Shirreff entered the Navy in 1796, was promoted to lieutenant in 1804 and to captain in 1809. Between 1817 and 1821 he commanded the ANDROMACHE in the Pacific, at the time of the Chilean War of Independence. He also despatched Edward Bransfield (c 1783-1852), Master of the ANDROMACHE, in the hired ship WILLIAMS OF BLYTH to claim the South Shetland Islands, 1819 to 1820, for Britain. Between 1830 and 1837 Shirreff was Captain of the Port of Gibraltar under the Colonial Service. In 1838 he was appointed to Captain-Superintendent of Deptford Victualling Yard. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1846.
Smith-Dorrien entered the BRITANNIA in 1870 and then went to the TRAFALGAR, which was the cadet training ship at that time. His first service was in the ENDYMION between 1872 and 1873, after which he joined the VOLAGE during an expedition, 1874 to 1875, to observe the transit of Venus at Kerguelen Island, Indian Ocean. He then served in the SULTAN, Channel Squadron, before taking his gunnery and Greenwich courses. In 1876 he was appointed to the SHAH on her commission as flagship in the Pacific and was present at the action with the Peruvian turret-ship HUASCAR. During the Zulu War of 1879 he was in the Naval Brigade and was also promoted to lieutenant. From 1880, he was in the ECLIPSE, East Indies Station, operating against the slave trade; he ended the commission by service in the Naval Brigade in Egypt, 1882. On his return home he was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to the Commander-in-Chief, Devonport. From 1884 to 1885 he served in the Mediterranean and then in China in the INVINCIBLE; from 1886 to 1887 he was in the Red Sea in the CONDOR; from 1887 to 1889 he was in the ESPIEGLE, in the Pacific and then from 1889 to 1893 was in the PHAETON on the Mediterranean Station. He was appointed commander in 1893, going to the BRITANNIA and in 1897 to the ALACRITY, Admiral's despatch vessel on the China Station. Having become a captain in 1900, in 1901 he commanded the RAINBOW. He retired in 1904 and was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list in 1909.
Sir Robert Southwell (1635-1702), who was appointed Clerk to the Commission of Prizes in 1664 and, as well as holding diplomatic posts, became Principal Secretary of State for Ireland in 1690. His son Edward Southwell (1671-1730) succeeded him in the latter post. There are also papers of William Blathwayt, Secretary at War (1649?-1717), whose daughter married Edward Southwell in 1717. Since the Southwells and Blathwayt were often abroad, many of these letters are from the Secretary of State at home, who was for the greater part of the time Daniel Finch, Earl of Nottingham (1647-1730), giving news of decisions reached by the Queen, and after her death in 1694, by the Lords Justices.
Francis Shipton was promoted to lieutenant in 1884. He held the rank of lieutenant-commander during World War One, having previously retired from the Navy.
Spratt entered the Navy in 1827, was made a lieutenant in 1841 and a commander in 1849, his ship then being the SPITFIRE, a survey vessel in the Mediterranean; he continued in command of her until the end of the Crimean War, becoming a captain in 1855. In 1856 he was appointed to the MEDINA and remained surveying in the Mediterranean until 1863. He was a Commissioner of Fisheries from 1866 to 1873 and was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1872. In 1878 he became a Vice-Admiral and from 1879 was Acting Conservator of the Mersey Conservancy Board. Spratt published books and articles on the Mediterranean, chiefly on the history and antiquities of Crete.
Stephenson entered the Navy as a first class volunteer and was promoted to lieutenant in 1778. He left the Navy in 1785 and became a 'free mariner' in India. He commanded, among other ships, the MARY, her last voyage being from Bengal to England, 1795 to 1796. Stephenson then returned to the Navy after an absence of twelve years. He was promoted to commander and to captain in 1798, when he went to the Defence in the Channel. In 1800 he was given command of the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, but appears to have had no further command after 1802.
Montagu Stopford, nephew of Admiral the Hon Sir Robert Stopford, entered the Navy in 1810. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1819 and to captain in 1825. After intermittent service on various stations he was promoted to rear-admiral in 1853. He was Captain of the Fleet during the Crimean War and between 1855 and 1858 was Superintendent of Malta Dockyard. He became a vice-admiral in 1858.
Charles Steevens entered the Navy in about 1720, was promoted to lieutenant in 1729, to commander in 1744 ELIZABETH; he was also promoted to rear-admiral in that year. In 1760 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the station, moved to the Norfolk and undertook the blockade of Pondicherry, which surrendered in 1761.
See Nathaniel Steevens, 'The naval career Of Rear-Admiral Charles Steevens from 1720 to 1761' (published privately, 1874).
William Stewart, eldest son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Houston Stewart (1791-1875), entered the Navy in 1835. He became a lieutenant in 1842, a commander in 1848 and a captain in 1854. In 1860 he joined the MARLBOROUGH as Flag-Captain to Sir William Fanshawe Martin (1801-1895), in the Mediterranean, where he remained for three years. The rest of his service was in administrative appointments. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1870 and from July of that year was Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard until the end of 1871, when he was appointed in the same capacity to Portsmouth. From 1872 to 1881 he was Controller of the Navy, although without a seat on the Board of Admiralty. He became a vice-admiral in 1876 and admiral in 1881, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Devonport. Here he remained for the full period of three years and retired in 1885.
Tait entered the Navy in 1902 and served in the Pacific from 1903 to February, 1905, in the GRAFTON, and then in the Mediterranean, in the DRAKE. He went to the FLORA, China, in 1908 and became a lieutenant in 1909. In 1910 he joined the Home Fleet, serving in a number of ships, including the HINDUSTAN and the COLLINGWOOD until 1912. He was promoted to lieutenant-commander in 1917, commander in 1921 and captain in 1926. After a course at Greenwich, Tait returned to sea in 1928 and took command of four cruisers; these included the CAPETOWN in 1929 and the DELHI in 1930, on the America and West Indies Station. He was appointed Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence in 1932 and in 1933 went out to the Far East to report on the possibility of an outbreak of hostilities with Japan. In 1938 he became a rear-admiral and in 1941 was appointed vice-admiral and Commander-in-Chief, African Station. On his appointment as Governor of Southern Rhodesia in 1944, he retired and was promoted to admiral in 1945.
Trinder Anderson and Co. Ltd began in the 1870s. In 1886 Trinder Anderson & Co. acquired the business of Messrs Oliver and Wilson of Fremantle and entered trade in Western Australia. In 1886, Trinder Anderson and Co Ltd set up a steamer service called the Western Australia Steam Navigation Co. In 1892, Trinder Anderson and Co reorganized with Charles Bethell and Co when Walter J Gwyn was taken into partnership becoming known as Bethell, Gwyn and Co. In the same year Trinder Anderson and Co. and Bethell, Gwyn and Co enters the emigrant trade. In 1904, Trinder Anderson and Co. and Bethell, Gwyn and Co founded the Australind Steam Navigation Co. The first steam vessel registered was the AUSTRALIND, a 5,568 ton cargo vessel built by Charles Connell and Co of Glasgow. In later years the Australind Steam Navigation Company became associated with the New Zealand Shipping Company which registered in 1872 and changed in 1966 to become asscociated with the Federal Steam Navigation Co Australind Steam Navigation Co together with its parent company forms part of the P and O organisation. In 1967, the Australind Steam Navigation Co ran services in association with Avenue Shipping. In this collection, Trinder Anderson and Co. Ltd. acted as agents to the Australind Steam Navigation Company Ltd from 1897 to 1964, New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd from 1937 to 1959 and Avenue Shipping Co Ltd. from 1954 to 1969. Trinder Anderson and Co. Ltds own company records in this collection cover the period 1914 to 1974.
Tennant joined the BRITANNIA in 1905, from 1906 to 1909 was in the Channel in the PRINCE OF WALES, VENERABLE, IMPLACABLE and QUEEN and was promoted to lieutenant in 1912. After specialising in navigation he served from 1914 to 1916 in the LIZARD and FERRET, Harwich Force, and in the Grand Fleet in the CHATHAM and NOTTINGHAM. Still in 1916, he returned to the Harwich Force in the CONCORD and remained in her as navigator until 1919. He was navigator during the two Royal tours around the world in the RENOWN, 1921 and the REPULSE, 1925, the year he was promoted to commander. He was made Captain in 1932. From 1935 to 1937 he was on the Mediterranean Station in the ARETHUSA followed by two years (1937 to 1939), as naval instructor at Imperial Defence College. At the beginning of the Second World War, Tennant organized the embarkation of the allied armies at Dunkirk. He next commanded the REPULSE and survived her sinking off Singapore by Japanese air attack at the end of 1941. In 1942 he was promoted to rear-admiral and commanded a cruiser squadron of the Eastern Fleet. He joined the staff for 'Overlord' , the Allied invasion of Nazi occupied Europe, in 1943 and was responsible for the 'Mulberry' harbours. In 1945 he went as Flag-Officer, Levant and Eastern Mediterranean, was promoted to vice-admiral in that year and to admiral in 1949 at the end of his term as Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies, 1946 to 1949.
Thursfield joined the Times as a leader writer in 1877 and by about 1880 he had begun to specialize in naval affairs. He represented the Times in the naval manoeuvres of 1887 and in every subsequent year when correspondents were admitted. When Mahan's book The influence of sea power upon history appeared in 1890, Thursfield's review was the first that adequately recognized its importance. He lectured at the invitation of the Staff College, Camberley, in 1902 on the 'Higher policy of defence' and at this time became closely associated with Sir John (later Lord) Fisher (1841-1920). After the war he wrote the four naval volumes of the Times documentary history of the war. Thursfield was knighted in 1920.
Tiddeman was promoted to lieutenant in 1732. He served successively in the WOLF (West Indies 1732), the RUPERT (West Indies and the Channel, 1733 to 1734), the PRINCESS AMELIA (1734 to 1735), and BUCKINGHAM (1735 to 1736), the last two being off Portugal. He was then sent to North America in the PHEONIX (1737-42). He commanded the DEAL CASTLE and the FAME in the West Indies from 1744, until 1745 when he was promoted to captain. In 1745 he went to the ELTHAM, taking her out to the East Indies in 1747. On his return to England in 1750 he became Captain of the HARWICH. In 1758 he was sent again to the East Indies in the GRAFTON to reinforce Sir George Pocock's (q.v.) squadron. He transferred to the ELIZABETH in 1759 and became second-in-command of the Station in 1761. He was commodore of the expedition against Manila in 1762, but was drowned the morning after the surrender when his barge capsized.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
Entered the navy as a cadet in 1908, passing at Royal Naval College at Osborne and Dartmouth, became midshipman in 1912. He took part in the action off Dogger Bank and at Jutland and became lieutenant in 1916. The following year he was appointed to motor boats in which he remained until the armistice. Troubridge took a course in gunnery and then served as gunnery officer in the QUEEN ELIZABETH between 1922-4. He later took the naval staff course in 1924 after which he served in the Atlantic Fleet as staff officer, operations. Troubridge was appointed to the royal yacht VICTORIA AND ALBERT in 1928 and promoted commander in 1929; later being promoted captain in 1934 at the age of thirty-nine. In that rank he was appointed naval attache in 1936. On 1 January 1940, Troubridge was appointed commander of the aircraft-carrier FURIOUS in the Home Fleet. In June 1941 Troubridge was appointed to command the battleship NELSON at Gibraltar. Troubridge later took command of the aircraft-carrier INDOMITABLE, taking part in the assault and capture of the base of Diego Suarez in Madagascar in 1942. Troubridge was promoted to rear-admiral in 1943 and in 1944 appointed to command a force of nine British and American escort-carriers to cover forces invading the south of France. For his distinguished service in this operation he was appointed CB. On 1 May 1945 Troubridge was made fifth sea lord on the Board of Admiralty, with special emphasis on the naval air service. Later in that year he was promoted KCB. In 1947 he was promoted vice-admiral.
Benjamin Tucker (18 Jan 1762-11 Dec 1829) acted as Purser on HMS ASSISTANCE in 1792, and then on HMS POMPEE from Apr 1795. From Jan 1798 he served on HMS LONDON, which from the summer of 1798 was stationed with the Mediterranean Fleet off Cadiz under the command of Earl St Vincent. On discharge from HMS LONDON on 11 Jul 1798, Tucker became Secretary to Earl St Vincent and continued with the Earl throughout his service in the Mediterranean. He was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty on 21 Jan 1804 and then again on 10 Feb 1806. From 28 Jun 1808-11 Dec 1829, he acted as Surveyor General of the County of Cornwall. Benjamin Tucker was married twice, first to Jane Lyne in c1798, who bore him seven children, and secondly to Anne Williams. He resided at Trematon Castle, Cornwall.
John Jervis Tucker, Admiral (25 Mar 1802-14 Mar 1886) entered the Royal Navy in 1815 as a First Class Volunteer. On 12 Sep 1822 he was promoted to Lieutenant. He served on HMS THETIS from 17 Mar 1823 until the ship was paid off in Nov 1826, sailing to Mexico in 1823 with Commisioners of the Admiralty and participating in the Ashantee War in 1824. On 15 Jun 1827 he was promoted to Commander, serving on HMS ARIEL and HMS SEMIRAMIS (1828-1831), and then to the rank of Captain of HMS ROYAL WILLIAM on 28 Jun 1838. He served as Flag Captain of HMS DUBLIN in the Pacific under Rear-Admiral Richard Thomas from 11 May 1841-26 Mar 1845, dealing with the imposition of French administration on the island of Tahiti. From 29 Apr 1854-10 Sep 1857 he was Captain Superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard. He became Rear-Admiral of the Blue on 10 Sep 1857, was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the White on 2 May 1860, and to Vice-Admiral on 9 Feb 1864. He was pensioned off on 19 Oct 1864 and was appointed as an Admiral on half pay on 10 Sep 1869. On 24 May 1876 he was made Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall. John Jervis Tucker was the second son of Benjamin Tucker, and owner of Trematon Castle from 1860 until his death in 1886. He married Sabine Ann Young on 16 Oct 1830, who bore him four children.
OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS - The collection also relates to other members of the Tucker family, including: Benjamin Tucker senior, Benjamin Tucker's father; Joseph Tucker (c1760-?), Benjamin Tucker's brother and Foreman of the Shipwrights, Plymouth Dockyard; Anne Tucker (nee Williams) ([1766-]), Benjamin Tucker's second wife and widow; Jedediah Stephens Tucker (17 Jun 1800-Jan 1860), Benjamin Tucker's eldest son who published the Memoirs of Earl St Vincent from his father's papers; Benjamin W Tucker ([1804-]), Benjamin Tucker's third son; Jervis Tucker (1833-?), eldest son of John Jervis Tucker; and the Lyne family, who may be either related to Benjamin Tucker's mother's or first wife's family as they both shared the same surname (the association is not clear).
Upton entered the East India Company's service as a midshipman in 1788 and served in the ROCKINGHAM during two voyages to China. He was in the GENERAL GODDARD as Fourth Officer on a voyage to Madras and Bengal from 1793 to 1794 and remained in her as part of the Cape Expedition of 1795. Nine Dutch Indiamen were captured during this cruise and Upton was detached in one of them as prize master. He went to China in the TRUE BRITON in 1804 and to Bengal in the WINDHAM in 1809, from which ship he was captured. However, after the taking of the Ile de France (Mauritius), Upton joined the CEYLON, 1810, and brought her home. His next voyage was to China, 1814, in the GLATTON; upon her arrival at St Helena her captain died and Upton was sworn in to command. Nothing further is known about his career.
Phs. van Ommeren N.V., Rotterdam, was founded in 1839 by Philippus van Ommeren, primarily to act as shipbroker and agent to the then Rotterdam/London Line. Other agencies followed. The firm expanded into other trades and developed a variety of services. Gradually related companies were established in other cities and the London company began operations in January 1914. The outbreak of the First World War caused the cancellation of the early contracts, but in 1915 the company was appointed general agent in the United Kingdom for the Holland-America Line. During the Second World War the Netherlands Shipping and Trading Committee took control of the Dutch merchant ships on behalf of the government in exile and these were placed on time charter to the British government. With the end of the war, the company resumed its Dutch connections and agencies; they also became agents for other companies in many parts of the world.
Waters, a master's assistant in 1842, served on the East Indies Station first in the VIXEN and then in 1843 in the JUPITER. He was made second master in 1845 and master in 1848. Between 1852 and 1856 he served in the Black Sea in the SIMOOM and in the SHANNON until 1861. During the Indian Mutiny, 1857, Waters was left in command of the SHANNON while her captain, Sir William Peel (1824-1858), led the Naval Brigade. He later served as master, and staff commander when the rank was redesignated, in several ships. His active career ended as staff captain with two appointments as Queen's Harbour Master, first at Malta and then at Sheerness. He retired in 1876.
William Waldegrave, 1753-1825, entered the Navy in 1766 aboard the JERSEY. He was made Lieutenant in 1772 and captain in 1776 when in the RIPPON he joined Sir Edward Vernon in the East Indies. After 15 months his health broke down and he returned to England. In September 1778 he was sent to the West Indies in the POMONA and the following year captured the large American privateer CUMBERLAND. He then transferred to the frigate LA PRUDENTE and with the assistance of the frigate LICORNE captured the large French frigate CAPRICIEUSE after a desperate action of four hours. In 1782 he commanded the frigate PHAETON before coming ashore at the peace of 1783. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he was appointed to the COURAGEUX (74) and was made Rear Admiral the following year. He then commanded a small squadron in the channel before being made Vice Admiral in 1795 when he joined Sir John Jervis in the Mediterranean. In 1797 he was Jervis' third in command at the battle of Cape St Vincent. For the next three years he was governor and commander in chief of the Newfoundland station and colony. He was made Admiral in 1802 but saw no further action. He died in 1825 having been made First Baron Radstock in the Irish peerage for his services in Newfoundland.
George Granville Waldegrave was the eldest son of Willaim Waldegrave and therefore became the second Baron Radstock on his father's death. He was entered on the books of his father's ship COURAGEUX (74) in 1794 but first went to sea in the AGINCOURT in 1798. He was made captain in 1807 and given the frigate THAMES in the Mediterranean. In 1811 he took command of another frigate, the VOLONTAIRE, until the defeat of Napoleon. His years of frigate command were spent in attacks on the enemy's coasting trade, cutting out armed ships and destroying coastal batteries. He was made a CB in 1815 when he came ashore. From 1831 to 1841 he served as naval aide de camp to the monarch, becoming Rear Admiral in 1841. Ten years later he became a full Admiral and died in 1857.
Wilkinson was master of the MINOTAUR, 1807 to 1808, and took part in the attack on Copenhagen. After cruising in the Channel and the Atlantic between 1808 and 1810 in the CHRISTIAN VII, he was discharged from active service because of ill-health but was given shore appointment as Superintendent of the Wharf at the Victualling Yard, Deptford. From 1832 this post became known as Master Attendant and King's Harbour Master. Wilkinson retired in 1833 and was promoted to commander in 1846.
Henry Walker entered the Navy in 1803 and served as midshipman in HMS BELLEROPHON. He was promoted lieutenant in 1810. In 1833 he was given command as lieutenant commander of HMS ALBAN following the suppression of the disturbances which arose in the agricultural districts in 1830. The ALBAN was a steamship serving in the Mediterranean and there were considerable problems over the supply and quality of coal. He had many disagreements with Captain Hugh Pigot of HMS BARHAM who ordered him to flog certain seamen on grounds which Walker considered to be unjust and which he therefore refused to have done. Walker apprears to have been relieved of his command following these disagreements, but continued to accuse Pigot of cruelty and in 1834 he decided to stand for Parliament in order to impeach him, but withdrew in favour of Captain Byng, later Lord Torrington.
Wrey entered the Navy in 1878. As a midshipman in the SUPERB, he was present at the bombardment of Alexandria, 1882, and was in the CARYSFORT in 1884 during the attack on Suakim. Still on the Mediterranean Station, he served in the TEMERAIRE, 1884 to 1885. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1888, spent eight years on the China Station and became a commander in 1900. In 1909 he was made Divisional Officer of the Coast Guard, Southern District, with the rank of captain. At the outbreak of war he was recalled to service as Principal Naval Transport Officer at Southampton and remained there until 1918.
Greive was born William Samuel Brown. He changed his name to Greive late in life as the result of an inheritance. He entered the Navy in 1845 and served in the STYX on the West African Station from 1845 until 1847. From 1851 to 1852 he was mate in the SPITEFUL in the Mediterranean. He went out to Bermuda in the ESPIEGLE in 1853 and served for some months in the CUMBERLAND at Halifax. He was promoted to lieutenant and appointed to the PENELOPE in 1854 and served in the Baltic during the Crimean War. In 1855 the PENELOPE went out to the Cape of Good Hope and Brown served on that station in several ships until promoted to commander in 1860. From 1861 to 1865 he served on the North American Station and, following his promotion to captain in 1866, returned there in the DANAE from 1871 to 1874. He was Naval Officer-in-Charge, Jamaica, from 1880 to 1882. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1884, to vice-admiral in 1889 and retired in the same year.
When the regional gas and electricity companies were nationalised in 1949, the South Eastern Gas Board (SEGAS) emerged as a fusion of the South Metropolitan Gas Company and the Wandsworth and District Gas Company. Both these companies had transported coal from the North East Coast in their own ships to their own wharves in the Thames since the first decade of the twentieth century, and their combined fleets at the time of the merger totalled twelve ships of gross tonnages ranging between 1,500 and 2,700 tons. These vessels came to be known as 'flatirons' because, in order to negotiate the Thames bridges, they had to have either retractable or very low funnels and a 'low profile'. The change-over from coal to natural gas led to the phasing out of the SEGAS fleet in 1971.
Lady Yule, the wife of Sir David Yule (d 1928), a wealthy Calcutta jute merchant, commissioned the yacht to be built in 1929 by John Brown of Clydebank. In 1930 Lady Yule and her daughter embarked on a world cruise in the NAHLIN and they stayed in New Zealand, Australia and Miami from 1931 to 1934.
Sir Arthur William Hill was born on the 11 Oct 1875, the only son of Daniel Hill. Daniel Hill was a keen amateur horticulturalist and inspired his son from an early age to learn sound practical knowledge about gardening.
Hill attended Marlborough School from 1890 until 1894. It was at school that Hill began to take an active interest in field botany, inspired by his teacher [who was an amateur naturalist] Edward Meyrick. Hill later talked of the Marlborough Downs as the place where he first found orchids to examine. Hill showed his appreciation to the College by bequeathing them money.
From Marlborough School Hill continued his education at Kings College Cambridge in October 1894 on an award. His success in gaining the award was due to an appeal from Marlborough School based on his botanical knowledge, enthusiasm and promise. At Cambridge Hill studied Natural Sciences, for which he obtained a 1st in 1897. Hill continued to study at Cambridge but specialised in Botany and received a 1st in 1898. At this time the Chair of Botany was Henry Marshall Ward who had a great influence on Hill; Ward introduced him to Walter Gardiner [Cambridge lecturer until 1898]. Gardiner invited Hill to collaborate with him on research on plant histology for the Royal Society. This led to Hill being offered a post at Cambridge University as a Demonstrator in Botany in 1899. Hill was successful in his post and was awarded a fellowship in 1901, a lectureship in 1904 and the position of Dean of Kings College in 1907. As a lecturer he contributed much through his travels as he would return to Cambridge and describe the flora and fauna he had observed in its natural ecosystem. He helped to modernise the Botany School through his use of field trips, which took students out of the classroom to the plants in their natural environment. This achievement was acknowledged by Kings College in 1932 when he was granted an honorary fellowship.
In 1907 Hill left Cambridge to become the Assistant Director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to the then Director Sir David Prain. Prain wrote that he chose Hill because of his travelling experiences [especially Hill's trip to the Andes which Hill financed himself], his businesslike mind and ability to work at any level. One of Hill's prime duties as Assistant Director was to attend meetings and trips to Imperial countries at the government's behest. Hill was very interested in the spread of knowledge and relished these trips, where he could gather specimens and in return offer advice to the host nations. Thus, under him the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew developed its worldwide network of associates. He was also concerned that the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew should develop its research side and improve in everyway possible.
In 1922 Prain retired leaving Hill to take over the Directorship of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Hill took full advantage of the opportunities offered to the Gardens by the British Empire and he successfully campaigned for the government to view Kew as a national asset that could be used to improve colonial relationships. Hill was concerned that the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew should continue and extend its economic links within the Empire. For example, he created a greenhouse in which bananas on route to Jamaica could be quarantined in. Hill's commitment to commercial activities of this nature led the government to ask the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1931 to officially disseminate information on economic plants and their sources around the Empire. This led to the first inventory of plants in the British Empire. Hill was also much concerned with the Gardens on a domestic scale and under his guidance the number of plants that were exhibited was increased. He was a keen amateur landscape gardener and had a tremendous knowledge of plants which he used to enrich the Gardens as a visitor attraction. He was especially keen to see plants growing in as natural and beautiful a setting as possible and so changes were made to planting methods. Hill toured the gardens every morning and would order any changes he felt necessary to enhance artistic effect. Major alterations included: a new vista to the lake, the extension of the rock garden and the improvement of the avenue from the lake to the pagoda. In addition to this, Hill constructed the Sherman Hoyt Cactus House in 1935. Perhaps most significantly though, was Hill's extension in 1930 of the Herbarium so that scientific study could be extended into new areas.
Much of Hill's horticultural and botanical knowledge was informed by his travels abroad. On his travels Hill would collect material for study. Thus, he obtained grants from the Empire Marketing Board from 1927 onwards that allowed him to travel more than any other Director before him.
Sir Arthur William Hill died in the Deer Park in Richmond the 3 Nov 1941. His death is recorded by a number of obituaries all of which lament the passing of Britain's most accomplished botanist.
William Arnold Bromfield was born in the New Forest on the 4th July 1801, the only son of the priest, John Arnold Bromfield (c.1770-1801) and the grandson of the physician and Royal Society fellow, Robert Bromfield (d. 1786). Aged 20 he entered Glasgow University studying medicine. In this period anyone wishing to practise medicine had to be licensed by the Society of Apothecaries and for this knowledge of herbs and medicinal use was essential. In order to attain this knowledge Bromfield studied under the then Professor of Botany of Glasgow, Sir William Hooker.
Upon his father's death, Bromfield gained an inheritance that would fund his subsequent botanic research and travel, which lead to him not pursuing a career in medicine. After graduating in 1826 he travelled on the Continent in France, Germany and Italy before returning and setting up home with his sister. The pair finally settled in Ryde in 1836.
A preliminary version of Bromfield's Flora Hantoniensis was published in the New Physiologist between 1848 and 1850, though he never considered his flora for the Isle of Wight, the Flora Vectensis to be ready for publication. He continued to travel widely, visiting Ireland in 1842, the West Indies in 1844 and North America in 1846. His observations on climate and plant life in the USA were in fact used in Hooker's Journal of Botany (1848-1849). Finally in 1850 Bromfield journeyed East, to Egypt and Syria. Letters written to his sister from this period were posthumously published, following Bromfield's death from typhus in Damascus on October 9th 1851.
Isaac Henry Burkill was born on the 18th of May 1870 at Chapel Allerton, near Leeds. He did his school years at Repton where he started to collect plants and insects and to develop an interest for botany. He first decided to train as a doctor and following the advice of one of his Repton's masters sought admission to Caius College in Cambridge. Burkill was admitted to Cambridge in 1888, in 1891 he was awarded a scholarship and was appointed Assistant Curator of Cambridge's Herbarium. He developed his knowledge of European flora and, in 1894, was appointed a teacher. In 1894 also, Burkill joined the Linnean Society and made his first visit to RBG Kew to determine some specimens from the Western Pacific region he had found at Cambridge. On the 1st of January 1897, Burkill was appointed to RBG Kew as a Technical Assistant. Two years later he was transferred to the Director's office as a Principal Assistant. Burkill had already developped an interest for Pacific flora and tropical plants, that led to his nomination as Assistant to the Reporter of Economic Products in Calcutta. Burkill arrived in Calcutta at the beginning of 1901. There, he met Sir David Prain, Superintendant of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. He was growing many plants of the genus Dioscorea in order to study them. Burkill soon shared his interested and they started to work on them and classify them together. Burkill used his tours in India and nearby countries to collect more plants for his studies and the Botanic Garden. In 1907, Burkill's title was changed to Assistant Director to the Botanic Survey and in 1912 he was asked by the government of Strait Settlements to accept the direction of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. In Singapore, Burkill started his first card index listing all the economic products of the Malay peninsula. In May 1924, Burkill retired and left Singapore. He went back to RBG Kew to work as a researcher. He first published a guide to the Singapore Botanic Garden and, in 1935, a DICTIONNARY OF THE ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. After the dictionary was published, Burkill returned to former studies and published AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENUS DIOSCOREA IN THE EAST, in collaboration with Sir D Prain, in 1936 and 1938. A second card index was elaborated for that publication. He was also at that time Botanical Secretary to the Linnean Society from 1937 to 1944 and continued studies on Ranunculus and Tamus. In 1952 he was awarded the Linnean Gold Medal. He was in permanent contact with staff at RBG Kew where he would ask for some specimens to be grown or some reference to be given from the library. In 1947 he started to study African Dioscoreaceae which led to the publication of a new article in 1960 ORGANOGRAPH AND EVOLUTION OF DIOSCOREACEAE, THE FAMILY OF THE YAMS, J Linn Soc Lond Bot 56, p. 319-412. His last publication was entitled CHAPTERS ON THE HISTORY OF BOTANY IN INDIA, published between 1953 and 1963. In his old days his eyesight became weaker and weaker but he continued working almost to the end.
He had married his cousin Ethel Maud Morrison in 1910 and, in 1914, they had a son, Humphrey Morrison Burkill, who inherited his father's interest for botany.
He died on the 8th of March 1965, aged 94 years old.
Colin Graham Trapnell was born in 1907, he was educated at Sedbergh School and later read Classics at Trinity College, Oxford. However, his real interest lay in science as he had been a keen botanist since his school days. While at Oxford, he joined Max Nicholson in founding the Oxford University Exploration Club in 1927 and in organising its first expedition to Greenland in 1928. His Greenland work was published in 1928. Trapnell then applied for a post as Ecologist at the Colonial Office and in 1931 obtained his first posting as Government Ecologist to Rhodesia, now Zambia. His task was to reconnoitre and map soils, vegetation types as well as indigenous agriculture of the whole territory, a task that would take him 10 years. The task was generally carried out on foot, as there were in those days few tracks suitable for motor vehicles. Trapnell and his colleagues would depart for six months at a time, using native bearers carrying essentials such as medical supplies and food.
For many of the native tribes they encountered, this was to be their first sighting of white men. The surveys, the first of their kind to cover a whole African country, were published after the Second World War and have recently been republished (2004) as they are still the basic source of essential natural resource data for the country The Soils, Vegetation and Traditional Agriculture of Zambia is in two volumes with accompanying maps.
In 1948, Trapnell organised experiments across Zambia on behalf of the Colonial Office to assess land for possible groundnut production, and significantly the Overseas Food Corporation decided not to start a ground nut scheme in Northern Rhodesia. The schemes which failed in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) lacked the kind of survey undertaken by Trapnell in Rhodesia. His work in Rhodesia was considered by the Colonial Office to be the foundation for a wide range of projects, especially on African agriculture. In the 1950s, he was asked to train ecologists for work in Africa, ranging from large scale vegetation and soil surveys to investigations into Tsetse and desert locust infestation.
In 1960, with J E Griffiths, he completed a study on the rainfall altitude ratio in relation to the natural vegetation zones of south west Kenya. Meanwhile, the Kenya Department of Agriculture asked him to prepare an overall vegetation map covering 40,000 square miles of southwest Kenya. This major undertaking was not completed until several years after his retirement.
Upon his retirement, Trapnell joined a small group of people engaged in founding the Somerset Trust for Nature Conservation, now the Somerset Wildlife Trust. He organised land use surveys for conservation purposes of the Mendip Hills and the Somerset Peat Moors, and was responsible for the Trust’s acquisition of its first nature reserves at Catcott and West Ham. For 13 years he was Chairman of the Leigh Woods committee management for the National Trust and was also responsible for negotiating the lease of the woods to the Nature Conservancy Council to form the Avon Gorge National Nature Reserve. At the same time, from his home in Bristol, he was engaged in the completion of the interpretation of air photographs for the vegetation and climate maps of South West Kenya, the sheets of which were published successively by the Directorate of Overseas Surveys between 1966 and 1986.
In 1994, he started the Trapnell Fund for Environmental Field Research in Africa at Oxford University, to support research into African environment. The fund established a fellowship at the Environment Change Institute, and Trapnell was the first Fellow appointed in Sep 1991. In the last three years of his life, although aged over 90, he collaborated with Paul Smith at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to produce a three volume ecological survey of Zambia. He was appointed OBE in 1957. He died on 9 Feb 2004, aged 96.
Born, 1892; Edward Kent Balls was involved in Quaker relief work for eleven years, from 1918 after the First World War, in France, then in the Balkans and Russia; this is where me met with his wife, Natalia Timonova, who was to play an active part in his plant collecting activities. His career in horticulture started in 1926, when he worked for the Six Hills Nursery, Stevenage, in Kent. although he had little training in horticulture or botany, he quickly became the chief rock garden builder. After a few years he decided to switch to plant hunting and made his first trip in 1932, to Persia with Dr P L Giuseppi, a founder member and later President of the Alpine Garden Society. Although Giuseppi could only spare one month, Balls stayed four months and a half. They travelled through Hamadan and Ispahan to Shiraz and west to Kerman and the mountains of Kuh Banan. Balls later explored Mount Elwend and its neighbourood. He also exploredKhalat an Mount Kuh Ajub and the mountains of Schir Kuh (ion Mountain) and Barf Kahnnich (Snow Mountain). They brought back a wide variety of plants, new or lost to cultivation, including six species of Dionysa curviflora which at that time were virtually unknown to cultivation.
This expedition launched Balls on a collecting career. He then teamed up with Dr W Balfour Gourlay, a wealthy and dedicated amateur botanist, who had accompanied Nursery owner Clarence Elliott of Six Hills Nursery on his South American plant hunting trips. Together they made two trips to Turkey (Feb-Sep 1933), where they explored Taurus Mountains and later the Pontine Mountains south of Trebizond. This expedition yielded many good plants, some new firmly established such as campanula betulifolia, geranium armenium and cyclamen cilicium var. intaminatum, the smallest of the cyclamen species. In 1934, Balls and Balfour Gourlay returned to Turkey exploring several mountain ranges; the third expedition again to Turkey in 1935 had to be abandoned, due to difficulties by the Turkish officials, forbidding them to explore certain areas; they thought them to be secret service agents.
In 1936 Balls went to Morocco with Dr Richard Seligman, an alpine gardener. they explored th oasis of Aguelmous and the volcanic mountains of Djebel Siroua and Djebel Amezdour; , they also explored the foot and area of Djebel Toubkal in the Atlas mountains, Balls climbing its summit they collected amongst various species, narcissus watieri. Seligman returned to England and Balls carried on alone, going also further east in the company of an ornithologist from Marrakesh. They went to Tirsal and the foot of Djebel Ghat, where Balls found an attractive alpine flora. Having followed Hooker's footsteps he was however, more successful in his collecting and received the RHS Award of Merit in 1937 for having discovered Colchicum triphyllum, collected near Tashdirt.
In 1937 Balls then made a four month visit to Greece with Balfour Gourlay concentrating mainly to the Pindus mountains of Epirus. In 1938, they went to Mexico, accompanied by Mrs Balls. Part of their mission was to collect wild species of potatoes for research and breeding purposes. They explored the areas of Nevada de Toluca and Ojos de Agua as well as Cofre de Perote; they found their first potates on Popocatepetl. On the Pico de Orizaba they stayed first in the village of of Lomagrande at 900ft, and despite the villagers' evil reputation, they were well received; the flora was so rich that they later returned to collect seeds. Their trip ended with the ascent of Mt Malinche, the upper slopes of which are now a national park, and found many interesting plants.
They were recalled to England in November when Balls was asked by the Agriculural Bureau to continue his potato research into South America. Mrs Balls returned to England with many drawings of plants she had made during the trip. Balls and Balfour Gourlay sailed for Buenaventura and on to Quito where they were met by potato expert Jack Hawkes and together they explored several mountainous areas. Balfour Gorlay returned to England but Balls stayed on, he had also obtained from the Agricultural Bureau to collect ornamental plants for himself.
The project was incomplete as World War II broke out, and unable to return to England, Balls went to the USA working for the British Purchasing Commission. He again undertook relief work from 1944 to 1947, working for the UNRAA, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which dealt with refugees in territories liberated from axis powers. Balls travelled for this work in Yugoslavia and China; he later returned to the USA, working for Mrs Lester Rowntree in an extensive seed collecting project, before joining the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California. Here he stayed until his retirement in 1960. The Balls later moved to Spain but returned to England in 1967 and made their home with their daughter in Hull.
Natalia Balls died in November 1983 and Edward in October 1984 aged 92.
Born in London on 13 February 1743, the only son of a wealthy land-owning family, Joseph Banks received his earliest education at home under private tuition. At age nine he attended Harrow School and was then enrolled at Eton School which he attended from the age of 13 until 18. In 1760 he entered Christ Church at Oxford University as a gentlemen commoner. His passion for botany and dedication to Linnean precepts had developed to such an extent that, unable to study botany at Oxford, Banks employed a private tutor, Isaac Lyons, from Cambridge. As was usual for members of his social class, Banks did not take out a degree. He came down from Oxford in 1763 an independently wealthy man following the death of his father in 1761.
As an independent naturalist, Banks participated in a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1767. Although he did not publish an account of this expedition, he allowed others full use of his collection. In the same year he was elected a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquities. In 1778 he was elected President of the Royal Society, a position he held with varying degrees of support, until his death in 1820. He remains the longest serving President in the history of the Royal Society, founded almost 350 years ago.
He successfully lobbied the Royal Society to be included on what was to be James Cook's first great voyage of discovery, on board the ENDEAVOUR (1768-1771). This voyage marked the beginning of Banks' lifelong friendship and collaboration with the Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander, one of Linnaeus' most esteemed pupils, and the beginning of Banks' lifelong advocacy of British settlement in New South Wales. The ENDEAVOUR had sailed into Botany Bay in April 1770 and proceeded up the east coast and through Torres Strait, charting the east coast of Australia in the process.
Frustrated in his attempt at a second voyage to the South Seas, again with Cook, Banks set off in July 1772 for Iceland, his only other venture outside Europe. From this time, Banks was actively involved in almost every aspect of Pacific exploration and early Australian colonial life. He was interested and involved in Cook's later voyages and actively supported the proposal of Botany Bay as a site for British settlement. He proposed William Bligh to command two voyages for the transportation of breadfruit and other plants, including the ill-fated voyage on the Bounty which ended in mutiny in April 1789. Practically anyone who wanted to travel to New South Wales, in almost any capacity, consulted Sir Joseph Banks and he remained the one constant figure throughout the first 30 years of white settlement in Australia, through changes of ministers, government and policy.
King George III had appointed Banks as adviser to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew some time after his return from the Pacific. His informal role as governmental adviser on a range of issues was recognised in 1797 with his appointment to the Privy Council. He served as a member of the committees on trade and on coin. In his capacity as President of the Royal Society he was also involved in the activities of the Board of Longitude and the Greenwich Royal Observatory, the Board of Agriculture (founded in 1793) and the African Association (founded in 1788). He was also a Trustee of the British Museum.
In addition to the Banks family estates in Lincolnshire, Banks acquired his main London residence at 32 Soho Square in 1776. It was established as his London home and scientific base. His natural history collections were housed there and made freely available to bona fide scientists and researchers. Until his death, this house was a centre for the wider scientific community. He did not discriminate between British and foreign scientists. He was, in fact, influential in maintaining scientific relations with France, for example, during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1819 he was appointed Chairman to two committees established by the House of Commons, one to enquire into prevention of banknote forgery, the other to consider systems of weights and measures.
Banks was created a baronet in 1781 and invested Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1795. In March 1779, he had married Dorothea Hugessen (1758-1828), daughter and heiress of William Western Hugessen. They had no children. Sir Joseph Banks died on 19 June 1820.
Peter Peri was born in 1899 in Budapest and was originally named Laszlo Weisz. He left grammar school at 15 but attended evening classes in art. He was a strong supporter of the Bela Kun regime. When the regime fell, he was marked as a dangerous subversive and left to live in Paris in 1920. He was soon expelled from Paris for revolutionary activities, and moved to Berlin, where he became one of a group of Hungarian avant-garde artists. Peri became known as a leading constructivist, and in 1922 had his first exhibition of 'space constructions' with Moholy-Nagy.
During the mid 1920s Peri gave up sculpture for architecture, but lack of success made him return to sculpture. At this time, Peri decided that he wanted to make art that reflected the life around him. His work took on a kind of realism within his strong sense of form and structure. Between 1927 and 1933, he concentrated on small figures made of bronze. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Peri left Germany for England, with his second wife, British music student, Mary McNaughton. The bulk of his work was left behind and destroyed by the concierge of his flat. In London, Peri soon became a leading member of the Artists International Association. As bronze was too expensive, he began to use concrete as his medium. Peri used concrete for the rest of his life, as felt that concrete was not only aesthetic and practical, but reflected the political concerns of his work. Many of his sculptures commented on the human situation. In 1938, he had an important one man show 'London Life in Concrete'. During the war Peri turned to making original prints, including lino-cuts, etchings, aquatints and engravings. From 1948, Peri continued with his small figurative works and received many commissions for outdoor sculptures. During this time Peri felt a need for a spiritual dimension to his life and became a Quaker. In 1966 he married his third wife, Heather Hall. Peter Peri died in 1967.
Paul Nash was born in London on 11 May 1889, son of William Harry Nash, late Recorder of Abingdon. He was educated at St. Paul's School, and originally was going to join the Navy. His earliest artistic training was at the Chelsea Polytechnic and the L.C.C. school, he then went to the Slade School of Art. In 1914, shortly after marrying Margaret Theodosia Odeh, he enlisted in The Artists Rifles, where he received a commission in the Hampshire Regiment. Though he had exhibited drawings in 1911, Nash first came into prominence in June 1917, when during convalescence from a broken rib received in the trenches he showed at the Goupil Gallery a collection of landscape drawings made in the Ypres Salient. They made a huge impact, and when Nash returned to France it was as an official war artist.After that Nash developed rapidly with changes of style and medium, but always retaining the same general attitude to nature from simplified forms, through geometrical shapes to surrealist images. Nash also acted as a designer for industry using a wide range of crafts and materials - textiles, wood, glass, china, book production, posters and stage design and costumes. His ideas on modernity in design were put into practice with the foundation in 1933 of 'Unit One'; a group of painters, sculptors, and architects pledged to the expression of the contemporary spirit in their work. For a time Nash was a member of of the New English Art Club, the London Group, the London Artists' Association, the Modern English Watercolour Society, and the International Society of Wood-engravers, but when 'Unit One' was formed he resigend from all other groups and societies. In 1933, he was elected a member of the Council for Art and Industry, having been president of the Society of Industrial Artists in the previous year. He was also visiting instructor to the School of Design at the Royal College of Art. In 1940 Nash was appointed an official war artist to the Air Ministry, and in 1941 to the Ministry of Information. Paul Nash died on 11 July 1946.
Dora Carrington, fourth child of a family of five, was born at Hereford in 1893. In 1903, the family moved to Bedford where Dora Carrington attended Bedford School for Girls excelling at art. Encouraged by the headmistress, Carrington was successful in gaining a place at the Slade School of Fine Art in 1910. Her contemporaries included Mark Gertler, C.R.W. Nevinson, Dorothy Brett, Barbara Bagenal, Stanley Spencer, David Bomberg, and the Nash brothers. Dora Carrington won a number of prizes at the Slade for figure composition, figure painting and painting from the cast. 1914 was a year of upheaval as Dora Carrington left the Slade and the family moved to Ibthorpe House, Hurstbourne Tarrant, near Andover. During the following year, Dora Carrington became a frequent visitor to Garsington Manor, the home of Lady Ottoline and Philip Morrell and in December, met Lytton Strachey at Leonard and Virginia Woolf's house in Sussex. Through a legacy of £20 from a family friend, Dr Roberts, Dora Carrington was able to take a studio at 16 Yeoman's Row, London SW3 in the Spring of 1916; moving again in September to the 'Ark', 3 Gower Street, London W1. However, after a holiday with Lytton Strachey, Barbara Hiles and her fiancee Nicholas Bagenal in Wales over the summer, Dora Carrington started looking for a house for herself and Lytton. In October of that year, 'Mendel' a book by Gilbert Cannan was published which gave an account of Carrington and Gertler's relationship; their affair ended after Gertler attacked Lytton in the street in February 1918. Prior to this and after much searching, Dora Carrington and Lytton found a house, in November 1917, at Tidmarsh Mill, near Pangbourne, Berkshire.
In the summer of 1918, John Hope Johnstone introduced Dora Carrington to Ralph Partridge who soon became a frequent visitor to Tidmarsh Mill. Carrington was able to retain a certain amount of financial independence through a small legacy that her father, who died in December 1918, left her in his will. Lytton had quickly established his reputation and financial security with the publication, in May, of 'Eminent Victorians'. After a walking tour of Spain with her brother Noel and Ralph, during Easter 1919, Carrington and Ralph became lovers. In May, Carrington met Gerald Brenan, Ralph's best friend and they began to correspond. Carrington visited Gerald Brenan in Yegen, Granada in April 1920 with Ralph and Lytton. Later that month, Ralph and Carrington took on the first floor flat in James Strachey's house at 41 Gordon Square, for a trial period, with weekends at Tidmarsh. On 21 May 1921 Dora Carrington and Ralph married followed by a honeymoon in Venice; joined by Lytton for a second week of touring. In July, Gerald visited Tidmarsh and an intimacy with Dora Carrington began. In November, 'Chrome Yellow' a satire on Garsington by Aldous Huxley was published. In 1922 Ralph met Frances Marshall for the first time at the Birrell & Garnett bookshop. By March 1922, Ralph had begun an affair with Valentine Dobree, whilst Carrington's unconsummated affair with Gerald became public in May. Following Gerald's return to Spain, Carrington was forbidden by Ralph to contact him again until November. Dora Carrington continued to spend time abroad with Lytton and friends, travelling to Tunis, Marseilles, Vermenton and in 1923 Paris, where she visited the Louvre. This year also saw Carrington begin her tinselled paintings on glass. By October, Carrington, Lytton and Ralph had found another house, Ham Spray in Wiltshire, which the latter two purchased in January 1924. In the preceeding month, there was a reconciliation in Spain between Ralph, Gerald and Carrington. On their way back through France, Frances Marshall fell in love with Ralph; Dora Carrington acted as chaperone. Lytton's play 'The Son of Heaven' (1912), with costume designs by Carrington, was performed at the Scala Theatre, London in July 1925. By the following year Frances Marshall had moved into 41 Gordon Square so that Ralph could join her there; Lytton was to rent a ground-floor room in 1927. Dora Carrington started the decoration of George Ryland's room at King's College, Cambridge in January 1928. This year saw the end of her affair with Gerald and the beginning of her friendship with Beakus Penrose. Dora Carrington continued her trips abroad over this period visiting France and the Netherlands with Lytton, Ralph and Sebastian Sprott. In November 1929 Dora Carrington discovered that she was pregnant by Beakus Penrose and had an abortion. Dora Carrington painted her last work, a trompe l'oeil window for Bryan and Diana Guiness in October 1931. By November, Lytton had become gravely ill, dying on 21 January 1932, aged 52. Carrington had attempted suicide a few hours earlier. At the age of 38, Dora Carrington shot herself on 11 March 1932.
Born 1900; RN Cadet, Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, 1913-1914; Midshipman, battleship HMS BELLEROPHON, Grand Fleet, Scapa Flow, 1916; battle of Jutland, 1916; witnessed scuttling of captured German Fleet, Scapa Flow, 1919; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1919-1920; Lt, HMS VENOMOUS, 1920-1921; Flinders Naval Depot, Australia, 1922-1924; HMS FROBISHER, 1924-1926; trained as observer, Fleet Air Arm, 1926; HMS FURIOUS, 1926-1928; Ground Instructor, RAF Leuchars, Scotland, 1928-1929; HMS HERMES, Hong Kong, 1929-1931; HMS FURIOUS, 1931-1934; HMS COURAGEOUS, 1934-1935; Staff Officer, Operations, to Adm Noel Frank Laurence, HMS GLORIOUS, 1936; Director of Training and Staff Duties, Air Ministry, 1936-1938; Second in Command, HMS NEWCASTLE, 1939-1941; Air Ministry, 1941-1942; commanded HMS OWL, Fearn, Scotland, 1942-1944; Deputy Director (Naval), Combined Operations Headquarters, 1944-1945; commanded HMS AJAX, 1946-1948; Deputy Director, Department of Naval Equipment, Admiralty 1948-1951; retired, 1951
Born 1907; educated at Wimbledon School and Merton College, Oxford; Assistant Director, Archaeological Survey of Nubia, 1929-1934; Field Director, Oxford University expeditions to Sudan, 1934-1937; exploratory journeys in eastern Sudan and Aden Protectorate, 1938-1939; service in Intelligence Corps, Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, 1939-1957; service on Joint Staff, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence, 1942-1945; acting Lt Col, 1943; attended QUADRANT Conference, Quebec, Canada, Aug 1943; released from active military service with honorary rank of Lt Col, 1945; Director and Secretary, Royal Geographical Society, 1945-1975; editor, Geographical Journal, 1945-1978; President, British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1961-1981; President, British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1961-1962; on United Nations register of fact-finding experts, 1968; honorary Vice President, Royal Geographical Society, 1981-1999.
Born Würzburg, Germany, 30 Jun 1884; entered 3 Royal Bavarian Field Artillery Regt, 1902; Second Lt, 1904; attended Artillery School, Munich, Germany, 1906-1907; attended Bavarian Staff College, 1911-1912; promoted to Lt, 1912; Ordnance Officer, 3 (Bavarian) Infantry Corps Headquarters, 1914; General Staff Officer, 6 (Bavarian) Div, 1915; Capt, 1915; Staff Officer, German 2 Army Headquarters, 1917; General Staff Officer, German 4 Army, 1917; General Staff Officer, Bavarian Cavalry Div, 1917; General Staff Officer, Supreme Commander, East, 1917; Staff Officer, German 15 Reserve Corps Headquarters, 1917; Staff Officer, Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht, West, 1917; Adjutant, Bavarian General Staff, 1918; Training Branch, Reichswehr Ministry, 1919; Tactics Instructor, Staff Courses, Munich, Germany, 1921; Officer Commanding 4 Mountain Battery, 7 Artillery Regt; Maj, 1923; Director of General Staff Training, Munich, 1927-1929; Lt Col, 1929; Chief of Staff, Wehrkreis, the Divisional Military District of the German Army, Westphalia, 1931; Col, 1931; Maj Gen, 1934; General Officer Commanding, German 7 Div, 1935; Lt Gen, 1936; Commander, German Army Manoeuvres Staff, 1936; Head, Training Branch, General Staff of the Army, 1936; General of the Artillery, 1938; Chief of the General Staff, Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), Supreme Command of the German Army, 1938; awarded Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, 1939; suffered nervous collapse, having been forced to alter plans at the last moment for a German winter offensive in the West, 1940; Col Gen, 1940; instructed staff to formulate plans for an Eastern offensive, 1940; removed from office following the failure of German advances in the East, 1942; arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of complicity in the Jul assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler's life, 1944; dismissed from the German Army, 1945; imprisoned at Flossenburg and Dachau concentration camps, 1945; prisoner of war, United States, 1945-1947; released, 1947; Head, Historical Liaison Group, Historical Division, US Army, 1948-1961; awarded Meritorious Civilian Service Award of the USA, 1961; died 2 Apr 1972; Halder's journal first published in translated form, 1950.
Born 1921; educated Beckenham Grammar School; joined the Queen's Westminsters, 1 Battalion, Territorial Army, 1938; Lance Corporal, 1939; commissioned into Loyal (Lancashire) Regiment, Dec 1940; volunteered for Indian Army, Nov 1941; posted to 6 Battalion, 11 Sikh Regiment as Adjutant; joined 152 Indian Parachute Regiment, 1945; Captain, York and Lancaster Regiment, British Army on the Rhine, 1946; interpreter and intelligence duties, 1948-1953; regimental postings, Sudan, Egypt and Cyprus, 1953-1956; Major, 1955; took part in Suez conflict, 1956; training officer, Battalion Headquarters, Sheffield, 1957-1961; Naval, Air and Military Attaché, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1961-1962; General Staff Officer, Intelligence Division, SHAPE, 1962-1964; Lieutenant Colonel, 1964; Commander, Yorkshire Training Brigade, 1964-1967; General Staff Officer, Allied Forces Central Europe, Holland, 1967-1969; British Liaison Officer, Germany, 1969-1974; retired 1974, Admin Officer, 2 Battalion, Wessex Regiment, Territorial Army, Reading; died 2001.
Born in 1861; educated at Haileybury College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into 6 Inniskilling Dragoons, 1882; served in Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-1885, and in Zululand, 1888; Adjutant, Inniskilling Dragoons, 1889-1893; served in UK, 1890-1896; Staff College, Camberley, 1896-1897; Maj, 1897; Bde Maj, 3 Cavalry Bde, Ireland, 1898; served in South Africa, 1899-1902; commanded 5 Royal Irish Lancers, 1902-1905, and 4 Cavalry Brigade, Eastern Command, 1905-1910; Inspector of Cavalry, 1910-1914; served on Western Front, 1914-1917; Commander, Cavalry Div (later Cavalry Corps), BEF, 1914; Commander, 5 Army Corps, 1915; Commander, 3 Army, 1915-1917; Commander-in-Chief, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, Palestine and Egypt, 1917-1919; FM, 1919; High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan, 1919-1925; died in 1936. Placed
Born in 1919; educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford; war correspondent in Spanish Civil War, 1938-1939; Attaché, HM Legation, Belgrade, and on special missions in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Middle East, 1939-1940; Sgt, RAF, 1940-1941; commissioned and transferred to Army, 1941; served in Egypt, Palestine and the Adriatic, 1941-1942; liaison officer to Albanian resistance movement, 1944; served on staff of Lt Gen Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, special military representative with Gen Chiang Kai-shek, 1945; contested Preston in Conservative interest, Jul 1945; Conservative MP for Preston North, 1950-1966, and Brighton Pavilion, 1969-1992; delegate to Consultative Assembly of Council of Europe, 1950-1953 and 1956; member of Round Table Conference on Malta, 1955; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary, War Office, 1957-1958; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office, 1958-1960; Secretary of State for Air, 1960-1962; Minister of Aviation, 1962-1964; Minister of Public Building and Works, 1970; Minister for Housing and Construction, Department of the Environment, 1970-1972; Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1972-1974; died 1997. Publications: Sons of the eagle (Macmillan and Co, London, 1948); vols 4, 5 and 6 of James Louis Garvin's The life of Joseph Chamberlain (Macmillan and Co, London, 1932-1969); Approach march: a venture in autobiography (Hutchinson, London, 1973); died 3 Sep 1996.
Born 1900; Indian Army, 1919; Adjutant and Quarter Master, Small Arms School India, 1930-1931; second in command of 1 Battalion, 14 Punjab Regiment, 12 Dec 1941-9 Jan 1942; killed in Malaya, 1942.
Born 1902; educated at Ermysted's School, Skipton-in-Craven, Yorkshire and St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London; commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps, 1927; Capt, 1929; service on North West Frontier, India, 1930-1931; Maj, 1936; served in World War Two in Tunisia and Italy, 1939-1945; temporary Lt Col, 1940; temporary Col, 1943; awarded OBE, 1944; Lt Col, 1945; Assistant Director of Medical Services, 1 Div, Italy, 1945; Col, 1949; Deputy Director of Medical Services, Hong Kong, 1950; served in Korean War, 1950-1953; retired 1952; Commandant, Star and Garter Home for Disabled Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen, Richmond, Surrey, 1953-1967; died 1981.
Born in 1897; 2nd Lt, 1918; served in France and Belgium, Aug-Oct 1918; entered Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1923; Capt, 1929; Maj, 1935; Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services, 1938-1940; Lt Col, 1940; Deputy Director of Ordnance Services (Engineering), Malaya Command, 1941-1942; Col, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, 1943; Assistant Director of Mechanical Engineering in the War Office, 1946-1947; Brig, 1948; died in 1981.
Born 1915; educated at City School, Lincoln, St Catherine's College, Cambridge University, and the University of Clermont, France; Bye-Fellow, Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1938-1943; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; service with The Suffolk Regt, Royal Marines Div and the Intelligence Corps, 1939-1946; served as General Staff Officer 3 (Intelligence), Royal Marines Div, [1941]-Mar 1942; service as General Staff Officer 2 (Intelligence), 121 Force, Operation IRONCLAD, the British capture, from the Vichy French, of Diego Suarez, Madagascar, May 1942; Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1943; Secretary, Modern Humanities Research Association, 1945-1950; Dean, St Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1946-1957; service with the Cambridgeshire Regt and the Royal Anglian Regt, Territorial Army, 1946-1980; University lecturer, Cambridge, 1946-1982; Chairman, Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force, 1947-1977; Territorial Army and Auxiliary Forces, Cambridgeshire Regt, and Cambridge University Officer Training Corps, from 1948; Chairman, Modern Humanities Research Association, 1950-1968; Member, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Sciences, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), 1952-1975; Secretary General, International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures, 1954-1978; Visiting Professor, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, 1955-1956 and 1961-1962; Tutor, St Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1957-1959; Deputy Lieutenant, Cambridgeshire, 1960; Bursar, St Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1961-1979; Chairman, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Territorial Army, 1967-1977; President, Modern Humanities Research Association, 1970; Deputy Honorary Col (Territorial Army), Royal Anglian Regt, 1972-1980; awarded OBE, 1973; Vice President, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Sciences, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), 1975-1979; President, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Sciences, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), from 1979; President, St Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1980; died 1992. Publications: Peirol, troubadour of Auvergne (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1953).