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Fred Copeman
Frederick Bayes Copeman OBE (1907–1983) was an English volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, commanding the British Battalion. He is also notable for contributing to London's air raid defences during the Second World War. Childhood Fred Copeman was born in the Wangford Union Workhouse near Beccles in East Suffolk, England, in 1907. His mother and brother, George, were also residents. Initially, the Copeman brothers were the only children in the workhouse but, in 1916, Fred (aged nine) and George were moved from the workhouse to the Children's Home in Ravensmere Road, Beccles. It was here that Copeman befriended his first dog, a stray he called "Bonnie". Shortly, afterwards, George was sent to Canada to make a fresh start by the children's charity, Barnardo's, and Fred "never saw nor heard of him gain. Training The focus of care at the time was to make boys swiftly self-sufficient and so, aged 12, Copeman was sent to Watts Naval School at North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beccles
Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 and A12 roads, north-east of London as the crow flies, south-east of Norwich and north-northeast of the county town of Ipswich. Nearby towns include Lowestoft to the east and Great Yarmouth to the north-east. The town lies on the River Waveney on the edge of The Broads National Park. It had a population at the 2011 census of 10,123. Worlingham is a suburb of Beccles; the combined population is 13,868. Beccles twinned with Petit-Couronne in France in 1978. History The name is conjectured to be derived from Becc-Liss* (Brittonic=Small-court). However, also offered is Bece-laes* (Old English=Meadow by Stream), as well as a contraction of ''Beata Ecclesia'', the name of the Christian temple erected c. 960 by the monks of the monastery of Bury. Once a flourishing Anglian riverport, it lie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Elmham
North Elmham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,428 in 624 households at the 2001 census, including Gateley and increasing slightly to 1,433 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the Elmham and Mattishall division of Norfolk County Council and the Upper Wensum ward of Breckland District Council. The village is located along the B1145 a route which runs between King's Lynn and Mundesley. The village is about north of East Dereham on the west bank of the River Wensum. North Elmham was the site of a pre-Norman cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Elmham until 1075. History The name North Elmham comes from the Old English, meaning "village where elms grow" and is first mentioned in 1035. Only ruins now survive of a Norman Chapel which is now looked after by English Heritage. The chapel is on the site of an earlier Anglo Saxon timber cathedral which housed the episcopa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post First World War slump, the 1926 General Strike and later the Great Depression, and to fight the Means Test. Activities The NUWM was founded by Wal Hannington, and led in Scotland by Harry McShane. From 1921 until 1929 it was called the National Unemployed Workers' Committee Movement. The NUWM became the foremost body responsible for organising the unemployed on a national basis in the interwar period, these years being characterised by high levels of unemployment. A central element of its activities was a series of hunger marches to London, organised in 1922, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1934 and 1936. The largest of these was the National Hunger March, 1932, that was followed by some days of serious violence across central London with 75 people being badly injured, which in turn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist Party Of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB founded the ''Daily Worker'' (renamed the ''Morning Star'' in 1966). In 1936, members of the party were present at the Battle of Cable Street, helping organise resistance against the British Union of Fascists. In the Spanish Civil War the CPGB worked with the USSR to create the British Battalion of the International Brigades, which party activist Bill Alexander commanded. In World War II, the CPGB mirrored the Soviet position, opposing or supporting the war in line with the involvement of the USSR. By the end of World War II, CPGB membership had nearly tripled and the party reached the height of its popularity. Many key CPGB members became leaders of Britain's trade union movement, including most notably Jessie Eden, Abraham Lazarus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Ereira
Alan Ereira is a British author, historian and documentary filmmaker. He is a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales, Trinity St. David. Life Educated at Kilburn Grammar School, Ereira subsequently worked at the BBC on television and radio since 1965 contributing documentaries to the Timewatch strand amongst others He has been awarded the Japan Prize for his 1978 documentary on the Battle of the Somme, and the Royal Television Society ''Best Documentary Series'' award for his 1988 documentary on the Armada. Ereira directed a documentary called ''From the Heart of the World - The Elder Brother's Warning'' (1990) for the British Broadcasting Corporation. In this film he documented his unique visits to the Kogi people of Colombia, an indigenous ('Indian') ethnic group which survived attempts by the Spanish conquerors to destroy them by retreating high up into the mountainous area of the Sierra Nevada, where they now live. These meetings were only allowed by the Kog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Gurney
Jason Gurney (1910–1973) was a British sculptor who fought in the Spanish Civil War. His family moved to South Africa when he was a child and after leaving school he worked in Johannesburg. Eventually, he saved enough money to return to Europe. He was with the International Brigades from December 1936 to August 1937. During that time, he served in the British Battalion, the Lincoln Battalion and XIV International Brigade staff. He was wounded in the right hand by a sniper's explosive bullet in a lull between fighting in the trenches at Jarama. His wound was sufficiently serious to send him home and to ensure that he never worked as a sculptor again. His perceptive and vivid memoirs of the Spanish Civil War were published posthumously and are drawn from heavily by historians. He knew and described Tom Wintringham Fred Copeman, André Marty, Martin Hourihan, Jock Cunningham, George Nathan Samuel George Montague Nathan (20 January 1895 – 16 July 1937) was an English so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Len Wincott
Len Wincott (1907 – January 1983) was an English sailor, mutineer and communist activist who later defected to the Soviet Union. Childhood and early naval career Len Wincott was born in poverty in Leicester in 1907. Having few other options, he joined the Royal Navy as a boy seaman in 1923 after time at the training centre for boys at Shotley in Suffolk. Despite the low pay and low peacetime prospects, the navy provided him with a degree of security. His service record up to the end of 1929 is at The National Archives (piece ADM 188/861) and shows a model seaman. Invergordon Mutiny, September 1931 In September 1931, as part of its attempts to deal with the Great Depression, the new National Government launched cuts to public spending. Navy spending cuts were translated into a 10% pay cut (matching 10% cuts across the board for public sector workers). However, the cuts were not applied equally to all ranks. Sailors of the Atlantic Fleet, arriving at Invergordon (on the Cromar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Norfolk (78)
HMS ''Norfolk'' was a heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy; along with her sister ship she was part of a planned four-ship subclass. She served throughout the Second World War, where she was involved in the sinking of the German Navy's battleships and . Construction She was laid down in July 1927 at Govan by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd and launched on 12 December 1928. She was commissioned on 30 April 1930. Service history Inter-war period In September 1931, the crew of the ''Norfolk'' were part of a mutiny that later became known as the Invergordon Mutiny. The ship later served with the Home Fleet until 1932 and then went to the America and West Indies Station based at the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, between 1932 and 1934. Ships based at Bermuda spent much of the year cruising around the Americas individually or in small groups, while being available to respond to states of emergencies (including h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cromarty Firth
The Cromarty Firth (; gd, Caolas Chrombaidh ; literally "kyles /nowiki>straits.html"_;"title="strait.html"_;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straits">strait.html"_;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straitsof_Cromarty.html" ;"title="strait">/nowiki>straits.html" ;"title="strait.html" ;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straits">strait.html" ;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straitsof Cromarty">strait">/nowiki>straits.html" ;"title="strait.html" ;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straits">strait.html" ;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straitsof Cromarty") is an arm of the Moray Firth in Scotland. Geography The entrance to the Cromarty Firth is guarded by two precipitous headlands; the one on the north high and the one on the south high — called " The Sutors" from a fancied resemblance to a couple of shoemakers (in Scots, ''souters'') bent over their lasts. From the Sutors the Firth extends inland in a westerly and then south-westerly direction for a distance of . Excepting be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invergordon
Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area became a police burgh in 1863 and Invergordon Town Hall was completed in 1871. The Invergordon Grain Distillery, operated by Philippines-owned whisky giant Whyte & Mackay, was established in 1959. Connected to the distillery was the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band which was formed in 1964. In 1971, the British Aluminium Company, which was 47% owned by Reynolds Metals, opened an aluminum smelter at Invergordon. Naval Base The naval institute was designed in 1914 by Edinburgh architect Stewart Kaye in anticipation of the First World War. The naval base was the venue for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. Remains of the naval base are evidenced in the tank farm lying behind the town centre; the port used to contain fuel o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Fleet (United Kingdom)
The Atlantic Fleet was a naval fleet of the Royal Navy. It existed for two separate periods; 1909 until 1914, and then 1919 until 1932. History On 14 December 1904 the Channel Fleet was re-styled the 'Atlantic Fleet'.National Archives records The Atlantic Fleet lasted until 1912 when rising tensions with Germany forced the Royal Navy to relook at fleet formations and the Atlantic Fleet became the 3rd Battle Squadron. The Atlantic Fleet was based at Gibraltar to reinforce either the Channel Fleet or the Mediterranean Fleet, from January 1905 to February 1907. It remained at Gibraltar until April 1912. The Atlantic Fleet was again formed after the end of World War I, when British naval forces were reorganised to reflect the changed economic and political situation in Europe. The fleet was created upon the disbandment of the Grand Fleet in April 1919, absorbing many, but not all of its elements. It was placed under a Commander-in-Chief, who for part of that year held the title of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Depression In The United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression. It was Britain's largest and most profound economic depression of the 20th century. The Great Depression originated in the United States in late 1929 and quickly spread to the world. Britain did not experience the boom that had characterized the U.S., Germany, Canada and Australia in the 1920s, so its effect appeared less severe.H. W. Richardson, "The Economic Significance of the Depression in Britain," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (1970) 4#4 pp. 3–1in JSTOR/ref> Britain's world trade fell by half (1929–33), the output of heavy industry fell by a third, employment profits plunged in nearly all sectors. At the depth in summer 1932, registered unemployed numbered 3.5 million, and many more had only part-time employment. However at the same time, it is important to consider that from 1929 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
