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.
From their first venture in 1858, Shaw and Savill specialized in the New Zealand trade. When they gained a share of the New Zealand Government contract for a regular mail, passenger and cargo service between the United Kingdom and New Zealand, they began operating a joint service with the White Star Line. In 1899 the White Star Line began a steamship service from Liverpool to Australia via the Cape and in 1905 Shaw Savill and the White Star Line acquired a further interest in the Australian trade when they became the major shareholders in the Aberdeen Line. The Royal Mail Group purchased the White Star Line in 1926 and in 1928 the Australian Government's Commonwealth Line which was then amalgamated with the Aberdeen Line to provide a fortnightly service from London to Australia via Suez and Colombo. The group also acquired the major shareholding in Shaw Savill in 1928, but after the group's collapse and the reorganization which followed this, Shaw Savill became part of the Furness Withy Group (q.v.) in 1933. In 1939 a new fast passenger and cargo service to New Zealand via the Cape and Australia was inaugurated. In the postwar period many of the new vessels were designed without accommodation for passengers, but in 1955 the SOUTHERN CROSS was built solely for passengers and with one-class accommodation to operate on a new round-the-world route. When she was joined by her sister ship the NORTHERN STAR they maintained eight round-the-world sailings a year until the decline in the passenger trade in the early 1970s.
Stephenson entered the Navy in 1855. He served in the Crimea, India and Canada, being promoted to lieutenant in 1861 and to commander in 1868. He was in command of the RATTLER when she was lost in La Perouse Strait in 1868. He became a captain in 1875. From 1875 to 1876 Stephenson commanded the DISCOVERY in the British Arctic Expedition led by Captain C.S. Nares. He commanded the CARYSFORT, Mediterranean, 1880 to 1883, and took part in operations in Egypt in 1882. During the 1890s he was Commander-in-Chief both in the Pacific and the Channel, being appointed rear-admiral in 1890, vice-admiral in 1896 and admiral in 1901.
William Stokes Rees entered the Navy in 1866 and served on the Mediterranean Station in the ROYAL OAK from 1868 to 1870. In 1872 he was in home waters in the PEMBROKE and the BELLEROPHON and then went out to the Pacific in the REPULSE until 1873. He became a lieutenant in 1877 and specialized in gunnery. Promoted to Commander in 1891, he went, in 1894, to the ST GEORGE, flagship at the Cape of Good Hope, and took part in the Brass River (1895), M'Wele (1896), Ashanti (1896), Zanzibar (1896) and Benin (1897), expeditions. Having become a captain in 1897, Rees took command of the THETIS in the Mediterranean, 1898 to 1900, and then on the Cape Station until 1901. After some short commands followed by two years as senior officer in Australia (1904 to 1906), he retired as a Rear-Admiral in 1910 and rose to Admiral on the retired list.
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.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
Hamilton entered the Navy in 1843 and served in the Virago on the Mediterranean Station. From 1850 to 1851 he served in the ASSISTANCE and from 1852 to 1854 in the RESOLUTE in the Arctic expeditions searching for Sir John Franklin (q.v.). He was made a lieutenant in 1851. During the Crimean War he served in the Baltic in the DESPERATE, 1855 to 1856. After this he took part in the Second Chinese War in command of the HAUGHTY, and was promoted to commander in 1857 for his services. In 1858 he commissioned the HYDRA for service off the African coast but was sent instead to Halifax, serving on the North American and West Indies Station until 1868. During this time he was promoted to captain, 1862, and commanded the VESUVIOUS until 1864 and the SPHINX from 1865 to 1868. Hamilton then served in home waters. In 1875 he was appointed Superintendent of Pembroke Dockyard, became a rear-admiral in 1877 and in 1878 was made Director of Naval Ordnance. From 1880 to 1883 he was in command off the Irish coast. He became vice-admiral in 1884 and was Commander-in-Chief, China Station, from 1885 to 1888. He became an admiral in 1887. Hamilton was appointed Second, later First, Sea Lord, 1889 to 1891. From 1891 to 1894 he was President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He retired in 1895 and wrote works on naval administration and historical subjects.
A R Woodriff, son of Commander John Robert Woodriff and grandson of Captain Daniel Woodriff, served on the North America and West Indies Station from 1868 to 1871, when he became a lieutenant. After a period in China, 1873 to 1874, he returned to England and was drowned in 1876.
By the end of the nineteenth century, White was well-known as an upholder of anti-German policies and an advocate of a strong navy, exerting his influence through articles in the Daily Express and a column in the Referee under his pseudonym 'Vanoc'. He thus became involved in the naval policies of the day and was an active member of the British Navy League, For Herbrand Arthur, eleventh Duke of Bedford (1858-1940), he also acted as supplier of information and political agent.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
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.
Commander Waters began his collection of material on Chinese craft while serving on the China Station as a midshipman on HMS BERWICK 1930-1931 and as a lieutenant on HMS BEAGLE 1937-1938. He added notes and articles to it since.
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.
Augustine Henry was born in Dundee on 2nd July 1857 to Bernard Henry and Mary MacNamee. His father was originally from Tyanee in county Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and had worked as a gold prospector in both California and Australia. The family moved to Cookstown, co Tyrone shortly after Augustine’s birth where his father owned a grocery shop and worked flax dealer. Henry spent some of his childhood with his grandparents in Tyanee.
Henry was educated at the Cookstown academy and in Queen’s college, Galway. He studied natural sciences and philosophy, graduating with a first-class degree and gold medal in 1877. While at Queen’s college, Galway, he met Evelyn Gleeson who became a lifelong friend and correspondent. He then moved to Queen’s College, Belfast to take a MA the following year. After this he worked for a year in a London hospital and in 1879 passed the Queen’s University examination in medicine. During this time, one of his professors suggested the possibility of a position with the Chinese Customs service. For this Henry needed a medical qualification and he gained this possible at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, taking special examinations to speed up the process. By 1881, he had his medical qualification and accepted a post as a medical officer, setting out for China in the summer of that year.
Henry arrived in China at Hong Kong and then was ordered to his first posting at Shanghai. He spent the winter at Shanghai learning about the ways of the customs services and in the spring of 1882 he was assigned to the port of Ichang in the Hubei province on the Yangtze river, more than 900 miles inland as assistant medical officer. It was at Ichang that Henry started collecting plants. The area immediately surrounding the town is plains while only a few miles were the San Xia, a hundred miles of gorges filled with vegetation. Henry began to collect at the weekends as a hobby and then more as part of his duties as customs officer. After four months of collecting and struggling to name the plants, he wrote to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew seeking their advice. After the initial letter brought instructions on plant collecting, he wrote again offering to send them his specimens if they would identify them for him. The offer was accepted and he sent his first collection of around 1000 specimens to Kew in November that year. Henry continued to send specimens to Kew throughout his time in China and corresponded regularly with the director of the time, Mr Thiselton-Dyer. In 1888, he arranged special leave from his post to go plant collecting on behalf of Kew.
During this leave, Henry made two long journeys, one to the mountains southwest of the Yangtze and the other to the mountains in the north in the Hubei district. The main objective of these expeditions was to study the vegetables used in Chinese medicine. In addition to this, Henry also found many plants that were not known to grow in China. The areas he travelled were largely unknown to botanists and in some areas he was the western man to travel there. Although these trips were on behalf of Kew, it is unlikely that Henry was paid for his specimens. In order to recoup some of the money spent on the trips, Henry prepared several other sets of specimens which he then sold to other herbaria. In addition to these trips, Henry also was the first to employ native people as collectors on his behalf when he was not able to leave Ichang. They collected the some of the specimens that Henry sent to Kew.
In 1889, after a failed bid by Thiselton-Dyer for Henry to go collecting again, Henry was transferred to the island of Huinan. During the four months that he spent in Huinan, Henry collected 750 specimens. Henry then contracted malaria, endemic to Huinan. He was removed Hong Kong and then, after eight years in China, he returned home.
The year he spent at home was divided between Ireland and London. In London, he spent a great deal of time at Kew, staying with the Thiselton-Dyers. He also attended meetings of the Linnean Society, having become a fellow in 1888. During this year he met and married Caroline Orridge, a friend of Evelyn Gleeson and an artist. In 1891, he returned to China with Caroline. It was a difficult journey as Caroline was suffering from tuberculosis and she was taken seriously ill on the journey. Henry was based at Shanghai and was not able to go plant collecting due to his work and Caroline’s health. The Henry’s then moved to Taiwan in hopes that it would better suit Caroline. Henry took up collecting again although he was disappointed with the results. He became very interested in the native people and their use of plants. His wife health continued to suffer and in 1894, she and Henry’s sister Mary set out for Denver, Colorado to improve her health. Henry was about to leave China to join them, having arranged to sell his herbarium to Harvard, when Caroline died in September 1894.
After her death, Henry returned to Europe for a year, becoming a member of the Middle Temple. In 1895 he returned to China and was once again based at Shanghai. In May 1896 he was posted to Mengzi in South Yunnan, once of the most remote posts in China. During his time at Mengzi, he studies the local people and he began plant collecting again. His first trip into the surrounding countryside was spoilt by the weather but there were many others. Here he found lilies, magnolias and many others. When he left Mengzi, he sent off 32 cases of botanical specimens. In 1898, Henry was transferred again, this time to Simao. He was now Acting Chief Commissioner of Customs. This meant that Henry had less time to go collecting and he relied more on one of his native collectors who had been with him for many years to do the actual collecting. Henry started to learn the language of the local people, the Lolos. In 1899, he became alarmed at the rate of deforestation in the province and wrote to Mr Thiselton-Dyer and Mr Sargent at Harvard about sending out a professional collector. In the end, neither sent a collector but one was sent by James Veitch and Sons, nursery owners. This collector was E. H. Wilson, better known as Chinese Wilson. Wilson went to see Henry when he arrived in China to learn about plant collecting in China. About the time he arrived, Henry was moved back to Mengzi again and they went their separate ways, Wilson taking Henry’s plant specimens to send back to Europe when he reached the coast.
The political situation in China, which had been unsettled for many years, now became increasing dangerous. Henry became worried by this and almost resigned in 1900. This was now the time of the Boxer rebellion and later that year he had to abandon his post at Mengzi and go to Hekou. There he remained for several months. At the end of December 1900, he left China, officially on leave but in reality having resigned. He returned to London via Sri Lanka where his sister Mary was then living. Much of the next year was spent at Kew working on the collections he had sent back from China. He was now a well known plant collector and it seems that it was at this time that he became particularly interested in forestry.
In 1902, when there was no longer any question of him returning to China, Henry began to study forestry at the premier forestry school in Europe, at Nancy in France. He struggled during his time at Nancy, disliking the teaching methods and finding the French language hard to master. He was also much older than his fellow pupils which may have caused him disquiet. After a time, Henry began to wish for a job back in Ireland but none was forthcoming. He left Nancy before the end of the course and he then co-authored The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland with H. J. Elwes. This huge work, eventually published in seven volumes, took several years to complete and Henry travelled all over the country to collect information. Once it was completed, he was without a set purpose and entered into the social whirl of London in the early twentieth century. In 1907 he became engaged to Alice Brunton who became his second wife on St Patrick’s day, 1908. Henry also became professor of forestry at the new Forestry school at Cambridge University. In 1913, Henry got the position that he had always wanted when he was appointed to the newly created chair of forestry at the College of Science in Dublin. He continued at the college until his death in 1930 after a short illness.
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.
Henry John Elwes was a noted traveller and naturalist. Born on 16 May 1846 to John Henry Elwes (d 1891) and Mary Elwes (d 1913), he was the eldest of eight children at Colesborne, Gloucestershire, which had been the Elwes family estate since its procurement by John Elwes, great grand father to Henry.
Elwes devoted himself to following his twin passions of travel and natural history. In 1871 he travelled in the Himalayas, including a trip to Tibet. His observations on this expedition led to his 1873 paper 'The geographical distribution of asiatic birds'. Throughout his life, he would continue to travel extensively in Asia, where many of his botanical collections were made. India and the Himalayas were the places he returned to most on his travels, although he visited and collected from a remarkably diverse range of areas. He became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1874.
Having married Margaret Susan in 1871, his naturalistic interest turned form ornithology to botany, or at least to the collection and propagation of plants from his travels. In 1880, he published his highly regarded Monograph of the genus lilium. Significantly, Elwes collaborated on this treatise with J G Baker, who handled the explicit scientific aspects of the work. Elwes himself had no in depth scientific training, and as a result he focused more on the practical aspects of specimen collection, which he could combine with his enthusiasm for travel. Several species, which he was first to collect and bring to flower, were named for him, one example being the snowdrop Galanthus elwesii.
In addition to this enthusiastic collection of botanical samples, Elwes was also a keen lepidopterist. He recorded fifteen new species of butterflies and moths, and collected a vast number of specimens for his own edification. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1897, he himself attributed his success to his aforementioned 1873 paper. The same year he was awarded the inaugural Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society.
In his later life, Elwes became renowned for his study of trees. He was regarded not only as a fine observer and collector of specimens but also as an especially proficient propagator of those he brought back to Britain. He took many photographs of trees, as well as making numerous observations. He was acclaimed enough in this field to be appointed President of the Royal Arboricultural Society in 1907. Between 1906 and 1913, Elwes produced The trees of Great Britain and Ireland this time in collaboration with Augustine Henry. This was possibly is most significant work at least in scope, running to seven volumes in length. One of his great frustrated ambitions was to found a world class arboretum at his Colesborne estate. Although he created splendid gardens there, his plans for planting trees were limited by the soil quality.
Henry John Elwes died on 26 Nov 1922 at Colesborne. He was survived by his wife and his son, Henry Cecil Elwes (born 1874). His daughter Susan Margaret Elwes (born either 1870 or 1871) had died the previous year in 1921.
Forsyth was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeen in 1737 and died on the 25 July 1804 in his home in Kensington, London. During his career he worked as a head gardener at Syon House, Brentford from 1763 until 1771 when he became head gardener of the Chelsea Physic Garden; where he continued to work until 1784. The rest of his life was spent working as superintendent of the royal gardens of the Palaces of St James' and Kensington. Whilst working in the royal gardens, Forsyth also developed and promoted his own 'plaister', which was a paste that he claimed would bind together old wood and help new wood to grow.
Forsyth also wrote two volumes OBSERVATIONS ON DISEASES, DEFECTS AND INJURIES IN ALL KINDS OF FRUIT AND FOREST TREES (1791) and TREATISE ON CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT-TREES (1802). Later editions of his treatise were created following his death, with the later being the seventh edition published in 1824. He was a Fellow of both the Linnean Society and the Society of Antiquaries and was also involved with the creation of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Henry Nicholas Ridley was born in 1855. His first major interest was in genealogy and he was fascinated by his family's past. However, whilst at school at Haileybury in Hertfordshire his interests started to broaden and he became fascinated by nature, specifically birds and insects, he wrote his first published paper on the topic whilst at school. On leaving Haileybury Ridley read Natural Sciences at Exeter College, Oxford where he obtained a second class honours degree. Having completed Oxford, Ridley wished to become a tropical zoologist and he tried but failed to obtain a post (most notably at the British Museum). He then applied for a botany position at the British Museum and was successful, despite botany being a minor interest to him. At the Museum Ridley worked under Carruthers on Monocotyledons. Under his tutelage from 1883 onwards Ridley published widely on Monocotyledons, Orchidaceae and British plants and insects. His first (documented) foreign trip was to the Island of Fernando de Noronha, about which he published papers on; its geology; its botany; and its status as a convict island.
In 1888, having gained a wide knowledge of botany, Ridley was appointed as Director of Gardens and Forests for the Straits Settlements. His post was based in Singapore but also incorporated Malay. From this point onwards Ridley's life was a hive of activity for example, in 1906 he published thirty-eight papers. He published constantly on the Straits region; he was a good Director who completed all his tasks with zeal; travelled as much as possible sending back specimens to build an impressive herbarium in Singapore and contributing to the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; and he brought back live samples to Singapore to be studied and cultivated. He became especially interested in economic botany, collecting data and writing about indigenous plants with a commercial value such as rattan. Yet, Ridley also still maintained his interested in zoological science; he had a large insect collection; he studied relations between plants and animals indeed he actively cared for animals living in the Botanical Gardens, Singapore. Despite these numerous achievements Ridley is best remembered for his involvement in the development of Malaysian rubber or Hevea brasiliensis.
Sir Joseph Hooker (Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1865-1885) had encouraged the exchange of plants between colonies and he suggested to Ridley in 1888 that he stop at Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to study rubber plants. Ridley was so enthused by what he found that on arrival in Singapore he established a plantation of rubber trees and started experiments. He concentrated on making sure that the latex yield outweighed the cost of planting and maintaining the trees. Others were slow to realise the potential benefits but despite this Ridley continued to develop his plantation and so by the time others started plantations he was an expert. The first economic plantation was in Malacca in 1896 using seeds provided by Ridley. Others soon followed and the resultant boom was largely due to Ridley's seeds and advice. When he retired in 1912 the planters of Malaysia awarded him $800 in acknowledgement but despite spawning the industry Ridley received nothing else.
Another great interest of Ridley's was psychic phenomena; he founded the Singapore Philosophical Society and edited its journal. He also founded the Society for Psychical Research. He was known to be a kind man, who offered assistance to his employees' families.
Ridley achieved much but it is for rubber and as the man who man made others rich that he is mainly remembered in his obituaries. Professional bodies recognised his contribution to botany; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1907 and granted a C.M.G. by the Government of the Straits Settlements in 1911. In addition, the Botanical Magazine was dedicated to Ridley in 1906 in acknowledgement of the many live plants he sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Ridley died at age 101 in 1956, at his home in Kew village, London having lost his sight from an earlier illness and having been confined to the house for four years.
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.
Kerr was born on 7 Feb 1877 at Kinlough, County Leitrim, Ireland. His father was Dr Elias William Kerr (1849-1920) of Cerne Abbas and South Lodge, Dorchester. He was educated at Dorchester Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin where he was awarded a 1st Class Honours BA Degree in Botany in 1897. In 1901 he obtained a medical degree and obtained his first medical post on board a sailing ship bound for Australia. In 1902, he was assigned to Siam (Thailand) as assistant to Dr Hugh Campbell Highet (1866-1929) and later became physician to the British Legation in Bangkok. In 1903 he was appointed Medical Officer of Health in Chiengmai; during his time in this province, he began collecting and drawing orchids. In August 1903 he married Daisy Muriel Judd, Dr Highet's sister in law whom he had met on his journey to Siam, together they had four daughters.
During the period 1904 to 1914 he was Principal Officer of Health to the Siamese Government. In 1908, whilst on leave in Europe, he came to Kew and visited Sir David Prain, the then Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and Dr. Otto Stapf, Keeper of the Herbarium. They urged him to collect a wide variety of plants from Siam for Kew and gave him the necessary equipment. In the 1910s, the flora of Siam had never been recorded, Sian being a practically unexplored country, never having been part of the British Empire. On his return to Siam, after his visit to Kew, he combined his tasks of medical officer, which took him to various parts of the country, with his botanical pursuits.
From 1915 to 1918 he served as a temporary captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps in France, being based at the Stationary Hospital in Marseilles, while his family lived in Hyères. He became unfit due to ill health and went to live with his family for a while in the South of France. On 13 March 1919 he arrived back in Bangkok via Hong Kong, having served as a surgeon on a troop ship. After this period, there was a decline in Kerr's medical duties, until he finally resigned and went into private practice, whilst negotiations for his appointment as Government Botanist were taking place.
On the 1 Sep 1920 Kerr was appointed Director of the Botanical Section of the Ministry of Commerce of Siam a post he held until 1932; in November 1920; he returned to his old residence in Chiengmai. Each year from 1920 until 1929 he went on botanical tours beginning in the north of Siam and working his way southwards, concentrating particularly on the collection of plants of economic importance. On 13 Oct 1921 his wife died of malaria. Later on in the same month, he and his brother decided to take his daughters back to England where they were taken care of by an aunt; he then returned to Chiengmai alone on 11 March 1922. Towards the end of 1922, he left Chiengmai for good and the Botanical Section moved to Bangkok. However, he continued his plant collecting activities, travelling by various means throughout the country, carrying with him a considerable amount of equipment. He recorded in his journals everything he observed such as vegetation, the merchants encountered and the goods they sold, the crops cultivated, the number of pigs in villages as well as local industries and mines.
The official reports of these 'Tours' were published in 'The Record' a quarterly issue by the Ministry of Commerce in Bangkok, which mainly recorded financial information. However, Kerr gave in these a sketchy report narrative of his tours (1920-1933) with maps, recording his observations on the way; he made 17 tours altogether. These have been reprinted in the Miscellaneous Reports Series held by the Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Kerr was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London on 13 Dec 1923; on 23 June 1932 he sailed from Penang returning to live in England. In Jan-April 1933 he undertook a trip to South Africa and Madeira. He also spent time at the Kew Herbarium, working on the Florae Siamensis Enumeraito with Professor William Grant Craig. During World War Two the Admiralty became interested in his knowledge of Siam. He began working for the Air Ministry who asked him for copies of maps which he had drawn during his expeditions in Siam. However, he became too weak to continue this work and died on 21 Jan 1942 at The Street House, Hayes, Bromley, Kent, England. His remains were cremated and his name was added to the tombstone of the family grave at Ceme Abbas, Dorset.
Alfred Yockney (1878-1963) aka A Y, was primarily associated with West End picture galleries and art publishers throughout his career. However, in July 1916, he joined Wellington House and moved to the British War Memorials Committee as Secretary in February 1918. When the BMC was dissolved he was transferred to the Imperial War Museum on 1 January 1919 'to carry the erstwhile Museum of Information art memorial scheme to its conclusion'; his work being the supervision of the official artists and the organisation of the collection of works of art. He was appointed to the Museum's Art Sub-committee on 31 December 1919. However, Yockney soon tired of the endless battles with the Services committees at the Museum, and after successfully organising the National War Art Exhibition at the Royal Academy in December 1920, he resigned. Following his stint at the Museum, he returned to the commercial world first to Colnaghi's and then to Dunthorne's of Vigo Street; the print and etching gallery. As well as curating, writing articles for art periodicals and editing 'Art Journal', Yockney was also one of the directors of the Art Exhibitions Bureau; a precursor to CEMA and the Arts Council.
Edward Burra was born in 1905 and was privately educated. He took to art in his teenage years after the beginning of the ill health which was to last the rest of his life, but never impeded him. He studied at Chelsea Polytechnic in 1921-1923, and at the Royal College of Art in 1923-1925. During this time he met the core group of friends whom he kept for the rest of his life, including William 'Billy' Chappell, Paul Nash, Barbara Key-Seymer, John Banting, Frederick Ashton, Beatrice Dawson, Gerald Corcoran and Conrad Aiken. After college he lived much of the rest of his life at his parent's house near Rye, Sussex. Burra travelled widely and as often as possible. He visited France, Spain, America and Mexico, and spent much of his time in low bars, nightclubs, dance-halls and cinemas from which he drew inspiration. His first solo show was at the Leicester Galleries in 1929. He exhibited with 'Art Now' and 'Unit One' at the Mayor Gallery in 1933 and 1934, and in the International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936. Burra also produced illustrations and designed sets and costumes for six ballets, an opera and a musical comedy. From 1952 he exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery focusing on still-life and landscape subjects. In 1958 the Hayward Gallery held a retrospective of his work. Burra avoided artistic groups and institutions, only involving himself with 'Unit One' and refusing an Associate Royal Academician in 1963. He died in 1976.
Scottish sculptor, graphic artist and poet. Brought up in Scotland, he briefly attended Glasgow School of Art and first made his reputation as a writer, publishing short stories and plays in the 1950s. In 1961 he founded the Wild Hawthorn Press with Jessie McGuffie and within a few years had established himself internationally as Britain's foremost concrete poet. His publications also played an important role in the initial dissemination of his work as a visual artist. As a sculptor, he has worked collaboratively in a wide range of materials, having his designs executed as stone-carvings, as constructed objects and even in the form of neon lighting.
In 1966 Finlay and his wife, Sue, moved to the hillside farm of Stonypath, south-west of Edinburgh, and began to transform the surrounding acres into a unique garden, which he named Little Sparta. He revived the traditional notion of the poet's garden, arranging ponds, trees and vegetation to provide a responsive environment for sundials, inscriptions, columns and garden temples. As the proponent of a rigorous classicism and as the defender of Little Sparta against the intrusions of local bureaucracy, he insisted on the role of the artist as a moralist who comments sharply on cultural affairs. The esteem won by Finlay's artistic stance and style is attested by many important large-scale projects undertaken throughout the world. The ‘Sacred Grove', created between 1980 and 1982 at the heart of the Kröller-Müller Sculpture Park, Otterlo, is one of the most outstanding examples of Finlay's work outside Little Sparta.
Born 1913; Lt, Royal Scots Greys, 1939; service in Middle East and Italy, World War Two; in charge of Directorate for re-education and repatriation of German POWs, under Foreign Office Political Intelligence Department, 1946; Capt, A Sqn, Royal Scots Greys, Germany, 1948; service with Army, Navy and Air Force Intelligence Centre, Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, 1950-1952; Military Attache, British Embassy, Rangoon, Burma, 1954-1957; retired from Army, 1960; service in Joint Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Defence, 1964-1971; Director of Overseas Defence Relations, Ministry of Defence, 1971-1980; retired, 1980.
The British Chiefs of Staff (COS) and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) formed the Combined Chiefs of Staff committee, the supreme Anglo-American military strategic and operational authority during World War Two. The committee advised the governments of Britain and the US on matters of strategy, and also implemented the strategic decisions taken by them. In its highest capacity, the Combined Chiefs of Staff committee controlled operational strategy in the Mediterranean and European theatres, and during the Battle of the Atlantic, and held jurisdiction over grand strategic policy in all other areas where operational strategy was controlled by the COS or the JCS. The Combined Chiefs of Staff committee issued directives to its supreme commanders by acting through the chiefs of staff of the country that provided the commander. The decision to form the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) came in Dec 1941 at the ARCADIA Conference in Washington, DC, where the British Joint Staff Mission headed by Gen (later FM) Sir John Greer Dill developed with American representatives a combined office, secretariat, and planning staff. Eventually, a number of sub-committees were constituted as the war progressed, the most important of which were the Combined Intelligence Committee and the Combined Planning Staff. With the emergence of the Combined Chiefs of Staff committee, it became necessary in the United States to form an American agency with comparable decision making structure to that of the British Chiefs of Staff (COS). This was formally inaugurated in Feb 1942 as the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) committee, its first members being Gen George Catlett Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff , Adm Harold Raynsford Stark and Adm Ernest Joseph King, US Navy, and Lt Gen Henry H 'Hap' Arnold, US Army Air Forces.
Born 1909; Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force; 1 Lincoln Regiment, Dover, 1928; Gibraltar, 1930; non-commissioned officer, Royal Army Service Corps; served in Palestine, 1938-1939; Chief Clerk of the General Staff, HQ Western Desert, 1940-1941; Staff Officer, London 1941; school teacher; died 2005.
Roberts served as confidential clerk under Gen Sir Richard O'Connor, 1937-1941 during the periods when O'Connor was Commander of 7 Infantry Division and Military Governor in Palestine, 1938-1939; Commander of the Western Desert Force in Egypt, 1940 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops in Egypt, 1941, until O'Connor's capture on 6 Apr 1941.
Born 1914; read Engineering at Cambridge University; emergency commission as 2 Lieutenant, African Colonial Forces, 1941; Lieutenant, Royal Corps of Signals, Regular Army Reserve of Officers, 1952; transferred to Royal Engineers; retired as Lieutenant Colonel, 1956; worked as chemical engineer, petroleum industry; died 2003.
Born, Edinburgh, 1826; educated at Glasgow University; commissioned into 72 Foot, 1846; Lieutenant, 72 Foot Headquarters, Barbados, 1849; Nova Scotia, Canada, 1851; Captain, 1853; Crimea, Russia, May 1855; service with Highland brigade, Sevastopol (Sebastopol), Russia, Jun 1855; Major, 1856; Military Secretary to Lt Gen Sir Colin Campbell (later General Sir Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde), Commander in Chief, Indian Mutiny expedition, 1857; wounded, losing his left arm at second relief of Lucknow Garrison, India, 1857; Lieutenant Colonel, 1861; Assistant Adjutant General in office of Inspector General of Infantry, 1862-1864; Assistant Adjutant General, South Western District, 1864-1867; Colonel, 1867; succeeded father as Baronet, 1867; Assistant Adjutant General, Aldershot, 1870; Commander, British troops, second Anglo-Asante War, Ghana, 1873-1874; battle of Amoaful (Amoafo), capture of Bequah (Bekwai) and capture of Kumasi, Ghana, 1873-1874; Deputy Adjutant General, Ireland, 1874; Major General, 1877; Commandant, Staff College Camberley and Deputy Quartermaster General, Intelligence, 1882; Commander, British troops, Suez Canal, Egypt, 1882; Lieutenant General, 1882; Commander, British Force in Egypt, 1882-1883; Commander, Aldershot Division, 1883-1888; General, 1889; retired, 1893; died, London, 1907.
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 1895; educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; joined Royal Artillery, Aug 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1918; Capt, 1917; Brevet Maj, 1931; served in Northern Kurdistan, 1932; Maj, 1933; Brevet Lt Col, 1935; Col, 1939; commander of 43 Div, North Africa, 1941-1942; acting Lt Gen, 1942; commanded 5 Corps, North Africa and Italy, 1942-1944; Maj Gen and temporary Lt Gen, 1943; General Officer Commanding British Troops in Egypt, 1944-1948; Lt Gen, 1946; Col Commandant, Royal Artillery, 1947-1957; retired in 1948; Col Commandant, Royal Horse Artillery, 1948-1957; died in 1964.
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 in Liverpool in 1911; ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, 1935; curate at St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham, 1935-1940; served as Army Chaplain, 1940-1945; POW, 1943; appointed to Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, 1946-1959, Hethe, Oxfordshire, 1959-1961 and Haunton, Staffordshire, 1961-1983; died in 1983.
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 in 1917; served in World War Two with RAF 177 Sqn; Wing Cdr, General Duties Branch, 1949.
Born in 1893; 2nd Lt, 1912; served in France and Belgium, 1914-1915, 1917; Lt, 1915; Capt, 1916; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, India, 1919-1920; Captain Instructor in Gunnery (Artillery), School of Artillery, 1922-1926; Staff Officer, Royal Artillery, Northern Command, 1926-1928; Staff Captain, School of Artillery, 1928; commanded 11 Field Battery, Royal Artillery, India, 1933-1934; died 1979.
Born 1910; educated at Oundle and New College, Oxford; worked as a solicitor with his father's firm, Greaves, Atter and Beaumont, 1934-1939; joined Yorkshire Flying Club, 1935; Pilot Officer, Auxiliary Air Force, 1936; service with 609 (West Riding) (Bomber) Sqn, No 6 (Auxiliary) Group, Yeadon, Yorkshire, 1936-1938; Flying Officer, Auxiliary Air Force, 1937; conversion of 609 Sqn to fighter aircraft, Dec 1938; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; served at RAF Drem, Haddingtonshire, and RAF Kinloss, Elginshire, Scotland, 1939-1940; Flight Lt, 1940; RAF Northolt, Middlesex, and RAF Warmwell, Dorset, and RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire, 1940; served over Dunkirk beaches, France, May-Jun 1940; provided RAF fighter escort for Prime Minister Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, on visits to Briare and Tours, France, Jun 1940; acting Commanding Officer 609 Sqn, Battle of Britain, 1940; Instructor, No 7 Operational Training Unit, Hawarden, Flintshire, 1940-1941; Sqn Ldr, 1941; Chief Instructor, Operational Training Unit, Turnhouse, Edinburgh, 1941; Sqn Ldr (Organisation), Headquarters, No 9 Group, Fighter Command, Preston, Lancashire, 1941-1942; Wg Cdr, 1942; commanded RAF Andreas, Isle of Man, 1942-1943; commanded RAF Woodvale, Lancashire, 1943; commanded RAF Zeals, Wiltshire, 1943; Gp Capt and Deputy Air Officer, Administration, No 84 Group, 2 Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945; served in North West Europe, 1944-1945; awarded OBE, 1945; demobilised, 1945; Clerk to the Governors of Charities, Wakefield, Yorkshire; Clerk to the Commissioners of Tax; Secretary of the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce; Deputy Coroner for Wakefield and Chairman of the Wakefield Hospital Management Group; Deputy Lieutenant, West Riding of Yorkshire, 1967; High Sheriff, West Yorkshire, 1979; died 1997.
Born in 1916; educated at Haileybury College and Peterhouse, Cambridge; joined the army, 1940; POW in Japanese hands, 1942-1945; Assistant Secretary of the University of Cambridge Board of Extra-Mural Studies, 1946-1948; Chairman of the Educational Interchange Council, 1951-1979; founded first Bell School of Languages for the teaching of English to foreign students, 1955; died in 1989.
Born in Paris, France, 1925; educated at Lycée Henry IV and L'École Boulle, Paris; worked as a jewellery designer, Paris [1943]; called up for compulsory labour, Bergès sought to escape to Spain with the help of the Maquis, Jun 1944; severely wounded in the attempt by the Gestapo, near St Girons, France, 17 Jun 1944; treated for his wounds in local hospice, Jun-Jul 1944; left St Girons with Maquis from Toullouse, 13 Jul 1944; retired to Itxassou, near Biarritz, France [1996].
The documentary was produced by 3BM for Channel 4, Oregon Public Broadcasting, RTL and ITEL. 3BM is an independent television production company founded in October 1995 by Jeremy Bennett, Simon Berthon, Marion Milne and Malcolm Brinkworth. It has offices in London and Bath and specialises in production of documentaries in the historical, current affairs and popular science and human interest fields.
The Berlin Airlift was produced by Jeremy Bennett and directed by Marion Milne. Other members of the production team included Professor Avi Shlaim, Historical Consultant; Tamzin Fry, Production Manager; Rosalind Bentley, Film Research; Helen Seaman, Research; and David Spiers, Editor.
Born 1894; RN Cadet, Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, 1907-1909; RN Cadet, Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, 1909-1911; served on Training Cruiser HMS CUMBERLAND, 1911; Midshipman, 1911; HMS BRITANNIA, Home Fleet, 1911; HMS DRAKE, Flagship of V Adm Sir George Fowler King-Hall, Commander-in-Chief, Australia, 1911-1913; HMS DREADNOUGHT, Flagship of V Adm Sir Charles John Briggs, commanding 4 Battle Sqn, Home Fleet, 1913-1914; acting Sub Lt, 1914; First Lt, HMS BONETTA, Devonport, 1914; Sub Lt, 1914; HMS AURORA, Devonport, 1914; served in World War One, 1914-1916; Lt, 1915; First Lt, HMS NESTOR, 13 Destroyer Flotilla, Grand Fleet, Queensferry, Fife, Scotland, 1916; killed in action during the sinking of HMS NESTOR, 13 Destroyer Flotilla, Battle of Jutland, North Sea, 31 May 1916.
Born in 1883; Gunnery Officer, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, 1914-1918; served on staff of Commander-in-Chief, Grand Fleet, 1918; Capt, 1922; HMS CARDIFF, 1923-1925; Deputy Director of Plans, Admiralty, 1925-1927; Flag Capt, HMS NELSON, 1928-1930; Director, Tactical School, 1931-1932; commanded HMS HOOD, 18932-1933; Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1933-1935; ADC to King George V, 1934; R Adm, 1934; R Adm, 1 Battle Sqn, 1936-1938; V Adm, 1938; Commandant, Imperial Defence College, 1939; Adm Commanding Orkneys and Shetlands, 1939-1942; Adm, 1942; member of Board of Enquiry appointed to investigate the escape from Brest of the German battle cruisers SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU and PRINZ EUGEN, 1942; retired list, 1943; Flag Officer, 1944; Governor of Tasmania, 1945-1951; died in 1953.
Born in 1908; 2nd Lt, North Staffordshire Regt, 1929; regimental duties, 1929-1940; Lt, 1932; Capt, 1938; held various staff appointments and attended Staff College, 1940-1942; held various staff appointments and commanded 7 North Staffordshire Regt, 1942-1947; seconded to Foreign Office, 1948-1950; commanded 1 North Staffordshire Regt in Trieste, 1951-1953, and Korea General Staff Officer Grade 1 (Training), SHAPE, 1954; retired, 1956; died in 1972.
Born in 1897; educated at Plymouth College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; served with Dorset Regt in Mesopotamia and Palestine, 1915-1918; served in India, 1919-1925, War Office, 1933-1935, and Colonial Office, 1937-1939; served in East Africa, North Africa, and West Africa, 1939-1944; Col, 1941; Brig, 1941; Maj Gen, 1944; Director of Quartering, War Office, 1944-1945; Deputy Director-General, Political Warfare Executive, Ministry of Information, 1945; Chief of Information Services and Public Relations, Control Commission, Germany, 1945-1946; Deputy Chief of Staff, Control Commission, Germany, 1946-1948; Regional Commissioner, Land North Rhine/Westphalia, 1948-1950; Assistant Secretary, Commonwealth Relations Office, 1951; Principal Staff Officer to Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1953-1957; British Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta, 1957-1962; Director of Information Services and Cultural Relations, Commonwealth Relations Office, 1962-1964; British High Commissioner, Cyprus, 1964-1965; retired, 1965; died in 1984.
Born in 1854; educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford; entered 13 Hussars, 1875; served in East Indies, 1875-1878, 1879-1880, 1881-1882 and in Afghanistan, 1880-1881; attached to 19 Hussars and served as orderly officer in 1 Cavalry Brigade during Egyptian Expedition, 1882; engaged in action at Kassassin and Battle of Tel-el-Kebir and took part in march to, and occupation of Cairo; Capt, 1883; Maj, 1890; Lt Col, 1896; commanded 13 Hussars, 1896-1901; served in South Africa, 1899-1901; present at the Relief of Ladysmith, including actions at Colenso, Spion Kop, Vaal Kranz, and Pieters Hill, 1900, and served during operations in the Transvaal, 1900-1901, and Orange River Colony, 1901; Brevet Col, 1900; Commandant, POW camp, Leigh, 1915-1917; died in 1925.
Born in 1859; Lt, Royal Artillery, 1878; Capt, 1886; Maj 1896; Lt Col, 1906; Brevet Col, 1909; retired, 1911; died in 1931.