William Wyatt Gill (27 December 1828 – 11 November 1896) was an English missionary, active in Australia and the South Pacific region after 1851.

Early life
Gill was born in Bristol, England, son of John Gill of Barton Hill and his wife Jane, daughter of Richard Wyatt. Educated in Kingsland Congregational Chapel, Bristol, he became a member at the age of 14 and had an early interest in the ministry.

After three years study at Highbury College, London, and a year of study at New College, University of London (B.A., 1850), he was discouraged from missionary work, but his eagerness to accompany Rev. Aaron Buzacott to the Cook Islands met with approval and in June 1851 he was accepted by the London Missionary Society. On 11 July he was ordained at Spa Fields Chapel and on 15 November he arrived at Hobart Town in the mission ship John Williams where he began his missionary work in Australia.

Missionary work
Gill accompanied Buzacott and Henry Hopkins on missionary work at Launceston, Melbourne and Geelong. On 23 November 1851 he reached Sydney where he met Mary Layman Harrison, a pious Anglican, whom he married on 19 December. In 1852-72 Gill worked at Mangaia, Cook Islands, except for five months in 1858 at Rarotonga in charge of the institution for training native teachers and a visit to Sydney in 1862–63. In 1872 with Rev. A. W. Murray he visited the principal islands in Torres Strait and on 7 November landed the first teachers, including six Cook Islanders, at Kataw in New Guinea. In 1873 he sailed for England where he read to the Royal Geographical Society his paper 'A Visit to Torres Straits and Mainland of New Guinea'. Gill was stationed on Rarotonga from April 1877 until he retired in November 1883 after his wife died in July. On 10 June 1885 he married his second wife Emily, née Corrie (1843-1923). In 1889 the University of St Andrews conferred on him an honorary doctorate.

Later life
He died on 11 November 1896 and was buried in the Waverley Cemetery, Sydney. He was survived by his second wife and by seven of the ten children of his first marriage. His eldest daughter Honor was married to a missionary in Samoa.

Works
Life in the Southern Isles; or, Scenes and Incidents in the South Pacific and New Guinea (London, 1876)
Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (London, 1876)
Historical Sketches of Savage Life in Polynesia (Wellington, 1880)
Work and Adventure in New Guinea 1877 to 1885 (London, 1885)
Jottings from the Pacific (London, 1885)
 From Darkness to Light in Polynesia (London, 1894)

Notes

References
 Boutilier, James A. The International History Review Vol. 5, No. 1 (Feb., 1983), pp. 155–158 (Review of H.E. Maude. Slavers in Paradise: The Peruvian Slave Trade in Polynesia, 1862-1864. Stanford University Press, 1981).
 Reilly, Michael P. J. Works by Mary Layman Gill (Mrs Wyatt Gill) and William Wyatt Gill The Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jun., 1992), pp. 107–114

External links

Information about William Wyatt Gill at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre
The digitized archives of William Wyatt Gill online at the Open Library
Gill, William Wyatt, 1828-1896, Monash University Library

1828 births
1896 deaths
19th-century English writers
British folklorists
English Congregationalist missionaries
Congregationalist missionaries in Australia
Congregationalist missionaries in the Cook Islands
British expatriates in Australia
British expatriates in the Cook Islands
Congregationalist missionaries in Papua New Guinea

William Wyatt Gill


Chrisso () is a village in Phocis, Greece. The modern village sits north of the ancient town of Crissa, a powerful city-state of ancient Greece which gave its name to the Crissaean plain and the Crissaean Gulf and lies in the southwestern foothills of Mount Parnassus. Chrisso is 2 km southwest of Delphi, 10 km southeast of Amfissa and 6 km northeast of Itea. The Greek National Road 48 (Nafpaktos - Delphi - Livadeia) passes west of the village. Chrisso belongs to the municipality of Delphi.

Historical population

History

The town is first mentioned in Homer's Catalog of Ships, as a Phoecean settlement that participated in Trojan War (ca. 12th-13th century B.C.).
The rubble from the ancient wall of Krissa lies in the modern Stefani hill.  The ancient city was devastated by Amphictiones in the war which lasted from around 600 BC and 590 BC.  In the Crisaean fields, an ancient hippodrome is founded.

Persons
Strophilus of Crissa

References

External links

Municipality of Delphi

Populated places in Phocis
Delphi
Mount Parnassus

Chrisso, Phocis


In poetics, closed couplets are two line units of verse that do not extend their sense beyond the line's end.  Furthermore, the lines are usually rhymed. When the lines are in iambic pentameter, they are referred to as heroic verse. However, Samuel Butler also used closed couplets in his iambic tetrameter Hudibrastic verse.

"True wit is nature to advantage dressed
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd"
is an example of the closed couplet in heroic verse from Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism.

References

Stanzaic form

Closed couplet


Viktoria und ihr Husar (Victoria and Her Hussar is an operetta in three acts and a prelude by Paul Abraham with a libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda, based on a work by the Hungarian playwright Imre Földes. It premiered under the baton of the composer on 21 February 1930 in Budapest. The German premiere was on 7 July 1930 in Leipzig, and it was then given on 23 December 1930 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna. An adaptation into English by Harry Graham was performed at the Palace Theatre, London, on 17 September 1931.

Roles

Synopsis

Time and place
The operetta takes place after the end of the first world war in a Russian prison camp in Siberia, as well as in the cities Tokyo (Japan), St. Petersburg (Russia) and the Hungarian village Dorozsma near Szeged.

Prelude

Stefan Koltay, Cavalry Master of the Husars, and his batman Jancsi have become prisoners of war to the Russians. Because they both joined with a group that planned a counter-revolution, and was revealed, they have been sentenced to death and are now awaiting their execution. Jancsi plays a sorrowful Hungarian melody on his violin one last time. The melody speaks so to the Cossack guard that he promises the two Hungarians that he will release them, if only he can receive the violin in exchange for their freedom. Stefan Koltay and Jancsi do not have to consider long, and after they have given the violin to the Cossack, they both leave the prison camp immediately and escape towards Japan.

Act 1
The wife of the American ambassador John Cunlight, the countess Viktoria, used to be engaged to the Cavalry Master Stefan Koltay. She waited for him a long time after the war was over. Only after she received the message that he had fallen, did she slowly let herself be convinced by John Cunlight, to finally marry him.

Stefan Koltay has heard that there are, in the US embassy in Tokyo, some fellow countrymen awaiting a passage to Hungary. He goes there with the intention of joining them, and so meet his beloved Viktoria after years apart. She introduces him to her husband under a pseudonym. Koltay also learns that the ambassador has been transferred to St. Petersburg and that the journey from Tokyo will take place in a few days. Further, Viktoria's brother, Count Ferry, and his fiancée, the Japanese O Lia San, are about to journey on. John Cunlght has no idea of the past that connects his wife with the newly arrived Hungarian, and invited Stefan Koltay and his friend Jancsi to travel with them, under diplomatic protection. From St. Petersburg they will then surely find an opportunity to safely travel on to Hungary. Jancsi is overjoyed, since he immediately fell in love with Viktoria's pretty chamber maid, Riquette, and now sees the opportunity to stay close to her.

Act 2
As Stefan Koltay and Viktoria are alone for a moment, they take the chance to speak openly to each other. Viktoria explains how she came to marry John Cunlight and Stefan attempts to convince Viktoria to flee to Hungary with him. She is however determined to honor her marriage with John Cunlight.

The Russian secret service has found out that a person once sentenced to death in a Siberian prison camp, namely Stefan Koltay, is residing in the US embassy under false name. Through their influence, John Cunlight receives the order from the Russian government to deliver the Hungarians to them. As he holds the papers in his hand, it becomes obvious to John Cunlight that his wife has had previous a relationship with Stefan Koltay, but despite this, he refuses the Russian orders. However, because Stefan Koltay believes that Viktoria's love to him has died, he voluntarily hands himself over to the Russians. As Viktoria learns of this, she breaks down in tears. It now becomes obvious to John Cunlight that the true love of his wife does not belong to him, but still burns for the Hungarian Cavalry Master.

Act 3

Viktoria has in the time passed separated from her husband and, after a long journey around the world, has returned to her ancestral village. Here she meets again with her brother Ferry and her former chamber maid Riquette. The traditional wine harvest festival is currently being celebrated. Because old customs demand that three couples are married during the festival, both Ferry and O Lia San as well as Riquette and Jancsi are planning to marry. They are only missing a third couple. Ferry now suggests that John Cunlight can join them. He has become ambassador in Hungary and the capital is not far away. In this way, Viktoria can marry John a second time, since their separation was a hasty move which it is best to repair quickly.

When John Cunlight arrives, Viktoria is ready to give it a second try with him. However, to her great surprise her beloved Hussar turns up again. As she now sees that John does not even become upset, but only gently smiles, she realizes the truth: Her former husband has arranged everything. His love to her is so great, that he willingly did everything to cause her joy, even if it means leaving her.

As the old customs traditions demand, the three happy couples can say yes to each other.

Orchestra

One flute, one oboe, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, one harp, one tuba, one celesta, one lap steel guitar, percussion and strings.

Notable arias

Nur ein Mädel gibt es auf der Welt
Ja so ein Mädel, ungarisches Mädel
An der Newa steh ein Haus
Pardon, Madame, ich bin verliebt
Ungarland, Donauland (or Ungarland, Heimatland)
Meine Mama war aus Yokohama, aus Paris ist der Papa
Mausi, süß warst du heute Nacht
Reich mir zum Abschied noch einmal die Hände

Film adaptations
 Victoria and Her Hussar (1931 film) directed by Richard Oswald
 Victoria and Her Hussar (1954 film) directed by Rudolf Schündler

References

Recordings
Abraham: Viktoria und ihr Husar – Blume von Hawaii (Querschnitt), Eurodisc, (excerpts, with Rudolf Schock)

External links
, with Lisa Larsson, Dieter Thomas Heck, Noëmi Nadelmann; ZDF (1995)

Operas by Paul Abraham
German-language operettas
1930 operas
Operas

Viktoria und ihr Husar


Eric Stephenson Chitty (28 April 1909 – 23 December 1989) was a Canadian speedway rider who won the London Riders' Championship in 1938.

Early days
Chitty was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1909. Before taking up speedway he worked as an electrical engineer.

Chitty started speedway racing in 1930 in Detroit, Chicago and New York City in the United States, where he was noticed in 1934 by Johnnie Hoskins. In 1935 he came to the UK for a trial with the West Ham Hammers. He was not successful in his trial and was looking for other employment when the West Ham promoter Hoskins gave him another chance five months later, which he took. He was offered a contract by the Hammers. A broken collarbone in 1936 caused a long layoff, and he returned in 1937, scoring moderately well. The 1938 season saw a considerable improvement in his racing, Chitty winning the Opening Cup and the London Riders' Championship, both at New Cross. Chitty also served for a time as chairman of the Speedway Riders' Association.

World Championship
Chitty qualified for the World Final held at Wembley Stadium in London in 1937, finishing 12th with 15 points. He failed to qualify in 1938 but qualified again for the World Final in 1939. Unfortunately the 1939 Final was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II.

Wartime racing

During the war years he raced at Belle Vue in Manchester, which was the only track that ran all through the war. He won the unofficial British Individual Championship in 1940, '41 and '42, the Belle Vue Grand Prix, the Northern Championship and the Hundred Guineas Trophy all in 1942. He also won the all English Best Pairs Championship in 1941 with Ron Johnson and 1943 with Fred Tuck. In 1944 he won the National Trophy and also in 1944 he won the British Empire Best Pairs with Ron Clark. In the Winter of 1945/46, Chitty captained the ENSA team that toured Germany.

After the war
In 1946 he rejoined West Ham and was made team captain, reaching the finals of the British Riders Championship that year. He was always the center of entertainment, often singing to the crowd and once even raced a cheetah. He retired in 1952.

World Final appearances
 1937 –  London, Wembley Stadium – 12th – 4pts + 11 Semi-final pts
 1939 –  London, Wembley Stadium - Event cancelled due to World War II

Players cigarette cards
Chitty is listed as number 7 of 50 in the 1930s Player's cigarette card collection.

References

External links
 Eric Chitty biography
 Eric Chitty photograph

1909 births
1989 deaths
Canadian speedway riders
Canadian motorcycle racers
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England
Sportspeople from Toronto
West Ham Hammers riders

Eric Chitty


Rotherhithe () is a residential district in south east London. It is part of the London Borough of Southwark. Historically, the area was the most northeastern settlement in the county of Surrey. It is located on a peninsula on the South Bank of the River Thames and is a part of the Docklands area. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south east and faces Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank of the river.

The Rotherhithe Tunnel is a road tunnel under the River Thames. It connects Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets north of the river to Rotherhithe  south of the river. A road runs through it called the A101. It was opened in 1908. It is a rare example of a road tunnel where road traffic, pedestrians and cyclists all share the same tunnel. Transport for London took over ownership and maintenance of the tunnel in 2001.

Areas of London

Rotherhithe


3D Prentin is a process fur reproducin CAD imegees usin a 3D prentur.
This is a process employ't by a load eh industries, like the automotive an' mare recently, the construction industry.

Maest 3D printers ar' used as novelties in folks hames n' only fir th' creation ae small models typically no greater than a couple ae inshes across.
Such 3D prenturs vary in cost fae as skint as £180 tae awa upwards ae £3,000 (with th' quality n' capability ae th' prentur correspondin wae th' cost o' th' prentur)

3D printin


Francesco Sassetti (9 March 1421 – April 1490) was an Italian banker.

Biography
Born in Florence, the youngest son of Tommaso Sassetti. He is first recorded as joining the famous Medici bank in either 1438 or 1439 (at seventeen or eighteen years of age) as a factor to the Avignon branch, employed by Cosimo de' Medici. His rise was remarkably quick, and he became a junior partner in that branch, and then its general manager, investing his own money in the branch and receiving a share of the profits. By 1453, he had been transferred to the Geneva branch (which as before, he invested in—though he maintained his investment in the Avignon branch), and in 1458 had returned home to Florence to a position as an adviser to Piero and Lorenzo de' Medici (who had succeeded Cosimo); he also married. Some time after this, he was raised to the highest position in the Medici bank available to non-Medici: "General manager" (and was referred to by Lorenzo as nostro ministro).

Among other things, Sassetti is vital to studies of the Medici bank because of some surviving documents kept by him: his "secret account book" or libro segreto, is a private set of account books that Sassetti meticulously kept between 1462 and 1472. They are invaluable for their full and honest statements of Sassetti's finances and for the light they shed on the internal workings of the bank when he was the general manager. They also are interesting in showing how Sassetti made liberal use of interest-bearing deposits and reinvested his earnings from the Medici branches in other enterprises.

Sassetti is often figured in the ultimate decline of the Medici bank. An early sign of the decline was the near-failure of the Lyon branch because of its manager's venality, which Sassetti saved—but as general manager, he should have been suspicious of the high profits the branch manager responsible (Lionetto de' Rossi) reported and checked the books before events had come to such a pass, especially since he was a partner in that branch, even if he was not in the others.

It was his duty to control the local managers, to audit their accounts, and to lay down the rules which they were expected to follow...Careless managers were reprimanded and summoned to Florence to report. Sassetti, it seems, changed this policy and gave much more leeway to the managers of the affiliated companies.

Sassetti is even more culpable in the failure of the Bruges branch. He consistently overruled Angelo Tani, who opposed the branch manager Tommaso Portinari's reckless schemes, and even removed the last checks against Portinari lending excessive amounts to secular rulers, which would be a direct cause of the failure of the Bruges branch. It failed so spectacularly that the long-term viability of the Medici branch was damaged.

De Roover detects in the accounting methods of the libro segreto a growing distraction by Sassetti, who was increasingly interested in secular humanist activities. De Roover's view must be set against the humanist activity of Sassetti throughout the 1460s. In 1460 he acquired and restored Villa La Pietra.

In 1478 he purchased rights to a funerary chapel in the basilica of Santa Trinita. Work on the Sassetti Chapel was undertaken by Domenico Ghirlandaio between 1483 and 1485. It features a fresco cycle, dedicated to Sassetti's namesake, St Francis, as well as portraits of his family and images of contemporary Florence and an altarpiece on the theme Adoration of the Shepherds.

References

Bibliography

1421 births
1490 deaths
Businesspeople from Florence
Italian bankers
House of Medici
Medieval bankers
15th-century Italian businesspeople
15th-century people from the Republic of Florence

Francesco Sassetti


Plumpton or Plumpton Wall is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Hesket, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is about  north of Penrith. In 1931 the parish had a population of 320.

The village

The village is made up of the former separate hamlets of Salkeld Gate and Brockleymoor and consists mainly of houses along a minor road connecting the A6 to the B5305 near Skelton and also a few houses and farms along the A6 itself.

Close by are the settlements of Plumpton Head, Plumpton Foot and Plumpton Street.

The earthwork remains of a substantial Roman fort can be seen at Castlesteads Farm, alongside the A6 road just north of the village. The fort was known in antiquity as Voreda.  The A6 follows the course of the Roman road from Carlisle to Brougham.

The village has an Anglican church, (St John the Evangelist by Robert Lorimer),  a primary school, café and garden centre (the Pot Place), however the Post Office closed in 2016. During the daytimes on Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly bus service to Penrith and Carlisle which has a reduced service in the evenings and on Sundays.

Plumpton railway station was opened by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway on 17 December 1846. It lay on the West Coast Main Line but after ownership by the London and North Western Railway and the London Midland and Scottish Railway it was closed by British Railways on 31 May 1948 soon after nationalisation.

Plumpton is within the civil parish of Hesket but was from 1866 to 1 April 1934 a separate parish under the name of Plumpton Wall. Before that it was a chapelry or township of Lazonby parish.

The nearby areas of Plumpton Head, Plumpton Street and Plumpton Foot were not part of Plumpton parish but in Penrith or Hesket-in-the-Forest parishes.

Murder
 Murder of PC Joseph Byrnes by the "Netherby" burglars. On October 29, 1885 PC Byrnes was shot in the head by a notorious gang, named the Netherby burglars by the memorial stone. The stone reads "Here constable Joseph Byrnes fell on the night of October 29, 1885, shot by the three Netherby burglars, whom he single handed endeavoured to arrest". The British Transport Police have a historic report on the events.

Presbyterian chapel

The Presbyterian chapel was built around 1850 era, though the exact date is unknown. The chancel on the back was thought to have been built later, however the internal construction suggests it is of the same era. It was acquired by the Wesleyans in 1887 and opened on 17 Aug 1888. It closed its doors as a chapel in 1952. In 1966 it was purchased and converted into a private residence.

St. John the Evangelist parish church
The church is unusually modern for an older village, the sandstone date block reads 1907. It comes under the Christ Church parish in Penrith. The church is set in a square wall with surrounding graveyard. Its stained glass windows were designed by William Morris.

See also

Listed buildings in Hesket, Cumbria

References

External links
 Cumbria County History Trust: Plumpton Wall (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
 Cumbria County History Trust: Hesket in the Forest (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)

Villages in Cumbria
Eden District
Inglewood Forest

Plumpton, Cumbria


For the city in Russia, see Saint Petersburg

St. Petersburg (shortened to St. Pete by the area residents) is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It is in Pinellas County. It is home to the MLB team Tampa Bay Rays.

St. Petersburg, Florida


Stereophonic sound, also simply called stereo, is the reproduction of sound using two or more audio  loudspeakers. This creates a pleasant and natural sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing.

The word "stereophonic" comes from Greek stereos = "solid" and phōnē = "sound". It was coined by Western Electric.

In popular usage, stereo usually means two-channel sound recording and sound reproduction using data from two speakers. The electronic device for playing back stereo sound is often called "a stereo".

Sound

Stereo


The Housatonic Railroad ( )  is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.

The Housatonic Railroad was also a company chartered in 1836 and leased by the New Haven in 1892. It followed much the same route as the current company, but did not run west into New York.

History

Regional railroad: 1836–1898

The Housatonic Railroad, originally (mis)spelled as 'Ousatonic Railroad', was chartered in May 1836 to build a line from Bridgeport, Connecticut, north to the Massachusetts state line, along the Housatonic River valley. On February 19, 1840, regular service began from Bridgeport to New Milford, and on December 1, 1842, it opened to the state line.

On the other side of the line, the Berkshire Railroad was incorporated April 13, 1837, to continue the line north to West Stockbridge, where it would connect to the West Stockbridge Railroad (see below) and the never-built Lee and Hudson Railroad. Construction began in February 1841, and it was completed on December 1, 1842, the same day the line in Connecticut opened. The Housatonic Railroad leased the Berkshire Railroad on January 1, 1843.

The West Stockbridge Railroad was chartered in 1831 and incorporated April 5, 1836 to run from West Stockbridge west to State Line, where it would continue to the Hudson River in New York State as the Hudson and Berkshire Railroad. The line opened on August 10, 1838. On February 6, 1844, the Berkshire Railroad (then leased to the Housatonic) leased the West Stockbridge and Hudson and Berkshire Railroads. On November 21, 1854, the Western Railroad bought the Hudson and Berkshire, which became a branch from the Western's line (later the Boston and Albany Railroad) from Chatham to Hudson, and was abandoned east of Hudson. The West Stockbridge Railroad stayed part of the Housatonic system.

The final section of main line was incorporated March 20, 1847, as the Stockbridge and Pittsfield Railroad. This line split from the original main line at Van Deusenville in Great Barrington and ran east and north to Pittsfield. The full line opened on January 1, 1850, under operation of the Housatonic, and was formally leased January 25.

For a time the Housatonic operated the Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad, running north from the Western Railroad east of Pittsfield to North Adams, but it was returned to the Boston and Albany Railroad, the successor to the Western, in the early 1870s.

The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad opened in 1852 from Danbury south to Norwalk. The New York, Housatonic and Northern Railroad was chartered in 1863 to run from White Plains, New York, northeast via Danbury to Brookfield, Connecticut, on the Housatonic. It was only built north of Danbury, and on May 1, 1874, the Housatonic leased and opened it. On May 6, 1881, the Housatonic outright bought it, and on July 27, 1887, the Housatonic leased the Danbury and Norwalk, by then including branches to Ridgefield and Hawleyville (the latter on the Housatonic's main line) and a southern extension to Wilson Point.

In the meantime, the New Haven and Derby Railroad was chartered in 1864 to run from New Haven west to Derby, Connecticut, and north to Ansonia, planned as part of the route over the never-built Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge. It opened in 1871. On November 14, 1888, a 3.79-mile (6.10 km) extension from Derby Junction to a point in Shelton was opened. The rest of the extension, 9.79 mi (15.76 km) from that point to the Housatonic Railroad at Botsford, was built by the Housatonic and opened on November 28. On July 9, 1889, the Housatonic leased the New Haven and Derby.

On July 1, 1892, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad leased the Housatonic, forming the Berkshire Division; it was merged on March 29, 1898.

New Haven's Berkshire Division: 1892–1969

By the end of the New Haven's life, the Housatonic's original main line had been abandoned south of Botsford, where the old New Haven branch ran only east to Derby. The main line was also gone between Brookfield and Hawleyville, with traffic using the branch to Danbury and old New York and New England Railroad. The Danbury and Norwalk was still in use, but most branches, including the original main line to State Line, Massachusetts, were gone.

On January 1, 1969 the New Haven was merged into Penn Central, which named the lines as follows:
Pittsfield Branch: Berkshire Junction near Danbury north to Pittsfield
Maybrook Branch: Derby Junction west via Danbury and other New Haven lines to Campbell Hall, New York
Danbury Branch: Danbury and Norwalk Railroad

Penn Central and Conrail: 1969–1983
The last passenger train ran over the route on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over Penn Central's passenger operations. At that time, the travel time from Danbury to Pittsfield required two hours and 45 minutes. By 1974 the middle section was abandoned, between Boardman Bridge in New Milford and Canaan, Connecticut, and was not made part of Conrail on April 1, 1976, instead being bought by the State of Connecticut. In 1982 the Boston and Maine Railroad bought the line north of Canaan, renaming it the Canaan Running Track. Conrail continued to operate the line south of New Milford, and the old Danbury and Norwalk Railroad was conveyed to the Metro-North Commuter Railroad on January 1, 1983, becoming their Danbury Branch.

The New Housatonic Railroad (1983–present)

A new Housatonic Railroad was chartered in 1983 by John Hanlon Jr. to lease 34 miles of the former line, from Boardman Bridge in New Milford north to Canaan, Connecticut, from the State of Connecticut. Excursion trains began operating between Canaan and just south of Cornwall Bridge (at Belsprings Siding) in November 1984. The rest of the line, south into New Milford, was made serviceable in 1989, giving the company two connections - the Boston and Maine Railroad (Guilford Rail System) in Canaan and Conrail in New Milford. In April the Housatonic began to serve Becton, Dickinson and Company, a plastics plant in Canaan, but almost immediately the line was severed at Falls Village by a washout, not repaired until 14 months later.

Expansion into Massachusetts and New York
The Housatonic Transportation Company was incorporated in Delaware on January 2, 1991 as a holding company for the railroad's properties, including the newly formed Danbury Terminal Railroad  (an operating company) and Maybrook Properties (a land-owning company). That month the Housatonic bought the connecting Guilford trackage (Canaan Running Track) north to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where it obtained another interchange with Conrail.

In December 1992, the Danbury Terminal Railroad acquired trackage and rights belonging to Conrail in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York. Maybrook Properties bought the former New Haven line (then the Danbury Secondary Track) from Beacon, New York (MP 0.0), east to Hopewell Junction (MP 12.8) (former Newburgh,  Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad), Hopewell Junction (MP 42.9) east to Derby, Connecticut (MP 104.8), (former Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad, Housatonic Railroad and branch to Derby). The Danbury Terminal operated this Maybrook Properties-owned trackage. The Danbury Terminal also obtained Conrail's former trackage rights to serve freight on the Metro-North Commuter Railroad's Harlem Line from White Plains (MP 22.0) to Dover Plains (MP 76.6), and north to Wassaic (MP 81.6) over trackage still owned by the New York and Harlem Railroad and leased to Conrail, crossing the east–west line at Dykemans. Finally, it obtained overhead trackage rights over Metro-North's Waterbury Branch from the east end of this line at Derby (MP 8.9) south to Devon, Connecticut (MP 0.0), (operated for freight by the Providence and Worcester Railroad). The Housatonic also acquired the final part of the main line, from New Milford south to the east–west line at Berkshire Junction near Danbury. With this acquisition, the Housatonic gained a much expanded system and several new customers. These new acquisitions were first operated January 2, 1993.

While freight customers remained on Metro-North's Harlem Line, the HRRC was not allowed to serve them directly. A few freight shipments were forwarded from Danbury by Metro-North crews, but this arrangement was only temporary until the remaining customers converted to truck transportation. On December 31, 1996, the Danbury Terminal Railroad was merged into the Housatonic Railroad.

In 1984, the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum began operating passenger excursions between Lee and Great Barrington, over tracks owned by the Housatonic Railroad. Due to deteriorating track conditions, passenger operations were suspended in 1989. The museum successfully campaigned for state assistance funds to upgrade the tracks. The excursion trains returned in 2003, based out of the restored station in Lenox, with regular schedules to Lee and Stockbridge.

2008 to present
In 2008 HRRC considering the possibility of resuming commercial passenger service along the entire line from Danbury to Pittsfield, and in May 2010 began a formal study of the same.  The estimated cost of upgrading the railroad to support passenger trains was estimated to be between $100 million and $150 million, not including the cost of the required equipment.

In 2011, the Housatonic Railroad decided it would not renew its agreement with BSRM to continue operating passenger excursions over their railroad. Colin Pease, spokesperson for HRRC, said, "The Housatonic Railroad has determined that the continued operation of the Berkshire Scenic Railway on Housatonic-owned tracks is no longer possible."

In July 2014, Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Board of Directors authorized the purchase of 37 miles of the railroad's Berkshire Line. MassDOT's purchase is intended to extend rail services to New York City, following track improvements for passenger and freight service between Massachusetts and Connecticut. MassDOT finalized the purchase on February 5, 2015.

On October 14, 2020, a HRRC employee was fatally struck by a maintenance of way vehicle while working in North Canaan, CT, prompting an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

In June 2021, Metro-North attempted to end HRRC's trackage rights over the Beacon Line in New York and abandon the line, prompting the Housatonic Railroad to file an objection.

See also

List of New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad precursors

References
General

Specific

External links

Housatonic Railroad Company

Connecticut railroads
Massachusetts railroads
New York (state) railroads
Companies based in Litchfield County, Connecticut
Transportation in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Transportation in Litchfield County, Connecticut
Defunct Connecticut railroads
Defunct Massachusetts railroads
Predecessors of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Railway companies established in 1836
Railway companies disestablished in 1898
Spin-offs of the Penn Central Transportation Company
American companies established in 1836
1836 establishments in Connecticut

Housatonic Railroad


Religious beliefs in Poland are currently determined by the previous events, especially 966 Baptism of Poland, which put Poland among Christian countries of Europe. Poland was baptised through the Czechs and not through another countries, what caused that the country is currently mostly Catholic.

Christianity
About 90% of people in Poland are Christians. 87% of population identify themselves as Roman Catholics. In Poland lives about 0.5 million Orthodox people, which are mostly members of Polish Orthodox Church. There are also some Protestant groups estimated to be about 200-300 thousand believers, especially Evangelical Church in Poland.

Poland was baptised in 966 by Mieszko I, the prince of Poland (died 992). There were some political issues that led the country to abandon Slavic beliefs.

Catholic Church
Catholics in Poland are a group of people that contains two subgroups:

 Roman Catholic Church
 Greek Catholic Church.

The second one was established in Poland in the 17th century between some groups of Orthodox people and Roman Catholic Church.

The most important pilgrimage destinations in the country are: Jasna Góra in Częstochowa and Licheń. A lot of saints and blessed of the Roman Catholic Church are Poles, for example Pope John Paul II and Jerzy Popiełuszko.

Judaism
Until WWII Poland was the second-largest place for Jews to live. There were about 6 million Jews. Nowadays in the country live ca. 10000 Jewish people. The rest of them were killed during Holocaust or emigrated in a period of antisemitism after World War II. The majority of Jews lives in big cities like Warsaw, Kraków or Łódź. Jews have been living in Poland for more than a thousand years.

Islam
In Poland there are some Muslim groups with population estimated to be about 10000 believers. There are several mosques in Poland, the oldest in Bohoniki and Kruszyniany. Muslims have been living in Poland for over 600 years, especially in Podlasie.

Poland
Polish culture

Religion in Poland


Moulding (British English), or molding (American English), also coving (in United Kingdom, Australia), is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster, but may be of plastic or reformed wood.  In classical architecture and sculpture, the moulding is often carved in marble or other stones.  In historic architecture, and some expensive modern buildings, it may be formed in place with plaster.

A "plain" moulding has right-angled upper and lower edges. A "sprung" moulding has upper and lower edges that bevel towards its rear,  allowing mounting between two non-parallel planes (such as a wall and a ceiling), with an open space behind. Mouldings may be decorated with paterae as long, uninterrupted elements may be boring for eyes.

Types

 Decorative mouldings have been made of wood, stone and cement. Recently mouldings have been made of extruded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) as a core with a cement-based protective coating. Synthetic mouldings are a cost-effective alternative that rival the aesthetic and function of traditional profiles.

Common mouldings include:
 Archivolt: Ornamental moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch.
 Astragal: Semi-circular moulding attached to one of a pair of doors to cover the gap where they meet.
 Baguette: Thin, half-round moulding, smaller than an astragal, sometimes carved, and enriched with foliages, pearls, ribbands, laurels, etc. When enriched with ornaments, it was also called chapelet.
 Bandelet: Any little band or flat moulding, which crowns a Doric architrave. It is also called a tenia (from Greek  an article of clothing in the form of a ribbon).
 Baseboard, "base moulding" or "skirting board": Used to conceal the junction of an interior wall and floor, to protect the wall from impacts and to add decorative features. A "speed base" makes use of a base "cap moulding" set on top of a plain 1" thick board, however there are hundreds of baseboard profiles.
 Baton: See Torus
 Batten or board and batten: Symmetrical moulding that is placed across a joint where two parallel panels or boards meet
 Bead moulding: Narrow, half-round convex moulding, when repeated forms reeding
 Beading or bead:  Moulding in the form of a row of half spherical beads, larger than pearling
Other forms: Bead and leaf, bead and reel, bead and spindle
 Beak:  Small fillet moulding left on the edge of a larmier, which forms a canal, and makes a kind of pendant. See also: chin-beak
 Bed-mould or bed moulding: Narrow moulding used at the junction of a wall and ceiling, found under the cornice, of which it is a part. Similar to crown moulding, a bed mould is used to cover the joint between the ceiling and wall. Bed moulds can be either sprung or plain, or flush to the wall as an extension of a cornice mould.
 Bolection: Raised moulding projecting proud of a face frame at the intersection of the different levels between the frame and an inset panel on a door or wood panel. It will sometimes have a rabbet on its underside the depth of the lower level so it can lay flat over both.  It can leave an inset panel free to expand or contract with temperature and humidity.
  or ropework: Convex moulding carved in imitation of a twisted rope or cord, and used for decorative mouldings of the Romanesque style in England, France and Spain and adapted for 18th-century silver and furniture design (Thomas Sheraton)
 Cabled fluting or cable: Convex circular moulding sunk in the concave fluting of a classic column, and rising about one-third of the height of the shaft
 Casing: Finish trim around the sides of a door or window opening covering the gap between finished wall and the jam or frame it is attached to.
 Cartouche  escutcheon: Framed panel in the form of a scroll with an inscribed centre, or surrounded by compound mouldings decorated with floral motifs
 Cavetto:  cavare ("to hollow"): Concave, quarter-round moulding sometimes employed in the place of the cymatium of a cornice, as in the Doric order of the Theatre of Marcellus. It forms the crowning feature of Egyptian temples and took the place of the cymatium in many Etruscan temples.
 Chair rail or dado rail: Horizontal moulding placed part way up a wall to protect the surface from chair-backs, and used simply as decoration
 Chamfer: Beveled edge between two adjacent surfaces
 Chin-beak: Concave quarter-round moulding, rare in ancient buildings, more common today.
 Corner guard: Used to protect the edge of the wall at an outside corner, or to cover a joint on an inside corner.
 Cornice: Generally any horizontal decorative moulding
 Cove moulding or coving: Concave-profile moulding that is used at the junction of an interior wall and ceiling
 Crown moulding: Wide, sprung moulding that is used at the junction of an interior wall and ceiling. General term for any moulding at the top or "crowning" an architectural element.

 Cyma: Moulding of double curvature, combining the convex ovolo and concave cavetto. When the concave part is uppermost, it is called a cyma recta but if the convex portion is at the top, it is called a Cyma reversa (See diagram at Ogee.) When crowning moulding at the entablature is of the cyma form, it is called a cymatium.
 Dentils: Small blocks spaced evenly along the bottom edge of the cornice
 : Moulding placed over a door or window opening to prevent water from flowing under the siding or across the glass
 Echinus: Similar to the ovolo moulding and found beneath the abacus of the Doric capital or decorated with the egg-and-dart pattern below the Ionic capital
 Egg-and-dart: egg shapes alternating with V-shapes; one of the most widely used classical mouldings.
 Also: egg and tongue, egg and anchor, egg and star
 Fillet: Small, flat band separating two surfaces, or between the flutes of a column. Fillet is also used on handrail applications when the handrail is "plowed" to accept square shaped balusters. The fillet is used on the bottom side of the handrail between each of the balusters.
 Fluting: Vertical, half-round grooves cut into the surface of a column in regular intervals, each separated by a flat astragal. This ornament was used for all but the Tuscan order
 Godroon or Gadroon: Ornamental band with the appearance of beading or reeding, especially frequent in silverwork and moulding. It comes from the Latin , meaning flask. It is said to be derived from raised work on linen, applied in France to varieties of the, bead and reel, in which the bead is often carved with ornament. In England the term is constantly used by auctioneers to describe the raised convex decorations under the bowl of stone or terracotta vases. The godroons radiate from the vertical support of the vase and rise halfway up the bowl.
Also: Gadrooning, lobed decoration, (k)nukked decoration,
 Guilloché: Interlocking curved bands in a repeating pattern often forming circles enriched with rosettes and found in Assyrian ornament, classical and Renaissance architecture.
  : Sharp-edged moulding resembling a cross-section of a ship's keel, common in the Early English and Decorated styles.
  : Lambs Tongue is a moulding having a deep, symmetrical profile ending in a narrow edge.
 Muntin: Narrow strip of wood or metal separating and holding panes of glass in a window.
 Ogee: see "Cyma"
 Order: Each of a series of mouldings
 Ovolo: Simple, convex quarter-round moulding that can also be enriched with the egg-and-dart or other pattern

 Panel mould: A moulding that is flat on the back and profiled on the face. It is applied directly on a flat surface like a wall or flush door in squares or rectangles to simulate a panel.
 : Functional moulding installed  above the floor from which framed art is hung, common in commercial buildings and homes with plaster walls.
 Rosette: Circular, floral decorative element found in Mesopotamian design and early Greek stele, common in revival styles of architecture since the Renaissance.

 Scotia: Concave moulding with asymmetric upper and lower profiles.  When used as a base its lower edge projects beyond the top, as on columns as a transition between two torus mouldings with different diameters; also used with its upper edge projecting on mantels, crown mouldings, and on stairs, supporting their treads' nosing
 Screen moulding: Small moulding used to hide and reinforce where a screen is attached to its frame.
 Shoe moulding, toe moulding or quarter-round: Small flexible moulding used at the junction of a baseboard and floor as a stylistic element or to cover any gap between the two.
 Strapwork: Imitates thick lengths of leather straps applied to a surface to produce pattern of ribs in connected circles, squares, scrolls, lozenges etc. Popular in England in 16th and 17th centuries, used in plaster on ceilings, also sculpted in stone on exterior of buildings, e.g. around entrance doors. Also carved in wood, and used for topiary designs for parterres.
 : Convex, semi-circular moulding, larger than an astragal, often at the base of a column, which may be enriched with leaves or plaiting. In the Ionic orders there are generally two torus mouldings separated by a scotia with annulets.
 Trim moulding:  General term used for mouldings used to create added detail or cover up gaps, including corner mouldings, cove mouldings, rope mouldings, quarter rounds, and accent mouldings.

Use

At their simplest, mouldings hide and help weather seal natural joints produced in the framing process of building a structure. As decorative elements, they are a means of applying light- and dark-shaded stripes to a structural object without having to change the material or apply pigments. Depending on their function they may be primarily a means of hiding or weather-sealing a joint, purely decorative, or some combination of the three.

As decorative elements the contrast of dark and light areas gives definition to the object. If a vertical wall is lit at an angle of about 45 degrees above the wall (for example, by the sun) then adding a small overhanging horizontal moulding, called a fillet moulding, will introduce a dark horizontal shadow below it. Adding a vertical fillet to a horizontal surface will create a light vertical shadow. Graded shadows are possible by using mouldings in different shapes: the concave cavetto moulding produces a horizontal shadow that is darker at the top and lighter at the bottom; an ovolo (convex) moulding makes a shadow that is lighter at the top and darker at the bottom. Other varieties of concave moulding are the scotia and congé and other convex mouldings the echinus, the torus and the astragal.

Placing an ovolo directly above a cavetto forms a smooth s-shaped curve with vertical ends that is called an ogee or cyma reversa moulding. Its shadow appears as a band light at the top and bottom but dark in the interior. Similarly, a cavetto above an ovolo forms an s with horizontal ends, called a cyma or cyma recta. Its shadow shows two dark bands with a light interior.

Together the basic elements and their variants form a decorative vocabulary that can be assembled and rearranged in endless combinations. This vocabulary is at the core of both classical architecture and Gothic architecture.

Design

Classical
When practiced in the Classical tradition the combination and arrangement of mouldings are primarily done according to preconceived compositions. Typically, mouldings are rarely improvised by the architect or builder, but rather follows established conventions that define the ratio, geometry, scale, and overall configuration of a moulding course or entablature in proportion to the entire building. Classical mouldings have their roots in ancient civilizations, with examples such the 'cornice cavetto' and 'papyriform columns' appearing in ancient Egyptian architecture, while Greek and Roman practices developed into the highly the regulated classical orders. Necessary to the spread of Classical architecture was the circulation of pattern books, which provided reproducible copies and diagrammatic plans for architects and builders. Works containing sections and ratios of mouldings appear as early as the Roman era with Vitruvius and much later influential publications such as Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola's, Five Orders of Architecture, and James Gibbs's, Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture. Pattern books can be credited for the regularization and continuity of classical architectural mouldings across countries and continents particularly during the colonial era, contributing to the global occurrence of Classical mouldings and elements. Pattern books remained common currency amongst architects and builders up until the early 20th century, but soon after mostly disappeared as Classical architecture lost favor to Modernist and post-war building practices that conscientiously stripped their buildings of mouldings. However, the study of formalized pattern languages, including mouldings, has since been revived through online resources and the popularity of new classical architecture in the early 21st century.

Gothic
The middle ages are characterized as a period of decline and erosion in the formal knowledge of Classical architectural principles. This eventually resulted in an amateur and 'malformed' use of moulding patterns that eventually development into the complex and inventive Gothic style. While impressive and seemingly articulate across Europe, Gothic architecture remained mostly regional and no comprehensive pattern books were developed at the time, but instead likely circulated through pilgrimage and the migration of trained Gothic masons. These medieval forms were later imitated by prominent Gothic Revivalists such as Augustus Pugin and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc who formalized Gothic mouldings, developing them into its own systematic pattern books which could be replicated by architects with no native Gothic architecture.

See also

 Ancient Greek architecture
 Ancient Roman architecture
 Architrave
 Baseboard
 Entablature
 Glossary of architecture
 Molding plane
 Renaissance architecture

References

Further reading
 Theory of Mouldings (Classical America Series in Art and Architecture); C Howard Walker (Author); Richard Sammons (Foreword); W. W. Norton & Co. (July 31, 2007);

External links

Architectural elements
Ceilings
Ornaments (architecture)
Woodworking

Molding (decorative)


David Curtiss Munson (May 19, 1884 – September 17, 1953) was an American athlete who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the 4 mile team where he won the gold medal with his team mates Arthur Newton, George Underwood, Paul Pilgrim and Howard Valentine.

In the 1500 metres event he finished fourth. He also participated in the 2590 metre steeplechase competition where he finished sixth.

He won back-to-back one-mile run titles at the outdoor IC4A championships in 1904 and again in 1905, and set the world record in the mile-and-a-half run in Madison Square Garden in 1905.

Munson graduated from Cornell University in 1906 and was a member of the Sphinx Head Society, the oldest senior honor society at Cornell University. He was inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.

References

External links
 David Munson at databaseOlympics.com
 David Munson at Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame

1884 births
1953 deaths
American male middle-distance runners
American male long-distance runners
American male steeplechase runners
Athletes (track and field) at the 1904 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
Cornell University alumni
Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics

David Curtiss Munson


Xiao Baojuan (蕭寶卷) (483–501), né Xiao Mingxian (蕭明賢), commonly known by his posthumously demoted title of Marquess of Donghun (東昏侯), courtesy name Zhizang (智藏), was an emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty of China, during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. He was a violent ruler who executed high-level officials at his whim, and this drew several major rebellions, the last of which, by his general Xiao Yan, overthrew him and eventually his dynasty, with Xiao Yan establishing the Liang dynasty. He is known as the Marquess of Donghun because Xiao Yan demoted him to that title after he was killed in a siege of the capital Jiankang.

Background
Xiao Baojuan was born in 483, when his father Xiao Luan was a mid-high-level official and the Marquess of Xichang, as the cousin of Emperor Wu.  His original name was Xiao Mingxian.  He was Xiao Luan's second son, and his mother Liu Huiduan () was Xiao Luan's wife.  (His only older brother Xiao Baoyi () was born to Xiao Luan's concubine Lady Yin.)  His mother Marchioness Liu had three other sons, Xiao Baoxuan (), Xiao Baoyin, and Xiao Baorong, before dying in 489.

In 494, with Emperor Wu's frivolous and incompetent grandson Xiao Zhaoye as emperor and with Xiao Luan as his prime minister, Xiao Luan carried out a coup d'état and overthrew Xiao Zhaoye.  (It was around this time that Xiao Baojuan's name was changed from Mingxian to Baojuan.)  Xiao Luan initially made Xiao Zhaoye's younger brother Xiao Zhaowen emperor, but after further cementing his power, including killing many sons of both Emperor Wu and Emperor Wu's father Emperor Gao, Southern Qi's founding emperor, Xiao Luan took over the throne himself (as Emperor Ming).  As Xiao Baojuan's older brother Xiao Baoyi was said to be severely disabled and unable to talk, Xiao Baojuan, as the second son and the oldest born of Xiao Luan's wife, was created crown prince.

As crown prince
Not much is known about Xiao Baojuan's activities as crown prince.  What is known was that Emperor Ming often told him about how Xiao Zhaoye had considered killing him, and warning him that he needed to act decisively.  It was also said that he disliked studies but rather liked to spend time in games, and that he was an introvert who did not like to talk.  In 495, his father gave the daughter of his official Chu Cheng (), Chu Lingqu, to him as his crown princess in marriage.  In 496, he had a coming-of-age ceremony.  In 498, during the rebellion of the retired general Wang Jingze (), despite the fact that Wang's army was some distance away from the capital Jiankang, Xiao Baojuan mistook a fire as a sign that Wang's army was near the capital and changed into a jumpsuit to try to flee, but subsequently Wang's army was defeated.

In fall 498, Emperor Ming died.  Xiao Baojuan succeeded to the throne as emperor.

Reign
Emperor Ming's will left a group of high-level officials in charge of the government—Xiao Baojuan's cousin Xiao Yaoguang () the Prince of Shi'an, the prime minister Xu Xiaosi (), the trusted Jiang Shi () and his brother Jiang Si (), Xiao Baojuan's uncle Liu Xuan (), and the general Xiao Tanzhi ().  Xiao Baojuan himself was anxious to exercise imperial authority, but often spent his time in games with his close associates, whom he often awarded money.  The high-level officials, particularly Jiang Shi, tried to curb his behavior, and this brought great resentment from the young emperor, who was described as not liking meetings with officials but favored eunuchs, bodyguards, and messengers. He created his wife Crown Princess Chu empress, and created his only known son Xiao Song (), by his concubine Consort Huang, crown prince.

With the young emperor's lack of virtues becoming evident, Jiang Shi began a discussion among high-level officials to depose him and to replace him with his younger brother Xiao Baoxuan the Prince of Jiangxia.  However, Liu Xuan disliked Xiao Baoxuan, and Xiao Yaoguang used this to steer the discussion to making himself emperor.  However, Liu opposed this as well, and Xiao Yaoguang, in 499, in anger, unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Liu, who then reported the plot to Xiao Baojuan.  Xiao Baojuan immediately had Jiang Shi and Jiang Si arrested and executed.  Xiao Yaoguang, in fear, feigned illness and resigned, but subsequently feared that Xiao Baojuan would execute him anyway, and started a rebellion, putting the palace under siege.  Xiao Baojuan's forces, commanded by Xiao Tanzhi and two other generals, Zuo Xingsheng () and Cao Hu (), counterattacked, and put Xiao Yaoguang's headquarters under siege, capturing and executing him.

In the aftermaths of Xiao Yaoguang's rebellion, Xiao Baojuan now controlled more power than before, and initially he promoted Xu Xiaosi, Xiao Tanzhi, Liu Xuan, Cao Hu, as well as the official Shen Wenji (), to reward them for their contributions and loyalty during Xiao Yaoguang's rebellion.  However, less than a month later, Xiao Baojuan, upon reports by his associates who disliked Xiao Tanzhi, had him arrested and executed.  Soon, the same fate fell Liu and Cao, and from this point on, the entire government was in fear, not knowing whom the emperor would next kill.  Two months later, Xu and Shen, as well as Shen's nephew Shen Zhaolüe, were killed as well.  Upon hearing how Xiao Baojuan was slaughtering the high-level officials, the senior general Chen Xianda (), then the governor of Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi and Fujian), started a rebellion, advancing quickly on Jiankang and reaching the outskirts of the capital in less than a month, around new year 500.  However, Chen then died in battle, and his rebellion was defeated.

After Chen was defeated, Xiao Baojuan became even more arbitrary in his behavior.  He liked to visit many places outside the palace, but did not like to have people see his face, and so would first send guards to expel people from their homes and business before heading to the location.  Anyone who did not evacuate, either willfully or not, would be executed.  By this point, the common people began to resent the emperor as well.  In spring 500, in fear, the general Pei Zhaoye (), the governor of Yu Province (豫州, modern central Anhui), surrendered the important city Shouyang to rival Northern Wei.

Xiao Baojuan sent the generals Cui Huijing () and Xiao Yi () to try to recapture Shouyang.  However, as soon as he left the capital region, Cui announced that because of the emperor's violent character, he was starting a rebellion to overthrow the emperor.  He persuaded Xiao Baojuan's brother Xiao Baoxuan to join him, and in just 12 days they reached the capital and put the palace under siege.  However, Cui, believing that victory was at hand, did not carry out the campaign diligently, and Xiao Baojuan sent messengers to recall Xiao Yi to try to save the capital.  Xiao Yi advanced quickly back on the capital and defeated Cui, who fled but was killed during flight.  Xiao Baoxuan was executed.

After Cui's death, Xiao Baojuan grew even more confident, and his associates quickly controlled the government.  He favored his concubine Consort Pan Yunu, awarding her and her father Pan Baoqing () with many things.  Pan Baoqing often falsely accused other people of crimes and had them executed, seizing their property.  Xiao Baojuan also carried out a large number of construction projects and often demanded tributes of luxury items from the people—and his associates used this opportunity to demand even more things, and the people grew weary.

To award Xiao Yi, Xiao Baojuan had made him prime minister after he defeated Cui Huijing, but he soon grew suspicious of Xiao Yi as well, and with his associates persuading him to, he soon forced Xiao Yi to commit suicide in winter 500.  Xiao Yi's brother Xiao Yan, the governor of Yong Province (雍州, modern northwestern Hubei) thus declared a rebellion from his provincial capital Xiangyang.  Xiao Baojuan sent the general Liu Shanyang () to attack Xiao Yan, but, in fear of a surprise attack from Liu Shanyang, Xiao Yingzhou (), the chief of staff for Xiao Baojuan's brother Xiao Baorong, who served as the titular governor of Jing Province (荊州, modern central and western Hubei), instead joined Xiao Yan and surprised and killed Liu Shanyang.  Both Xiao Yan and Xiao Yingzhou then declared that they wanted to overthrow Xiao Baojuan and make Xiao Baorong emperor.  Xiao Yingzhou remained at Jiangling with Xiao Baorong, while Xiao Yan attacked east.

Xiao Yan's progress was not fast but was steady, and by spring 501 the western half of the empire was under the control of his forces.  Meanwhile, Xiao Yingzhou had Xiao Baorong declared emperor (as Emperor He).  For the next several months, then, Southern Qi had two emperors.  Meanwhile, two other Jiankang-based plots to kill Xiao Baojuan—one by his cousin Xiao Zhaozhou () the Prince of Baling (a grandson of Emperor Wu), and one by the general Zhang Xintai (), failed.  By winter 501, Xiao Yan had reached Jiankang and put the city under siege, but while he was initially successful in defeating Xiao Baojuan's forces, the city was initially ably defended by the generals Wang Zhenguo () and Zhang Ji (), and the siege stalled.  Meanwhile, Xiao Yingzhou, who had maintained a balance of power with Xiao Yan, died of illness, and from this point, there was no doubt that Xiao Yan was in control of the rebellion.

Around the new year 501, Xiao Baojuan's associates told him that, in their opinion, it was because Wang Zhenguo and Zhang Ji were not wholehearted that Xiao Yan's army could not be defeated.  Hearing of this, in fear, Wang and Zhang had Xiao Baojuan assassinated, and had his head presented to Xiao Yan.  Xiao Baojuan was posthumously demoted to the title of Marquess of Donghun.  Consort Pan and his other associates were executed, and Empress Chu and Crown Prince Song were both demoted to commoner rank.  By 502, Xiao Yan had taken over the throne from Xiao Baorong as well and had ended Southern Qi and established Liang Dynasty.

Family
Consorts and Issue:
 Empress, of the Chu clan of Henan (), personal name Lingqu ()
 Guifei, of the Pan clan (; d. 501), personal name Yu'er () or ()
 Consort Wu, personal name Jinghui
 Unnamed daughter
 Guipin, of the Huang clan ()
 Xiao Song, Crown Prince (; d. 501)

Ancestry

References

 Book of Southern Qi, vol. 7.
 History of Southern Dynasties, vol. 5.
 Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144.

Southern Qi emperors
483 births
501 deaths
6th-century Chinese monarchs
Murdered Chinese emperors

Xiao Baojuan


The 44 Pathfinder Platoon is part of the 44 Parachute Regiment. The pathfinder is a trained and specialized paratrooper, who performs covertly behind enemy lines, either in small groups or in collaboration with other reconnaissance units.

History of the Pathfinders in 44 Parachute Brigade

44 Pathfinder Company  1980–1982

In the early 1980s and following the creation of Zimbabwe a number of former Rhodesian Army soldiers joined the SADF on a short contract.  Some were absorbed into 32 Battalion and others, mainly Rhodesian professional soldiers, were recruited by Col. Jan Breytenbach into 44 Parachute Brigade to serve as a new fighting arm within the brigade.  These British, Rhodesian, and American Troops were at that time humorously referred to as 'The Philistines' because they were foreigners.

After their selection and induction, these recruits underwent further training in bush warfare and conventional pathfinding methods as a part of 2 pathfinder selection courses.   This training by early 1981 produced sufficient personnel to be deployed on active service. Their envisaged role was to conduct mobile, fighting patrols deep inside Angola.  They were highly trained in counter-terrorist operations and already self-sufficient and in most cases independent from the rest of the SADF.

They were based at Ondangwa, South-West Africa (now Namibia) and from there they would launch patrols into Angola mostly led by Colonel Breytenbach.  This force in its short and controversial history proved to be highly successful and when Colonel Breytenbach left the Brigade in 1982 they were disbanded.  Before its eventual disbandment the Pathfinders were involved to a degree in giving instruction to 44 Parachute Brigade's Citizen Force Paratroopers, however, on the completion of their one-year contracts some chose to leave the SADF whilst others which were the majority, were transferred to 32 Battalion.

44 Pathfinder Platoon

In 1976, 1 Parachute Battalion possessed a limited pathfinder capability in a small group of permanent force members who were Drop Zone Safety Officers and Freefall qualified. These comprised the following: Capt. J.E. Rabie Lt. J.C. Van Wyk 2 Lt. M. Ellis 2 Lt. M.J. Boon Sgt M. P .J. Liebenberg Cpl. D.W. Van Zyl and Cpl. J.J. Grobler.

The Battalion had no other specialized training except that of paratrooper soldiering.   With fixed posts within the Battalion, these members would only group as and when the situation required and then mainly for the purpose of training.  With the success and lessons from Operation Reindeer in May 1978, it became clear that a method for ensuring correct and safe dropping, grouping, and extraction of paratroopers was urgently needed.  In order to have the capability to covertly insert behind enemy lines, and do reconnaissance on the target, the Battalion would need to create a formal structure, command system, specialized equipment, and operational procedures to support this.

The then Commander of 1 Parachute Battalion, Col. D.J. Moore, requested Maj Joos Rabie to formulate staff, equipment tables and to establish guidelines for the formation of an extended Pathfinder capability within the unit.  The blueprint used was a combination of the British SAS, USA Pathfinders, and the Reconnaissance Regiments (Recces) of the SADF.   The objective was to train the Pathfinder to be on par with the Recces' in their training schedule regarding land warfare, but specializing in pathfinder and airborne operations.  2Lt. Jacobus. G. Hoon and 2Lt. Pierre Lundberg together with Cpl's I.J. Pretorius and Daniel. J. Schutte were the first Permanent force leader group who trained the first group of Pathfinders in September 1978.

Operations

Operational Duties (Ondjiva—Angola: January 1982 – August 1982)

The command of this group fell under Lt J.G.Hoon (1st Pathfinder Group 1978) and 2 Lt Paul Troll.  Both Hoon and Troll were from 1 Para Bn.  The Pathfinder group teamed up with 101 Battalion in May 1981 at Miershoop where Minor Tactics were introduced to the Recce Pl of 101 BN.
South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) who mainly served as trackers, translators, backup firepower (60mm Mortars and LMGs) and the Pathfinder group acting as team leaders and medics.  They operated in small (4 man) teams (2 Pathfinders and 2 101 Battalion Ovambos) looking for weapon caches and doing counter-insurgency operations for the upcoming expected rainy-season offensive.   For their service, this group of Pathfinders was awarded the Chief of the SADF Commendation Medal.

After the initial deployment at 101, Capt Pierre Lundberg who was a member of the initial group was again asked to command the national service pathfinders, which he did until the end of 1982.  He was also joined by Lt John Tawse and both served in this capacity until leaving at the end of Jan 1983 where each respectively joined 4 Recce in Langebaan and 31 Battalion Recce at Omega, Caprivi on a permanent basis.  After this departure, the Pathfinders had no Permanent Force leadership for almost 4 months until Capt John van Aswegen (Former Rhodesian SAS and 1 and 6 Recce) took over as the Pathfinder Commanding Officer.

All the subsequent Pathfinders groups followed a similar training schedule as the first three groups in regime and quality.  In November 1983 John van Aswegen moved to 44 Parachute Brigade and became the new Commanding Officer of the newly formed 44 Parachute Brigade Pathfinder Company.

Pathfinder statistics

From 1978 until October 1989 and at the end of the bush war (Citizen Force Members)
98 members successfully completed the course during their National service, of which 62 members attended citizen call-up camps.  A further 86 members did training camps or Brigade exercises and 67 members participated in operations in the SWA/Angola Operations Area.  As of December 1989, the company strength stood at 86 members.

The Pathfinders were a relatively small group of soldiers. By comparison, the Reconnaissance Regiment from the formation of 1 Recce Commando at Oudtshoorn in 1972, to end of the Angolan/Bush war (1989) has over 450 qualified Recce operators; an average of 26 to 27 operators a year, while there were only 98 qualified Pathfinders from 1978 up to 1989, an average of 9 Pathfinders per year.

Pathfinders were also the only Special Forces troops in the SADF that mostly comprised national service members with only their officers being Permanent Force members. In comparison, the Recce Regiments and 32 Battalion members were required to join the Permanent Force (5 years) or at least in short-term duty (3 years).

Synopsis

The fact that the Pathfinders were National Servicemen worked in certain instances against them. The leader group in 1 Parachute Battalion and 44 Parachute Brigade (comprising mostly career soldiers), followed the age-old tradition of the British Army with their very strict rank and chain of command with limited understanding of Special Forces work.

Their application of the warfare doctrine "shock and awe" was in contrast to special operations which revolved around clandestine and reconnaissance operations.  The small, close-knit elite unit function worked best when run in an egalitarian manner. The differentiator is that a strong chain of command existed well in such a unit however with no one working hard at wielding power.

In most instances, the Pathfinder with the most experience assumes command for that specific operation which sometimes superseded the command of a Colonels or Sergeant Majors.  This being totally out of the norm of a regular army.  In units like the Recce Commando's and 32 Battalion, the ethos of Special Forces was well understood and practiced by the leader group.  In contrast, the Pathfinders were an isolated group in the Parachute Battalion, as their war doctrine and command ethos differed radically from that of the normal Paratrooper Companies.  This situation was further exacerbated by the Commanders' lack of understanding of how to use specialist forces.

This led to amongst other, airborne battle-handling courses being presented at the newly formed 44 Parachute Regiment (Downgraded from Brigade to Regiment in 1999 following a transformation of the SADF to SANDF)   The issue as described is discussed and dealt with and every junior officer in the airborne attends.

Most of the Citizen Force Pathfinders needed refresher courses where the latest battlefield lessons were imparted to them during these call-ups.  The officers and many groups of Pathfinders were also trained by elements of the Recce Regiment and many of the battlefield experience the Recces acquired were also transferred to the Pathfinders.  With the transformation and new dispensation in the National Defence Force, combat experience and lessons learned on the battlefield that was transferred from one Pathfinder group to the next, was unfortunately lost and many of the leader group have subsequently left the service.

Leadership

References

Army units and formations of South Africa
Airborne units and formations of South Africa
Military units and formations in Bloemfontein
Military units and formations of South Africa in the Border War
Military units and formations established in 1978

44 Pathfinder Platoon


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