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Corran Purdon
Major-General Corran William Brooke Purdon (4 May 1921 – 27 June 2018) was an Irish-born career soldier in the British Army, who took part in the raid on St Nazaire as a commando for which he was awarded the Military Cross. He was subsequently a prisoner in Colditz Castle. Early life Purdon was born on 4 May 1921 in Rushbrooke, Queenstown (now called Cobh), near Cork, Ireland, during the Irish War of Independence. His father Major General William Purdon worked for the army as a medical officer and his mother Myrtle, from Belfast, was a homemaker. In his autobiography he referred to the family legend that they had their own Banshee which was rumoured to shriek whenever a family member was going to die. This, apparently, led to telegrams being dispatched to family members when the Banshee was heard to find out if everyone was alright. In the early 1920s the family moved to India. In 1926, after his father completed his tour with the Indian Army, the family moved to Belfast. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merville Battery
Merville may refer to: Communes in France * Merville, Haute-Garonne, in the Haute-Garonne ''département'' * Merville, Nord, in the Nord ''département'' * Merville-Franceville-Plage, in the Calvados ''département'' Other places * Merville Garden Village, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland * Merville, British Columbia * Merville Dairy, a former Irish milk distribution company based in Finglas, Dublin that merged with other companies to form Premier Dairies *Merville, Parañaque Merville, officially Barangay Merville, is a barangay in Parañaque. It is one of Parañaque's 16 barangays and is part of the city's 2nd district. Featuring a namesake gated residential community, it was created on April 3, 1978 as a barangay ou ..., a barangay in Parañaque, Metro Manila People * Merville (playwright), French 19th-century playwright {{disambig, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overseas Territories Police Medal
The Overseas Territories Police Medal (OTPM), known as the Colonial Police Medal (CPM) until April 2012, is a medal awarded for gallantry or distinguished service to all ranks of police forces and organised fire brigades in British Overseas Territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ..., and formerly in Crown Colonies and British Dependent Territories. Police officers in these areas can also be awarded the higher ranking King's Police Medal. The CPM was first awarded in 1938. The most common form of the CPM was the Colonial Police Medal for Meritorious Service. The equivalent for gallantry, the Colonial Police Medal for Gallantry, which could be awarded posthumously, had not been awarded since 1974 and was effectively replaced by the King's Gallantry Medal, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not. Ancient signalling systems, although sometimes quite extensive and sophisticated as in China, were generally not capable of transmitting arbitrary text messages. Possible messages were fixed and predetermined, so such systems are thus not true telegraphs. The earliest true telegraph put into widespread use was the Chappe telegraph, an optical telegraph invented by Claude Chappe in the late 18th century. The system was used extensively in France, and European nations occupied by France, during the Napoleonic era. The electric telegraph started to replace the optical telegraph in the mid-19th century. It was first taken up in Britain in the form of the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph, initially used mostly as an aid to railw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banshee
A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to the mythologically important tumulus, tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Ireland, Irish countryside, which are known as (singular ) in Old Irish.Dictionary of the Irish Language: síd, síth': "a fairy hill or mound" and ben' Description Sometimes she has long streaming hair, which she may be seen combing, with some legends specifying she can only keen while combing her hair. She wears a grey cloak over a green dress, and her eyes are red from continual weeping.Briggs, Katharine (1976). ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies''. Pantheon Books. pp. 14–16. . She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion, according to a firsthand account by Ann, Lady Fanshawe in her ''Memoirs''. Lady Wilde in her book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel. It is the second-largest city in Ireland (after Dublin), with an estimated population of in , and a Belfast metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of 671,559. First chartered as an English settlement in 1613, the town's early growth was driven by an influx of Scottish people, Scottish Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Presbyterians. Their descendants' disaffection with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland's Protestant Ascendancy, Anglican establishment contributed to the Irish Rebellion of 1798, rebellion of 1798, and to the Acts of Union 1800, union with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain in 1800—later regarded as a key to the town's industrial transformation. When granted City status in the United Kingdom#Northern Ireland, city s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Purdon
Major-General William Brooke Purdon (28 November 1881 – 1 December 1950) was an Irish soldier, physician and medical administrator. Towards the end of his life he was a representative of the Northern Ireland Government in London and for four years was an Honorary Surgeon to the King. In his youth Purdon was a rugby footballer of some note, representing several Irish clubs and was selected to play international rugby for Ireland on three occasions in 1906. Personal career William Purdon was born in Belfast in 1881. He was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Methodist College Belfast before matriculating to Queen's College, Belfast where he studied medicine. He graduated as Bachelor of Medicine in 1906 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1913 he took the Doctor of Public Health, and it was his specialisation in hygiene that he made his name after the war. During the First World War Purdon served the British Army with distinction. He was awarded the Disti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cork (city)
Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland by population, third largest on the island of Ireland. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 224,004. The city centre is an island between two channels of the River Lee (Ireland), River Lee which meet downstream at its eastern end, where the quays and Dock (maritime), docks along the river lead outwards towards Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Cork was founded in the 6th century as a monastic settlement, and was expanded by Vikings, Viking invaders around 915. Its charter was granted by John, King of England, Prince John in 1185 in Ireland, 1185. Cork city was once fully walled, and the remnants of the old medieval town centre can be found around South and North M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rushbrooke
Rushbrook (or Rushbrooke) is a surname, deriving from Rushbrooke in Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ..., England. Notable people with the surname include: * Claire Rushbrook (born 1971), English actress * Philip Rushbrook, governor of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha * Rosalyn Rushbrook (born 1942), British author * Selina Rushbrook (1880–1907), née Selina Ann Jenkins, was a petty criminal, prostitute and brothel keeper from Swansea, Wales * John Gordon Rushbrooke (1936–2003), Australian particle physicist See also * Rushbrook Williams, a historian and civil servant * Rush Brook, a river in Pennsylvania, United States * Rushbrooke, County Cork, Ireland * Rushbrooke, West Suffolk, Suffolk, England * Rushbrooke inequality, the criti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (founded in 1821), are published by Times Media, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, in turn wholly owned by News Corp. ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' were founded independently and have had common ownership only since 1966. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. ''The Times'' was the first newspaper to bear that name, inspiring numerous other papers around the world. In countries where these other titles are popular, the newspaper is often referred to as or , although the newspaper is of national scope and distribution. ''The Times'' had an average daily circulation of 365,880 in March 2020; in the same period, ''The Sunday Times'' had an average weekly circulation of 647,622. The two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance architecture, Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the States of Germany, state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the river Zwickauer Mulde, a tributary of the River Elbe. It had the first wildlife park in Germany when, during 1523, the castle park was converted into one of the largest menageries in Europe. The castle gained international fame as the site of Oflag IV-C, a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II for "incorrigible" Allies of World War II, Allied officers who had repeatedly attempted to escape from other camps. Original castle In 1046, Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire gave the Burgher (social class), burghers of Colditz permission to build the first documented settlement at the site. During 1083, Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV urged Margrave Wiprech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commando
A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, ''commando'' and ''kommando'' denote a "Command (military formation), command", including the sense of a military or an elite special operations unit. In the militaries and governments of most countries, commandos are distinctive in that they specialize in unconventional assault on high-value targets. In English, to distinguish between an individual commando and a commando unit, the unit is occasionally capitalized. In China, the term "commando unit" (突击队) does not necessarily refer to a commando unit, but refers to special forces and Police tactical unit, police tactical units in general. Such use includes the Special Operations Brigade (PLA Navy Marine Corps), Jiaolong Command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Nazaire Raid
The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Louis Joubert Lock, Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German occupation of France during World War II, German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) and British Commandos under the auspices of Combined Operations Headquarters on 28 March 1942. St Nazaire was targeted because the loss of its dry dock would force Germany's largest battleship, , to return to home waters if she were damaged. This would expose her to attack by British forces including the Home Fleet in the English Channel or the North Sea. The obsolete destroyer , accompanied by 18 smaller craft, crossed the English Channel to the Atlantic coast of France and rammed into the Normandie dry dock south gate. The ship had been packed with delayed-action explosives, well hidden within a steel and concrete case, that detonated later that day, putting the dock out of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
