Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872) devoted his life to building up his library at his house, Middle Hill, in Gloucestershire. Although Phillipps never managed to catalogue his collection, it was estimated that he owned 60,000 manuscripts at his death, and it became the most famous private library in Europe. The library was left to his grandson, who had still not completed its dispersal at his death in 1938. In 1946 the residue was finally purchased by Messrs Robinson who sold the naval manuscripts, describer here, to Sir James Caird for the Museum. (See A.N.L. Munby, Phillipps Studies, vols I-V, Cambridge, 1951-60). Because of the importance and diversity of this collection, it has been split into six entries. Those of no obvious provenance are given in this entry. The collections of Robert Cole (entry no.96), George Jackson (97), the Southwells (98), and William Upcott (99) are described separately below. The collection of John Wilson Croker, consisting of the correspondence received by Lord Nelson, has been described in Volume I of this Guide, entry no. 207.
The papers start with Platt serving aboard HMS PORTO (c 1780-1782). After PORTO, Platt served on various ships, including HMS ISIS, HMS EAGLE, and HMS CENTURION, mainly in the East and West Indies. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 7 November 1793 and then served on a number of ships, such as HMS ALLIGATOR and HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN. During his career, Platt appears to have also served in the merchant navy, notably on the KATHARINE, COUNTESS OF EFFINGHAM, which carried Thomas, Earl of Effingham, governor of Jamaica, and his wife to Jamaica (1789-1790). Platt did not enjoy his time in merchant service and the collection includes an example of a reply from the Admiralty to Platt's letter, requesting employment. He also appears to have been involved with the Folkstone Sea Fencibles, with the collection including several documents relating to impressment. Platt was superannuated commander 2 December 1828 and can be found in the retired section of the Navy Lists for the years 1828-1832.
Purvis served as able seaman and midshipman in the ARROGANT on the coast of Spain from 1761 to 1763. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1778, serving in the INVINCIBLE on the North American Station. In 1779 he was appointed to the BRITANNIC in the Channel. From 1781 to 1783 he commanded the DUC DE CHANTRES on the North American Station and in 1782 captured the French ship L'AIGLE, for which he was promoted to captain. After being on half-pay during the years of peace, Purvis was given command in 1793 of the AMPHITRITE and then of the PRINCESS ROYAL in the Mediterranean, where he remained until 1796. From 1797 to 1801 he commanded the LONDON in the Channel, followed by the ROYAL GEORGE, 1801 to 1802, and the DREADNOUGHT, 1803 to 1804, on the same station. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1804. In 1806 he was sent out to the blockade of CADIZ and remained in command there until 1810. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1809 and admiral in 1819.
Peter Rainier entered the Navy in 1756 and served until 1764. He was then probably with the East India Company for two years. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1768 but did not return to sea until 1774. In 1777 he was appointed to command the OSTRICH, in the West Indies, and was promoted to captain in 1778. In 1779 he was appointed to the BURFORD, in the East Indies, where he was actively engaged during the remainder of the war. During the peace he was on half-pay but in 1793 was appointed to the SUFFOLK and from 1794 to 1804 he was Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, being promoted to rear-admiral in 1795 and to vice-admiral in 1799. He returned home in 1805 and was promoted to admiral in the Trafalgar promotions. In 1807 he was elected Member of Parliament for Sandwich.
The inaugural meeting of the Royal Naval Club of 1765 took place in February of that year. The object was to dine fortnightly at the St Albans' Tavern, St Albans Street from November to April. At the end of the first 'season', the meetings were transferred to the Castle Tavern, Henrietta Street and in 1767 to the Shakespeare's Head Tavern, Covent Garden. Members were elected by ballot and in 1768 an annual subscription of one guinea was imposed. The 'Widows and Legitimate Orphans' Fund' was started in 1792, using the money in hand from the surplus of the annual subscriptions. The club met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand from 1806 to 1825 and then transferred to the Piazza Coffee House, Covent Garden, in 1826. A Copenhagen dinner was instituted in 1831 and a Trafalgar dinner in 1833. The Thatched Tavern, St James Street, became the venue of dinners in 1850 and Willis's Rooms, King Street, served that purpose from 1862 to 1889. As the 1765 club met from November to April and Parliament sat from February to June, there was room for a new club to cater for officers who were likely to be in town when Parliament was sitting. The first recorded meeting of the new club, called the Royal Navy Club of 1785, was in February of that year at the Star and Carter Tavern, Pall Mall. At the outset membership was limited to 150 whereas the 1765 club had unlimited membership. H J Kelly (d 1893), who was already secretary of the older club, was appointed first salaried secretary of the 1785 club in 1871. Before this time the books were apparently kept by the master of the tavern. Since 1862 both clubs held their meetings in Willis's Rooms and more than two-thirds of the members belonged to both, so that amalgamation seemed logical. This came into effect on 1 January 1889. Kelly was a natural choice for the secretary of the new club. Most of the prominent naval officers of their day were members of the club, which still exists today.
Roddam entered the Navy in 1735 and after serving in the West Indies was promoted to lieutenant in 1741. His first command was the VIPER in the Channel in 1746 and he was promoted to captain in 1747, afterwards commanding the GREYHOUND in the North Sea and in North America. In 1753 Roddam commanded the Bristol guardship at Plymouth and in 1755 was appointed to the GREENWICH in the West Indies where, in 1757, she was captured by superior French forces. At his court martial he was honourably acquitted. He commanded the COLCHESTER in the Channel in 1759 and in 1760 went to St Helena to escort the homecoming East India convoy. Between 1770 and 1773 Roddam commanded the LENOX, for most of the time as guardship at Plymouth. After a period on half-pay he was appointed to the CORNWALL at Portsmouth in 1777 but in 1778 he was promoted to rear-admiral and served as Commander-in-Chief at the NORE for the remainder of the war, being promoted to vice-admiral in 1779. Roddam flew his flag in the ROYAL WILLIAM during the Spanish mobilization, 1790, but was not employed again. He became an admiral in 1793.
The Rope family were merchants and shipowners who had lived on the Suffolk coast since the seventeenth century, and had been involved in the trade on the Alde since 1766. In about 1827, George Rope entered the service of his uncle, George Mingay of Orford. Their trade was coastal, ferryin coal between the northeast and Suffolk, and taking agricultural produce to London. They were based at Orford, which had been set up to try and boost the flagging coastal trade. Although the arrival of the railways further harmed this traditional industry, Mingay and Rope (as they became when George Rope was created a partner) prospered, due to their introduction of schooners to replace the traditional brigs. Indeed George Rope continued trading well into the 1880s, and maintained his connections with Orford, being mayor three times.
The Royal United Services Institution was formed in 1916. In the previous year Lord Lynedoch had formed a General Military Club which merged with the Navy Club soon after the opening of its first premises. It is now known as the Royal United Services Institute.
The Sailing Boat Association was formed in 1888 to promote 'the interests of small boat sailing and to obtain a uniform system of measurement and time allowances'. It was decided that the Association should consist of recognized sailing clubs on the Thames between Oxford and Teddington and of such other clubs not sailing on tidal waters which might be willing to conform to the rules. It particularly catered for the Rater, half-Rater and later the Handicap Dinghy classes and was the earliest association to foster racing in sailing dinghies. In 1890 the Association began consultations with the Thames Conservancy on new bye-laws for steam vessels and sailing boats on the Upper Thames. In 1928 the Association decided to adopt the Yacht Racing Association rules in place of its own and it sought association with this organization. The Association was dissolved in 1947.
Scott entered the Navy in 1803, was made a lieutenant in 1809 and after service in the Channel, off the African coast and in North America, was promoted to captain in 1828. He commanded the PRESIDENT, flagship, West Indies, 1834 to 1836, and when she was flagship, Pacific, 1836 to 1839. Scott saw no further service after 1841 and was promoted to rear-admiral in 1854, vice-admiral in 1861 and admiral in 1865. He published Recollections of a naval life (London, 1834).
Sergison began his career as a dockyard clerk in 1671 and in 1675 was appointed an extra clerk to the Comptroller of Victualling Accounts in the Navy Office. In 1677 he was made Chief Clerk to the Clerk of the Acts in which office he remained until 1686. For two years he was secretary of the new commission for conducting current business and continued with the title of Secretary when the Navy Board was re-constituted in 1688. In the following year he was made Assistant Clerk of the Acts and in 1690 became Clerk of the Acts, a post which he held until 1719.
Sharpe went to sea in the BLAZER, Captain Owen Stanley (1811-1849), in 1845. He entered the Navy in 1846 and sailed with Stanley in the RATTLESNAKE on her surveying voyage to Australia, 1846 to 1850. Two years later he was again appointed to the RATTLESNAKE, as mate, and sailed in her to the Arctic to relieve the expedition searching for Sir John Franklin. In 1854 he was promoted to lieutenant. From 1857 to 1859 he was in the MAGICIENNE and served during the Second Chinese War. He was promoted to commander in 1863 and in 1867 was appointed to command the WATERWITCH, hydraulic gun boat, during tests on her performance. In 1868 he was appointed to the LAPWING on the west coast of Ireland and then escorted the ships towing the new floating dock to Bermuda, continuing to the West Indies. He was promoted to captain in 1870 and from 1875 to 1878 commanded the Indian troopship CROCODILE. He retired in 1886, became a rear-admiral in 1887 and a vice-admiral in 1892.
James Shipton entered the Navy in 1803. He served in HMS THUNDERER 1803 to1805, HIBERNIA 1805 to 1806, PRINCE OF WALES and PENELOPE 1806 to 1809, as midshipman and mate. He reached the rank and lieutenant in 1810, invalided early in 1812, and was on half pay from 1815.
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.
The South Western Steam Packet Company was incorporated in 1843 'to convey Passengers, Merchandize and Goods by means of Steam Packets between the Port of Southampton and the Port of Havre in the Kingdom of France and any other Ports in any of the Islands in the British Channel'. The Company had in 1842 purchased seven ships from the defunct Commercial Steam Packet Company, a competitor on the same service. In late 1846 a new company, the New South Western Navigation Company, was formed with the object of co-operating with the London and South Western Railway; it took over the South Western fleet. Development of the sea link continued to be bound up with the railway services; the London and South Western Railway Company became the dominant partner and in 1862 took possession of the New South Western's fleet under the terms of mortgage entered into in 1848 and 1849.
Edward Thompson, Commodore ([1738]-1786);Thompson, son of a merchant, appears to have gone to sea at the age of 12. He is said to have made a voyage to Greenland in 1750. He served on board the STIRLING CASTLE, Hon East India Company, in 1755 and in 1757 was promoted as Lieutenant of the JASON. In 1758, he was moved to the DORSETSHIRE in which he took part in the blockade of Brest and the Battle of Quiberon Bay. He was on board the BELLONA from 1760 to 1763 and then on half pay. In 1771, he was promoted to Commander and served in the North Sea on preventive service. He moved to the RAVEN later that year. He was again on half-pay from 1772 until 1778, when he was appointed to the HYENA and went out to the West Indies, accompanied by his nephew, Thomas Boulden Thompson.
In 1783 he was appointed to the GRAMPUS in which he went to the west coast of Africa as Commodore of a small squadron there. He died there of a fever on board the GRAMPUS in 1786. Edward Thompson was a master of poetry and verse, which later earned him the nickname 'Poet Thompson'. He was a friend of David Garrick and John Wilkes. There is a detailed biography entitled 'Poet Thompson' in the papers of Lady Ellinor Thompson, written by her.
Thomas Boulden Thompson, Vice-Adm, 1st Bt (1766-1828). Thomas Boulden took the surname Thompson from his uncle, Edward Thompson, when he came under his guardianship at an early age. He went to sea with his uncle in 1778. In 1783 he was appointed, again with his uncle, to the GRAMPUS and, on his uncle's death, was promoted by a senior officer to Commander, which was later confirmed. In 1787 he went on half-pay. He was advanced to post rank in 1790 but had no employment until 1796, when he was appointed to the LEANDER, and in 1798 was sent as part of a squadron to the Mediterranean to reinforce Nelson. He took part in the Battle of the Nile and later, on board the LEANDER, fell in with the GENEREUX when he was wounded and then captured. He was acquitted at a court-martial and praised for his defence of the ship. He was knighted and awarded a pension. In 1799 he was appointed to the BELLONA and stayed in her until 1801 at Copenhagen when the ship stuck fast on a shoal within range of the Danish guns. Thompson was amongst the wounded and lost his leg. In 1806 he was created a baronet and was appointed Comptroller of the Navy, apost he held until 1816. He was then appointed Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital and Director of the Chest. He became a Rear-Admiral in 1809, and Vice-Admiral in 1814. He was Member of Parliament for Rochester, 1807-1818. He died at his home at Hartsbourne, Hertfordshire in 1828.
Thomas Raikes Trigge Thompson, Vice-Adm, 2nd Bt (1804-1865) Thompson was the son of Vice-Adm Thomas Boulden Thompson, and entered the Navy in 1818 after going to the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1816. He became Lieutenant in 1825 and promoted in 1828 to the command of the CADMUS along the coast of Brazil and Patagonia, 1828-1830. He became a Captain in 1837.
See subfonds level for individual biographies.
Thursby entered the Royal Navy in 1874, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1883 and to Commander in 1895. Made up to Captain in 1901, he was given command of HMS KING ALFRED and then HMS SWIFTSURE, stationed in Asia-Minor and Crete. Promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1911, Thursby took part in the Dardenelles campaign and was in charge of landing the ANZAC forces at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli in 1915. After this he was given command of the British Adriatic Squadron in 1916, then, as Vice-Admiral, was given the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron in 1917. Towards the end of his career, Thursby was commanding Coastguard and Reserves, followed by an appointment to Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, before retiring as Admiral in 1920.
Entered the army as ensign in the 73rd foot on 24 January 1834. Promoted to Lieutenant on 30 December 1836 and exchanged into the 7th Royal Fusiliers; serving with the regiment at Gibraltar, the West Indies, and Canada, becoming captain on 14 December 1841 and major on 9 August 1850. Troubridge served with the 7th Royal Fusiliers in the Crimea, 1854. He was in the forefront of the battle at the Alma. On 5 November, at Inkerman, he was field officer of the day, and was posted with the reserved of the light division in the Lancaster battery. Troubridge lost his right leg and left foot as this battery was attacked by Russian guns. He remained with the battery until the battle was over, with his limbs propped up against a gun carriage. Lord Raglan stated that Troubridge, although desperately wounded, acting with the utmost gallantry and composure. Troubridge returned to England in May 1855. He was made CB, aide-de-camp to the queen, and brevet colonel from 18 May 1855. He received the fourth class of the Mejidiye and the Legion d'honneur.
Entered the navy in 1875 at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, as a naval cadet, and promoted to lieutenant in 1884. Later in 1888 he received the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society after saving a persons life at sea. His next promotion was in 1895 to the position of commander and served in the battleship REVENGE (1896-8). He was later promoted to captain (1901) and became naval attache at Vienna and Madrid in 1902. He was naval attache at Tokyo (1902-4) and was present at the battle of Chemulpo and the operations off Port Arthur. Subsequently, Troubridge was awarded the Japanese order of the Rising Sun and on his return to England was made CMG and MVO. In 1907-1908 he was made flag captain in the QUEEN, to Admiral Sir Charles Drury and then commodore at the royal naval barracks, Chatham between 1908-1910. In 1910 Troubridge became private secretary to the first lord, Reginald McKenna, later Winston Churchill. In 1911, Troubridge was promoted to rear-admiral and chief of war staff in 1912. In Janaury 1913 he was given command of the cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Milne. The squadron comprised the armoured cruisers DEFENCE, BLACK PRINCE, DUKE OF EDINBURGH and WARRIOR. In 1915 Troubridge was appointed head of British naval mission in Serbia and in 1916 promoted to vice-admiral. In 1918 he was appointed admiral commanding on the Danube by the French commander-in-chief in the Balkans, General Franchet d'Esperey. He served as president of a provisional inter-allied Danube commission in 1919 and served as president on the permanent commission until 1924. Troubridge was promoted to Admiral in January 1919 and created a KCMG in the same year.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
Edward Vernon, a distant relation of Admiral Edward Vernon, saw much of his early service in the Mediterranean and was promoted to lieutenant in 1743. At the beginning of the Seven Years War he was again in the Mediterranean and then in command of the REVENGE, Channel Fleet, between 1760 and 1763. 1776, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Vernon was promoted to rear-admiral in 1779, returned to England in 1781 and saw no further service. He became a vice-admiral in 1787 and admiral in 1794.
Woodriff became a lieutenant in 1782. In 1789 he commanded the troopship ENDYMION, which was wrecked in 1790 at Jamaica; he was honourably acquitted at the subsequent court-martial. On his return to England in 1794 he was appointed Principal Agent for Transports, and was involved in the evacuation of troops from the Low Countries. He became a commander in 1795. He was promoted to captain in 1802, the year he took command of the CALCUTTA. After survey work in the Bass Straits, the ship returned to Spithead, 1804, was converted into a warship for convoy duties and went to St. Helena. On the return journey the CALCUTTA was attacked by the French and captured. In 1808, a year after his release, Woodriff became Superintendent of Prisoners of War at Forton, near Gosport, until in 1814 he went to Jamaica as Resident Commissioner at Port Royal. Returning to England in 1822, he was offered, in 1837, either flag-rank or an appointment to Greenwich Hospital; he chose the latter.
Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), founder of the Wellcome Research Institution, collected numerous documents of a maritime origin as well as papers connected with the history of medicine.
Wigram began his career with the East India Company as a surgeon. He contracted an illness, however, which affected his eyesight so that he could no longer practise as a surgeon nor could he go to sea again. He then set himself up as a drug merchant. In 1788 he bought the General Goddard and then the True Briton, which was built in Wells' Yard, Deptford in 1790. Wigram built up the business and acquired a large interest in the Blackwall Yard and in 1810 became Chairman of the new East India Dock Company. He retired in 1819 and sold the yard to two of his sons, Money and Henry Loftus Wigram, and to George Green.
The Union Marine and General Insurance Company, established in Liverpool in 1863 with an authorized capital of two million pounds, was formed by a syndicate of underwriters of that port, taking over the marine insurance business of two existing firms of Liverpool underwriters. Agencies were set up in both Manchester and Glasgow, while the Ocean Marine Insurance Company acted as London agents. In 1911, the Union Marine was acquired as a subsidiary of the Phoenix Assurance Company. See Centennial story: The Union Marine and General Insurance Company Ltd 1863-1963 (privately published, Liverpool, 1963).
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.
Glaciologist and politician, born in Dublin on 20 August 1818, the eldest child of Nicholas Ball (1791-1865), judge and politician, and his wife, Jane (née Sherlock) of Butlerstown Castle in co. Waterford. Until the age of eleven he received little formal education, but from his earliest years he displayed a precocious interest in science. In his seventh year he was taken to Switzerland, where he was deeply affected by the view of the Alps from the Jura. The following year he began to measure the heights of hills barometrically and to construct geological sections, and before his twelfth year he had completed the manuscript of what he termed his 'Elements of chemistry'.
Ball's parents were Roman Catholics, and in 1831 he was sent to St Mary's College at Oscott near Birmingham, whence he was admitted into Christ's College, Cambridge, on 23 June 1835. That summer he participated in the Dublin meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (he attended many of the association's subsequent meetings), and in Cambridge, over the next four years, he joined the classes of John Stevens Henslow in botany, and Adam Sedgwick in geology.
On 13 April 1840 Ball was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and in Trinity term 1843 he was called to the Irish bar at the King's Inns. He never practised at the bar, and between 1840 and 1845 can have spent little time in Ireland. For much of that period he travelled in Europe, visiting the mountain regions (for which he felt a deep affinity), botanizing, and communing with kindred scientific spirits. During 1845 he was at Zermatt seeking to develop the glaciological studies pioneered by James David Forbes, but that was the year when a failure of the Irish potato crop marked the beginning of the great Irish famine, and Ball felt duty-bound to return to his distressed homeland.
While in the Dingle peninsula, co. Kerry, during 1846, Ball recognized that many of the landforms were analogous to features which he had seen being shaped by modern glacial processes within the Alps. Clearly, he reasoned, there must once have been glaciers in Ireland, and the paper on this subject which he presented to the Geological Society of Dublin on 14 November 1849 is the earliest published study of Pleistocene events within any region of Ireland.
In July 1848 Ball stood, without success, as a parliamentary candidate for Sligo borough, but on 26 July 1852 he was returned (by a majority of only two votes) as the member for Carlow County. In February 1855 the prime minister, Lord Palmerston, named him as assistant under-secretary of state in the colonial department. In this office he took the opportunity to further the cause of science in several ways. His energetic representations were largely responsible for ensuring the adequate financing of the expedition led by John Palliser for the exploration of western Canada, and he was instrumental in inducing the home government to support the efforts of Sir William Jackson Hooker towards the publication of colonial floras.
At the election on 11 April 1857 he was heavily defeated when he stood for Sligo County, and on 15 February in the following year he was again defeated when he contested Limerick City. Although subsequently offered several parliamentary seats, he resolved henceforth, as a man of independent financial means, to devote himself exclusively to travel and to natural history.
Following the foundation of the Alpine Club in December 1857 he served as its first president (1858-60), and he edited Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers, the club's earliest publication (two editions in 1859). The three volumes of his Alpine Guide (first editions 1863, 1864, 1868) are classics among the literature of mountain travel. In 1856 he married Eliza Parolini, daughter of the naturalist and traveller Count Alberto Parolini (there were two sons of the marriage), and between 1861 and 1869 he lived much in Italy, where, on his wife's death about 1867, he inherited an estate near to Bassano and at the foot of the Venetian Alps. By 1863 he had crossed the main chain of the Alps forty-eight times by thirty-two different routes, being accompanied upon some of his journeys by his close friend William Edward Forster. In 1869 Ball married Julia O'Beirne, the youngest child of Francis and Winefred O'Beirne of Jamestown, co. Leitrim.
In the company of Joseph Dalton Hooker he visited Morocco and the Atlas Mountains between April and June 1871, and their joint work descriptive of the excursion was published in 1878. Between March and August 1882 he sailed to the Caribbean, crossed the isthmus of Panama, and completed a circumnavigation of South America via the Strait of Magellan, his account of this journey being published in 1887. During the 1880s trouble with his throat caused him to winter abroad in places such as Algeria, Tunisia, and the Canary Islands.
While in the Engadine during the autumn of 1889 Ball was stricken with illness. He was taken home to London where, shortly after an operation and somewhat unexpectedly, he died at midnight on 21 October 1889 at his home, 10 Southwell Gardens, South Kensington. Among his distinctions were the Italian order of SS Maurizio e Lazzaro (1865), fellowship of the Linnean Society (2 December 1856), fellowship of the Royal Society (4 June 1868), and honorary fellowship of Christ's College, Cambridge (3 October 1888).
Richard Spruce, born 10 September 1817; died 28 December 1893.
Richard Spruce was born on 10 September 1817 in the village of Ganthorpe, Yorkshire. Spruce's father (also named Richard) was the schoolmaster at Ganthorpe and his mother, Ann, was one of the Etty family, a relative of the painter William Etty. His mother died while he was young, and when he was about fourteen his father married again, and had a family of eight daughters, only two of whom survived their half-brother.
Spruce appears to have developed a love of nature from an early age and, at the age of sixteen, had drawn up an alphabetical list of all the plants (403 species) that he had found around Ganthorpe. Three years later he had drawn up a List of the Flora of the Malton District, containing 485 species of flowering plants. Several of Spruce's localities for the rarer plants are given in Baines's Flora of Yorkshire, published in 1840. It is clear that he also studied plants carefully and this is illustrated by the fact that in 1841 he discovered, and identified as a new British plant, the very rare sedge Carex paradoxa. He had also now begun the study of mosses, since in the same year he found a moss new to Britain, Leskea fulvinata, previously known only from Lapland.
Spruce was educated by his father who initially helped him to follow his own profession. He learnt Latin and Greek and appears to have had a natural aptitude for languages, since he not only taught himself to read and write French fairly well, but later learnt Portuguese and Spanish as well as gaining some knowledge of three different Indian languages - the Lingoa Geral, Barré, and Quichua. At 20, he left home to become tutor in a school at Haxby and, at the end of 1839, he obtained the post of mathematical master at the Collegiate School at York, which he retained until the school closed in 1844. During this time he suffered frequent bouts of the ill health from which he was to suffer for the rest of his life.
In 1841, a monthly magazine, The Phytologist, was started for British Botany, and Spruce contributed to it numerous accounts of his botanical excursions and notes on rare plants. His paper on the Musci and Hepaticae of Teesdale showed him to be one of the most observant discoverers of rare species. In Baines's Flora of Yorkshire (1840) only four mosses were recorded from Teesdale, though no doubt many more had been collected. Spruce at once raised the number to 167 mosses and 41 hepaticae, of which six mosses and one Jungermannia were new to Britain. In April 1845 he published in the London Journal of Botany descriptions of twenty-three new British mosses, of which about half were discovered by himself and the remainder by William Borrer and other botanists. In the same year he published, in The Phytologist, his List of the Musci and Hepaticae of Yorkshire, in which he recorded no less than 48 mosses new to the English Flora and 33 others new to that of Yorkshire.
In the latter part of 1844, with the loss of his teaching post, Spruce's future was very unsettled. A plant agency in London and the curatorship of a colonial botanical garden were rejected as either unsuitable or uncertain of attainment. Plant-collecting in Spain was suggested but, at that time, considered too dangerous. Eventually, in December 1844, an expedition to the Pyrenees was agreed and he set out in April 1845. He reached Pau early in May, and stayed there until the following March, collecting and studying the flowers and mosses of the region. He returned to England in April 1846, and spent the remainder of the year naming, arranging and distributing his Pyrenean collections.
Over the next two years, he worked on The Musci and Hepaticae of the Pyrenees, which was published in the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh after his departure for South America. It gives the names of all the species carefully identified, describes fully all that were new or doubtful, and gives particulars of the local and geographical distribution of each. A general account of his whole excursion was published in the London Journal of Botany for 1846, under the title Notes on the Botany of the Pyrenees. When in London in September 1848, Spruce decided to undertake the botanical exploration of the Amazon valley and he sailed on June 7, 1849. George Bentham agreed to receive all his botanical collections, name and sort them, send them to the various subscribers in Great Britain, as well as in different parts of Europe, to collect the subscriptions and keep all accounts, in return for which invaluable services he was to receive the first (complete) set of the plants collected.
On July 12th 1849, Spruce's ship, The BRITANNIA, docked at Para and Spruce began his South American exploration which would last for fifteen years. From Para, Spruce sailed on 10th October up the Amazon to Santarem, a journey of 17 days. He remained here for almost a year, exploring and collecting in extremely adverse conditions. His journeys continued - in October 1850 he travelled to Manaos, then up the Rio Negro to Sao Gabriel on the Orinoco between November 1851 and March 1852 followed by a collecting expedition in the forest around the river Vaupes. In March 1853, he left for San Carlos in Venezuela where he remained for five months. In the small settlement of San Fernando, Spruce suffered from a long and serious bout of fever which left him exhausted and, on the way back to Manaos, he successfully foiled an attempt by his boatmen to murder him and steal his possessions. Once back in Manaos, he planned a trip to Peru, travelling up the Amazon and Huallaga rivers to Tarapoto in the Andes of Maynas where he remained from June 1855 to March 1857. During his time at Tarapoto, Spruce collected over 1000 specimens of flowering plants in addition to hundreds of specimens of mosses and hepaticae.
His next journey was to Banos in Ecuador, a journey of 100 days by river and on foot. He explored this volcanic area for six months and then moved on to make his base at Ambato for two and a half years. It was here, in April 1860, that he suffered a physical breakdown, suffering paralysis and pain in his back and legs. Nevertheless, he set out six weeks later to collect seed from Cinchona trees which became the foundation of the plantations in India and Ceylon which produced quinine, bringing relief to thousands of malaria sufferers. Spruce's last expedition in South America was to Payta in northern Peru. From here he was carried by litter to Piura where he remained from January 1863 to May 1864 when he embarked for Europe.
After his return from South America in June 1864, Spruce continued to be plagued by ill health which affected his ability to work, the cause of which was not discovered until four years after his return by which time a cure was impossible. Despite this, he succeeded in producing a great deal of botanical work, including the study of the Palms of the Amazon valley and of equatorial South America, which resulted in a paper in the Journal of the Linnean Society.
But his greatest work, which has established his reputation among the botanists of the world, is his massive volume on the Hepaticae of the Amazon and the Andes of Peru and Ecuador. This appeared in 1885, as a volume of the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. It contains very full descriptions of more than 700 species and varieties distributed in 43 genera and a large number of new sub-genera, all precisely characterised and defined. Of these 700 species nearly 500 were collected by him and of these more than 400 were quite new to the science of botany.
The whole of Spruce's Mosses were placed in the hands of William Mitten for classification, description of new species and distribution; and were all included in this botanist's great work on South American Mosses, published by the Linnean Society in 1867. Spruce's work on the Hepaticae brought him a large correspondence from every part of the world, and for the remainder of his life he was sufficiently occupied with this, with the determination of specimens sent him, and with a few special papers, among which were the description of a new hepatic from Killarney in the Journal of Botany in 1887 and a paper in the Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club on a collection made in the Andes of Bolivia. After Spruce's work on the Hepaticae was published, he was occupied in the task of sorting out and preparing his immense collection of South American Hepaticae into sets of species for distribution which was completed and twenty five sets sent off before the end of 1892.
Richard Spruce died on 28 December 1893 after an attack of influenza. He was buried at Terrington beside his father and mother, in accordance with his own directions.
William Griffith was born in Ham Common, near Petersham, Surrey, on 4 March 1810. He was apprenticed to a surgeon in the West End of London, and completed his medical studies at University College, London, where he attended classes in botany by J Lindley. He continued his studies in anatomy under Charles Mirbel in Paris and in medical botany at the Chelsea Physic Garden. In 1832 he was appointed as an assistant surgeon with the East India Company and left for Madras.
Griffith was first based on the coast of Tenasserim, but in 1835 he was transferred to the Bengal presidency and served as botanist in an expedition exploring Assam. Between 1835 and 1841, he made many adventurous and dangerous journeys across the Company's territories and collected many specimens. He explored the Indian territory from Sadiya to Ava, then from Assam to Ava and Rangoon. In 1837 he was appointed surgeon to the embassy to Bhutan. In 1839 he was in Quetta, attached to the army of the Indus and penetrated into the eastern part of Afghanistan.
Griffith was appointed to Malacca as civil assistant surgeon in 1841, but recalled to Calcutta the following year to act as superintendent for the Royal Botanic Garden. He seized this opportunity to introduce his own concepts of a botanical garden and rearranged the plants according to a natural classification. At the end of 1844 the superintendent resumed his post and Griffith left Calcutta for Malacca. Shortly after his arrival, in January 1845, he contracted hepatitis and died on 9 February 1845. He was buried in Malacca. In September 1844 he had married Miss Emily Henderson. He was a friend of Sir W J Hooker and regularly sent specimens to Kew Gardens.
Griffith published very little in his lifetime, as he preferred to gather data for what he intended to be a comprehensive account of the Indian flora on a geographical basis. After his death, Griffiths' papers, which were not in a fit state for publication, were edited by his friend J McClelland, a geologist, and published by the East India Company.
William John Burchell was born in Fulham on 23 July 1781 to Matthew Burchell. He was educated at Raleigh House Academy in Surrey and worked at Kew Gardens, becoming a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1803. In 1805 he arrived on St Helena, 1,200 miles (1,950km) from the south-west coast of Africa. In September 1806 he became the island's schoolmaster and in November of the same year he was also appointed superintendent of the botanic garden. He experimented with seeds and plants from South America, Africa and the Far East brought by ships to the island and he also studied the island's botany and geology. In 1808 gave up the job of schoolmaster after he was appointed the role of naturalist on the island and it became his responsibility to survey the island's natural resources.
Burchell was invited to become a botanist in Cape Colony in South Africa and in November 1810 he arrived in Cape Town and travelled locally for seven months. In June 1811 he set off on a major exhibition into Cape Colony and Bechuanaland which lasted four years and covered 4500 miles. He arrived back in England on 11 November 1815.
Burchell brought to England some 63,000 specimens of plants, seeds, insects, fish and animal skins and skeletons, which he had collected on his travels. This has been described as the largest collection made by one man ever to leave Africa. He had also made 500 field sketches and botanical, zoological and ethnographic drawings and kept detailed notes of his travels and observations of natural history. Between 1815 and 1819 he classified his specimens and cultivated the seeds and bulbs he had collected. In 1819 he began to work on his Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa. The two volumes published (1822 and 1824) cover his journeys to August 1812, but a projected third volume never appeared.
In 1825 Burchell joined a British diplomatic mission to Brazil. Travelling via Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands he arrived in Rio de Janeiro in July. He spent thirteen months collecting botanical, zoological and geological specimens in the vicinity of the city, Serra dos Órgãos, and in southern Minas Gerais. In September 1826 he sailed to Santos and collected in the Cubatão area, before moving to São Paulo in January 1827. In July 1827 he travelled north across São Paulo province and the Triangûlo Mineiro into Goiás, claiming to be the first Englishman to visit it. He spent nine months in the town of Goiás and then, between August and November 1828, journeyed to Pôrto Real where he waited five months until water conditions allowed him to sail 690 miles down the River Tocantins to the Amazon. He arrived in Belém on 10 June 1829 and only then did he learn that his father had died in July 1828. Burchell remained in Belém until February 1830 and arrived back in England on 24 March of that year.
Burchell spent the remaining three decades of his life in the labour of cataloguing his enormous collections. He has been described as a sensitive perfectionist, and his meticulousness meant that, working alone, this was a slow process. His material from Brazil, which totalled over 52,000 specimens, was not catalogued until 1860. Burchell received little public recognition for his work. However he was appointed to the council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1832, and awarded an honorary DCL by Oxford University in May 1834. A number of St Helena and South African plants, animals and birds are named after him.
Burchell progressively withdrew from his scientific friends and on 23 March 1863 he committed suicide at the family home in Fulham.
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.
Christopher Wood was born in Knowsley, near Liverpool on 7 April 1901, the son of Mrs Clare and Dr Lucius Wood, a GP. At fourteen, Wood began to draw during recuperation from septicaemia, and went on to study architecture briefly at Liverpool University, 1919-20. In London in 1920, the French collector Alphonse Kahn invited him to Paris, where Wood studied painting at the Academie Julian in 1921. He entered effortlessly into artistic circles, meeting Augustus John and the Chilean diplomat Antonio de Gandarillas, with whom he began to live. As well as providing financial support, Gandarillas introduced Wood to Picasso, Georges Auric and Jean Cocteau, and to the use of opium. Wood became a member of the London Group in 1926 and the Seven and Five Society between 1926-30. He exhibited with Ben and Winifred Nicholson at the Beaux Arts Gallery during April-May 1927, and became close to them personally and artistically. Winifred in particular was supportive in the aftermath of his failed elopement with the painter and heiress Meraud Guinness (subsequently Meraud Guevara). He painted with the Nicholsons at their home 'Banks Head' in Cumberland and in Cornwall in 1928. On a trip to St Ives, he and Ben Nicholson encountered the fisherman painter Alfred Wallis, whose work answered a shared interest in 'primitive' expression and helped Wood to establish a personal style. By this time he was in a close personal relationship with the Russian emigre, Frosca Munster, who accompanied him on his subsequent painting trips to Brittany.His solo exhibition at Tooth's Gallery in April 1929, was followed by an exhibition with Nicholson at the Galerie Bernheim in Paris, May 1930, in which Wood showed paintings made in Brittany in 1929. The results of a second stay in Brittany during June-July 1930, were intended to be shown at the Wertheim Gallery, London in October. Travelling with his paintings, Wood met his mother in Salisbury on 21 August 1930. Possibly believing himself pursued (an effect of withdrawal from opium), he threw himself under the London train and was killed.
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.
The collection consists of meeting minutes, memoranda, and semi-official correspondence relating to US foreign policy with respect to Korea, 1945-1953. During this period, Korea went from Japanese occupation, to civil war between communist forces led by Kim Il-Jong and republican forces led by President Syngman Rhee, to partition under terms imposed by the United Nations.
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 1897; educated at Methodist College, Belfast and Royal College of Science, Dublin; worked as a geologist for Burmah Oil Company Limited in Burma and India, 1920-1937; joined Burma Auxiliary Force and served as Trooper, 1920-1921; 2nd Lt, 1927; Lt, 1930; Capt, 1932; Maj, 1933; Lt Col, 1933; commanded Upper Burma Bn, Burma Auxiliary Force, 1933-1938; honorary Col, 1937; resigned, 1938; enrolled in Army Officer's Emergency Reserve and affiliated to 1 Bn, The Rangers, The King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1938; rejoined Army as 2nd Lt, Corps of Royal Engineers, 1940; attended Staff College, Senior Wing, Minley Manor, 1940; posted to War Office as Staff Capt, 1940; served in World War Two in Greece, Middle East, Burma, Tunisia and Sicily, 1939-1945; served on Staff of Gen Sir Archibald Percival Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, 1941; awarded CBE, 1942; served in India and Burma, 1943-1945; Controller General of Military Economy, India, 1945; re-employed by Burmah Oil Company Limited, 1945; retired as Managing Director of Burma Oil Company Limited, 1955; Lay Member of Restrictive Practices Court, 1961-1970; National Chairman, Burma Star Association, 1962-1977; member of British Transport Consultative Committee; knighted, 1977; elected life Vice President of the Burma Star Association, 1977; died 1980. Publications: Time off for war: the recollections of a wartime Staff Officer [1982].
Born 1911; educated at Sedbergh School, Yorkshire and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; commissioned into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 1931; service with 1 Bn, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 1931-1938; Lt, 1934; Capt, 1939; Instructor, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1939-1940; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; service in North Africa, Italy, India, Burma and North West Europe, 1939-1945; temporary Maj, 1940-1941; Bde Maj, 1941-1942; General Staff Officer 2, Combined Operations Headquarters, 1942; General Staff Officer 2 (Staff Duties), Allied Forces Headquarters, 1942-1943; War Substantive Maj, 1943; awarded MBE, 1943; temporary Lt Col, 1943-1944; Commanding Officer, 2 Bn, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), Italy, 1944; War Substantive Lt Col, 1944; Col, Operations Staff of Maj Gen Orde Charles Wingate for second Chindit expedition, Operation THURSDAY, Burma, 1944; acting Brig, 1944; awarded OBE, 1945; General Staff Officer 1, 1945-1946; Maj, 1946; Chief Instructor, School of Combined Operations, 1946-1947; General Staff Officer 1 (Operations), Hong Kong, 1948-1950; General Staff Officer 1 (Directing Staff), Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1950-1952; Brevet Lt Col, 1951; Lt Col, 1953; Col, 1954; Commanding Officer, 1 Bn, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 1954-1955; commanded 26 Gurkha Infantry Bde, 1955-1957; temporary Brig, 1955-1958; awarded DSO, 1957; Senior Instructor, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, 1958; Brig, 1959; Brig General Staff, Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office, 1959; Imperial Defence College, 1959; awarded CBE, 1960; Chief of Defence Staff, Ghana, 1960-1961; commanded Ghanian contingent, UN Forces, Belgian Congo, 1960-1961; awarded CB, 1961; Chief of Staff, Northern Command Headquarters, York, 1962-1965; retired, 1965; British Observer, International Observer Team on Genocide, Nigeria, 1968; Col, The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), 1969-1974; died 1977. Publications: African tightrope. My two years as Nkrumah's Chief of Staff (Pall Mall Press, London, 1965).
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.
Engineer, RN, 1921; Engineer Lt Cdr, 1931; Engineer Cdr, 1935; served in the Far East 1937, and in the Mediterranean, 1941.
Born 1906; educated at City and Guilds College, London and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich; Assistant Electrical Engineer (Civil Officer), Electrical Engineering Department, Admiralty (Submarine design), 1932-1937; Visiting Lecturer in electrical machinery design, Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1934-1937; Electrical Engineer (Civil Officer), Electrical Engineering Department, Admiralty (Battleship design), 1937-1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; Fleet Electrical Engineer, Staff of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1939-1940; Superintending Electrical Engineer, Admiralty (Supply and Production), 1940-1945; Superintending Electrical Engineer, HM Dockyard, Hong Kong, 1945-1948; Superintending Electrical Engineer, Admiralty Engineering Laboratory, West Drayton, Middlesex, 1948-1949; Cdr, HMS MONTCLARE, 1950-1951; Capt (Electrical), RN, 1951; Admiralty (Weapon Control Design), 1951-1953; served in Electrical Engineering Department, Admiralty, 1953-1954; Electrical Engineering Manager, HM Dockyard, Devonport, 1954-1958; Chairman, South Western Sub-Centre, Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1957-1958; Aide de Camp to HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1958-1960; Ship Design Department, Admiralty, 1959-1960; R Adm, 1960; Deputy Director of Electrical Engineering Division, Ship Department, Admiralty, 1960-1963; awarded CB, 1962; retired 1963; Fellow, Institution of Electrical Engineers; died 1998.
Born in 1868; 2nd Lt, Norfolk Regt, 1888; Lt, 1890; served in Burma, 1891-1892; Chitral, 1895; Tirah, 1897-1898; Capt, 1898; Station Commandant, South Africa, 1899-1900; Staff Officer, Mounted Infantry Corps Mobile Column, South Africa, 1900-1902; Transport Officer, Somaliland Field Force, 1903-1904; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, Ceylon, 1905; Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Ceylon, 1905-1908; Maj, 1908; General Staff Officer Grade 2, 2 London Div, 1909-1910; General Staff Officer, Staff College, 1911-1913; Lt Col, 1913; Commander, 1 Norfolk Regt and later 7, 95 and 14 Infantry Bdes, BEF, France and Belgium, 1914-1916; Commander, 57 Infantry Bde, British Armies in France, 1916-1917; Military Attaché, Romania, 1917-1918; Officer Commanding No 2 District, Scottish Command, 1919-1920; publication of Russia in rule and misrule (John Murray, London, 1920); President, Allied Police Commission, Constantinople, 1920-1923; retired, 1923; publication of Napoleon, an outline (Duckworth and Co, London, 1924), Military genius of Abraham Lincoln (Oxford University Press, London, 1926), The great Earl of Peterborough (Skeffington and Son, London, 1926); Kitchener (Faber and Faber, London, 1930), Smith-Dorrien (Constable and Co, London, 1931); died in 1941.
Born in 1883; educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford; tutor to Counts Gianbattista and Cesare Spaletti, Italy, 1906-1907; called to the Bar, Inner Temple, 1909; secretary to T Fisher Unwin, publisher, 1912-1914; served in France and Belgium with 12 Gloucestershire Regt, 1914-1919; Staff Capt, 96 Infantry Bde, 1915-1917; Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, 3 Div, 1917-1918, and 3 Corps, 1918-1919; worked for Duckworth and Co, publishers, 1921-1934; started to paint, 1934; one-man exhibition, Redfern Gallery, 1938; recalled to Southern Command as Staff Capt, Dec 1939, but invalided out after three months by pneumonia; organised and catalogued Exhibition of Wood-Engraving in Modern English Books, National Book League, 1949, Mark Gertler Memorial Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1949, and John Martin Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1953; died in 1967.
Born in 1877; educated at Newton College, south Devon and Royal Military Academy,Woolwich; joined Royal Artillery, 1897; graduated Staff College, Quetta, India, 1909-1910;served in World War One, 1914-1918; General Staff Officer, Grade 1, 4 Div, and Brig Gen,General Staff, 20 Corps, 1917-1918; Brig Gen, General Staff, Egyptian Expeditionary Force,1918; commanded 6 Infantry Bde, 1923-1926; Aide de Camp to the King and Maj Gen, 1926;Director of Recruiting and Organisation, War Office, 1927-1928; Commandant, ImperialDefence College, 1929-1931; Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, War Office,1931-1934; Col Commandant, Royal Artillery, 1934-1937; Lt Gen, 1933; Chief of GeneralStaff, India, 1934-1937; Gen, 1937; General Officer Commanding in Chief, Northern Command,1937-1940; Aide de Camp General to the King, 1938-1940; retired, 1940; North EasternRegional Commissioner for Civil Defence, 1940-1945; died 1962.