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Alexander Tennant
Alexander Tennant, born in Ochiltree, Ayrshire in 1772, was a leading British colonist in the Cape Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, an enterprising merchant, a brother to industrialist Charles Tennant and a friend of Robbie Burns. Early life Alexander was the fourth son of John Tennant (1725-1810) and Margaret McClure (1738-1784). His father, a farmer, was well known in the industry. 'A worth, intelligent farmer, my father's friend and my own', was how Burns described the prolific John Tennant of Glenconner in a letter to his lover Clarinda, dated 2 March 1788. This work ethic was found throughout the family; his brother Charles becoming a highly successful industrialist, his brother William the Chaplain to the Honourable East India Company and a further brother, David, a noted privateer. In his ''Epistle to James Tennant of Glenconner'', possibly referring to an entrepreneurial flair, Burns wrote of Alexander: ''An’ Lord, remember singing Sannock, Wi’ hale breeks, saxpence ...
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Ochiltree
Ochiltree is a conservation village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, near Auchinleck and Cumnock. It is one of the oldest villages in East Ayrshire, with archaeological remains indicating Stone Age and Bronze Age settlers. A cinerary urn was found in 1955 during excavation for a new housing estate. Etymology The name ''Ochiltree'' was spelt ''Uchletree'' in the Middle Ages, and has a Brythonic etymology: ''Uchil tref'' - the high steading, either a reference to its landscape position (commanding views to south and east), or as a significant local centre. Notable residents Covenanter radical John Fergushill (1592–1644) was Church of Scotland minister for Ochiltree between 1614 and 1639. Main Street is lined with stone cottages and one of these was ''The House with the Green Shutters'' in the 1901 novel of that name by George Douglas Brown, who was born in Ochiltree. An annual event, The Green Shutters Festival of Working Class Writing, is held here in Brown's memory. The Tennant fa ...
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General Baird
General Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet, of Newbyth, GCB (6 December 1757 – 18 August 1829) was a British Army officer. Military career He was born at Newbyth House in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the son of an Edinburgh merchant family, and entered the British Army in 1772. He was sent to India in 1779 with the 73rd (afterwards 71st) Highlanders, in which he was a captain. Immediately on his arrival, Baird was attached to the force commanded by Sir Hector Munro, which was sent forward to assist the detachment of Colonel Baillie, threatened by Hyder Ali. In the action which followed the whole force was destroyed, and Baird, severely wounded, fell into the hands of the Mysore chief. The prisoners remained captive for over four years. Baird's mother, on hearing that her son and other prisoners were in fetters, is said to have remarked, "God help the chiel chained to our Davie." The bullet was not extracted from Baird's wound until his release. He was promoted to major in 1787, v ...
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Cape Colony People
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a Hood (headgear), hood in the Chaperon (headgear), chaperon. They have had periodic returns to fashion - for example, in nineteenth-century Europe. Roman Catholic clergy wear a type of cape known as a ferraiolo, which is worn for formal events outside a ritualistic context. The cope is a liturgical vestment in the form of a cape. Capes are often highly decorated with elaborate embroidery. Capes remain in regular use as rainwear in various military units and police forces, in France for example. A gas cape was a voluminous military garment designed to give rain protection to someone wearing the bulky gas masks used in twentieth-century wars. Rich noblemen and elite warriors of the Aztec Empire would wear a tilmàtli; a Mesoamerican cloak/cape used as a symbol of thei ...
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British Merchants
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *''Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * Bri ...
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1814 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French garrison surrenders to the British after ten days of bombardment. ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Metz: Allied armies lay siege to the French city and fortress of Metz. * January 5 – Mexican War of Independence – Battle of Puruarán: Spanish Royalists defeat Mexican Rebels. * January 11 – War of the Sixth Coalition – Battle of Hoogstraten: Prussian forces under Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow defeat the French. * January 14 ** Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes the Kingdom of Norway into personal union with Sweden, in exchange for west Pomerania. This marks the end of the real union of Denmark-Norway. ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Antwerp: Allied forces besiege Frenc ...
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1772 Births
Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 177 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Lucius Aurelius Commodus Caesar (age 15) and Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus become Roman Consuls. * Commodus is given the title '' Augustus'', and is made co-emperor, with the same status as his father, Marcus Aurelius. * A systematic persecution of Christians begins in Rome; the followers take refuge in the catacombs. * The churches in southern Gaul are destroyed after a crowd accuses the local Christians of practicing cannibalism. * Forty-seven Christians are martyred in Lyon (Saint Blandina and Pothinus ...
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David Tennant (Cape Politician)
Sir David Tennant (10 January 1829 – 29 March 1905) was a Cape politician, statesman and the second Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cape Colony. He was in fact the longest serving parliamentary Speaker in South African history, holding the position for nearly 22 years. Early life and career David Tennant was born in Cape Town on 10 January 1829. He was the son of Hercules Tennant and Aletta Jacoba Brand. His grandfather was Alexander Tennant, one of the first British settlers at the Cape. Unusually diligent and hard-working, he read law and became an attorney of the Supreme Court at the age of 20. In 1866 he was elected to the Cape Parliament to represent the electoral division of Piketberg and soon distinguished himself for his efficient and honest management of parliamentary procedure. When his uncle, the Speaker of Parliament Christoffel Brand retired in 1874, Prime Minister John Molteno proposed Tennant as an ideal candidate, and he was then promptly (and una ...
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Uitenhage
Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port Elizabeth and the small town of Despatch, it forms the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. History Uitenhage was founded on 25 April 1804 by ''landdrost'' (district magistrate) Jacob Glen Cuyler and named in honour of the Cape's Commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist by the Dutch Cape Colony governor, Jan Willem Janssens. Uitenhage formed part of the district of Graaff Reinet (shortly after its short-lived secession). The Cape Colony received a degree of independence when "Responsible Government" was declared in 1872. In 1875, the Cape government of John Molteno took over the rudimentary Uitenhage railway site, incorporated it into the Cape Government Railways (CGR), and began construction of the lines connecting Ui ...
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Wynberg, Cape Town
Wynberg () is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead, Cape Town, Plumstead and Kenilworth, Cape Town, Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town, Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. History In the 1650s, Jan van Riebeeck's farm Boscheuvel, where he planted the Cape's first vineyards and was the first to produce History of South African wine, wine in the Cape, was located in the greater Wynberg area close to the slopes of Table Mountain. In 1683 land along the Liesbeek River was granted to Herman Weeckens by Simon van der Stel. The farm was named De Oude Wijnbergh (Old Wine Mountain). The Cape's rough seas in the winter months led to a formal winter anchorage in 1743 where ships would dock at Simons' Baai (present day Simon's Town). A wagon route linking Cape Town to Simon's Town went over the hill adjacent to De Oude Wjinbergh estate. When the British took control of the Cape sett ...
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False Bay
False Bay ( Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcated by Cape Point to the west and Cape Hangklip to the east. The north side of the bay is the low-lying Cape Flats, and the east side is the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountains to Cape Hangklip which is at nearly the same latitude as Cape Point. In plan the bay is approximately square, being roughly the same extent from north to south as east to west, with the southern side open to the ocean. The seabed slopes gradually down from north to south, and is mostly fairly flat unconsolidated sediments. Much of the bay is off the coast of the City of Cape Town, and it includes part of the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area and the whole of the Helderberg Marine Protected Area. The name "False Bay" was applied at least ...
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Robben Island
Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrikaans name ''Robbeneiland'', which translates to ''Seal(s) Island''. Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, long north–south, and wide, with an area of . It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. It was fortified and used as a prison from the late-seventeenth century until 1996, after the end of apartheid. Political activist and lawyer Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on the island for 18 of the 27 years of his imprisonment before the fall of apartheid and introduction of full, multi-racial democracy. He was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was elected in 1994 as President of South Africa, becoming the country's first black president and serving one term from 1994–1999. In addi ...
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