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John McNeill (British Army Officer)
Major General Sir John Carstairs McNeill (28 March 1831 – 25 May 1904) was a senior British Army officer and Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Life McNeill was the son of Anne Elizabeth McNeill née Carstairs, and Alexander McNeill (1791–1850), brother of Duncan McNeill, Lord Colonsay and Sir John McNeill. His brother was Alexander McNeill. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and Addiscombe Military Seminary. On 18 June 1850, he and Alexander survived the wreck of the ''Orion'', in which their parents and two sisters lost their lives. McNeill entered the Bengal Army in December 1850 as an Ensign in the 12th Bengal Native Infantry. During the Indian Mutiny, he served at the siege and capture of Lucknow, after which he gained the brevet of major. In 1861 he transferred to the 107th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Light Infantry) – later The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonsay
Colonsay (; ; ) is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, located north of Islay and south of Isle of Mull, Mull. The ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeil, it is in the council area of Argyll and Bute and has an area of . Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest point. Geology The Colonsay Group, which takes its name from the island, is an estimated sequence of mildly Metamorphism, metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks that also outcrop on the islands of Islay and Oronsay, Inner Hebrides, Oronsay and the surrounding seabed. The sequence has been correlated with the Grampian Group, the oldest part of the Dalradian, Dalradian Supergroup. It includes the metawackes of the Oronsay Greywacke Formation, the sandstones of the Dun Gallain Grit Formation, the metasandstones and metamudstones of the Machrins Arkose, Kilchattan and Milbuie formations, the sandstones and phyllites of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander McNeill (New Zealand Politician)
Alexander McNeill (1833 – 17 May 1915) was a 19th-century member of parliament from Southland, New Zealand, Southland, New Zealand. He was the son of Anne Elizabeth McNeill née Carstairs, and Alexander McNeill (1791–1850), brother of Duncan McNeill, 1st Baron Colonsay, Duncan McNeill, Lord Colonsay (1793–1874) and of John McNeill (diplomat), Sir John McNeill (1795–1883). His own brother was Major General John Carstairs McNeill, Sir John McNeill VC (1831–1904). He and his brother John survived the wreck of the ''Orion (paddle steamer), Orion'' in 1850, in which his parents and two sisters lost their lives. As a member of the Royal Engineers, McNeill participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 for the entire conflict. He was wounded in the Siege of Delhi. At Kolkata, Calcutta, he married the daughter of Captain Henry Forrester Leighton; she was also the niece of Sir Archibald Wilson, the commander-in-chief at Delhi. He retired from the Royal Engineers and came to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brevet (military)
In military terminology, a brevet ( or ) is a warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank as a reward without necessarily conferring the authority and privileges granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the officer's title (for example, "Bvt. Maj. Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain" or "Bvt. Col. Arthur MacArthur"). It is not to be confused with a '' Brevet d'état-major'' in Francophone European military circles, where it is an award, nor should it be confused with temporary commissions. France In France, ''brevet'' is a word with a very broad meaning, which includes every document giving a capacity to a person. For instance, the various military speciality courses, such as military parachutism, are ended by the award of a brevet. The more important brevet in the French military is that of the École de guerre (''lit''. "school of war"), the French Staff College. Between 1870 and 1940, an ''officier breveté'' was a graduate of the ''École ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capture Of Lucknow
The Capture of Lucknow (Hindi: लखनऊ का क़ब्ज़ा, ) was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieged garrison in the Residency, and destroyed the organised resistance by the rebels in the Kingdom of Awadh (or ''Oudh'', as it was referred to in most contemporary accounts). Background Oudh had been annexed by the East India Company only a year before a general mutiny broke out in the Company's Bengal Army. The annexation had been accompanied by several instances of expropriation of royal and landholders' estates on sometimes flimsy grounds of non-payment of taxes, or difficulties in proving title to lands. Many sepoys (native soldiers) of the Company's Bengal Army had been recruited from high-caste and landowning communities in Oudh. There was increasing unrest in the Bengal Army, as privileges and customary allowances they had previously enjo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Lucknow
The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British The Residency, Lucknow, Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were Emergency evacuation, evacuated from the Residency, which was then abandoned. Background to the siege The state of Oudh State, Oudh/Awadh had been annexed by the British East India Company and the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was exiled to Calcutta the year before the rebellion broke out. This high-handed action by the East India Company was greatly resented within the state and elsewhere in India. The first British Commissioner (in effect the governor) appointed to the newly acquired territory was Coverley Jackson. He behaved tactlessly, and Henry Lawrence (Indian Army officer), Sir Henry Lawrence, a very experienced administrator, took up the appointment only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengal Native Infantry
The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing into law of the Government of India Act 1858 (as a direct result of the Indian Mutiny). At this latter point control of the East India Company's Bengal Presidency passed to the British Government. The first locally recruited battalion was raised by the East India Company in 1757 and by the start of 1857 there were 74 regiments of Bengal Native Infantry in the Bengal Army. Following the Mutiny the Presidency armies came under the direct control of the United Kingdom Government and there was a widespread reorganisation of the Bengal Army that saw the Bengal Native Infantry regiments reduced to 45. The title "Bengal Native Infantry" fell out of use in 1885 and the Bengal Infantry regiments ceased to exist when the three separate Presidency ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ensign (rank)
Ensign (; Middle English#Late Middle English, Late Middle English, from Old French ["mark", "symbol", "signal"; "flag", "standard", "pennant"], from Latin [plural]) is a junior rank of a Officer (armed forces)#Commissioned officers, commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the Military colours, standards and guidons, regimental colors, the rank acquired the name "ensign". This rank has generally been replaced in army ranks by second lieutenant. An ensign was generally the lowest-ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of Subaltern (military), subaltern existed. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, لواء, ''liwa (Arabic), liwa''', derives from the command of a unit with an ensign, not from the carrier of the unit's ensign, and is today the equivalent of major general. According to Thomas Venn's 1672 ''Military and Maritime Disci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion (paddle Steamer)
''Orion'' was a G & J Burns paddle steamer, built by Caird & Co in 1847, which struck a submerged rock and sank off Portpatrick Lighthouse, Wigtownshire, Scotland, on 18 June 1850 on her way from Liverpool to Glasgow, with the loss of 41 of the 200 passengers on board. The eminent surgeon John Burns (surgeon), John Burns was one of the passengers killed in the accident. Among the survivors were John McNeill, who would go on to reach the rank of Major General serving the British Army in India, also winning the Victoria Cross, and his brother Alexander, a future Independent Member of Parliament - though both their parents and two sister perished in the wreck. Some of the survivors were rescued by the Isle of Man vessel ''Fenella'', others by boats from Portpatrick. Her Sea captain, captain was found guilty of the "culpable bereavement of the lives of the passengers" and was imprisoned for 18 months. Her second mate was Penal transportation, transported. The incident was described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Addiscombe Military Seminary
The East India Company Military Seminary was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1861. Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the East India Company's Presidency armies, own army in India. The institution was formally known as the East India Company Military Seminary (a name the cadets always disliked) until 1855, when the name was changed to the East India Company Military College.Bourne 1979, p. 206. In 1858, when the college was taken over by the government, it was renamed the Royal India Military College. Colloquially, it was known as Addiscombe Seminary, Addiscombe College, or Addiscombe Military Academy. The Seminary was a sister institution to the East India Company College in Hertfordshire, which trained civilian "writers" (clerks). In military terms it was a counterpart to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and the Royal Military ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the third-oldest university in the English-speaking world. St Andrews was founded in 1413 when the Avignon Pope, Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinians, Augustinian clergy. Along with the universities of University of Glasgow, Glasgow, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, and University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, St Andrews was part of the Scottish Enlightenment during the 18th century. St Andrews is made up of a variety of institutions, comprising three colleges — United College, St Andrews, United College (a union of St Salvator's and St Leonard's Colleges), St Mary's College, St Andrew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wanganui Chronicle
''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea, Waverley, Whanganui, Bulls, Marton, Raetihi, Ohakune and National Park. History Local resident Henry Stokes first proposed the paper for Petre, as the town was then called, but initial publication was held back by lack of equipment. As no printing press was available, Stokes approached the technical master at Wanganui Collegiate School, Rev. Charles Nicholls, and together they constructed a maire wood and iron makeshift printing press, on which, with the help of the staff and pupils of the school, the first edition of the ''Wanganui Chronicle'' (as it was then spelled) was printed on 18 September 1856. The motto of the paper, printed at the top of the editorial column, was "''Verite Sans Peur''," French for "''Truth without ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territorial evolution of the British Empire, territories of the British Empire from which it developed. They are connected through their English in the Commonwealth of Nations, use of the English language and cultural and historical ties. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental relations, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations between member nations. Numerous List of Commonwealth organisations, organisations are associated with and operate within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
