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William James Smythe
Williams James Smythe (1816–1887) was a general and colonel-commandant of the Royal Artillery and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Early life and military career He was born at Coole Glebe, Carnmoney, on 25 January 1816 – the second son of Samuel Smythe, vicar of Carnmoney and of his wife Margaret, daughter of John Owens of Tildarg. He was educated at Antrim until he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich on 11 November 1830. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 20 December 1833. In April 1835 he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, where he served in the Kaffir War and received the war medal. He was promoted to be first lieutenant on 10 January 1837. He returned to England in October the same year. In July 1839 Smythe became secretary of the Royal Artillery Institution at Woolwich, and filled the office until he embarked for St. Helena in December 1811 to take charge of the observatory at Longwood, and to carry out magnetical an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises thirteen Regular Army regiments, King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and five Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve regiments. History Formation to 1799 Artillery was used by the English army as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, while Henry VIII established it as a semi-permanent function in the 16th century. Until the early 18th century, the majority of British regiments were raised for specific campaigns and disbanded on completion. An exception were gunners based at the Tower of London, Portsmouth and other forts around Britain, who were controlled by the Ordnance Office and stored and maintained equipment and provided personnel for field artillery Artillery is a class of heav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lake (Dean Of Durham)
William Charles Lake (9 January 1817 – 8 December 1897) was Dean of Durham and Warden of its university from 1869 to 1894. Life He was the eldest son of Captain Charles Lake of the Scots fusilier guards. He was educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, where he became the lifelong friend of his school-fellow, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, and Balliol, where he was elected Fellow in 1838 and was President of the Oxford Union. He was ordained in 1842, but remained at Oxford until 1858. In that year he became Rector of Huntspill; and in 1860 Canon of Wells. Meanwhile, Lake's linguistic abilities had led to his appointment by Lord Panmure as a member of the commission of 1856, to report on military education on the continent. He had won the prize at Oxford in 1840, for his Latin essay on the Roman army as an obstacle to civil liberty. He also served on the Newcastle commission of 1858 to inquire into popular education, and on the royal commission upon military education of 1868. On 9 Aug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's million people. Panama was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the United States Army Corps of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic Declination
Magnetic declination, or magnetic variation, is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) and true north (the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole). This angle varies depending on position on the Earth's surface and changes over time. Somewhat more formally, Bowditch defines variation as “the angle between the magnetic and geographic meridians at any place, expressed in degrees and minutes east or west to indicate the direction of magnetic north from true north. The angle between magnetic and grid meridians is called grid magnetic angle, grid variation, or grivation.” By convention, declination is positive when magnetic north is east of true north, and negative when it is to the west. '' Isogonic lines'' are lines on the Earth's surface along which the declination has the same constant value, and lin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Levuka
Levuka () is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007, the last to date, Levuka town had a population of 1,131 (plus 3,266 living in the peri-urban area as defined by the Bureau of Statistics), about half of Ovalau's 8,360 inhabitants. It is the economic hub and the largest of 24 settlements on the island. Having been nominated decades prior, Levuka was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013, in recognition of the port town's exceptional testimony to the late colonial port towns in the Pacific. History The modern town of Levuka was founded around 1820 by European settlers and traders as the first modern town in the Fiji Islands, and became an important port and trading post. A disparate band of settlers made up Levuka's population – traders, missionaries, shipwrights, speculators, and vagabonds, as well as respectable busine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berthold Carl Seemann
Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Central America), was a German botanist. He travelled widely and collected and described plants from the Pacific and South America. In 1844 he travelled to the United Kingdom to study botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. On the recommendation of Sir WJ Hooker, he was appointed naturalist on the voyage of exploration of the American west coast and Pacific by Henry Kellett on HMS ''Herald'', 1847–1851, along with the naturalists Thomas Edmondston, and John Goodridge. The expedition returned via Hawaii, Hong Kong and the East Indies, calling at the Cape in March 1851. Here he met up with his old acquaintance Zeyher, and with Baur and Juritz they climbed Table Mountain on 13 March 1851, Ecklon being unwell and unable to accompany them. On 16 March Zeyher introduced him to Bowie at Wynberg. He left the Cape on 27 March and was back in England on 6 June 1851. The botanical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seru Epenisa Cakobau
Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau (; occasionally spelled ''Cacobau'' or phonetically ''Thakombau'') (c.1815 – 1 February 1883) was a Fijian Ratu and warlord ('' Vunivalu'') who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, establishing a united Fijian kingdom. He was born on Natauloa, Nairai Island in Lomaiviti but spent his youth on Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti. later returning to Bau to re-establish his Father's Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa reign. Ratu Epenisa Seru Visawaqa was given the name "Cakobau" meaning destroyer of Bau returned with most of his warriors from Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti to coup the leadership in Bau then and later takeover his father's title; known after his father as the 6th "Vunivalu" or Warlord of Bau. Background He was born to Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa on Nairai Island, Lomaiviti, and one of his nine wives, Adi Savusavu. The Vunivalu and the Roko Tui Bau (sacred chieftain) had had many power struggles during the course of nearly a century. These strug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about . The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau. About 87% of the total population of live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts: either in the capital city of Suva; or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry; or in Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is dominant. The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain. The majority of Fiji's islands were formed by volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Some geothermal activity st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Select Committee (United Kingdom)
In British politics, parliamentary select committees can be appointed from the House of Commons, like the Foreign Affairs Select Committee; from the House of Lords, like the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee; or as a joint committee of Parliament drawn from both, such as the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Committees may exist as "sessional" committees – i.e. be near-permanent – or as "ad-hoc" committees with a specific deadline by which to complete their work, after which they cease to exist, such as the Lords Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change. The Commons select committees are generally responsible for overseeing the work of government departments and agencies, whereas those of the Lords look at general issues, such as the constitution, considered by the Constitution Committee, or the economy, considered by the Economic Affairs Committee. Both houses have their own committees to review drafts of European Union directives: th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet ( or ) was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. An officer so promoted was referred to as being brevetted (for example, "he was brevetted major general"). 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 the one of the Éco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Justice Of The Peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission (letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are (or were) usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs. History In 1195, Richard I ("the Lionheart") of England and his Minister Hubert Walter commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in unruly areas. They were responsible to the King in ensuring that the law was upheld and preserving the " King's peace". Therefore, they were known as "keepers of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Blue Book
In diplomatic history, a colour book is an officially sanctioned collection of diplomatic correspondence and other documents published by a government for educational or political reasons, or to promote the government position on current or past events. The earliest were the British Blue Books, dating to the 17th century. In World War I, all the major powers had their own color book, such as the German White Book, the Austrian Red Book, Russian Orange Book, and more. Especially in wartime or times of crisis, colour books have been used as a form of white propaganda to justify governmental action, or to assign blame to foreign actors. The choice of what documents to include, how to present them, and even what order to list them, can make the book tantamount to government-issued propaganda. Terminology The terms for individual color books such as the British blue book go back centuries and other individual color books were common in the 19th century and especially during Wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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