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1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps
The 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps was a Volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers, serving from 1861 to 1908. A detachment of the unit served in the Second Boer War. Although the unit itself did not transfer to the Territorial Force in 1908, several descendant units did so, deriving their seniority from the 1st Gloucesters. History The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. Two such units were the 1st Gloucestershire Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) formed at Gloucester on 28 January 1861, and the 2nd Gloucestershire EVC formed at Bristol on 10 April 1861 by employees of the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Administratively, the 1st Gloucester EVC was attached to the 1st Administrative Battalion, Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteer Corps (later the 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of The British Army
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families. The study of flags is known as "vexillology" from the Latin , meaning "flag" or "banner". National flags are patriotic symbols with widely varied interpretations that often include strong military associations because of their original and ongoing use for that purpose. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for decorative purposes. Some military units are called "flags" after their use of flags. A ''flag'' (Arabic: ) is equivalent to a brigade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1st Devonshire Engineers
The 1st Devonshire Engineer Volunteer Corps, later the Devonshire Fortress Royal Engineers, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers whose history dated back to 1862. The unit helped to defend the vital naval base of Plymouth, and supplied detachments for service in the field in both World Wars. During the North African campaign in World War II, the unit's sappers distinguished themselves in bridging the Nile and clearing minefields during and after El Alamein. Their successors served on the postwar Territorial Army until 1969. Origins The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 led to the creation of many Rifle, Artillery and Engineer Volunteer units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need. One such unit was the 1st Devonshire Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) formed at Torquay, with the first officers' commissions dated 28 January 1862.Westlake, pp. 7–8. The 1st Devonshire EVC was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severn Estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in the UK regarding renewable energy. Geography Definitions of the limits of the Severn Estuary vary. At the upstream boundary, the tidal limit of the river is at Gloucester. Downstream, the International Hydrographic Organization places the boundary between the estuary and the open sea of the Bristol Channel at a line between Sand Point, Somerset (immediately north of Weston-super-Mare) and Lavernock Point (immediately south of Penarth in south Wales). This definition is used by the Severn Estuary Partnership and Visit England. A narrower definition adopted for navigation purposes by some maps includes only the area downstream of the Second Severn Crossing near Severn Beach, South Gloucestershire. The definition used on Admiralty Chart SC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the south-east of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. Cardiff Built-up Area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth. Cardiff is the main commercial centre of Wales as well as the base for the Senedd. At the 2021 census, the unitary authority area population was put at 362,400. The popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Controlled Mines
A controlled mine was a circuit fired weapon used in coastal defenses with ancestry going back to 1805 when Robert Fulton termed his underwater explosive device a torpedo: Robert Fulton invented the word torpedo to describe his underwater explosive device and successfully destroyed a ship in 1805. In the 1840s Samuel Colt began experimenting with underwater mines fired by electric current and in 1842, he blew up an old schooner in the Potomac River from a shore station five miles away. History "Torpedoes" were in use during the American Civil War when such devices were made famous with the order given by David Farragut at Mobile Bay. After that war similar mines were being contemplated or put into use by other nations. In 1869 the United States Army Corps of Engineers was directed by Secretary of War William Belknap to assume responsibility for torpedoes for coastal defense. That responsibility continued through the formation of the U.S. Torpedo Service as part of the United Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Clarke (British Army Officer, Born 1824)
Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Clarke, (27 July 1824 – 29 March 1902) was a British soldier and governor, as well as a surveyor and politician in Australia.Betty Malone, Clarke, Sir Andrew (1824–1902), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol.3, MUP, 1969, pp 409–411. Background and education Born in Southsea, Hampshire, Clarke was the eldest of the four sons of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke, the Governor of Western Australia (1793–1847). Clarke's early years were spent in India with his parents. He was later brought up by his paternal grandfather and two uncles, one of whom was the father of Marcus Clarke, at the family home of Belmont, near Lifford, Ireland. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and at Portora Royal School at Enniskillen, Ireland. At 16 he entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where one of his teachers was Michael Faraday. Career Graduating in 1844, Clarke was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen), formerly more commonly lieutenant-general, is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank; some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, when on multinational operations. Lieutenant general is a superior rank to Major-general (United Kingdom), major general, but subordinate to a General (United Kingdom), (full) general. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-8, equivalent to a Vice-Admiral (Royal Navy), vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and an air marshal in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The rank insignia for both the Army and the Royal Marines is a crown over a crossed sabre and baton. Since the coronation of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II, the St Edward's Crown, commonly known as the Queen's Crown, has been depicted. Before 1953 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon, West Wick, Worlebury, Uphill and Worle. Its population at the 2011 census was 76,143. Since 1983, Weston has been twinned with Hildesheim in Germany. The local area has been occupied since the Iron Age. It was still a small village until the 19th century when it developed as a seaside resort. A railway station and two piers were built. In the second half of the 20th century it was connected to the M5 motorway but the number of people holidaying in the town declined and some local industries closed, although the number of day visitors has risen. Attractions include The Helicopter Museum, Weston Museum, and the Grand Pier. Cultural venues include The Playhouse, the Winter Gardens and the Blakehay Theatre. The Bristol Channel has a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nailsea
Nailsea is a town in Somerset, England, southwest of Bristol, and northeast of Weston-super-Mare. The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line. Nailsea had a population of 15,630 in the 2011 Census. The town was an industrial centre based on coal mining and glass manufacture, which have now been replaced by service industries. The surrounding North Somerset Levels has wildlife habitats including the Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Bucklands Pool/Backwell Lake Local Nature Reserve. Nailsea is close to the M5 motorway and Bristol Airport, and its railway station, Nailsea & Backwell, has services operated by the Great Western Railway. Secondary education is provided by Nailsea School (rebuilt in 2009), and primary education by St Francis School, Grove Junior School, Kingshill School and Golden Valley. Churches include the 14th-century Holy Trinit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal command of Vespasian. Exeter became a religious centre in the Middle Ages. Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century, became Anglican in the 16th-century English Reformation. Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, although by the First World War the city was in decline. After the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now a centre for education, business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. It is home to two of the constituent campuses of the University of Exeter: Streatham and St Luke's. The administrative area of Exeter has the status of a non-metropolitan district under the administration of the County Council. It is the county town of Devon and home to the headquarters of Devon County Council. A p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay and across from the fishing port of Brixham. The town's economy, like Brixham's, was initially based upon fishing and agriculture, but in the early 19th century it began to develop into a fashionable seaside resort. Later, as the town's fame spread, it was popular with Victorian society. Renowned for its mild climate, the town earned the nickname the English Riviera. The writer Agatha Christie was born in the town and lived at Ashfield in Torquay during her early years. There is an "Agatha Christie Mile", a tour with plaques dedicated to her life and work. The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning lived in the town from 1837 to 1841 on the recommendation of her doctor in an attempt to cure her of a disease which is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volunteer Force (Great Britain)
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present Territorial Army Infantry, Artillery, Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units. The British Army following the Crimea Prior to the Crimean War, the British military (i.e., ''land forces'') was made up of multiple separate forces, with a basic division into the ''Regular Forces'' (including the British Army, composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, and the ''Ordnance Military Corps'' of the Board of Ordnance, made up of the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and the Royal Sappers and Miners though not including the originally civilian Commissariat Depart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
