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Oswald Rayner
Oswald Rayner (29 November 1888, in Smethwick, Staffordshire, England – 6 March 1961, in Botley, Oxfordshire, England)England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 was a British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) field agent who operated covertly in the Russian Empire during the First World War. He is believed by some to have been involved in the final murder plot against Grigori Rasputin, but "the archives of the British intelligence service (MI6) do not hold a single document linking Rayner, Hoare, or any other British agent or diplomat to the murder." Life Oswald Theodore Rayner was born in Smethwick, the son of Thomas Rayner, a draper in Soho Street and his wife Florence. 1891 Census of Kings Norton, RG12/2363, Folio 42, Page 27, Oswald Theodore Rayner, aged two, 89 Soho Street, Smethwick. Between 1907 and 1910, Rayner studied modern languages at Oriel College, Oxford. During his time at Oxford, Rayner formed a close rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smethwick
Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider built-up area subdivision has a population of 53,653. History It was suggested that the name Smethwick meant "smiths' place of work", but a more recent interpretation has suggested the name means "the settlement on the smooth land". Smethwick was recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Smedeuuich'', the ''d'' in this spelling being the Anglo-Saxon letter eth. Until the end of the 18th century it was an outlying hamlet of the south Staffordshire village of Harborne. Harborne became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire in 1891, leaving Smethwick in the County of Staffordshire. The world's oldest working engine, the Smethwick Engine, made by Boulton & Watt, originally stood near Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hotel Astoria (Saint Petersburg)
Hotel Astoria (russian: гости́ница «Асто́рия») is a five-star hotel in Saint Petersburg, Russia, that first opened in December 1912. It has 213 bedrooms, including 52 suites, and is located on Saint Isaac's Square, next to Saint Isaac's Cathedral and across from the historic Imperial German Embassy. Hotel Astoria, along with its neighboring sister hotel, Angleterre Hotel, is owned and managed by Rocco Forte Hotels and is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. The hotel underwent a complete refurbishment in 2012. History The Astoria was commissioned in 1910 by the Palace Hotel Company, based in the UK, which owned the land. It was designed by Russian-Swedish architect Fyodor Lidval, who developed a style based on Art Nouveau and also influenced by Neoclassical architecture. The hotel was constructed by the German firm of Wais and Freitag. It was built to host tourists visiting Russia for the Romanov tercentenary, a huge celebration of 300 years of Russ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buchanan
Buchanan may refer to: People * Buchanan (surname) Places Africa * Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town Antarctica * Buchanan Point, Laurie Island Australia * Buchanan, New South Wales * Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality * Buchanan, South Australia, a locality Canada * Buchanan, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Buchanan No. 304, Saskatchewan Puerto Rico * Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, a US Army installation United Kingdom * Buchanan, Stirling, Scotland United States *Buchanan, Tuolumne County, California, unincorporated community * Fort Buchanan, Kansas, a former town and pioneer fort * Buchanan, Georgia, city * Buchanan, Indiana, unincorporated community * Buchanan, Iowa, unincorporated community * Buchanan, Michigan, city * Buchanan, New York, village * Buchanan, North Dakota, city * Buchanan, Oregon, unincorporated community * Buchanan, Tennessee * Buchanan, Texas, former community * Buchanan, Virginia, town * Buchanan, Wisconsin, town * Buchanan Townsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Buchanan
George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." His ideology of resistance to royal usurpation gained widespread acceptance during the Scottish Reformation. Brown says the ease with which King James VII was deposed in 1689 shows the power of Buchananite ideas. His treatise ''De Jure Regni apud Scotos'', published in 1579. discussed the doctrine that the source of all political power is the people, and that the king is bound by those conditions under which the supreme power was first committed to his hands, and that it is lawful to resist, even to punish, tyrants. The importance of Buchanan's writings is shown by the suppression of his work by James VI and the British legislature in the century following their publication. It was condemned by act of parliament in 1584, and burned by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Of Russia
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (russian: Александр Михайлович ''Aleksandr Mikhailovich''; 13 April 1866 – 26 February 1933) was a dynast of the Russian Empire, a naval officer, an author, explorer, the brother-in-law of Emperor Nicholas II and advisor to him. Early life Alexander was born in Tiflis, in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Georgia). He was the son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, the youngest son of Nicholas I of Russia, and Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna (Cecily of Baden). He was mostly known as "Sandro". He was a naval officer. In his youth, he made a good-will visit to the Japanese Empire on behalf of the Russian Empire and another to the Brazilian Empire. He married his first cousin's daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, the eldest daughter of Alexander III on . He became a brother-in-law and a close advisor of Tsar Nicholas II. Together, Alexander and Xenia had seven children: * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Alley
Captain Stephen Alley MC (14 February 1876 - 1969) was a British mechanical engineer and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) agent in pre-revolutionary Russia who may have had an involvement in the murder of Rasputin in 1916 and in a plan to try to rescue the Russian Imperial Family, the Romanovs, imprisoned in Ipatiev House in 1918 by the Bolsheviks. Early life Stephen Alley was born on 14 February 1876 at Arkhangelskoye Estate near Moscow. After being educated in Russia he attended King's College London where he studied English Literature, and later moved to Glasgow University where he took a degree in engineering. He was commissioned a second-lieutenant in the Surrey Yeomanry on 18 October 1902. Career After university he joined the family firm of Alley & McLellan Engineers in London. In 1910 he returned to Russia, where he helped build the first heavy oil pipeline to the Black Sea. He became experienced in building rail transport. He is noted by many authors and documentarie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bullet
A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and constructions (depending on the intended applications), including specialized functions such as hunting, target shooting, training and combat. Bullets are often tapered, making them more aerodynamic. Bullet sizes are expressed by their weights and diameters (referred to as " calibers") in both imperial and metric measurement systems. For example: 55 grain .223 caliber bullets are of the same weight and caliber as 3.56 gram 5.56mm caliber bullets. Bullets do not normally contain explosives but strike or damage the intended target by transferring kinetic energy upon impact and penetration. Bullets shot by firearms can be used for target practice or hunting. Description The term ''bullet'' is from Middle French, originating as the diminuti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
455 Webley
.455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI. It is also known as ".455 Eley" and ".455 Colt". The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed cartridge firing a .45-caliber bullet at the relatively low velocity of 650 ft/s (190 m/s). The result was a cartridge and handgun combination with comparatively mild recoil. The .455 MK III "cupped" cartridge was rated superior to the .45 Colt in stopping power in the disputed United States Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904 that resulted in the adoption by the U.S. of the .45 ACP cartridge. The .455 Webley cartridge remained in service with British and Commonwealth forces until the end of the Second World War. Variants Six main types of .455 ammunition were produced: * .455 Webley Mk I 1.55×21.7mmR Introduced in 1891. 265 grain (17.2 g) solid lead round-nosed bullet propelled by black powder. All subsequent .455 designs used c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Purishkevich
Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich ( rus, Влади́мир Митрофа́нович Пуришке́вич, p=pʊrʲɪˈʂkʲevʲɪt͡ɕ; , Kishinev – 1 February 1920, Novorossiysk, Russia) was a far-right politician in Imperial Russia, noted for his monarchist, ultra-nationalist, antisemitic and anticommunist views. Because of his restless behaviour, he was regarded as a loose cannon. At the end of 1916, he participated in the killing of Grigori Rasputin. Early career Born as the son of a poor nobleman in Bessarabia, now Moldova, Purishkevich graduated from Novorossiysk University with a degree in classical philology. Around 1900, he moved to Saint Petersburg. He became a member of the Russian Assembly group and was appointed under Vyacheslav von Plehve. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he helped organise the Black Hundreds as a militia to aid the police in the fight against left-wing extremists and to restore order. After the October Manifesto, he was one of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giles Milton
Giles Milton FRHistS (born 15 January 1966) is a British writer who specialises in narrative history. His books have sold more than one million copies in the UK. and been published in twenty-five languages. He has written twelve works of non-fiction, a thriller, two comic novels and three books for young children. He is best known for his 2016 Sunday Times best-selling title, ''Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'', and for his 1999 best-seller, ''Nathaniel's Nutmeg''. Biography Born in Buckinghamshire, Milton was educated at Latymer Upper School and the University of Bristol. He lives in London and Burgundy and is married to the artist and illustrator, Alexandra Milton. He has three daughters. He has been a Trustee of the London Library since 2015. Works Non-fiction * ''The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville'', 1996 * ''Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History'', 1999 * ''Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
