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Archibald Charles Melvill Paris
Brigadier Archibald Charles Melvill Paris, (28 May 1890 – 3 March 1942) was a British Army officer. Although he is better known for having died during the events that followed the sinking of the Dutch ship '' Rooseboom'' off Sumatra in 1942, he was also one of the few British commanders that put up a good fight against the Japanese during the Battle of Malaya and the subsequent fall of Singapore. Early life and career Archibald Paris was born in 1890 in Southsea on Portsea Island, Portsmouth,''1891 England Census'' the son of Major General Sir Archibald Paris, a Royal Marines officer who commanded the Royal Naval Division during the First World War, and of Lillian Jane (''née'' Melvill), daughter of Gen. Henry Melvill and granddaughter of Rev. Canon Henry Melvill. He was descended from Capt. Philip Melvill on his mother's side. Paris passed out of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1909. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portsea Island
Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural island in area, just off the southern coast of Hampshire in England. Portsea Island contains the majority of the city of Portsmouth. Portsea Island has the third-largest population of all the islands in the British Isles after the mainlands of Great Britain and Ireland; it also has the highest population density of any British Isle, and Portsmouth has the highest population density of any city in the UK outside of London. To the east of Portsea Island lies Hayling Island, separated by Langstone Harbour. To the west is the peninsular mainland town of Gosport, separated by Portsmouth Harbour. To the south, it faces into the Spithead area of the wider Solent. A narrow tidal channel along the northern edge of Portsea Island, known as Portsbridge Creek, separates Portsea Island from the mainland. Three roads connect Portsea Island to the mainland road network; the M275 motorway, the A3 London Road (split on two separate bridge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rooseboom
SS ''Rooseboom'' was a 1,035 ton Dutch steamship owned by KPM (Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (or Royal Packet Navigation Company) of the Netherlands East Indies built in 1926 by Rijkee & Co of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The sinking In February 1942 British Malaya and Singapore surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army. Over 100,000 British and British Empire military personnel became prisoners-of-war as well as thousands of civilians. A few thousand more escaped to the nearby Netherlands East Indies and from there to Australia, Ceylon or India in any ship that could be found. Many of these ships were lost to Japanese attacks among the islands scattered around Sumatra and Java while attempting to escape. ''Rooseboom'' under Captain Marinus Cornelis Anthonie Boon, was taking around 500 passengers (mainly British military personnel and civilians) from Padang to Colombo in Ceylon. On 1 March 1942 at 11:35pm ''Rooseboom'' was steaming in the Indian Ocean west of Sumatra when sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-inflatable combination-hulled vessels. Overview There are generally three types of boat, in-land (used on lakes and rivers), in-shore (used closer to shore) and off-shore (into deeper waters and further out to sea). A rescue lifeboat is a boat designed with specialised features for searching for, rescuing and saving the lives of people in peril at sea or in estuaries. In the United Kingdom and Ireland rescue lifeboats are typically vessels crewed by volunteers, intended for quick dispatch, launch and transit to reach a ship or individuals in trouble at sea. Off-shore boats are referred to as 'All-weather' and generally have a range of 150–250 nautical miles. Characteristics such as capability to withstand heavy weather, fuel capacity, navi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berthold Wells Key
Major-General Berthold Wells Key, (19 December 1895 – 26 September 1986), known as Billy Key, was a British Indian Army officer. Early life Born on 19 December 1895, the son of Dr J.M. Key, he was educated at Dulwich College in London and commissioned onto the Unattached List of the British Army on 1 October 1914. Two months later he transferred to the British Indian Army. Military service First World War Key served with the 45th Rattray's Sikhs during the First World War, reaching the rank of captain by 1918. He was wounded in Mesopotamia in 1918 and received the Military Cross, the citation for which reads: In 1917 he married Aileen Leslie (died 1951), daughter of Colonel E.L. Dunsterville RE, with whom he had a son and two daughters. His son was killed in action in Italy during the Second World War. Between the wars After the First World War Key served in Afghanistan and, with the 3/11th Battalion, Sikh Regiment on the North West Frontier. Attending the Staff Colleg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Murray-Lyon
Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General David Murrey Murray-Lyon, (14 August 1890 – 4 February 1975) was an officer in the British Indian Army. His final appointment was as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 11th Infantry Division (India), 11th Indian Infantry Division in British Malaya, Malaya until he was relieved of his duty by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival. He was taken prisoner when Singapore fell to the Japanese, and spent the rest of the war in captivity. Early life Murray-Lyon was born in Glendale, Northumberland, on 14 August 1890, the eldest son of Dr Thomas Malcolm Lyon, and a grandson of David Murray Lyon of Ayr, Scotland. He married Meredith Napier in 1916, they had two daughters and one son. Military service Murray-Lyon was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery of the Territorial Force, the British Army's part-time reserve force, in 1908. He transferred to the 3rd Battalion (Depot), King's Own Scottish Borderer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Percival
Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a senior British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period but is most noted for his defeat in the Second World War, when he commanded British Empire forces during the Japanese Malayan Campaign and the subsequent Battle of Singapore. Percival's surrender to the invading Imperial Japanese Army force, the largest surrender in British military history, undermined Britain's prestige as an imperial power in East Asia.Morris, ''Farewell the Trumpets'', p452 His defenders, such as Sir John Smyth, have argued that under-funding of Malaya's defences and the inexperienced, under-equipped nature of the Empire army in Malaya, not Percival's leadership, were ultimately to blame. Early days Childhood and employment Arthur Ernest Percival was born on 26 December 1887 in Aspenden Lodge, Aspenden near Buntingford in Hertfordshire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian 11th Infantry Division
The 11th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry Division (military), division of the Indian Army during World War II. It formed part of Indian III Corps in the Malaya Command during the Battle of Malaya. The division was re-raised on 1 April 1965 and is presently part of the XII Corps (India), XII Corps of Southern Command (India), Southern Command. It is presently responsible for safeguarding the borders with Pakistan along Southern Rajasthan and Gujarat. History It was originally commanded by Major-General David Murray-Lyon, Murray-Lyon until 24 December 1941. Under Murray-Lyon the 11th Indian Division was defeated at the Battle of Jitra and suffered some of its worst casualties during the retreat from Jitra and at the Battle of Gurun. Murray-Lyon was fired by Lieut. Gen. Arthur Percival and replaced by Brig. Archibald Paris, A.C.M. Paris and then Maj. Gen. Berthold Wells Key, Billy Key. This division suffered such heavy casualties during the early stages of the campaign, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry and cavalry officers of the British and Indian Armies. The RMC was reorganised at the outbreak of the Second World War, but some of its units remained operational at Sandhurst and Aldershot. In 1947, the Royal Military College was merged with the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, to form the present-day all-purpose Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. History Pre-dating the college, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, had been established in 1741 to train artillery and engineer officers, but there was no such provision for training infantry and cavalry officers. The Royal Military College was conceived by Colonel John Le Marchant, whose scheme for establishing schools for the military instruction of officers at High Wycombe and Great M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Melvill
Philip Melvill (7 April 1762 – 27 October 1811)''Memoirs of the Late Philip Melvill, Esq. Lieut. Gov. of Pendennis Castle, Cornwall : With an Appendix Containing Extracts From His Diaries and Letters Selected by a Friend...together with Two Letters and a Sermon, Occasioned by His Death''; London : Hatchard, 1812. 322 pages. It is available online aInternet Archive The memoirs, by an anonymous evangelical friend run to page 178, Melvill's death being recorded on page 153, the deathbed scene being described on many pages before that. The list of Subscribers is 18 pages long. was a nineteenth-century philanthropist of Falmouth, Cornwall.Gay, Susan E. ''Old Falmouth''; London, Headley Bros, 1903 p.28-30, portrait of Melvill, facing p. 29. He was born in 1762 in Dunbar, in East Lothian on the southeast coast of Scotland. Military service He served in India, as a lieutenant in the 73rd regiment in the war against Hyder Ali's forces. In 1780, he was wounded and captured. He was held ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Melvill
Rev. Henry Melvill (14 September 1798 – 9 February 1871) was a British priest in the Church of England, and principal of the East India Company College from 1844 to 1858. He afterwards served as Canon of St Paul's Cathedral. Early years Melvill was the fifth son of Philip Melvill (1762–1811), an officer in the army, who was lieutenant-governor of Pendennis Castle from 1797 till 1811, by his wife Elizabeth Carey (1770–1844), daughter of Peter Dobrée of Beauregard, Guernsey. He was born at the castle in 1798. His elder brother was Sir James Cosmo Melvill; Philip Melvill and Sir Peter Melvill were his younger brothers. He was born in Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, on 14 September 1798 and became a sizar of St. John's College, Cambridge, in October 1817. After migrating to Peterhouse, he passed as second wrangler and won the Smith's Prize in 1821, and was a fellow and tutor of his college from 1822 to 1832. He graduated B.A. 1821, M.A. 1824, and B.D. 1836. Life as a prie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
63rd (Royal Naval) Division
The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who were not needed for service at sea. For RN personnel, the designation HMS ''Victory IV'' was used. The division fought at Antwerp in 1914 and at Gallipoli in 1915. In 1916, following many losses among the original naval volunteers, the division was transferred to the British Army as the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, re-using the number from the disbanded second-line 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division Territorial Force. As an Army formation, it fought on the Western Front for the remainder of the war. Origins Advanced Base Force When the war began, a Marine Brigade of four infantry battalions was formed from men of the Royal Marine Light Infantry and Royal Marine Artillery. The brigade was to be an Advanced Base Force, according to a pre-war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marines can trace their origins back to the formation of the "Duke of York and Albany's maritime regiment of Foot" on 28 October 1664, and can trace their commando origins to the formation of the 3rd Special Service Brigade, now known as 3 Commando Brigade on 14 February 1942, during the Second World War. As a specialised and adaptable light infantry and commando force, Royal Marine Commandos are trained for rapid deployment worldwide and capable of dealing with a wide range of threats. The Corps of Royal Marines is organised into 3 Commando Brigade and a number of separate units, including 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines, and a company-strength commitment to the Special Forces Support Group. The Corps operates in all environments ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
