned themselves with the ongoing issue that had first been raised in the previous century: restrictive legislation such as limiting working hours which applied only to women and with the aim of 'protecting' them against industrial exploitation. However, there was no consensus within the movement regarding the appropriate response to protective legislation. An ideological split occurred at this time between those on the one hand who supported ideas such as an 'Endowment of Motherhood' which was intended to be paid to women to ensure their financial independence and, on the other, those who adopted a more strictly equalist position. In the mid-1920s, the Labour government proposed a series of bills which would extend this protective legislation and the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship of the time was being pressurised to change its equalist policies on the issue. In response to this situation, the Open Door Council was established in May 1926 by Lady Rhonnda (Six Point Group), Elizabeth Abbott (NUSEC), Miss Clegg (London Society for Women's Service), Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (Women's Freedom League) and Virginia Crawford (St Joan's Social and Political Alliance). The new groups object was to ensure a woman's opportunities, right to work and to protection at all stages of her life were the same as those of a man. By Jun 1927, the six members of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship who resigned over the issue of protective policies had joined their organisation. From its creation, the group intended to organise an international group to further their aims. In its first year, an international committee was formed and in Jun 1929 it held a conference in Berlin for individuals and organisations concerned with equality within the workplace. From this emerged a group called the Open Door International for the Economic Emancipation of the Woman Worker. The British parent body continued its work through the next decade, from 1933 spearheading the movement for the right of married women to work. During the Second World War, they campaigned on issues such as female volunteers in the Civil Defence Services receiving two-thirds the man's pay and compensation rate provided for by the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act of 1939 by traditional constitutional methods: deputations to the appropriate government ministers, public rallies and letters to major newspapers. They were also closely involved in the Equal Compensation Campaign from 1941 to 1943 and subsequently had representatives beside the Six Point Group and the Fawcett Society on the committee of the Equal Pay Campaign from 1944 to ensure equal pay in the Civil Service. The group was finally wound up in 1965.
Gilda O'Neill was born in Bethnal Green in 1951, the granddaughter of a Thames tug skipper and a pie-and-mash shop owner. Her parents, Dolly and Tom Griffiths, originally from Bow, eventually joined the postwar slum clearance diaspora in Dagenham, Essex. Leaving school at 15, she took a succession of office and bar jobs in the City. In 1971 she began a whirlwind romance with John O'Neill and married him a week after their first meeting. After their son and daughter were born, Gilda went back to education and began writing after studying at the Open University and the Polytechnic of East London.
In 1989, Gilda's first book was commissioned, the oral history Pull No More Bines: Hop Picking: Memories of a Vanished Way of Life (1990) for the Women's Press (it was reissued as Lost Voices in 2006). She had been fascinated by her mother's accounts of hop-picking in Kent as a girl, and indeed had accompanied her there as a small child. Her first novel, The Cockney Girl (1992), drew on her family experience, but combined it with careful research, also a feature of the crime novels she wrote in later years, of which The Sins of Their Fathers (2003) was the first in a trilogy. Gilda was prolific. Over 20 years, she published 15 novels and five social histories.
She participated regularly in workshops, and co-founded the writers' network Material Girls. In 2008, she joined the National Reading Campaign and contributed not only her book East End Tales (2008), a collection of easy-to-read childhood memories, to the campaign but also lent real fire to what might otherwise have been earnest events. Gilda died from side-effects triggered by medication prescribed for a minor injury in 2010.
Her publications include: My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London (1999), Our Street: East End Life in the Second World War (2003), The Good Old Days: Crime, Murder and Mayhem in Victorian London (2006). Her novels, include family sagas such as The Bells of Bow (1994) and Just Around the Corner (1995).
Not given.
Born, 1848; entered the Navy, 1862; served on HMS LONDON engaged in suppressing the slave trade on the East Coast of Africa, 1875-1879; qualified as interpreter in Swahili; British Consul at Mozambique, 1879; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1881-1925; explored interior of Mozambique, 1882-1885; returned to England, 1885; RGS Patron's Medal, 1885; Consul at Leghorn; Consul at Rouen; retired, 1899; died, 1925.
Born, 1814; entered the navy, 1826, under his uncle, John Ommanney; passed his examination, 1833; mate in the brig PANTALOON; appointed to the transport COVE (Captain Clark Ross), which was ordered to Baffin's Bay to release a number of whalers caught in the ice, 1835; joined the frigate PIQUE (Captain Henry John Rous), 1836; appointed to the DONEGAL as flag-lieutenant to his uncle, now Sir John Ommanney, commander-in-chief on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations, 1837; commander, 1840; served on board the steam sloop VESUVIUS in the Mediterranean, 1841-1844; second in command, Franklin search expedition, 1850-1851; Deputy Controller-General of the Coastguard, 1851-1854; commissioned the EURYDICE as senior officer of a small squadron for the White Sea in the Russian War, 1854; appointed to the HAWKE, blockship for the Baltic, and was employed chiefly as senior officer in the Gulf of Riga, 1855; appointed to the BRUNSWICK, going out to the West Indies, 1857, and later the Channel Fleet, 1859; senior officer at Gibraltar from 1862; promoted to flag rank, 1864; retired, 1875; died, 1904.
As a sub-lieutenant Ommaney served in the TOPAZE, 1873 to 1874, in home waters, and in the BARRACOUTA, 1874 to 1877, on the Australian Station. In 1877 he became a lieutenant and from 1878 to 1881 was in the PENGUIN in the Pacific. He then served in the ALGERINE between 1881 and 1886 on the Cape and West Africa Station and in the CRUISER, 1886 to 1889, in the Mediterranean. In 1890 he was promoted to commander and served in the AURORA, Channel Squadron, from 1890 to 1891 and in the BOUDICEA, East Indies, from 1891 to 1894. He was promoted to captain in 1897 and commanded the CALLIOPE, tender to the training ship Northampton, from 1901 to 1903, when he retired. He became a rear-admiral in 1907.
First incorporated in 1960 as Olympia Exhibitions Limited. In 1999 the name was changed to Olympia Limited [See LMA/4684/OF]. This company is responsible for managing Olympia exhibition hall, and for providing contracting services for exhibitions.
This company should not be confused with Olympia Exhibitions Limited which was formed through a renaming of the existing Olympia Limited in 1999 (LMA/4684/DO01; Company no. 01103492)
Registered offices:
Olympia Kensington, London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (1960-2004)
154 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex (2004-2007)
40 Broadway, London Borough of Westminster (2007-2010)
15 Grosvenor Street, London Borough of Westminster (2010-2017)
4th Floor, 26-28 Mount Row London Borough of Westminster (2017 - )
Company No. 00661157.
Based at 64 Lincoln's Inn Fields, William Oliver was a solicitor involved in the development of land at Devonshire Road in Forest Hill, Lewisham.
William was trustee of the Wills of his father (Thomas) and brother (Arthur) and the Marriage Settlement of his sister (Mrs Sanders).
Oliver entered the Navy in 1878 and passed for lieutenant in 1884. In 1903 he was promoted to captain and founded the navigation school in the Mercury. This school was later given the name HMS Dryad. Oliver became Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord in 1908, and after a seagoing appointment became Director of Naval Intelligence in 1913. He was promoted to rear-admiral in the same year. In 1914 Oliver became Naval Secretary to the First Sea Lord. At the end of the war he commanded the First Battle Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet, hoisting his flag in the REPULSE. In 1919 he was promoted to vice-admiral and in 1921 he was appointed Second Sea Lord. In 1923 he was made admiral. His last active employment was as Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, in which post he remained until 1927. He was made Admiral of the Fleet in 1928 and retired in the same year. See Sir William James, A great seaman. The life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry F. Oliver (London, 1956).
Oliver entered the Navy in 1779. He served in the West Indies and was promoted to lieutenant in 1790, commander in 1794 and captain in 1796. After the battle of Trafalgar he was appointed to the MARS, whose captain, George Duff, had been killed. He continued to serve until 1814 and was promoted to rear-admiral in 1819, vice-admiral in 1830 and admiral in 1841.
Oliver was the son of Admiral Robert Oliver. He entered the Navy in 1825 and became a lieutenant in 1838. He was in the QUEEN in the Mediterranean from 1842 to 1844 and was promoted to commander in 1844. In 1847 he was appointed to command the FLY in Australian and New Zealand waters. Following his return home in 1851 he served during the Crimean War and was promoted to captain in 1854 but from then had no further service. He retired in 1864 and rose to the rank of admiral on the retired list.
Oliver was educated at Osborne and Dartmouth Royal Naval Colleges. He served as Midshipman on HMS GOOD HOPE, Flag ship of the Mediterranean Fleet, in 1912 and HMS INFLEXIBLE from January 1913. Oliver was promoted to Acting Sub-Lieutenant in 1914, then lent to HMS ALBION as Acting Lieutenant in March 1915, when he volunteered in command of a pair of Trawlers sweeping Minefields off Chanak. In April 1915, he was appointed to HMS PRINCE OF WALES, which landed five hundred Australian troops at ANZAC beach and supported their operations with gun fire. Oliver joined HMS MURRAY in September 1915, and was promoted to Lieutenant and became Second in Command in April 1916: he was subsequently awarded the Swedish Gold Medal 5th Class for life saving. In 1917, Oliver transferred to HMS TELEMACHUS, Destroyer, which lay mines for the most part in the German Swept channels in the Heligoland Bight, sinking numerous U Boats and Sweepers: he was awarded the D.S.C. in 1918. He was on HMS RENOWN during H.R.H. the Prince of Wales' tours to North America from May to December 1919, and to Australia and New Zealand from March to November 1920. From April 1921 to May 1922, Oliver was at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, for a preliminary gunnery course and from May 1922 to Feb 1923, he attended the Long (G) Course at HMS EXCELLENT (The Gunnery School at Whale Island, Portsmouth). In April 1924, Oliver was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and was on the Senior Staff of HMS EXCELLENT from 1925 to 1927. In November, he was appointed First Lieutenant and HMS WARSRITE, Mediterranean Fleet. Oliver was promoted to Commander on 31 December 1929 and was on the staff at HMS EXCELLENT until November 1930. From April 1931, he was Squadron Gunnery Officer in the Battle Cruiser Squadron, Home Fleet, until he was commissioned HMS RESOLUTION as Executive Officer Second in Command in September 1933. Oliver was promoted to Captain in 1936, and attended various courses at Greenwich and Portsmouth before moving to Wellington in order to take up an appointment as Second Member of the New Zealand Navy Board. He returned to the U.K. at the end of 1938 and took command of HMS IRON DUKE, proceeding to his War Station at Scapa Flow in August 1939. In 1940, Oliver joined HMS DEVONSHIRE, which was involved with Convoy work in the South Atlantic and convoying troops in the Indian Ocean: he was awarded the C.B.E. in 1942. From January 1943 to February 1944, Oliver was in Command of HMS EXCELLENT, Gunnery School, Portsmouth. From March 1944, he was in command of HMS SWIFTSURE building at Vickers, Newcastle, and subsequently proceeding to join the Pacific Fleet at Sydney, N.S.W. Oliver became Rear-Admiral in 1945 and was Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Weapons) at the Admiralty from March to September, when he was appointed Deputy Chief of Naval Staff with a Seat on the Board of Admiralty. In August 1947, he hoisted his Flag in HMS SUSSEX as Flag Officer Commanding 5th Cruiser Squadron. Oliver was promoted to Vice Admiral retired list in 1948 and was made Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Roxburghshire in 1962.
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1945-
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
Oliver entered the Navy in 1869. He served in the BRISTOL, 1870 to 1871, and was rated midshipman in 1871. He was in the Mediterranean from 1871 to 1874, in the ARIADNE and then for two years in the flagship LORD WARDON. From 1874 to 1876 he served in the AUDACIOUS, flagship on the China Station. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1876 and served in the SHANNON, 1877 to 1880, on the same station. In 1880 he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed to the PELICAN, Pacific Station, 1880 to 1882. From 1882 to 1884 he was in the Indian troopship JUMA and served in operations in the Sudan in 1884. Between 1885 and 1887, Oliver served in three Coast Guard ships based at Southampton, the HECTOR, NORTHAMPTON and INVINCIPLE. He returned to China in the WANDERER between 1888 and 1891. During the 1890s Oliver served in various posts, in a training ship, in the dockyard reserve and the coastguard. He retired with the rank of commander in 1900.
The Oldham Women's Suffrage Society (1901-1921) was established in 1910 with Margery Lees as president and quickly joined the Manchester and District Federation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. By 1911, in addition to a suffrage shop, the branch comprised of 120 members, a figure that rose to 857 in 1913. That year, a number of members, including Lees joined the Manchester contingent of the Pilgrimage to London. In 1919 the body was transformed into the Women Citizens' Association and amalgamated with the National Council of Women in 1921.
Oldham Sign Service were manufacturers of neon signs. It is possible that they merged with Claude-General Neon Lights in the 1960s.
No information was discovered at the time of compilation.
Born Harewood, West Yorkshire, 1911; educated at Repton and University College, Oxford; worked for Knight Frank and Rutley, surveyors and auctioneers; commissioned into Warwickshire Royal Yeomanry; photographic interpreter; head of Air Reconnaissance at General Headquarters Middle-East c 1941; joined 1 Special Air Service regiment September 1942; captured near Tuorga, Libya, after destroying 20 aircraft on the ground, 17 Dec 1942; POW, Italy; escaped to Switzerland, October 1943; repatriated to United Kingdom c 1944; died 1992.
Born, 1822; medical student at Guy's Hospital; M R C S, 1845; M D, St Andrew's University, 1845; Assistant Surgeon, Bengal Medical Service, 1846; died, 1871.
Publications: Views of Nepal, 1851-1864. Henry Ambrose Oldfield, Margaret Alicia Oldfield. [edited by] Cecilia and Hallvard Kuløy (1975); Sketches from Nipal, historical and descriptive ... To which is added an essay on Nipalese Buddhism, and illustrations of religious monuments, architecture and scenery, etc [Edited by E O] 2 volumes (W H Allen & Co, London, 1880).
Education: School and University at Bremen; MTh (1639); Oxford (entered 1656). Career: Lived in England (1640-1648); travelled on the continent, returning to Bremen (1652); sent by the Council of Bremen to negotiate with Cromwell (1653); Tutor to Henry, son of Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond, and Richard Jones (FRS 1663), son of Robert Boyle's sister, Catherine, Lady Ranelagh; accompanied Jones to France and Germany (1657-1660); published 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society' (1665-1677); imprisoned in the Tower of London (1667) on suspicion that his extensive foreign correspondence was political, rather than scientific; worked as a translator (1670).
Rudolf Olden was a writer on German politics and government.
John Oldbury and Henry Stanley conducted business in Malaga, Alicante, Cadiz, Venice, Leghorn [Livorno], Amsterdam, Portsmouth, Ipswich, Bristol, Falmouth and Chester.
Old Street Magistrates Court: Old Street Police Court was one of the original public offices opened in 1792. It was situated in Worship Street, Shoreditch. Part of its district was taken in 1889 to form the North London Police District. The court was moved to Finsbury Square in 1902 until a new building was opened in Old Street in 1906. The name of the court was then changed to Old Street.
History: An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.
Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.
In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.
Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.
The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.
In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.
The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.
Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.
Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.
The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.
Little is known about the family beyond the following details:
Sophie Scharvogel, grandmother of E Ohly, was born on 24 Dec 1859 in Mainz; was transported to Terezin on 1942 and died there, 16 Nov 1942. She was the widow of Professor J J Scharvogel.
Karl Traumann writes from Gurs concentration camp in the French Pyrenees, Feb 1941. He was a patent lawyer from Karlsruhe, first cousin of Gertrud Ohly and nephew of Sophie Scharvogel, born Mannheim c1880, died at Gurs in 1942. He had a brother, Ernst, living in the US at the time.
Lotte Pariser, writes from Terezin in May and June 1944, born on 7 Sep 1885, transported to Terezin on 6 Jun 1942, evacuated to Auschwitz to 28 Oct 1944.
Anna Ansbacher, a friend of Sophie Scharvogel, was one of the lucky few to have been sent to Switzerland in exchange for lorries.
E E Ohly came to Great Britain in 1945 to join his father, who had returned to Britain in 1934. Since he was half Jewish he could no longer work in his profession as a sculptor in Germany. As he was born in Great Britain he was able to escape. E Ohly left Germany in 1934 for school in Switzerland and lived there until 1945. His mother, Gertrud, being half Jewish, survived World War Two and died in Munich on 20 March 1951.
The compiler was MD of Aberdeen University, and later Professor Emeritus of the same university. He was President of the BMA 1914, 1915 and Hon. Col. RAMC to the Highland (Territorial) Division in the First World War, serving in Serbia in 1915, and in Italy during the following two years.
Ogle was the eldest son of Admiral Sir Chaloner. He entered the Navy in 1787 and became a lieutenant in 1793, commander in 1795, and captain in 1796. He served mainly in the Mediterranean, being Captain of the UNITE 1805 to 1806. From 1806 to 1815 he commanded one of the royal yachts. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1816 and was promoted to rear-admiral in 1819. He was commander-in-chief, North America 1827 to 1830 and became a vice-admiral in 1830 and an admiral in 1841. He was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth 1845 to 1848.