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Archibald Bisset Smith
Archibald Bisset Smith VC (19 December 1878 – 10 March 1917) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Smith is one of only two members of the UK Merchant Navy to have been awarded the VC for his First World War service. World War I action and Victoria Cross Smith received this award for his action as Master of the New Zealand Shipping Company cargo ship . On 10 March 1917 in the Atlantic Ocean, ''Otaki'', armed with one 4.7-inch gun, sighted the German merchant raider , which was armed with four 150 mm, one 105 mm guns and two 500 mm torpedo launchers. The raider ordered ''Otaki'' to stop but Captain Smith refused. A duel ensued, during which ''Otaki'' secured a number of hits and caused ''Möwe'' considerable damage, but ''Otaki'' sustained much damage and was on fire. Captain Smith therefore ordered his crew to abandon ship, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cults, Aberdeenshire
Cults ( ) is a suburb on the western edge of Aberdeen, Scotland. It lies on the banks of the River Dee and marks the eastern boundary of Royal Deeside. Cults, known for its historic granite housing, sits approximately six miles from the coast of the North Sea. Cults maintains village status and many of the societal structures found in a country village, despite its proximity to the west of Aberdeen. The name is a corruption of ''Coilltean'', the Scottish Gaelic word for "Woods". There are various green spaces in Cults, the largest of these being Allan Park, a public park situated near the golf club and the River Dee. The park is also home to the Cults Cricket Club. History Originally, Cults had two railway stations on the Royal Deeside Railway Line, West Cults and Cults before the line was closed in the middle of the 20th century. The route has since been converted into a cycle path and walkway which leads to Duthie Park in Aberdeen in one direction and further into Deeside i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Hill Memorial
The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England. The memorials, one for the First World War and one for the Second, commemorate civilian, merchant seafarers and fishermen who were killed as a result of enemy action and have no known grave. The first, the Mercantile Marine War Memorial, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1928; the second, the Merchant Seamen's Memorial, was designed by Sir Edward Maufe and unveiled in 1955. A third memorial, commemorating merchant seamen who were killed in the 1982 Falklands War, was added to the site in 2005. The first memorial was commissioned in light of the heavy losses sustained by merchant shipping in the First World War—more than 17,000 people died and some 3,300 British and Empire-registered commercial vessels sunk as a result of enemy action. The Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) commissioned Lutyens, who initially designed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning. Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse built for the John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, Duke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by George III in 1761 as a private residence for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the 19th century it was enlarged by architects John Nash (architect), John Nash and Edward Blore, who constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Pala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother, Queen Victoria, as the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). He was third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father and his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. From 1877 to 1892, George served in the Royal Navy, until his elder brother's unexpected death in January 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. The next year Wedding of Prince George and Princess Victoria Mary, George married his brother's former fiancée, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, and they had six children. When Death of Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria died in 1901, George's father ascended the throne as Edward VII, and George was created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolaus Zu Dohna-Schlodien
Nikolaus Burgrave, Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien (5 April 1879 – 21 August 1956) was a German naval officer and author. Biography Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien was born in Małomice, Mallmitz (today Małomice, Poland) to Alfred zu Dohna-Schlodien (1849–1907) and Margarethe née von der Hagen (1845–1932).Biography Dohna-Schlodien joined the Kaiserliche Marine, German Imperial Navy in 1896, became a Second Lieutenant in 1899 and First Lieutenant in 1902. Immediately after the Boxer Rebellion he served on in East Asia in 1901/02 and became the Commander of the Gunboat, Kanonenboot in 1910–12. In 1913 he became the Navigation officer of and was promoted to a Korvettenkapitän. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armistice Of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed in a railroad car, in the Compiègne Forest near the town of Compiègne, that ended fighting on land, at sea, and in the air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices had been agreed with Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary. It was concluded after the German government sent a message to American president Woodrow Wilson to negotiate terms on the basis of a recent speech of his and the earlier declared " Fourteen Points", which later became the basis of the German surrender at the Paris Peace Conference, which took place the following year. Also known as the Armistice of Compiègne (, ) from the town near the place where it was officially agreed to at 5:00 a.m. by the Allied Supreme Commander, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, it came into force at 11:00 a.m. Central European Time (CET) on 11 November 1918 and marked a vic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers () is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The original Māori name for Port Chalmers was or , which may have indicated the hill where the , or altar, was sited. is a later name meaning ‘full tide’ and refers to an incident in which a group of warriors decided to spend the night in a cave that once existed at what was later known as Boiler Point and pulled their canoes well above the high tide mark. Overnight the tide rose and beached canoes were set adrift. As some of them swam out to reclaim the canoes those onshore cried out “Koputai!, Koputai!” When a peace was made between Kāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu, about 1780, Koputai was one of two southern terminuses of Kāi Tahu territory. The chiefs Karetai, Te Matenga Taiaroa and Tūhawaiki and other Māori frequented Ko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Gordon's College
Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century Poland trading from the Baltic port of Danzig, (Gdansk). Upon his death in 1731, he left his entire estate in a '''Deed of Mortification, dated 13 December 1729, for the foundation of Robert Gordon's Hospital, a residential school for poor boys. The building, designed by William Adam, was completed by 1732, but lay empty until the Governors had sufficient funds to complete the interior. A statue of the Founder was added in 1753 in a niche above the door. During the Jacobite Rising in 1746, the building was requisitioned by Hanoverian troops under the command of the Duke of Cumberland and was known as Fort Cumberland. The hospital opened its doors to its first 14 pupils in July 1750. East and West wings with classical colonnades, desig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby ending the Jacobite rising of 1745. Charles landed in Scotland in July 1745, seeking to restore his father James Francis Edward Stuart to the British throne. He quickly won control of large parts of Scotland, and an invasion of England reached as far south as Derby before being forced to turn back. However, by April 1746, the Jacobites were short of supplies, facing a superior and better equipped opponent. Charles and his senior officers decided their only option was to stand and fight. When the two armies met at Culloden, the battle was brief, lasting less than an hour, with the Jacobites suffering an overwhelming and bloody defeat. This effectively ended both the 1745 rising, and Jacobitism as a significant element in British politics. Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacobite Risings
Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England ruled he had "abandoned" the English throne, which was given to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England, and his nephew, her husband William III of England, William III. On the same basis, in April the Convention of Estates (1689), Scottish Convention awarded Mary and William the throne of Scotland. The Revolution created the principle of a contract between monarch and people, which if violated meant the monarch could be removed. A key tenet of Jacobitism was that kings were appointed by God, making the post-1688 regime illegitimate. However, it also functioned as an outlet for popular discontent, and thus was a complex mix of ideas, many opposed by the Stuarts themselves. Conflict between Charles Edward Stuar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhynie, Aberdeenshire
Rhynie (; ) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is on the A97 road, northwest of Alford. The Rhynie Chert is named after the village, as is the fossil plant genus '' Rhynia''. The Rhynie Chert is a sediment deposited in the Devonian period, contained important fossils that shows land ecosystem of the Devonian. The missionary, teacher and chocolatier Alexander Murdoch Mackay was born in Rhynie on 13 October 1849. Etymology The name ''Rhynie'' may involve an early Pictish ''rīg'' meaning "a king" (cf. Gaelic ''ríg/rí''; cf. Welsh ''rhi''). History Eight Pictish symbol stones have been found at Rhynie, including the "Rhynie Man", a tall boulder carved with a bearded man carrying an axe, possibly a representation of the Celtic god Esus, that was discovered in 1978. The "Rhynie Man" now stands inside Woodhill House (the headquarters of Aberdeenshire Council) in Aberdeen. In 2011 archaeological excavations at Rhynie, near the site of the " Rhynie Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
