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Henry Watson (1737–1786)
Colonel Henry Watson (1737 – 17 September 1786) was a British military engineer who worked in India. He was known for his mathematical abilities and knowledge of engineering, was involved in the design of the Calcutta dockyard, and served as a chief engineer of Bengal. An area in Calcutta known as Watgunge is named after him. Watson was the son of a grazier from Holbeach, Lincolnshire. He showed a talent for mathematics at Birke's school in Gosberton near Spalding. He was recommended to Thomas Whichcote of Harpeswell, MP for Lincolnshire, who had him tested by the master of Brigg school, following which he nominated Watson to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He received training from Professor Thomas Simpson who became a close friend and contributed articles to '' The Ladies' Diary'', a mathematical periodical. Watson was commissioned on 27 December 1755 in the 52nd foot, Abercrombie's regiment. He transferred to the 50th foot, Studholme Hodgson's regiment, on 25 Septe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Col Henry Watson
In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding cols in the terrain are usually referred to as notches. They are generally unsuitable as mountain passes, but are occasionally crossed by mule tracks or climbers' routes. The term col tends to be associated more with mountain rather than hill ranges. It is derived from the French ''col'' ("collar, neck") from Latin ''collum'', "neck". The height of a summit above its highest col (called the key col) is effectively a measure of a mountain's topographic prominence. Cols lie on the line of the watershed between two mountains, often on a prominent ridge or arête. For example, the highest col in Austria, the ''Obere Glocknerscharte'' ("Upper Glockner Col", ), lies between the Kleinglockner () and Grossglockner () mountains, giving the Kleinglockn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watgunge
Watgunge is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Although being a standard Indian neighborhood it is home to Famous swimming instructor Xavier Rodriguez and his wife Jennie Rodriguez. The small place isn't home to many other faces we know and love but is sure a scenic place to go for trips and vacations. Etymology Watgunge is named after Colonel Henry Watson (1737–1786), who set up the first dockyard in Bengal. History Colonel Watson started building the shipbuilding docks in 1779 in the present Watgunge area. Watgunge was included in the Kolkata municipal area in 1888. In 1888, one of the 25 newly organized police section houses was located in Watgunge.Nair, P.Thankappan, ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, pp. 18-19, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition. Geography Police district Watgunge police station is part of the Port division of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holbeach, Lincolnshire
Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the A151 and A17. The Prime Meridian of the world passes through the west of Holbeach and is marked with a millstone at Wignals Gate. History A number of Roman and Romano-British pottery finds have been made in and about the town. The town's market charter was awarded in 1252 to Thomas de Moulton, a local baron. All Saints' Church was built in the 14th century and the porch, which was built around 1700, possibly incorporated parts of de Moulton's ruined castle. The associated All Saints' Hospital, for a warden and fifteen poor persons, was founded by Sir John of Kirton, in 1351. It had ceased to exist before the suppression of chantries and hospitals. The antiquarian William Stukeley reported that his father removed the ruins from the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Signals and other technical corps. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Woolwich Arsenal. History Origins in the Royal Arsenal An attempt had been made by the Board of Ordnance in 1720 to set up an academy within its Arsenal (then known as the Warren) to provide training and education for prospective officers of its new Regiment of Artillery and Corps of Engineers (both of which had been established there in 1716). A new building was being constructed in readiness for the Academy and funds had been secured, seemingly, through investment in the South Sea Company; but the latter's collapse led to plans for the Academy being placed on hold. After this false start, the acade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Simpson
Thomas Simpson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (20 August 1710 – 14 May 1761) was a British mathematician and inventor known for the :wikt:eponym, eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had been found 100 years earlier by Johannes Kepler, and in German it is called :de:Keplersche Fassregel, Keplersche Fassregel. Biography Simpson was born in Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire. The son of a weaver, Simpson taught himself mathematics. At the age of nineteen, he married a fifty-year old widow with two children. As a youth, he became interested in astrology after seeing a solar eclipse. He also dabbled in divination and caused fits in a girl after 'raising a devil' from her. After this incident, he and his wife had to flee to Derby. He moved with his wife and children to London at age twenty-five, where he supported his family by weaving during the day and teaching mathematics at night. From 17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ladies' Diary
''The Ladies' Diary: or, Woman's Almanack'' appeared annually in London from 1704 to 1841 after which it was succeeded by ''The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary''. It featured material relating to calendars etc. including sunrise and sunset times and phases of the moon, as well as important dates (eclipses, holidays, school terms, etc.), and a chronology of remarkable events. The subtitle indicated its serious purpose: ''"Containing New Improvements in ARTS and SCIENCES, and many entertaining PARTICULARS: Designed for the USE AND DIVERSION OF THE FAIR SEX."'' These included riddles (called enigmas), rebuses, charades, scientific queries, and mathematical questions. A typical volume in the series included answers submitted by readers to problems posed the previous year and a set of new problems, nearly all proposed by readers. Both puzzle and answer (revealed the following year) were often in verse. Each cover featured a picture of a prominent English woman. Sometimes the subtitles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
50th (Queen's Own) Regiment Of Foot
The 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot to form the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1881. History Early history The regiment was originally raised by Colonel James Abercrombie as the 52nd Regiment of Foot in 1755 for service in the Seven Years' War. It was re-numbered as the 50th Regiment of Foot, following the disbandment of the existing 50th and 51st regiments, in 1756. The regiment's first action was when it embarked on ships and took part in the Raid on Rochefort in September 1757 during the Seven Years' War. In its early years the regiment wore a uniform of black facings and white lace; when they wiped sweat away with their cuffs the dye stained their faces, giving rise to the nickname the "Dirty Half-Hundred" ("half-hundred" equals fifty)." The regiment embarked for Germany in June 1760 and saw action at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Abercrombie (British Army General)
General James Abercrombie or Abercromby (1706 – 23 April 1781) of Glassaugh, Banffshire was a British Army general and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1754. He was commander-in-chief of forces in North America during the French and Indian War, best known for the disastrous British losses in the 1758 Battle of Carillon. Biography Abercrombie was born in Glassaugh, Banffshire, Scotland, the eldest son of Alexander Abercromby, also MP for Banffshire, and his wife Helen Meldrum. He was appointed an ensign in the 25th Regiment of Foot at age eleven. He married Mary Duff (sister of William Duff, 1st Earl Fife) and they had one daughter. At the 1734 British general election, he was returned by his brother-in-law, William Duff, later Lord Braco, as Member of Parliament for Banffshire. He voted regularly with the Government. Abercrombie was promoted to captain in 1736, and by 1739 was lieutenant-governor of Stirling castle. He was re-elected MP f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Studholme Hodgson
Field Marshal Studholme Hodgson (1708 – 20 October 1798) was a British Army officer who served during the 18th century. After serving as an Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Fontenoy during the War of the Austrian Succession and at the Battle of Culloden during the Jacobite Rebellion, he became correspondent to William Barrington, the Secretary at War, during the French and Indian War. He went on to command the British expedition which captured Belle Île in June 1761 during the Seven Years' War so enabling the British Government to use the island as a bargaining piece during the negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Military career Born the son of John Hodgson, a merchant from Carlisle, and educated at Carlisle Grammar School, Hodgson was commissioned as an ensign in the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards and lieutenant in the Army on 2 January 1728.Heathcote, p. 178 He was promoted to captain in his regiment and lieutenant in the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel
Admiral (Royal Navy), Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (25 April 17252 October 1786) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate , during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as North America and West Indies Station, Commodore on the North American Station and then Jamaica Station (Royal Navy), Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as First Sea Lord, Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet. During the American Revolutionary War Keppel came into a notorious dispute with Hugh Palliser, Sir Hugh Palliser over Palliser's conduct as his second-in-command at the inconclusive Battle of Ushant (1778), Battle of Ushant in July 1778; the dispute led to Keppel and Palliser facing courts martial, which acquitted both of them. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Pocock
Admiral Sir George Pocock or Pococke, KB (6 March 1706 – 3 April 1792) was a British officer of the Royal Navy. Family Pocock was born in Thames Ditton in Surrey, the son of Thomas Pocock, a chaplain in the Royal Navy. His great grandfather was Rev. Dr. Laurence Pocock, Rector of Brightwalton in Berkshire, and his ancestors had long been resident at adjoining Chieveley in the same county. Early career George Pocock entered the navy in 1718, serving aboard under the patronage of his maternal uncle, Captain Streynsham Master (1682–1724).Pocock, 2004 He became lieutenant in April 1725 and commander in 1733. In 1738 he was promoted to post-captain and granted command of the 20-gun . After serving in the West Indies he was sent to join the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Rear-Admiral Charles Watson, in 1754 as captain of the 58-gun . Watson's squadron co-operated with Clive in the conquest of Bengal. In 1755 Pocock became rear-admiral, and was promoted to vice-admiral in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort in Hastings, Calcutta (Kolkata). It was built during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It sits on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, the major distributary of the River Ganges. One of Kolkata's most enduring Raj-era edifices, it extends over an area of 70.9 hectares. The fort was named after King William III. In front of the Fort is the Maidan, the largest park in the country. An internal guard room became the Black Hole of Calcutta. Today it is the Headquarters of Eastern Command of the Indian Army. History There are two Fort Williams. The original fort was built in the year 1696 by the British East India Company under the orders of Sir John Goldsborough which took a decade to complete. The permission was granted by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Sir Charles Eyre started construction near the bank of the Hooghly River with the South-East Bastion and the adjacent walls. It was named after King William III in 1700. John Bea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
