Regiment De Meuron
The Regiment de Meuron was a regiment of infantry originally raised in Switzerland in 1781 for service with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). At the time the French, Spanish, Dutch and other armies employed units of Swiss mercenaries. The regiment was named for its commander, Colonel Charles-Daniel de Meuron, who was born in Neuchâtel in 1738. Dutch service The regiment served the VOC in Dutch Ceylon and Cape Town. In 1795, while the regiment was stationed in Ceylon, revolutionary French forces invaded the Netherlands, overthrew the Dutch Republic and replaced it with the Batavian Republic. As a result, the regiment's pay by the VOC fell into abeyance. Later that year the Kew Letters were issued by the deposed stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, ordering the surviving Dutch colonies to surrender themselves to the British for safe keeping. The governor of Ceylon did not immediately do so, instead seeking clarification of the situation in the Netherlands. A delegation of Sw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Line Infantry
Line infantry was the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Montecuccoli are closely associated with the post-1648 development of linear infantry tactics. For both battle and parade drill, it consisted of two to four ranks of foot soldiers drawn up side by side in rigid alignment, and thereby maximizing the effect of their firepower. By extension, the term came to be applied to the regular regiments "of the line" as opposed to light infantry, skirmishers, militia, support personnel, plus some other special categories of infantry not focused on heavy front line combat. Linear tactics and function Line infantry mainly used three formations in its battles: the line, the square and the column. With the massive proliferation of small arms (firearms that could be carried by hand, as opposed to cannon) i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Revolutionary France
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, while phrases like ''liberté, égalité, fraternité'' reappeared in other revolts, such as the 1917 Russian Revolution, and inspired campaigns for the abolition of slavery and universal suffrage. The values and institutions it created dominate French politics to this day. Its causes are generally agreed to be a combination of social, political and economic factors, which the ''Ancien Régime'' proved unable to manage. In May 1789, widespread social distress led to the convocation of the Estates General, which was converted into a National Assembly in June. Continuing unrest culminated in the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July, which led to a series of radical measures by the Assembly, inc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel. The modern British Army traces back to 1707, with antecedents in the English Army and Scots Army that were created during the Restoration in 1660. The term ''British Army'' was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief, but the Bill of Rights of 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The Brit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pro Forma
The term ''pro forma'' (Latin for "as a matter of form" or "for the sake of form") is most often used to describe a practice or document that is provided as a courtesy or satisfies minimum requirements, conforms to a Convention (norm), norm or doctrine, tends to be performed wikt:perfunctorily, perfunctorily or is considered a formality. The term is used in legal and business fields to refer to various types of documents that are generated as a matter of course. Accounting The ''pro forma'' accounting is a statement of the company's financial activities while excluding "unusual and nonrecurring Expense, transactions" when stating how much money the company actually made. Examples of expenses often excluded from ''pro forma'' results are company restructuring costs, a decline in the value of the company's investments, or other accounting charges, such as adjusting the current balance sheet to fix faulty accounting practices in previous years. There was a boom in the reporting ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edam Cheese
Edam ( nl, Edammer, ) is a semi-hard cheese that originated in the Netherlands, and is named after the town of Edam in the province of North Holland. Edam is traditionally sold in flat-ended spheres with a pale yellow interior and a coat, or rind, of red paraffin wax. Edam ages and travels well, and does not spoil; it only hardens. These qualities (among others) made it the world's most popular cheese between the 14th and 18th centuries, both at sea and in remote colonies.History of Edam Cheese Edam.com. Retrieved 11 April 2007 Content ![]() [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pierre Frédéric De Meuron
Brigadier general Pierre Frédéric de Meuron (1746–1813) was the fifth Military Governor of British Ceylon and fourth General Officer Commanding, Ceylon. He was appointed on 12 July 1797 and was Governor until 12 October 1798. He was also the commanding officer in Ceylon of the Regiment de Meuron, a unit of Swiss mercenaries that had served in Ceylon under the Dutch, but whose transfer of allegiance to the British facilitated the fall of Columbo to the British on 15 October 1796. de Meuron's successor was Robert Andrews, who served as Resident and Superintendent of British Ceylon. de Meuron was son of Theodore de Meuron and Elisabeth Dubois of Switzerland, and the brother of Count Charles-Daniel de Meuron, the owner of the Regiment de Meuron. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Meuron, Pierre Frederic de Governors of British Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century Swiss people Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the na ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most populous city in the country and forms the fourth-most populous urban agglomeration. The Greater Chennai Corporation is the civic body responsible for the city; it is the oldest city corporation of India, established in 1688—the second oldest in the world after London. The city of Chennai is coterminous with Chennai district, which together with the adjoining suburbs constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the 36th-largest urban area in the world by population and one of the largest metropolitan economies of India. The traditional and de facto gateway of South India, Chennai is among the most-visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is an Ancient universities of Scotland, ancient university founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Lord Chancellor of Scotland, Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Alexander VI on behalf of James IV of Scotland, James IV, King of Scots to establish King's College, Aberdeen, King's College, making it Scotland's 3rd oldest university and the 5th oldest in the English-speaking world and the United Kingdom. Aberdeen is consistently ranked among the top 160 universities in the world and is ranked within the top 20 universities in the United Kingdom according to ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'', and 13th in the UK according to ''The Guardian''. The university comprises three colleges—King's College ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hugh Cleghorn (colonial Administrator)
Sir Hugh Cleghorn FRSE LLD (1751-1836) was the first colonial secretary to Ceylon. He was key in the takeover of Ceylon from Dutch control to the British Empire. In 1795 Cleghorn used his friendship with Comte Charles-Daniel de Meuron, who owned a regiment of Swiss mercenaries, the Regiment de Meuron, that controlled Ceylon for the Dutch, to transfer control to the British. His grandson Hugh Cleghorn (forester), Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn was instrumental in the foundation of the forest department and forest conservation in India. Life He was born in Fife around 1751. He attended the High School in Edinburgh 1762–3. He was Professor of Civil and Natural History at St Andrews University from 1773 to 1793. He took a long leave of absence from 1788 to 1790 and traveled with the young Alexander Home, 10th Earl of Home on an extended trip of Europe: France, Switzerland and Italy, lecturing at universities along the route.St Andrews University: Special Collections: The Cleghorn Papers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18th century. Dundas was instrumental in the encouragement of the Scottish Enlightenment, in the prosecution of the war against France, and in the expansion of British influence in India. Prime Minister Pitt appointed him Lord of Trade (1784–1786), Home Secretary (1791–1794), President of the Board of Control for Indian Affairs (1793–1801), Secretary at War (1794–1801) and First Lord of the Admiralty (1804–1805). His deft and almost total control of Scottish politics during a long period in which no monarch visited the country led to him being nicknamed "King Harry the Ninth", the "Grand Manager of Scotland" (a play on the masonic office of Grand Master of Scotland), the "Great Tyrant" and "The Uncrowned King of Scotland". He w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William V, Prince Of Orange
William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a prince of Orange and the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in 1806. In that capacity he was succeeded by his son William. Early life William Batavus was born in The Hague on 8 March 1748, the only son of William IV, who had the year before been restored as stadtholder of the United Provinces. He was only three years old when his father died in 1751, and a long regency began. His regents were: * Dowager Princess Anne, his mother, from 1751 to her death in 1759; * Dowager Princess Marie Louise, his grandmother, from 1759 to her death in 1765; *Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, from 1759 to 1766, and kept on as a privy counsellor, in accordance with the ''Acte van Consulentschap'', until October 1784; * Princess Carolina, his sister (who at the time was an adult aged 22, while he was still a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795). The title was used for the official tasked with maintaining peace and provincial order in the early Dutch Republic and, at times, became ''de facto'' head of state of the Dutch Republic during the 16th to 18th centuries, which was an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary role under Prince William IV of Orange. His son, Prince William V, was the last ''stadtholder'' of the republic, whose own son, William I of the Netherlands, became the first sovereign king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The title ''stadtholder'' is roughly comparable to the historical titles of Lord Protector in England, Statthalter in the Holy Roman Emp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |