Walter Weedon Grossmith (9 June 1854 – 14 June 1919), better known as Weedon Grossmith, was an English writer, painter, actor, and playwright best known as co-author of The Diary of a Nobody (1892) with his brother, music hall comedian and Gilbert and Sullivan star George Grossmith.  Weedon Grossmith also illustrated The Diary of a Nobody to much acclaim.

Grossmith trained as a painter, but was unable to make a living in that capacity and went on the stage largely for financial reasons. He was successful as an actor and as an impresario, and wrote several plays. As an actor, he specialised in comedy roles, and his typical characters, harassed and scheming, became so identified with him that the "Weedon Grossmith part" became a regular feature of the theatre of his day.

Life and career

Early years

Grossmith was born in London and grew up in St. Pancras and Hampstead, London.  His father, George Grossmith (1820–80), was the chief court reporter for The Times and other newspapers at the Bow Street police court and a lecturer and entertainer.  His mother was Louisa Emmeline Grossmith née Weedon (d. 1882).  His brother, George, became famous as the principal comedian of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and was the most famous comedy-sketch pianist of the Victorian era.

Grossmith was educated at Massingham House on Haverstock Hill in Hampstead, and then at the North London Collegiate in Camden Town and Simpson's School, a local private establishment. Interested in art, he trained as a painter at the West London School of Art, the Slade and the Royal Academy. His goal was to become a fashionable portrait painter.  He had portraits and other pictures hung at the Academy (beginning with a full-length portrait of his father) and at the Grosvenor Gallery and elsewhere. However, his career as an artist was not as successful as he had hoped. Richard D'Oyly Carte, having seen him in amateur performances, encouraged him to take to the stage professionally. Having, as he later recalled, liabilities of £700 and cash assets of £6, he consulted his fellow-artists Frank Holl and Luke Fildes about abandoning art in favour of the theatre:
He [Fildes] thought it madness when I had conquered all the great difficulties of painting. I quite agreed with him, but when I told him of my dreadful run of bad luck, and the little I had, he said he was bound to admit that if I had another string to play on, it was worth considering. But he still thought it an awful pity, and so have I thought ever since.

Acting career

Grossmith turned to acting in 1885, which he pursued until 1917.  Joining Rosina Vokes's theatrical company in 1885, he went on tour in the provinces and in America. He first appeared in London at the Gaiety Theatre in 1887 as Woodcock in Woodcock's Little Game.  Neither he nor the play was a success. Grossmith contemplated giving up the stage and returning to painting. He was shunned by managers who had promised him work, but on the strength of his American successes he was engaged by Henry Irving in 1888 to play Jacques Strop at the Lyceum Theatre in Charles Selby's Robert Macaire. He was nearly dismissed for interpreting Irving's direction, "You must imitate me", as an instruction to give an impersonation of the star's well-known mannerisms. His earliest notable success was made in A Pantomime Rehearsal, a short play (parodying incompetent amateur theatricals) with which he was associated for many years. In 1888 Grossmith joined the company of Richard Mansfield in Wealth, playing the role of Percy Palfreyman. In the following year he began a long association with the Court Theatre; he appeared there in Aunt Jack, The Cabinet Minister and The Volcano. He also played in The School for Scandal at the Globe Theatre (1889) and portrayed Joseph Lebanon in Arthur Wing Pinero's Cabinet Minister (1890).

In 1891, in partnership with Brandon Thomas, Grossmith presented and appeared in a triple bill, which included A Pantomime Rehearsal.  After a shaky start, the production became a huge success; Grossmith appeared in it for more than 700 performances, in four different West End theatres, and he later calculated that Sebastian Smith as the leading man must have played the part about 1,000 times in London and on tour.

Grossmith went on to appear in plays by playwrights such as Henry Arthur Jones and Jerome K. Jerome, opposite actors such as Herbert Beerbohm Tree at the Haymarket Theatre and with Mrs. John Wood at the Court Theatre. In 1892, he played in W. S. Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, a parody of Hamlet, at the Royal Court Theatre.  He became known for playing comedy character roles, noting, "I am almost invariably cast for cowards, cads and snobs", and he was particularly good at portraying harassed, misunderstood little men as, like his brother George, he was small in stature. The Times wrote that the "Weedon Grossmith" part had become a recognised feature of current drama.

He portrayed Archibald Rennick in Arthur Law's The New Boy (1894), Hamilton Preedy in Mr. Preedy and the Countess (1905), Jimmy Jinks in Baby Mine (1911), the Earl of Tweenwayes in The Amazons, Boney in The Misleading Lady, and the Judge in Stopping the Breach, his last new role (1917). The critic B. W. Findon wrote, "Among the survivors of the old brigade – of the artists who thoroughly understand the requirements of farcical comedy, who know how to treat its humour with breadth, and grapple successfully with its ludicrous situations – is Mr. Weedon Grossmith. He is one of the best – I think I may say the best actor of farce on the stage of to-day."

Grossmith's last stage appearance was in 1918, in his old role of Lord Arthur Pomeroy in A Pantomime Rehearsal, with an all-star cast including Charles Hawtrey, Fay Compton, Irene Castle and Rutland Barrington, at a charity matinée attended by King George V, Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra.

Grossmith was also the lessee of London's Vaudeville Theatre from 1894 to 1896 and Terry's Theatre until 1917.

Author and playwright

In 1892, Grossmith collaborated with his brother George to expand a series of amusing columns they had written in 1888–89 for Punch.  The Diary of a Nobody was published as a novel and has never been out of print since.  The book is a sharp analysis of social insecurity, and Charles Pooter of The Laurels, Brickfield Terrace, Holloway, was immediately recognized as one of the great English comic characters. Grossmith created 33 black and white line drawings for the novel.  According to biographer Tony Joseph, "In their precise and careful detail these illustrations ... reinforce the text to perfection." The work has itself been the object of dramatization and adaptation, including three times for television: 1964, 1979 and 2007.

Grossmith published another novel, A Woman with a History, in 1896.  He also wrote a number of plays, the most successful of which was The Night of the Party (1901), for which he also directed, acted the lead role, designed the scenery and painted the advertising poster. One of his plays, The Duffer, was about students at the Royal Academy, which was successful and enjoyed a Royal Command Performance.  In 1913 he published his autobiography, From Studio to Stage.

Personal life
Grossmith was a member of the Beefsteak, Garrick and Savage clubs. In 1895, he married the actress May Lever Palfrey (1867–1929).  They had one child, a daughter, Nancy (1896–1921).  He died in London at the age of 65. A memorial service, attended by leading members of the theatrical profession, was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Notes

References
Grossmith, George and Grossmith, Weedon, Diary of a Nobody.  London: Arrowsmith, 1892.
Grossmith, Weedon. A Woman with a History. London: F V White, 1896.
Grossmith, Weedon. From Studio to Stage: Reminiscences of Weedon Grossmith Written by Himself. London: John Lane, 1913

External links

 Grossmith in the 1907 edition of Who's Who

 Biographical chronology
 Photos and drawings of Grossmith
 Review of Grossmith in Baby Mine

1854 births
1919 deaths
English male stage actors
English dramatists and playwrights
People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan
19th-century English painters
English male painters
20th-century English painters
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male novelists

Weedon Grossmith


Pink's War was an air-to-ground bombardment and strafing campaign carried out by the Royal Air Force, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Pink, against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan in March and April 1925. It was the first independent action by the RAF, and remains the only campaign named after an RAF officer.

Background

The defence of the North-West Frontier Province was an important task for British India. In the 1920s, the British were engaged in a continuing effort to defend British Indian Army bases against raids from militant tribesmen in the province. In July 1924, the British mounted operations against several of the Mahsud tribes in southern Waziristan and by October most tribes had ceased their activities. Only the Abdur Rahman Khel tribe and three other supporting tribes continued to attack army posts.

Operations

After the successful use of aerial bombardment in the Fifth Expedition of Somaliland campaign in 1920, the fledgling RAF was keen to further establish its military credentials. British forces had conducted operations against Mahsud tribes in Waziristan from July 1924, leaving only the Abdur Rahman Khel tribe and a few other tribes still engaged in activity by October 1924. The air officer commanding in India, Sir Edward Ellington, made the unprecedented decision to conduct air operations against the tribesmen without the support of the army. No. 2 (India) Wing, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Pink at Risalpur, was assigned to conduct the operation.

Bristol F.2B Fighters of No. 5 Squadron were deployed to the operational headquarters at Tank airstrip, with de Havilland DH.9As from 27 and 60 squadrons deployed to a forward operating base at Miranshah. Operations commenced on 9 March 1925, and following an initial sortie to drop warning leaflets on the targeted areas, the RAF squadrons strafed tribal mountain strongholds in a successful attempt to crush the rebellion. Operations focused on causing disruption to day-to-day activities for the militant tribes, as well as preventing access to safe havens; sorties were flown at night as well as during the day, in order to cause further disruption.

On 1 May 1925, after just over 50 days of bombing, the tribal leaders sought peace to end the bombing, bringing the short campaign to a close. Only two British lives and one aircraft were lost during the campaign; Mahsud casualties are not known. Pink's War was the first air action of the RAF carried out independent of the British Army or Royal Navy.

Honours
After the campaign was over, the India General Service Medal with the Waziristan 1925 bar was awarded to the 46 officers and 214 men of the Royal Air Force who took part in Pink's War. It was by far the rarest bar given with an India General Service Medal, and was only awarded after the then-Chief of the Air Staff Sir John Salmond succeeded in overturning the War Office decision not to grant a medal for the campaign. The campaign's commander, Wing Commander Pink, after whom the action became named, soon received a promotion to group captain "in recognition of his services in the field of Waziristan". For distinguished service during Pink's War, Squadron Leader Arthur John Capel was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded to flight lieutenants John Baker and William Cumming, and Flying Officer Reginald Pyne, and the Distinguished Flying Medal was given to sergeant pilots George Campbell and Ralph Hawkins, Sergeant Arthur Rutherford, Corporal Reginald Robins, and Leading Aircraftman William Alfred Walmsley. A further 14 men were mentioned in dispatches, including flying officers Edward Dashwood and Noel Hayter-Hames, who both died in the campaign.

See also
Bacha Khan
Mirzali Khan
Mullah Powindah

References

Further reading

Air Power Review – Volume 13 Number 3 Autumn/Winter 2010 – Pink's War – Applying the Principles of Air Control to Waziristan – Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Roe

External links
The Small Wars at the Royal Air Force official website

Airstrikes conducted by the United Kingdom
Waziristan
Military history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
1925 in India
Conflicts in 1925

Pink's War


Automatic behaviour is the name for a set of actions that occur (or that continue to occur), without conscious thought. Usually, they are guided by a part of the nervous system that is called autonomic nervous system, or visceral nervous system. Automatic behaviour is like a reflex.

Inherited normal behaviours: for example blinking and leaning back when something is waved in front of face.
Learned normal behaviours: cycling is a good example. Also any sport or dance training aims to make proper behaviours automatic. Another example is simply walking without bumping into other people.

Many mental illnesses have certain forms of unwanted automatic behaviour.

Related pages
Unconscious mind
Instinct
Autonomic nervous system

Symptoms
Reflexes
Psychology

Automatic behaviour


Combat (French for fight) is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or can be used as a tool to impose one's will on others. An instance of combat can be a stand-alone confrontation or a small part of a much larger violent conflict. Instances of combat may also be benign and recreational, as in the cases of combat sports and mock combat.

Combat may comply with, or be in violation of, local or international laws regarding conflict. Examples of rules include the Geneva Conventions (covering the treatment of people in war), medieval chivalry, the Marquess of Queensberry Rules (covering boxing), and several forms of combat sports.

Hand-to-hand combat

Hand-to-hand combat (melee) is combat at very close range, attacking the opponent with the body (striking, kicking, strangling, etc.) and/or with a melee weapon (knives, swords, batons, etc.), as opposed to a ranged weapon.

Hand-to-hand combat can be further divided into three sections depending on the distance and positioning of the combatants:
 Clinch fighting
 Ground fighting
 Stand-up fighting

Military combat

Military combat can involve multiple groups, including guerilla groups, insurgencies, and domestic and/or foreign governments. A military combat situation is known either as a battle or a war, depending on the size of the fighting and which geographical areas in which it occurs. Combat effectiveness has always demanded that the personnel maintain strategic preparedness by being sufficiently trained, armed, equipped, and funded to carry out combat operations in the unit to which they are assigned. Warfare falls under the law of war, which govern its purposes and conduct, and protect the rights of combatants and non-combatants.

References

Sources
 Martin van Creveld: The Changing Face of War: Lessons of Combat, from the Marne to Turkey. Maine, New England 2007.

Further reading
Wong, Leonard. 2006. "Combat Motivation in Today's Soldiers: U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute."Armed Forces & Society, vol. 32: pp. 659–663.
Gifford, Brian. 2005. "Combat Casualties and Race: What Can We Learn from the 2003-2004 Iraq Conflict?" Armed Forces & Society, vol. 31: pp. 201–225.
Herspring, Dale. 2006. "Undermining Combat Readiness in the Russian Military, 1992-2005." Armed Forces & Society, Jul 2006; vol. 32: pp. 513–531.
Ben-Shalom, Uzi; Lehrer, Zeev; and Ben-Ari, Eyal. 2005. "Cohesion during Military Operations: A Field Study on Combat Units in the Al-Aqsa Intifada." Armed Forces & Society, vol. 32: pp. 63–79.
Woodruff, Todd; Kelty, Ryan; Segal, Archie Cooper, David R. 2006. "Propensity to Serve and Motivation to Enlist among American Combat Soldiers." Armed Forces & Society, Apr 2006; vol. 32: pp. 353–366.
Dienstfrey, Stephen. 1988. "Women Veterans' Exposure to Combat." Armed forces & Society, vol. 14: pp. 549–558.

Military operations by type

Combat


The 1842 retreat from Kabul was the retreat of the British and East India Company forces from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War. An uprising in Kabul forced the then-commander, Major-General William Elphinstone, to fall back to the British garrison at Jalalabad. As the army and its numerous dependents and camp followers began their march, it came under attack from Afghan tribesmen. Many in the column died of exposure, frostbite or starvation, or were killed during the fighting.

At the beginning of the conflict, British and East India Company forces had defeated the forces of Afghan Emir Dost Mohammad Barakzai and in 1839 occupied Kabul, restoring the former ruler, Shah Shujah Durrani, as emir. However a deteriorating situation made their position more and more precarious, until an uprising in Kabul forced Maj. Gen. Elphinstone to withdraw. To this end he negotiated an agreement with Wazir Akbar Khan, one of the sons of Dost Mohammad Barakzai, by which his army was to fall back to the Jalalabad garrison, more than  away. The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows along the route that is now the Kabul–Jalalabad Road. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with about 12,000 civilians: the latter comprising both the families of Indian and British soldiers, plus workmen, servants and other Indian camp followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January.

Out of more than 16,000 people from the column commanded by Elphinstone, only one European (Assistant Surgeon William Brydon) and a few Indian sepoys reached Jalalabad. Over one hundred British prisoners and civilian hostages were later released. Around 2,000 of the Indians, many of whom were maimed by frostbite, survived and returned to Kabul to exist as beggars or to be sold into slavery. Some at least returned to India after another British invasion of Kabul several months later, but others remained behind in Afghanistan.

In 2013, a writer for The Economist called the retreat "the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later."

Background

In 1838 the East India Company feared an increased Russian influence in Afghanistan after Dost Mohammad Barakzai had seized power from former ruler Shuja Shah Durrani in 1834. Dost Mohammad had rejected earlier overtures from Russia, but after Lord Auckland, the Governor-General of India, tried to force Afghan foreign policy under British guidance, he renewed his relationship with the Russians. Lord Auckland followed the counsel of his adviser William Hay Macnaghten to support Shuja Shah, dismissing the advice of Alexander Burnes that Dost Mohammad should be supported, and resolved to seek a military solution. He began to assemble his forces in late 1838.

The army, under the command of General Sir Willoughby Cotton, with Macnaghten as his chief adviser, consisted of 20,000 soldiers and were accompanied by 38,000 civilian camp followers (craftsmen, stretcher bearers, cooks, servants, barbers, tailors, armourers, cameleers, etc., as well as families of both Indian and British soldiers). In March 1839 they crossed the Bolan Pass and began their march to Kabul. They advanced through rough terrain, crossing deserts and mountain passes at an elevation of  but made good progress and took Kandahar on 25 April.

They also captured the until-then impregnable fortress of Ghazni on 22 July in a surprise attack, losing 200 men killed and wounded while the Afghans lost nearly 500 men killed and 1,600 taken prisoner, with an unknown number wounded. An Afghan had betrayed his sovereign and the British troops managed to blow one city gate and marched into the city in a euphoric mood. The ample supplies acquired in Ghazni considerably aided the further advance, which otherwise would have been difficult.

Dost Mohammad fled and sought refuge in the wilds of the Hindu Kush. Kabul fell without a fight on 6 August 1839. Shuja Shah returned and was proclaimed emir by the British. He established a court in the fortress of Bala Hissar above Kabul.

More than a year later, Dost Mohammad surrendered to Macnaghten on 4 November 1840 and was exiled to India.

Occupation

In August 1839 the British, under pressure from Shah Shuja, refrained from remaining in occupation of Kabul's citadel, instead establishing their military cantonments  outside Kabul. This decision, made on diplomatic grounds, would prove to be a grave military error, as the garrison was sited in a defensively weak position.

As political agent and envoy at the court of Shuja Shah, Macnaghten became a leader of British society in Kabul. The city was described at the time as clean and pleasant with many spacious wooden houses surrounded by well-kept gardens. The occupiers enjoyed themselves arranging cricket matches, horse races and hunting parties. In the evenings amateur dramatics were staged by East India Company officers and their wives.

Performances included Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was considered a special honour to be invited to evening soirées hosted by Florentia Sale (Lady Sale), the wife of Brigadier-General Robert Sale. Such social gatherings often saw the serving of salmon and stew with madeira, port and champagne. Under these conditions, many of the East India Company troops were sent back to their garrisons in India.

While the British enjoyed this lifestyle, some Afghans chafed under occupation by a foreign power. Rumours of relationships between British soldiers and Afghan women created tensions in Kabul. Britain had replaced Dost Mohammad, a (relatively) popular ruler, with Shuja Shah, a weak puppet, who was seen as much more cruel and vindictive to his enemies than his predecessor. In 1840, the son of Dost Mohammad, Wazir Akbar Khan, began assembling allies amongst the tribesmen in the rural areas where British influence was weakest. He initiated a guerrilla war that kept the East India Company troops permanently on the move.

The efforts to control Afghanistan were further weakened by the British government in India. Dismayed at the costs of maintaining the large garrison in Kabul, it discontinued the periodic subsidies (essentially bribes) that had been paid to the various tribes in the region around Kabul and the Khyber Pass to keep the peace.
Once these ended, the tribes saw no more reason to remain loyal to the British-supported regime. Macnaghten dismissed warnings from his officers, writing to his superiors in India that "this is the usual state of Afghan society". As the spring and summer of 1841 progressed, British freedom of movement around Kabul became increasingly restricted.

Despite this ominous turn of events, Sir Willoughby Cotton was replaced as commander of the remaining British troops by Sir William Elphinstone, who was ill at the time and initially unwilling to accept the appointment. The 59-year-old Elphinstone had entered the British army in 1804. He was made a Companion of the Bath for leading the 33rd Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Waterloo. By 1825 he had been promoted to colonel and then to major general in 1837. Although Elphinstone was a man of high birth and perfect manners, his colleague and contemporary General William Nott regarded him as "the most incompetent soldier that was to be found amongst all the officers of requisite rank".

In the autumn of 1841 Brigadier-General Sale and his brigade were recalled to Jalalabad, which was on the military line of communication between Kabul and Peshawar. He left his wife, Lady Sale, behind in the British cantonments in Kabul.

Afghan uprising

On 2 November 1841, Akbar Khan proclaimed a general revolt and the citizens of Kabul quickly followed suit. They stormed the house of Sir Alexander Burnes, one of the senior British political officers, and killed him and his staff. Both Elphinstone and Macnaghten were caught by surprise. By now the East India Company had only 4,500 men in and around Kabul, of which 690 were Europeans. But as Elphinstone took no action in response to the killing of Burnes, it only encouraged further revolt. On 9 November the emboldened Afghans stormed a poorly defended supply fort inside Kabul.

On 23 November, Afghan forces occupied a hill overlooking the British cantonments and began bombarding the camp with two guns. A British force sallied out to drive them away but the Afghans inflicted heavy casualties firing jezails at long range from the high ground. The East India troops fled leaving behind 300 wounded to be killed. Morale was now a serious issue for the British force in Kabul. Elphinstone called for reinforcements from Major General Nott in Kandahar but they turned back when they found the mountain passes blocked by heavy snow.

Macnaghten, realising their desperate situation, tried to negotiate an agreement with Akbar Khan for the withdrawal of the troops and the 12,000 British and Indian civilians still at Kabul. On 23 December, Afghan leaders invited Macnaghten for tea to discuss the situation. However, at the moment the British delegation dismounted from their horses they were seized and Macnaghten and an aide were slain by armed men. Later Macnaghten's body was mutilated and dragged through the streets of Kabul.

The cavalry escort which was supposed to protect the British diplomats had been delayed and had not joined them. Two other British officers who had been part of Macnaghten's party were subsequently released. Elphinstone had already partly lost command of his troops as his authority continued to diminish.

To the dismay of his officers, Elphinstone ignored the killing of a British representative and took no punitive action. Major Eldred Pottinger succeeded Macnaghten as envoy to the Afghan court. On 1 January 1842, Elphinstone agreed to Akbar Khan's terms which contained some unfavourable conditions. For example, all gunpowder reserves had to be handed over, along with the newest muskets and most of the cannon. However, in return Akbar Khan promised a safe passage from Kabul for all foreign troops and civilians, amongst them children, women and the elderly. The withdrawal, which would begin on 6 January, involved crossing the snow-covered mountains of the Hindu Kush descending to Jalalabad,  away.

Elphinstone's army
Elphinstone commanded a column consisting of one British infantry battalion (the 44th Regiment of Foot), three regiments of regular Bengal Native Infantry (the 5th, 37th and 54th BNI), one regiment of Shah Shujah's Levy (a British-subsidised force of Indian troops recruited for Afghan service), Anderson's Irregular Horse, the 5th Bengal Light Cavalry and six guns of the Bengal Horse Artillery (with sappers).

In total, there were 700 British and 3,800 Indian troops. The camp followers, Indian and British families, their servants and civilian workers, numbered approximately 14,000.

Retreat and massacre

At first light on 6 January Elphinstone's column began slowly to move out of Kabul leaving Shuja Shah Durrani and his followers to their fate. As Akbar Khan had guaranteed safety to all concerned, the sick, wounded and infirm were also left behind. However once the rearguard finally left the cantonments, Afghans quickly moved in and began firing at the retreating troops from the walls while setting fire to the garrison buildings, killing all those left behind.

On leaving the city, Elphinstone discovered that the escort promised by Akbar Khan had not materialised, nor had the food and fuel to help with the crossing of the Hindu Kush in winter.  Major Eldred Pottinger pleaded with the sick British commander to turn back to Kabul as they still had time to take refuge in the fortress of Bala Hissar. But Elphinstone said there would be no turning back and they would proceed to Jalalabad. The column of 16,000 soldiers and civilians was now at the mercy of the Afghan tribes.

By the second day, sniping from the surrounding hills was taking its toll on the slow-moving column. Despite being well armed, the troops' progress was being hindered by the terrified civilians and camp followers. Small skirmishes were frequent. The Afghans succeeded in capturing some of the column's artillery while forcing the British to spike two of their three remaining pieces. In just 24 hours the column now had only one small gun and two heavier cannons left.

Later that afternoon, Akbar Khan met Elphinstone, feigning ignorance to any treachery on his part. He told the British that he had been unable to provide the agreed escort because they had left their cantonments earlier than expected. Akbar Khan then asked Elphinstone to wait while he negotiated the column's safe passage with the Afghan chiefs who commanded Khord-Kabul pass  from Kabul. Despite what had already occurred, the British commander agreed to the terms and waited. He also agreed to hand over three more European hostages to Akbar Khan.

Instead of hurrying forward, Elphinstone had moved only  from Kabul. By now efforts to maintain military cohesion had also begun to fail. When the column entered the narrow  pass the next day, they were shot at from all sides by Ghilzais armed with captured British muskets and their traditional jezails. It was now apparent Akbar Khan had not been negotiating their safe passage; it was actually a ruse to give the Afghans more time to get into position for an ambush.

Throughout the third day, the column laboured through the pass. Once the main body had moved through, the Afghans left their positions to massacre the stragglers and the wounded. By the evening of 9 January, the column had only moved  but already 3,000 people had died. Many had been killed in the fighting, but some had frozen to death or taken their own lives. A written report by Elphinstone recorded that most of the sepoys had by this stage lost fingers or toes in the freezing conditions, and that their snow-encrusted muskets had become unusable.

By the fourth day, a few hundred native soldiers deserted and tried to return to Kabul, but they were all either killed or enslaved. By now Elphinstone, who had ceased giving orders, sat silently on his horse. On the evening of 9 January, Lady Sale, along with the wives and children of both British and Indian officers, and their retinues, accepted Akbar Khan's assurances of protection. Despite deep mistrust, the group was taken into the custody of Akbar's men. Once they were hostages, all the Indian servants and sepoy wives were murdered.

By the evening of 11 January, the army had been reduced to 200 men. The small rearguard was led by Brigadier-General John Shelton who, for the first time in the retreat, showed his competence and led a fierce resistance against the Afghans. As the surviving troops lay besieged in a small ruined mud-walled enclosure in Jagadalak, Akbar Khan's envoys returned and persuaded Elphinstone and his second in command, Shelton, to accompany them for negotiations.

Akbar Khan brought the two officers to his camp and provided them with dinner. The reasons for his hospitality soon became clear however and both officers were refused permission to return to their men. Shelton became furious and demanded the right as an officer and soldier to return to lead his men and die fighting.

On 12 January, the column, having lost their commander and over 12,000 casualties, decided that their only hope was to wait until night and press on in the dark. The remaining troops, now led by Brigadier-General Thomas John Anquetil, found their path blocked by a formidable thorny barrier of 'prickly holly oak, well twisted together, about six feet high' which had been erected across the narrowest part of the valley. Most of the men who attempted to scale the barrier were shot down before they could reach the other side. All discipline amongst the remainder of the men who were trapped by the barrier now ended and the Afghans closed in to finish them off. The few remaining men who had managed to scale the barrier began a desperate gallop towards Jalalabad but many were slaughtered in a melee just after reaching the other side of the barrier.

The biggest single surviving group of men, consisting of 20 officers and 45 European soldiers, mostly infantry from the 44th Regiment of Foot, tried to press on but found themselves surrounded on a snowy hillock near the village of Gandamak. With only 20 working muskets and two shots per weapon, the troops refused to surrender. A British sergeant is said to have cried "not bloody likely!" when the Afghans tried to persuade the soldiers they would spare their lives.

Sniping then began, followed by a series of rushes; soon the hillock was overrun by tribesmen. An officer named Captain Souter was mistaken by the Afghans as a high-ranking officer because they thought he was wearing a general's yellow waistcoat. In fact the officer had wrapped the regimental colours of the 44th Foot around his body. He was dragged into captivity along with a sergeant named Fair and seven privates. The remaining troops were killed.

Another group of fifteen mounted officers managed to reach as far as the village of Fattehabad but ten were killed while sitting down to accept breakfast from the villagers, four were shot from the rooftops as they remounted their horses and attempted to flee the village and one was tracked down and beheaded.

On 13 January, a British officer from the 16,000 strong column rode into Jalalabad on a wounded horse (a few sepoys, who had hidden in the mountains, followed in the coming weeks). Assistant Surgeon William Brydon, who was riding a pony taken from a mortally wounded officer after being begged by the man not to let it fall into anyone else's hands, continued on despite him and his pony being severely wounded in several skirmishes with roaming bands of Afghans.

On 13 January and now just kilometres from Jalalabad, Brydon had to fight for his life against a party of Afghan horsemen. After escaping a single pursuer, he was spotted by a staff officer on the walls of Jalalabad who immediately dispatched riders to meet the exhausted surgeon. Brydon was asked upon arrival what happened to the army, to which he answered "I am the army".

Although part of his skull had been sheared off by a sword, he ultimately survived because he had insulated his hat with a magazine which deflected the blow. Brydon later published a memoir of the death march. The pony he rode was said to have lain down in a stable and never got up. For several nights, lights were raised on the gates of Jalalabad and bugles were sounded from the walls in the hope of guiding any further survivors to safety.

Aftermath

The annihilation left Britain and India in shock and the Governor General, Lord Auckland, suffered an apparent stroke upon hearing the news. In the autumn of 1842, an "Army of Retribution" led by Sir George Pollock, with William Nott and Robert Sale commanding divisions, leveled the great bazaar and all the larger buildings of Kabul. Sale personally rescued his wife Lady Sale and some other hostages from the hands of Wazir Akbar Khan. However, the slaughter of an army by Afghan tribesmen was humiliating for the British authorities in India.

Of the British prisoners, 32 officers, over 50 soldiers, 21 children and 12 women survived to be released in September 1842. An unknown number of sepoys and other Indian prisoners were sold into slavery in Kabul or kept as captives in mountain villages. One sepoy, Havildar Sita Ram, escaped from Afghanistan after 21 months of slavery and rejoined his former regiment at Delhi. Around 2,000 sepoys and camp followers were eventually found in Kabul and brought back to India by General Pollock's army.

The leadership of Elphinstone is seen as a notorious example of how the ineptitude and indecisiveness of a senior officer could compromise the morale and effectiveness of a whole army (though already much depleted). Elphinstone completely failed to lead his soldiers, but fatally exerted enough authority to prevent any of his officers from exercising proper command in his place.

Historians still debate whether Akbar Khan ordered the massacre, sanctioned it, or was simply unable to prevent it. Some of the British officers and families taken hostage later claimed that Akbar Khan had called out "Spare them!" in Persian, but "Kill them!" in Pashto to the tribesmen. Either way, the British reaction to such an atrocity must have been clear to him. He died near the end of 1847, possibly poisoned by his father Dost Mohammad, who may have feared his ambitions.

Dost Mohammad remained a British prisoner till the end of 1841 when he was set free by the British authorities who, after they took their revenge on Kabul, had resolved to abandon any attempts to intervene in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. After Shuja Shah was assassinated in April 1842, Dost Mohammad quickly reestablished his authority. He died on 9 June 1863 of natural causes, one of the few Afghan rulers in the past thousand years to do so. Even after the two British invasions of his country, he did not intervene in any manner during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

The destruction of several regiments of Indian troops during the retreat inevitably affected the morale of the East India Company's Bengal Army from which these units had been drawn. The reputation for invincibility previously enjoyed by the company was broken. "Men remembered Kabul," commented a British officer at the outbreak of the great Bengal mutiny fifteen years later.

Depictions
German novelist and poet Theodor Fontane in 1858 wrote the ballad Das Trauerspiel von Afghanistan (The Tragedy of Afghanistan).

British writer George MacDonald Fraser describes this event in the first book of his Flashman Papers series, Flashman.

Victoria (2017) episode "A Soldier's Daughter" dramatizes Brydon's survival in the retreat. In the show, Queen Victoria responds to the loss of life in the retreat with a speech at the launch of , and by privately meeting and honouring Brydon.

See also
 The Great Game
 List of massacres in Afghanistan

Notes

References

External links
 Britain's Disastrous Retreat from Kabul
 Account of the British campaign and the massacre
 Account of the death march on The Baldwin Project
 First Western War In Afghanistan Was An 'Imperial Disaster'
 Theodor Fontane, Das Trauerspiel von Afghanistan, German original
 A Brief History of the First Afghan War

Massacres in Afghanistan
Battles of the First Anglo-Afghan War
Conflicts in 1842
1842 in Afghanistan
History of Nangarhar Province
Last stands
January 1842 events
Military withdrawals
1842 disasters in Asia
19th-century disasters in Afghanistan

1842 retreat from Kabul


Filton Airport or Filton Aerodrome  was a private airport in Filton and Patchway, within South Gloucestershire,  north of Bristol, England.

Description
The airfield was bounded by the A38 road to the east, and the former London to Avonmouth railway line to the south. To the north it was bounded by the Filton Bypass. A major road now crosses this bypass, running across former airfield land and linking Filton and Patchway to Cribbs Causeway. The housing development of Charlton Hayes is being built on the section of the airfield that is in the town of Patchway.

The airfield had a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Ordinary Licence (number P741) allowing flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee. Several private jets had the airfield as their home.

Filton's runway was wider than most, at 91 m (300 ft), and had a considerable length of 2,467 m (8,094 ft), having been extended for the maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon airliner in 1949. Its size was beneficial in the late 1960s and early 1970s for development and manufacture of the supersonic Concorde.

Filton had a succession of owners. Following a review of its commercial viability, the last owners, BAE Systems Aviation Services Limited, decided to close the airfield for business effective 31 December 2012. BAE left the site, selling parts of the industrial buildings and land to Airbus, who have expanded their presence there. , Airbus is the main company left on the site. Airbus has built new offices and refurbished one of the original, listed 'Aircraft Works' buildings, Pegasus House, as well as restoring the historic Filton House. Planning permission was granted for Airbus to build a new Engine Development Centre, and in 2016 for a new Wing Building and Wing Development Centre.

The regional West of England Royal Mail letter sorting depot was built on part of the airfield site before it closed.

, the only flights originating at Filton were from an area given to National Police Air Service for its helicopter and for an Air Ambulance helicopter operated by the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity, with both services then moving to a new base in nearby Almondsbury in October 2018.

History

The manufacture of aeroplanes started in 1910, when Sir George White, the owner of Bristol Tramways, established the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company in the maintenance sheds of Bristol Tramways. A small 'flying ground' was set up opposite Fairlawn Avenue in 1911, at the top of Filton Hill.

First World War
The company grew rapidly during the First World War, building thousands of Bristol Fighters and other aircraft. In 1915, as the Aircraft Works expanded over the original flying area, the Royal Flying Corps established Filton Airfield in fields at the bottom of Filton Hill. Access was via the hamlet of Charlton. The hamlet was taken over by the War Office, with people being re-housed and most of the houses demolished, though some survived up until the airfield was closed and the land readied for the Charlton Hayes housing estate.

The First World War buildings on the military base were wooden huts, but eventually more permanent structures were erected, including Barnwell Hall. During the war, RFC Filton was mainly used as an aircraft acceptance facility.

A flying school was located beside the airfield runway, and the site eventually became part of the Engine Division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

Inter-war years

Aero-engine production started close to Filton Airfield, with the acquisition of Cosmos Engineering in 1920. In the same year, the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company became the Bristol Aeroplane Company, often abbreviated to BAC. From 1929 the No. 501 (City of Bristol) Squadron RAF was based at RAF Filton. The squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricanes by 1939 and formed part of the British forces sent to France.

Second World War
Before the Second World War, there were only grass runways at Filton. The re-armament programme from 1935 to the outbreak of war saw further expansion of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and East Works on Gypsy Patch Lane and Rodney Works along Gloucester Road North were established for the production of aircraft engines.

Until the war, there was a belief that German bombers had insufficient range to reach Filton; however, the invasion of France by the Nazis in 1940 changed the situation. As war approached, anti-aircraft guns were set up in a field pasture on Filton Hill, next to Filton Golf Club, to defend the aircraft factories. On 25 September 1940, German aircraft, based in France, raided Filton, causing extensive damage to the aircraft factories, as well as heavy loss of life when several air-raid shelters were hit. In response, a squadron of Supermarine Spitfires was based at Filton. Before D-Day, US-manufactured aircraft were assembled at Filton Aerodrome, from assemblies imported via Avonmouth docks. Filton became a major port-of-entry for US casualties after the D-Day landings in June 1944, most of them taken to Frenchay Hospital. Aircraft produced at Filton during the war included the Blenheim, Beaufort, Beaufighter and Brigand. Filton Aerodrome was upgraded to a concrete runway during 1941/42.

Post war
After the Second World War, the concrete runway at Filton Aerodrome was extended westwards by John Laing & Son to enable the huge Bristol Brabazon airliner to take off safely. This extension required demolition of the hamlet of Charlton; it also severed the pre-war Filton bypass. The three-bay Brabazon Hangar was built in the late 1940s under the direction of T. P. O'Sullivan. The hangar doors and the railway level crossing for the aircraft were the largest in the world at the time. After a worker was crushed and killed while taking a sleep in one of the folds of the hangar doors, a siren was installed to warn employees when the doors were being operated.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, BAC branched out into the development and production of pre-fabricated buildings, plastics, helicopters, guided weapons, luxury cars, gas turbines and ramjet motors. The Bristol Britannia (Whispering Giant) airliner and Bristol Freighter were produced.

In 1948, 501 Squadron was equipped with De Havilland Vampire jets. These were a common sight in the skies around Filton in the early to mid-1950s. 501 was disbanded on 3 February 1957. As a protest, one of the pilots flew his aircraft under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, but he crashed into a hillside on the Leigh Woods side of the Avon Gorge, near Sea Mills, Bristol, and was killed.

During the late 1940s and early 1950, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flew their Lockheed Constellations and Boeing Stratocruisers into Filton to be serviced in the newly completed Brabazon Hangar, then the largest hangar in the world. Maintenance flights to Filton ceased when suitable hangars were completed at London Heathrow Airport. In 1954, BAC opened a technical college for apprentices and trainees at the bottom of Filton Hill. This was eventually absorbed by Filton Technical College, that had opened on the opposite side of Filton Avenue in 1961. In 1958, the aero engine interests of the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Armstrong Siddeley were amalgamated to form Bristol Siddeley Engines. Rolls-Royce purchased Bristol Siddeley Engines in 1966. On 4 February 1971, Rolls-Royce were declared bankrupt due to the burden of development of the RB211 engine for the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar jetliner. Due to the importance of Rolls-Royce engine division to the Royal Air Force, the Government nationalised the company. Frederick Corfield the then local MP, was then Minister for Aviation, and presumably had influence over what was an unusual decision for a Conservative administration.

In 1960, the British Aircraft Corporation took over the aircraft interests of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. In 1960 an RAF Vulcan bomber, approaching from the west, landed at Filton in heavy rain. The pilot braked, but started to aquaplane. He decided to abort the landing. Although he managed to take-off and eventually land successfully elsewhere, the jet blast from the aircraft's four Bristol Siddeley Olympus 201 engines severely damaged a filling station at the eastern end of the runway, sent cars spinning on the A38 trunk road and wrecked the boundary fence steel railings. Eyewitnesses claimed that the aircraft barely cleared the engine test beds next to the Bristol to South Wales railway embankment. Subsequently, the filling station was moved further north, to a safer location. In the early 1960s a new Filton bypass was constructed, roughly parallel to the old one, and this later became part of the M5 motorway. The 1960s and 1970s saw the development and production of Concorde at Filton and a further extension of the Filton runway. The first flight of the Concorde 002 prototype took place on 9 April 1969 at Filton Aerodrome. All other British-built Concordes also used the main Filton runway for their first flights. Because of jet blast, gates and traffic lights were installed to close off the A38 road when Concorde took off. A few Lightning fighters were produced during this period.

The length of the runway and its closed-to-passengers status made it an ideal dispersion site for the nation's airborne nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in February 1962, Vulcan Bombers were stationed at the airfield, on short-notice stand-by. On 3 December 1962, Bristol Siddeley Engines were using Vulcan XA894 as a flying test bed for the Olympus 22R, which was designed to power the ill-fated BAC TSR-2 bomber. On that particular day, the aircraft was positioned at Filton on an apron near the former RAF station, with the 22R discharging its exhaust into a de-tuner. The power was increased to maximum reheat. An LP turbine disc was ejected from the engine, rupturing two fuel tanks and starting a fire. A brand new fire truck positioned in front of the aircraft was quickly enveloped in flames. The fire took hold so quickly that there was little the fire crew could do. Both the aircraft and fire truck were destroyed. The test engineers managed to exit the aircraft so there were no significant casualties.

After the disbanding of 501 squadron, Bristol Siddeley Engine apprentices and British Aircraft Corporation apprentices used Barnwell Hall, the former RAF Officers Mess, for accommodation. The Bristol University Air Squadron continued to use some of the RAF facilities. Nowadays, many of the RAF buildings are derelict and Barnwell Hall has been demolished. For many years a surplus Concorde, G-BBDG, was housed in one of the hangars and cannibalised for spares by British Airways; following the decommissioning of Concorde, it was moved to the Brooklands Museum and restored. A further downhill extension to the main runway was made for the Concorde project in the late 1960s. There was also a shorter concrete runway at Filton with a roughly north–south orientation, which was sometimes used by a Dakota to ferry key BAC personnel to Fairford during Concorde development in the early 1970s. This has now been demolished for the Charlton Hayes housing development.

1977 onwards
In 1977, British Aerospace, who owned a share in what became Airbus, had a major share of the site. Work undertaken included production of components for BAe 146 and Airbus aircraft. During the late 1990s and up to 2010 Douglas DC8 and Airbus A300 B4 aircraft flew regularly in and out of Filton. Airbus A300 B4 aircraft would be lined-up, awaiting conversion from passenger to freight use by BAE Systems. Boeing 747-200 maintenance was also undertaken. In 2002 BAE Systems left civil aircraft development and manufacture, to reorganise into a military manufacturer of aircraft, ships and other military products. Airbus continues on the site. The runway will be lost under housing developments.

On 26 November 2003, Concorde 216 (G-BOAF) made its last flight, and also the last flight by any operational Concorde. It flew from Heathrow, passing over the Bay of Biscay before making several low passes over Bristol, including over the Clifton Suspension Bridge where crowds had gathered, before landing at Filton. A new museum, Aerospace Bristol, opened in 2017 to the north of the old runway. This followed the closure of a previous visitors centre in 2010 after a fatal accident in which a man fell from a walkway. Concorde is one of the exhibits in the Bristol Aero collection.

On 21 November 2006, a public inquiry meeting was held with South Gloucestershire Council to discuss the building of 2,200 homes on the airfield (Patchway section). The first residents moved in to Charlton Hayes in October 2010.

The aircraft interests of the formerly named British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) are now owned by Airbus, GKN and BAC rebranded as BAE Systems, whilst the aero engine facilities are part of Rolls-Royce. MBDA owned the guided weapons facilities.

Refurbishment by Airbus of Filton House and Pegasus House (both Grade II listed buildings), as part of a new major office complex, was completed in 2013. Pegasus House, also known as New Filton House, was reopened by the Duke of Gloucester after standing vacant for 20 years. Built in 1936 as headquarters for the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the large Art Deco office building has sculptures, plaster panels and foyer flooring by Denis Dunlop.

Next to the A38 road, Airbus UK purchased  of the former Rolls-Royce Rodney Works in order to build a facility for wing development and manufacture, which was completed following the granting of planning permission by South Gloucestershire Council in 2016.

Units
The following units were here at some point:
 No. 2 Aircraft Preparation Unit
 No. 2 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF
 No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School RAF
 No. 2 Ferry Pilots Pool RAF
 No. 2 Overseas Aircraft Preparation Unit
 No. 7 Radio Maintenance Unit
 No. 7 Radio Servicing Section
 No. 8 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit RAF
 No. 10 Group Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Flight
 No. 10 Group Target Towing Flight
 No. 12 Reserve Flying School RAF
 No. 15 Ferry Unit RAF
 No. 19 Squadron RAF
 No. 20 Squadron RAF
 No. 25 Squadron RAF
 No. 33 Squadron RAF
 No. 42 Squadron RAF
 No. 62 Squadron RAF
 No. 66 Squadron RAF
 No. 101 Squadron RAF
 No. 110 (Anti-Aircraft Co-operation) Wing
 No. 118 Squadron RAF
 No. 236 Squadron RAF
 No. 263 Squadron RAF
 No. 286 Squadron RAF
 No. 501 Squadron RAF
 No. 504 Squadron RAF
 No. 528 Squadron RAF
 Bristol UAS
 Centaurus Flight

Closure
Sections of the land that made up Filton Airfield were sold by BAE Systems for £120 million.

Revival
In the autumn of 2017, several hangars were re-opened as Aerospace Bristol, a museum about aerospace and the heritage of aerospace manufacturing in Bristol.

Current situation
The former airfield site has been earmarked by South Gloucestershire Council for 2,675 new homes. This new suburb, to be called Brabazon, is being developed by YTL Corporation and will begin construction in 2020 with the first residents arriving in 2021.  As of 2023, parts of the old runway have already been dug up, and construction on areas that were formerly taxiways and aprons is well underway, as the development continues.

Images

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website, archived in September 2012
Filton's Aviation Heritage – South Gloucestershire Council, archived in 2007
Google Earth view of Bristol Filton Airport

Filton Airport
Airport
Defunct airports in England
Airports established in 1915
1915 establishments in England
BAE Systems facilities
Aircraft assembly plants in England
Airports in South West England

Bristol Filton Airport


Paul LeDuc (born 1939) is a former Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for teaming with his kayfabe (storyline) brother Jos LeDuc.

Career
LeDuc began wrestling professionally in 1957 at age 18. He began his training in Montreal, Quebec and later moved to Mexico for further instruction. He talked a friend, Michel Pigeon, into becoming a wrestler as well. Pigeon agreed and took on the ring name Jos LeDuc, as the pair pretended to be brothers. They first worked together in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary, Alberta. The LeDucs used a lumberjack gimmick to honor deceased professional wrestler "Yukon" Eric Holmback. While wrestling in Stampede Wrestling, the pair held the Stampede International Tag Team Championship.

The LeDucs next moved back to Montreal. They feuded with the Rougeau family as well as the Vachon brothers (Maurice and Paul). During a wrestling show in Montreal, Paul LeDuc was legitimately married in the wrestling ring. They also held the Grand Prix Wrestling Tag Team Championship twice in 1972 and 1973.

The LeDucs also wrestled in Florida, where they were known as the Canadian Lumberjacks. In December 1973, they defeated Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship.

Retirement
LeDuc retired from wrestling in 1978 and began working for Quebecor, a communications company, the following year. He later accepted a position writing about professional wrestling for Canadian Online Explorer.

LeDuc's long-time friend and tag team partner died in 1999. The pair had played the role of brothers so well that, when it was revealed that they were not related, the news was widely discussed on talk shows in Quebec. Paul LeDuc's son, Carl, is also a professional wrestler.

Championships and accomplishments
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jos LeDuc
Grand Prix Wrestling (Montreal)
Grand Prix Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Jos LeDuc
Stampede Wrestling
NWA International Tag Team Championship (Calgary version) (1 time) - with Jos LeDuc

References

External links
Paul LeDuc biography at SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame

1939 births
Canadian male professional wrestlers
Living people
Stampede Wrestling alumni
20th-century professional wrestlers
WWC Puerto Rico Champions
Professional wrestlers from Montreal
Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions

Paul LeDuc (wrestler)


On sailboats, a sail batten is a flexible insert in a sail, parallel to the direction of wind flow, that helps shape its qualities as an airfoil. Battens are long, thin strips of material, historically wooden but today usually fiberglass, vinyl, or carbon fiber, used to support the roach of a sail. They are also used on tall ships to form the ladders up the shrouds in a fashion similar to ratlines.

History
Battened sails are commonly found in junk ship. A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing ship design that is still in use today. Iconographic remains show that Chinese ships before the 12th century used square sails. A ship carving from a stone Buddhist stele shows a ship with square sail from the Liu Sung dynasty or the Liang dynasty (ca. 5th or 6th century). Dunhuang cave temple no. 45 (from the 8th or 9th century) features large sailboats and sampans with inflated square sails. A wide ship with a single sail is depicted in the Xi'an mirror (after the 9th or 12th century). Eastern lug sail, which used battens and is commonly known as "junk rig", was likely not Chinese in origin: The oldest depiction of a battened junk sail comes from the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom, Cambodia. From its characteristics and location, it is likely that the ship depicted in Bayon was a Southeast Asian ship. The Chinese themselves may have adopted them around the 12th century CE. Their rigs featured full-length battens that facilitated short-handed sail handling, including reefing.

Applications in sails
The most common use of sail battens is in the roach of a mainsail. The batten extends the leech past the line that runs from the head and the clew of the sail to create a wider sail towards the top. Cruising sailboats may have four to six battens. Racing sailboats may have full-length battens, as well, that allow for better sail shape. Batten length near the head of the sail is limited by the need for the roach to pass ahead of the backstay, when tacking or jibing. Battens are also found in jibs of beach-cat catamarans.

Batten materials and construction
Most modern battens are fiberglass pultrusions with a thin, rectangular cross section. An alternative shape is a hollow tube that rotates in the batten pocket and is more compatible with roller furling the mainsail. Because the ends of battens are likely to chafe the sail at the ends of the pockets into which they are inserted, they often have a soft, blunt shape affixed to them.

References

Sailing rigs and rigging

Sail batten


Edward Robert Miller (November 26, 1916 – July 31, 1997) was an American professional baseball player, a shortstop who played for 14 seasons in the National League between 1936 and 1950.  He was a talented fielder and a perennial All-Star during the 1940s.

Born in Pittsburgh, Miller made his Major League debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 1936 as a 19-year-old.  He played in 41 games over 2 seasons with the Reds before being traded to the New York Yankees in 1938 in exchange for Willard Hershberger.  Miller never played for the Yankees at the major league level and was subsequently traded to the Boston Bees less than a year later.

He became the starting shortstop while in Boston, and established himself as one of the National League's best shortstops during his four seasons there.  His first season with Boston was shortened when he fractured his ankle in a collision with Al Simmons.  He recovered in 1940 to a career-best .276 for the Bees while leading all NL shortstops in fielding percentage and appearing in the MLB All-Star Game.  While his batting average fell over the next two seasons with Boston, he led all shortstops in fielding percentage both years.  He was an All-Star in 1941 and was named as a starter in the All-Star Game in 1942.  After the 1942 season, he was traded back to the Reds in exchange for Eddie Joost and Nate Andrews.

He spent five seasons as the Reds' starting shortstop and earned four more selections to the All-Star Game while with the club.  He continued to play solid defense while with Cincinnati, and he led all shortstops in fielding on two further occasions.  His final year with the Reds was one of his better seasons as a hitter, as he led the league in doubles and was among the top 10 in home runs and runs batted in.  He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Johnny Wyrostek before the start of the 1948 season.

Miller served as the Phillies' shortstop in 1948 but moved to second base in 1949 when he swapped positions with Granny Hamner.  After two average seasons with Philadelphia, he was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals for the 1950 season, his last in the majors.

Miller died in 1997 in Lake Worth, Florida.

See also
 List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders

Sources

1916 births
1997 deaths
Baseball players from Pennsylvania
Boston Bees players
Boston Braves players
Cincinnati Reds players
Kansas City Blues (baseball) players
Major League Baseball shortstops
Philadelphia Phillies players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Springfield Pirates players
Syracuse Chiefs players
Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players
Wilmington Pirates players

Eddie Miller (infielder)


{{DISPLAYTITLE:P3M}}

Particle–Particle–Particle–Mesh (P3M) is a Fourier-based Ewald summation method to calculate potentials in N-body simulations.

The potential could be the electrostatic potential among N point charges i.e. molecular dynamics, the gravitational potential among N gas particles in e.g. smoothed particle hydrodynamics, or any other useful function. It is based on the particle mesh method, where particles are interpolated onto a grid, and the potential is solved for this grid (e.g. by solving the discrete Poisson equation). This interpolation introduces errors in the force calculation, particularly for particles that are close together. Essentially, the particles are forced to have a lower spatial resolution during the force calculation. The P3M algorithm attempts to remedy this by calculating the potential through a direct sum for particles that are close, and through the particle mesh method for particles that are separated by some distance.

References

Further reading

Computational physics

P3M


The Smoky Hills are an upland area of hills in the Great Plains are of North America. They are in the Midwestern United States, mostly in north-central Kansas and a small part of south-central Nebraska.

Geography
The Republican River, Saline River, Solomon River, and Smoky Hill River all go east through the Smoky Hills. This is because they start in the High Plains. Starting in the 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dammed these rivers at points in the Smoky Hills for flood control and irrigation reasons. This created many reservoirs. These include Cedar Bluff Reservoir, Kanopolis Lake, Kirwin Reservoir, Waconda Lake, Webster Reservoir, and Wilson Lake.

Land in the Smoky Hills is mostly used for farming. The region doesn't have very many people. There are cities that are small, but there are no big cities. The two biggest cities in the Smoky Hills region are Salina, Kansas and Hays, Kansas.

References

Other websites

Geography of Nebraska
Mountain ranges of the United States
Regions of Kansas

Smoky Hills


Couvade syndrome, also called sympathetic pregnancy, is a proposed condition in which an expectant father experiences some of the same symptoms and behavior as his pregnant partner. These most often include major weight gain, altered hormone levels, morning nausea, and disturbed sleep patterns. In more extreme cases, symptoms can include labor pains, fatigue, postpartum depression, and nosebleeds. The labor pain symptom is commonly known as sympathy pain.

The source of Couvade syndrome is a matter of debate. Some believe it to be a psychosomatic condition, while others believe it may have biological causes relating to hormone changes.

The name derives from "couvade", a class of male pregnancy rituals.

Symptoms
Symptoms experienced by the partner can include stomach pain, back pain, indigestion, changes in appetite, weight gain, acne, diarrhea, constipation, headache, toothache, cravings, nausea, breast augmentation, breast growth, dry navel, hardening of the nipple, excessive earwax, and insomnia. A qualitative study listed 35 symptoms from Couvade literature, including gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory, oral or dental, stiffening of the glutes, generalized aches and pains, and other symptoms.

Psychological hypotheses
Psychological causes suggested have included anxiety, pseudo-sibling rivalry, identification with the fetus, ambivalence about fatherhood, or parturition envy. According to Osvlosky and Culp (1989), pregnancy causes the male counterpart to experience an emergence of ambivalence as well as a recurrence of Oedipal conflict. In 1920s France, Couvade was claimed to be more common in conditions where sex roles are flexible and the female is of a dominant status.

Physiological hypotheses

Studies have shown that the male partner cohabitating with a pregnant female will experience hormonal shifts in his prolactin, cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone levels, typically starting at the end of the first trimester and continuing through several weeks post-partum.

References

Further reading

External links
Feeling Her Pain The Male Pregnancy Experience

Elusive Couvade Syndrome

Andrology
Culture-bound syndromes
Human pregnancy

Couvade syndrome


Hellifield is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England (). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the village was once an important railway junction on the Settle-Carlisle Railway between the Midland Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, but Hellifield railway station is now a shadow of its former glory. It is situated on the A65, between Skipton and Settle. Hellifield had a population of 1,060 residents at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,426 at the 2011 census.

History
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Hellifield is mentioned as Helgeflet; meaning 'Holy Marsh or Stream', translated from Anglo-Saxon, the village also could have been dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon Goddess 'Hel'. There is also the possibility that the name derives from the Norse 'The Farm of Helgi'. The village name changed over the years; in the 12th century, Hellifield was referred to as "Nether Hellifield" and in the 17th and 18th centuries the village was named "Hellifield Pele" and slightly later "Hellifield Cochins". The modern spelling of Hellifield appears in the mid-19th century, on maps and drawings.

In medieval times it seems that the area between Hellifield and Long Preston was hunted by wolves, so men were employed to guide travellers between the two settlements. Livestock suffered until the extinction in Britain of the grey wolf.

Hellifield was historically a township in the ancient parish of Long Preston in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It became a separate civil parish in 1866.

In the mid-19th century, the village was nothing more than a hamlet. The local workforce mainly concentrated within agriculture and associated trades.

Cotton weaving did take place in the village and several weaving sheds were constructed in the area.

During the 19th century, the railway revolution reached the village, which dramatically changed the growth and population changes of the small hamlet. The original railway station was located on Haw Lane, but in 1880 a new station replaced the old one. This coincided with the opening of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's new line from Blackburn to Hellifield. This line and the Midland Railway's Settle to Carlisle Railway (opened 1876), turned Hellifield into a major passenger and freight interchange. Consequently, many houses and streets were built in the early 20th century to house a large railway population.

The Methodist Church in Haw Grove was opened in 1893. Part of the church, known as the Wesley Centre, now serves as a community centre.

Regular passenger services to Blackburn were cut in 1962, and the Motive Power Depot closed in 1963. New houses were constructed on top of previous railway land and the auction mart.

Hellifield was transferred to the new county of North Yorkshire in 1974. In 2014 the small former civil parishes of Nappa and Swinden were added to the parish.

Governance
Hellifield is a major part of the electoral ward called Hellifield and Long Preston. Its population at the 2011 census was 2,168.

Hellifield today
The Hellifield Flashes (Yorkshire dialect for a pond in a field) are part of the village life and history. There are three flashes. The largest is Hellifield Flash or Gallaber Lake, the second Dunbars and the smallest is known as either Little Dunbars or Dunbars 2. The Flashes provide habitat for wildfowl and migratory birds.  This important area provides a sanctuary for 12 species on the RSPB "red list'.  Where once wolves roamed, now a wildlife habitat reigns.  However, the land is under threat from development and villagers desperate to preserve their countryside are fighting hard to prevent any further development.  The birdlife is monitored regularly by the RSPB and features high on the 'must visit' list of ornithologists.

Hellifield nestles on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is surrounded by rolling hills, dry stone walls and agricultural land.

A proposal to build a  bypass for the A65 around Hellifield and Long Preston has been in discussion since the end of the Second World War. The project was the subject of an inquiry in 1992 – 1993 and an archaeological survey. A decision to de-trunk the route in 2006 means that if the bypass were to go ahead, it would have to be funded by the county council.

References

External links

 Hellifield Homepage
 Hellifield Community Primary School Website
 Craven District Website

Villages in North Yorkshire
Civil parishes in North Yorkshire
Ribblesdale

Hellifield


Robert Louis Byer is a physicist. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1994 and of the American Physical Society in 2012.

He currently is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University.  He has conducted research and taught classes in lasers and nonlinear optics at Stanford University since 1969.  He has made numerous contributions to laser science and technology including the demonstration of the first tunable visible parametric oscillator, the development of the Q-switched unstable resonator Nd:YAG laser, remote sensing using tunable infrared sources and precision spectroscopy using Coherent Anti Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS).  Current research includes the development of nonlinear optical materials and laser diode pumped solid state laser sources for applications to gravitational wave detection and to laser particle acceleration.

He served as chair of the applied physics department from 1980 to 1983 and 1999 to 2002. He served as associate dean of humanities and sciences from 1984 to 1986 and served as vice provost and dean of research at Stanford University from 1987 through 1992.  He served as the director of Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory from 2006-2008 after serving as director of Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory from 1997 through 2006.

Byer played a major role in the success of three laser technology companies.  Quanta-Ray commercialized a high-energy pulsed laser  invented in the Byer lab which is still widely used in scientific research.  Quanta-Ray was acquired by Spectra-Physics in 1981 and is now a part of Newport Corporation.  Byer was a founder of Lightwave Electronics, a pioneering designer and manufacturer of diode-pumped solid-state lasers, which was acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2005 and is now a part of Lumentum.  He played a similar role at Mobius Photonics, which produced pulsed fiber lasers, and was acquired by IPG Photonics in 2013.

Byer led Stanford University's contributions to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, which made the first-ever detection of a disturbance in space-time caused by a pair of merging black holes on September 14, 2015.

Byer is a Fellow of The Optical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Laser Institute of America.  In 1985 Byer served as president of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society. He was elected president of the Optical Society of America and served in 1994. He is a founding member of the California Council on Science and Technology and served as chair from 1995 - 1999.  He was a member of the Air Force Science Advisory Board from 2002–2006 and has been a member of the National Ignition Facility Advisory Committee since 2000.

In 1996, Byer received the Quantum Electronics Award from the Lasers and Electro-optics Society of the IEEE. In 1998 he received the R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America and the A. L. Schawlow Award from the Laser Institute of America.  In 2000 he was the recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.  In 2008 he received the IEEE Photonics Award.  In 2009, he received the Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America.

Byer has published more than 500 scientific papers and holds 50 patents in the fields of lasers and nonlinear optics. Professor Byer was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1987 for major contributions to the science and technology of nonlinear optics. He also became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2000.

References

External links
 Articles Published by early OSA Presidents  Journal of the Optical Society of America

See also
Past Presidents of The Optical Society

Optical physicists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Laser researchers
Presidents of Optica (society)
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Scientists from California
21st-century American physicists
20th-century American physicists
Presidents of the American Physical Society

Robert L. Byer


Erikin is a small town located in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It is located close to the Salt River and between the towns of Quairading and Bruce Rock.

Originating as a railway siding that was established in 1913 during the construction of the Bruce Rock to Quairading railway line, the surrounding land was soon in demand. Lots were surveyed and the townsite was gazetted in 1921.

The town was named after the son of an early settler who was the first person of European descent to be born in the district, Eric Harvey. The second part of the name is short for Inn, or camping place, and was suggested by the child's mother in 1913.

The railway was expanded in 1914 with a new crane being constructed, the siding expanded and barracks provided.  A school was operating in the town in 1914.

References

Towns in Western Australia
Shire of Bruce Rock

Erikin, Western Australia


The year 1990 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events
Caruso St John architectural practice established in the U.K. by Adam Caruso and Peter St John.

Buildings and structures

Atatürk Dam in Turkey is completed
Scotia Tower (Montreal) in Montreal, Canada
Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, designed by I. M. Pei, is completed and becomes the tallest building in the British Commonwealth (1990-1992).
Messeturm in Frankfurt, is completed and becomes the tallest building in the European Union (1990-1997).
U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, designed by architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, is completed.
Two Prudential Plaza in Chicago is completed.
Scripps Center in Cincinnati is completed.
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast, designed by Pierre Fakhoury, is consecrated as one of the world's largest churches.
The Round Building at Hathersage in the Peak District of England, for David Mellor (cutler), designed by Michael Hopkins, is built.
Construction of the Washington National Cathedral is completed.

Awards
American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal – Kevin Roche.
AIA Gold Medal – E. Fay Jones.
Architecture Firm Award – Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.
European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (Mies van der Rohe Prize) – Sir Norman Foster for New Stansted Airport Terminal, London.
Grand Prix de l'urbanisme – Jean-François Revert.
Grand Prix national de l'architecture – Francis Soler.
Praemium Imperiale Architecture Laureate – James Stirling.
Pritzker Prize – Aldo Rossi.
RAIA Gold Medal – Peter McIntyre.
RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Aldo van Eyck.
Twenty-five Year Award – Gateway Arch.
UIA Gold Medal – Charles Correa.

Deaths
April 20 – Arnold Alas, Estonian soldier and architect (born 1911)
 August 6 – Gordon Bunshaft, American architect (born 1909)
 June 19 – Steen Eiler Rasmussen, Danish architect (born 1898)
 December 24 – Judith Ledeboer, Dutch-born English architect (born 1901)
 December 31 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect (born 1891)

References

20th-century architecture

1990 in architecture


Jeremy Michael Cummings (born November 7, 1976) is a minor league right-handed pitcher who last played in the Tampa Bay Rays organization in 2008. He was originally signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in .

In his best minor league season he went a combined 12-4 record and 3.76 earned run average in 26 games (18 starts) between the Double-A Springfield Cardinals and Triple-A Memphis Redbirds.

The following season, he was signed as a minor league free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies, and assigned to their Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. In his final start of the season, he pitched a no hitter.

He split the  season between the Rochester Red Wings and Syracuse SkyChiefs, the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliates respectively, before landing with the Rays in . At the All Star break, Cummings was 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA to earn himself an International League All Star nod. He only appeared in three games in the second half of the season before shutting it down in order to compete with the United States national baseball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He and his team won the Bronze medal.

References

1976 births
Living people
Baseball players from West Virginia
Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in baseball
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Jeremy Cummings


A saltire is a diagonal cross used on flags and in heraldry. For example, the flag of Scotland (named St Andrew's cross) has a white saltire on a blue flag. The Union Jack (the flag of Britain) has two saltires of different colours: a white saltire copied from the flag of Scotland, and a red saltire taken from a flag of Ireland (named St Patrick's cross).

Heraldry
Flags

Saltire


A rocket engine nozzle is a nozzle used in a rocket engine to make the burning propellants go out faster and over a bigger area.

Nozzle shape
The difference between the skinniest part of the nozzle to where the burning fuel comes out is what makes the rocket work so well. The shape of the nozzle is important too, with the best nozzle angle being about 15 degrees, and a smooth angle for the nozzle.

Rockets

Rocket engine nozzle