View allAll Photos Tagged Surrender
It's very close now... we are waiting to meet our son any day now! This photo was taken on our last vacation as a "couple", in Varadero. We didn't have the greatest weather and on this day it was very stormy, but it made for some great photo ops. Even though it was really windy and cold, Bogna jumped into the water and strutted for me. It was the most fun photo shoot I've ever done, and I felt like I was shooting an SI Swimming Suit Issue :)
One of the few roses I grow, this one is highly fragrant with very long stems. Disease resistant and performs in less than optimal conditions, which in my case is minimal sun, water and attention. The cut flowers fill a room with fragrance. This rose bush followed me from my home in Hollywood to here in Venice years ago.
Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jim Battle and Chief Inspector Debbie Dooley.
The mother of a young man who was stabbed to death in Tameside is appealing for people to ‘bin the blade’ as part of a week-long knife surrender.
Rhian Jones’ son Dominic Doyle tragically lost his life when he was stabbed during a night out in Denton. He was just 21 years old when he died.
Desperate to stop any other family suffering the same pain, his mother Rhian is supporting Greater Manchester Police’s knife surrender.
The surrender, which takes place 21 – 27 November, will see dedicated bins placed into 11 police stations in Greater Manchester.
Knives – including illegal weapons or any other unwanted bladed instruments - can be dropped off in the bins safely and anonymously, with no questions asked.
Rhian Jones said: “I want to support the ‘Bin the Blade’ campaign because my 21 year old son Dominic Doyle was killed by a gang of knife wielding youths.
“It was an unprovoked attack, which took away my only child.
“As part of the campaign I want to speak directly to the mums of these youths carrying knives. Be open and honest with them and talk to them about carrying knives.
“Please don't think it will never happen to you because that's what I thought and it could be you burying your son or daughter next time because someone was carrying a knife.
“This needs to stop, we need to get the knives off the streets. Please support the campaign - bin the blade and save a life.”
Detective Chief Inspector Debbie Dooley from the Xcalibre Task Force at GMP said: “Knives pose a serious risk within our communities and the more we can take off our streets, the greater chance we have of saving lives.
“We don’t want any other family to go through the pain and suffering that Rhian and her family have had to endure and we appeal to residents to take this opportunity to hand in their blades safely and anonymously.”
Deputy Police and Commissioner Jim Battle said: “Campaigns like this have proved successful in the past, taking hundreds of knives off our streets before they fall into the wrong hands. Now we ask the people of Greater Manchester to once again look to their consciences, do the right thing and bin the blade. Please take this opportunity to get rid of your blades anonymously and continue to work with us to make our streets safer for future generations.”
To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.
You should call 101, new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.
Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.
You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.
The Singer Victorian Model 28-K Hand-crank Sewing Machine
What a Jewel!
Manufactured on Oct 1, 1901 in Kilbowie Factory in Clydesbank, Scotland, this gorgeous quality vintage Singer workhorse is in beautiful working order.
This quality made machine is powered by you with a nifty hand crank. This all-iron-and-steel lass was manufactured at the very beginning of the 20th century during Singer's Golden Years, when Superior Quality products were both the expected and the norm.
This cool Antique Singer Model 28k with her gold and silver decals is a beauty ravishing beauty with a nickel silver plated head plate. She's got a few minor battle-scars on the top edge, but very few. Somebody loved and cared for this pretty lassie and kept her tucked inside her oaken carry case.
The Singer 28-K is a gorgeous enameled cast iron machine, all tricked out in her original elegant bright nickle plated detailing and has been entirely cleaned and reconditioned from top to bottom here in our own Raymond, Maine workshop.
She's been beautifully restored back to her original factory fresh purrrrr-fect running order.
The Singer Model 28-K is Serious Machine –
She's all-metal and heavy-duty and powered by a hand operated control, she features standard Singer long bobbin, built bobbin winder, carries a needle Size 8 to Size 22, no problem … and if you're a rugged lass, she’ll sew her way through the most delicate of satins and laces to light leathers, canvas, denims and upholstery. What a workhorse! She uses a 15-19" stretch belt. (We'll send her out with a brand new one.)
A solid and reliable machine you will use every day – care for her with a bit of brushing under the plate and a drop or two of oil and she’ll purr for you for a lifetime (or two!) This machine was originally a treadle machine and was wired and converted to electricity in the early 1960s.
The Singer Model 666's Particulars:
Forward gears.
Swing shuttle mechanism with standard Singer long bobbins
Stitching range from 6 to 30 stitches per inch.
Belt-driven forward .9 AMP Delco AC/DC Motor 115volt Volts, 25 to 75 cycles
She comes with a Universal Foot
Four Steel Antique Singer Long Bobbins
A Five needle box of Singer needles size 15X1 #14
Also included is a CD ROM file with the owner's manual including instructions for attachments and a machine owner's troubleshooting guide.
With this very same sewing machine, your great-grandmother may have made clothes for your grandmother's dolls and curtains for her room; perhaps she even made her own wedding gown with her as well!
For about the same price as a nightmarish wimpy all-plastic machine from Big Box Store, you can own this spectacular cast-iron-and-steel, belt-driven reliable beauty. She’ll be purring like a kitten when your grandkids are ready to sew and their grandkids, too!
Your lovely antique Scottish Singer Model 66 will come cradled in a sturdy original period Oak coffin-style carrying case in fair condition. Thee top has some good hard dings in her though. She's just beautiful. Still good and rock solid.
If you're a person living somewhere off the power grid or just enjoy depriving the local power company their fees, this is just the perfect gal for you!
Etheras the Galactic Overlord captures a spy from the resistance. "Surrender to me." he demands, as the mind probe glows in his palm. Artwork by Twinkle-Sez, Etheras the Fennec (c) www.etheras.com . (We have some very canonical art of him today.) Questionable whether or not the detailed bulge makes this too explicit. If so - please let me know and I'll take it down.
Nathaniel Nesbitt, 28, surrenders to police after allegedly shooting another man to death in Moscow, Idaho.
Taken approx. 1915-18 by a German photographer.
The German Philipp Holzmann company was responsible for the construction on the Taurus-section, part of the Berlin-Baghdad railroad project, some 70 kilometres north of Adana. The most difficult phase of the project was crossing the Belemedik plateau in the Taurus Mountains. To accommodate all necessary personnel, approx. in 1907 a shanty town was built by the Germans (Holzmann company) at Karapınar railway stop (later called Belemedik) in Pozantı district.
Between 1907 and 1914 estimated 3,500 Germans, Austrians and Swiss railway company employees where living here in total. They were engineers, technicians and railway workers, often with their families. For the Turks in the vicinity, the shanty town was considered the “German city”. It was designed to meet all the needs of the company’s employees. A hospital was built to the state of the art of those days (employing German doctors and nurses), a German church, a mosque, a German school for the children of the employees, a cinema, waterpipe/drainage system, big stone houses, etc. and even a brothel (about 1 km outside of the city). Belemedik was also one of the first cities in the Ottoman Empire that enjoyed 24h electricity thanks to a power station,
Starting as a village, Belemedik gained the appearance of a regular provincial town. Next to the multi-national European employees and engineers, a number of Turkish people were attracted to settle here as well as traders and workers. Holzmann had also employed many Greeks and Armenians workers and officials. During the war, the Ottoman government provided Turkish prisoners and Turks unfit for the war including Armenian and Greek labour battalions. Hence, there was also a detachment of Turkish soldiers in the small city. In Spring 1916, approx. 30,000 men were working for the railway company between Pozanti until Ras El Ain. Only 400 French, British and Australians (POWs captured in Gallipoli) were working along the railway until June 1916. It is estimated that out of these 30,000 some 5,500 men were working in the Amanus section and about the same number in the Taurus railway section. The works did not only meant working on the railway and tunnels but also road-construction thru the mountains, both in Taurus and Amanus, and in the area between both mountain ranges (Adana and Incirlik), hence the huge number of workers with their families.
In June 1916, many Armenians working for the railway company were brought to the Syrian desert and partly substituted in July 1916 by British, Australian, New Zealander, Indian and Nepali POWs. Later, Russians and Italian POWs were added. I have placed at the end of this caption more information regarding the POWs.
The railway station Karapınar was opened in 1912. Even by then, the site was called Belemedik. According to one source the name Belemedik is the corrupt form of the Turkish word Bilemedik meaning ‘We couldn't guess’. During the railway construction, each tunnel was bored by two teams working at the opposite sides of the tunnel. The teams were required to meet at the mid point. When for any reason, one team failed to accomplish the task, the excuse was the word bilemedik and in German pronunciation it became belemedik. Belemedik was the end of the railway until the completition of the Giaudere (Varda)-viaduct at Hacıkırı in September 1918, the connection to Adana (Durak) was openend in early October 1918 finishing the railway works just before the end of the war. The section is using 37 tunnels with a cumulative length 14.4 km).
Work on the railway was long and hard. In the eight years of construction in the area 41 German citizens people lost their lives (accidents, slides and diseases). In 2005, the German Honorary Consul Dr. Teyfik Kısacık bought land and with the help of German company Praktiker (Metro AG) as well as locals opened in September 30, 2005 a new 'German cemetery'. However, the Germans (and other Christian employees of the railway company) were buried in the ‘Christian cemetery’ along with Christian POWs. There existed no ‘German cemetery’. It is not clear if the ‘modern’ cemetery is located on the same ground as the old one. It is also doubtful, if there are any tombs/graves at all in this ground. It is possible that this is merely a memorial ground. The memorial plate which was erected was brought from Hacıkırı (those dead were brought to the German central cemetery in Tarabya, Istanbul) and has nothing to do with the Germans in Belemedik.
The Belemedik station was closed at the end of the First World War. After WW I, Belemedik was occupied by the French army, with its headquarters in Pozantı. The French occupying force used Belemedik as a site for a military hospital in which the commander's wife Mme. Mesnil was working as a nurse. Turkish Nationalists (also called Kemalist) captured Belemedik on 10 April 1920. On 28 May the rest of the French troops also surrendered during the battle of Karboğazı. During the rest of the independence war, the hospital in Belemedik was used by the Turkish Nationalists. In the turmoil which followed, the area was widely abandoned and almost forgotten. Until Atatürk was able to establish the modern Turkey, it was said that bandits were living in the remains of the houses and later locals from the region used Belemedik houses as source for cheap construction material. As result, almost nothing of the “German town” has remained (btw., Holzmann went bankrupt in 2002). Still existing are the fundaments of the generator, the chimney of the German hospital and a few stone houses which were storage houses of the railway company in different conditions (either ruins or to house animals). Today, there is merely a small hamlet left with friendly and helpful inhabitants.
Allied POWs
From 1916 on, an unknown number of Allied POWs were based here to support the on-going construction works. The POWs were under the administration of the Turkish army but the army was neither prepared nor able to accommodate and feed the foreign POWs once the huge numbers of British and Indian POWs from Kut arrived at Amanus mountains. In fact, the Turkish army had massive problems to feed and equip their own men. The army was more than willing to provide these POWs as workforce to the railway company which from then on had the responsibility of providing food and shelter to these POWs. However, the company was neither prepared for the thousands of additional men (plus Armenian refugees). This was a great challenge for the railway company to establish stocks necessary and it took approx. a half year until the situation became stable.
POWs were accommodated by the railway company in wooden shanty houses or tents. Stone houses were not common in that region in those days and those existing belonged to the railway company or villagers. The wooden shanty houses have vanished, nothing can be found today. The stone ruins you can see today belonged to the railway and were administration or storage buildings. POWs were not living in these. www.awm.gov.au/collection/H19397/
The great mass of British and Indian POWs had arrived in Amanus and Taurus in June 1916 after a long march thru the desert from Kut. Due to their bad physical condition, many of British were brought soon into the interior of Asia Minor without having forced to work on the railway project at all. For those British POWs from Kut who seemed in better conditions, the railway company wanted them to work and these were forced to work. The result of the work of these men was disappointing for the company and it asked the Turkish army to take them back. In September 1916, approx. 1000 POWs were moved from Amanus area to the interior. The army was marching these men all the way to Adana and from here over the Taurus mountains to Pozanti. Approx. 260 men suffered massively during the march and were brought to Tarsus and Adana hospitals. Half of them died in consequence. Those who had made it to Pozanti where brought to the new established POW-camps in the interior. Those of the men who recovered were brought to work in Taurus mountains.
In contrast to the British, most Indian and Nepali POWs had better overcome the hardship and soon, most of them had to work (mostly Ras El Ain, 4200 men and Amanus, 2700 men). It can be estimated that in November 1916 some 350 British and 800 Indian POWs were working in the Taurus section. Next to them were approx. 500 Russians.
The first figures of British and Indian (including Nepali) POWs were provided by Turkish authorities in January 1917 (probably showing the figures of December 1916). They justify the estimation of white British/Australian/NZ-POWs in the Taurus section: 283 British and 728 Indian POWs. By December 1916, 32 British, Australian and NZ POWs had died (283 + 32 = 315; of these 32, 14 had died in Hacikiri, 7 in Pozanti and 1 in Budjak.), plus some men which were moved to the interior, we can estimate some 330-350 British working in the Taurus section and probably some 800 Indians and Nepalis.
Soon after the winter 1916/1917, the number of POWs was reduced and many British POWs were moved into the interior while Indians had to work in Ras El Ain.
The number of French, Italian and Russian POWs who died in Belemedik is unknown. However, 17 white British/Australian/NZ-soldiers died in Belemedik and were buried along with Russians, French, Italians, Germans and Austrians in the local Christian cemetery. www.awm.gov.au/collection/P01645.002
Very few of them died due to accidents but mostly due to diseases like Malaria and Typhus. With the arrival of the men from Kut, supply became inadequate and POWs along with Turkish soldiers were suffering. According to the Swiss engineer Morf (head of the Amanus section), the Malaria epidemic in summer was unexceptionally hard as Indian POWs had brought Malaria Tropica to the Amanus and Taurus sections. According to him, Malaria Tropica was previously unknown in the Taurus mountains.
Especially in the Amanus section, many of the sick and exhausted British POWs who had arrived from Kut soon succumbed their sufferings. Out of the 558 British POWs who had died in the Amanus area, 327 men died from June to August 1916 respective 462 men from June to December 1916 which includes the dead due to Malaria and other epidemics of Summer/Autumn 1916. The new arrivals from Kut were soon moved into the interior, also because there were no facilities to take care of these sick men. By December 1916, only 62 white British POWs had remained in the Amanus section while 2628 Indians and Nepalis were working here. Estimated 150-200 British had to work in total in Amanus section. The Indians were working better in the heat than their British comrades. Especially in Ras El Ain, over 4,000 Indians had to work with almost no white British POW.
As a summary evaluating the contribution of the POWs to the construction of the Baghdad railway, the British POWs had a maximum of 500-600 men at its peak working all along from Taurus to Ras El Ain. Working meant tunnel works, laying tracks but often loading and de-loading wagons. Others had to join road-construction teams. By the end of 1916, less than 500 British POWs were working and their forced contribution was accordingly small. Simply by their huge numbers, the Indians had a much bigger effect on the works. However, combining all Allied POWs in Taurus, estimated 1,700 men, and in Amanus approx. 4,500 men, their forced labour helped to speed up the finishing of the project. Their total number was nevertheless small in comparison to the thousands of Turks, Greeks and for a limited time also Armenians (Turkish authorities estimated that the railway company gave shelter, food and compensation to some 15,000 Armenians. Grigoris Balakian praised the company for this in his diaries) who were working here for many years.
Those tombs/remains of POWs were transferred to Baghdad North cemetery. Indian and Nepali soldiers were not registered in the same way as white British soldiers, often dead Indians were burnt to ashes according to their religion and have never been found. It is therefore not clear, how many Indian and Nepali had died and where.
McLean House, rear view, with kitchen (chimney in view) and slave quarters (closer) in the back yard. Terms of the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant were worked out by the two generals meeting in the parlor of the Wilmer McLean home in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, 145 years ago today, April 9, 1865; tables used by the two generals are shown below. The formal surrender and stacking of arms occurred in a nearby field on April 12, four years to the day after the war had begun with the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
There is irony in the location of the surrender meeting. National Park Service Handbook 109, Appomattox Court House (published 1980), gives this information on page 33: "After the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861 that opened the war, the first major battle was fought near Manassas, Virginia, in July and the McLean home had been part of the battlefield. A year later, a second battle was fought in the same area. This proved too much for McLean; he decided to move. . . . He wanted a place where his family would be safe . . . , a place where there was no likelihood that either army would ever appear. So he purchased the Raine home, built in 1848, in Appomattox Court House, and in 1863 moved his family to this out-of-the-way hamlet in Central Virginia."
The McLean home was carefully taken apart in 1893 with the intention that it be rebuilt in the Washington, DC, area in a setting commemorating the Civil War; that plan was never carried out. In 1948, the house was rebuilt on its original site; in the interim, the Appomattox Court House area had been authorized first as a battlefield site (1930), then as a national historical monument (1935); its designation as a National Historical Park came in April 1954. A number of other old buidings in the historic courthouse area also have been restored; pictures of some will be posted in the coming days. The park is very pretty and tranquil, and a great place for some easy walking (see map).
For more information, see the National Park Service's site on Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park was listed as an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 (66000827); the district includes 13,251 acres, 31 buildings, 18 structures, and 96 objects, according to the on-line NRHP listing. (I suppose "objects" include things such as the tables.)
The Ayutthaya Historical Park (Thai: อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์พระนครศรีอยุธยา (Pronunciation)) covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Thailand. The city of Ayutthaya was founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1350:222 The city was captured by the Burmese in 1569; though not pillaged, it lost "many valuable and artistic objects.":42–43 It was the capital of the country until its destruction by the Burmese army in 1767.
In 1969 the Fine Arts Department began with renovations of the ruins, which became more serious after it was declared a historical park in 1976. A part of the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. Thirty-five kings ruled the Ayutthaya kingdom during its existence. King Narai (1656-1688) held court not only in Ayutthaya but also from his palace in the nearby city of Lopburi, from where he ruled 8–9 months in the year.
PARK SITES
Wat Chaiwatthanaram
Wat Kasatrathiraj
Wat Kudi Dao
Wat Lokayasutharam
Wat Mahathat
Wat Phanan Choeng
Wiharn Phra Mongkhon Bopit
Wat Phra Ram
Wat Phra Sri Sanphet
Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya
Wat Chai Mongkhon
Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon
Phra Chedi Suriyothai
Ayutthaya historical Study Centre
Japanese Settlement
Wat Phu Khao Thong
Elephant Camp
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
In 1991, a part of Ayutthaya Historical Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under criteria III as an excellent witness to the period of development of a true national Thai art. The inscribed area covered only 289 ha on central and southwest part of Ayutthaya island; as a result, only certain groups of historical sites are under UNESCO protection. The sites including Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Mahathat, Wat Phra Sri Sanphet, Wat Phra Ram and Wiharn Phra Mongkhon Bopit. The sites that are not part of World Heritage Sites are the sites outside Ayutthaya Island; for example, Wat Yai Chai Mongkon, Wat Phanan Choeng, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phu Khao Thong.
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AYUTTHAYA
(/ɑːˈjuːtəjə/; Thai: อยุธยา, Thai pronunciation: [ʔajúttʰajaː]; also spelled Ayudhya) was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese, Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the capital, also called Ayutthaya.
In the sixteenth century, it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East. The court of King Narai (1656–88) had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France, whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris.
By 1550, the kingdom's vassals included some city-states in the Malay Peninsula, Sukhothai, and parts of Cambodia.
In foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was called Siam, but many sources say the people of Ayutthaya called themselves Tai, and their kingdom Krung Tai "The Tai country" (กรุงไท).
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
ORIGINS
According to the most widely accepted version of its origin, the Thai state based at Ayutthaya in the valley of the Chao Phraya River rose from the earlier, nearby Lavo Kingdom (at that time, still under the control of the Khmer Empire) and Suvarnabhumi. One source says that in the mid-fourteenth century, due to the threat of an epidemic, King Uthong moved his court south into the rich floodplain of the Chao Phraya River onto an island surrounded by rivers. The name of the city indicates the influence of Hinduism in the region as it is the Thai pronunciation of the famous Indian city of Ayodhya. It is believed that this city is associated with the Thai national epic, the Ramakien, which is the Thai version of the Ramayana.
CONQUESTS AND EXPANSION
Ayutthaya began its hegemony by conquering northern kingdoms and city-states like Sukhothai,:222 Kamphaeng Phet and Phitsanulok. Before the end of the fifteenth century, Ayutthaya launched attacks on Angkor, the classical great power of the region. Angkor's influence eventually faded from the Chao Phraya River Plain while Ayutthaya became a new great power.
The emerging Kingdom of Ayutthaya was also growing powerful. Relations between the Ayutthaya and Lan Na had worsened since the Ayutthayan support of Thau Choi's rebellion In 1451, Yuttitthira, a noble of the Kingdom of Sukhothai who had conflicts with Borommatrailokkanat of Ayutthaya, gave himself to Tilokaraj. Yuttitthira urged Borommatrailokkanat to invade Phitsanulok, igniting the Ayutthaya-Lan Na War over the Upper Chao Phraya valley (the Kingdom of Sukhothai). In 1460, the governor of Chaliang surrendered to Tilokaraj. Borommatrailokkanat then used a new strategy and concentrated on the wars with Lanna by moving the capital to Phitsanulok. Lan Na suffered setbacks and Tilokaraj eventually sued for peace in 1475.
However, the kingdom of Ayutthaya was not a unified state but rather a patchwork of self-governing principalities and tributary provinces owing allegiance to the king of Ayutthaya under The Circle of Power, or the mandala system, as some scholars suggested. These principalities might be ruled by members of the royal family of Ayutthaya, or by local rulers who had their own independent armies, having a duty to assist the capital when war or invasion occurred. However, it was evident that from time to time local revolts, led by local princes or kings, took place. Ayutthaya had to suppress them.
Due to the lack of succession law and a strong concept of meritocracy, whenever the succession was in dispute, princely governors or powerful dignitaries claiming their merit gathered their forces and moved on the capital to press their claims, culminating in several bloody coups.
Beginning in the fifteenth century, Ayutthaya showed an interest in the Malay Peninsula, but the great trading ports of the Malacca Sultanate contested its claims to sovereignty. Ayutthaya launched several abortive conquests against Malacca which was diplomatically and economically fortified by the military support of Ming China. In the early fifteenth century the Ming admiral Zheng He had established a base of operation in the port city, making it a strategic position the Chinese could not afford to lose to the Siamese. Under this protection, Malacca flourished, becoming one of Ayutthaya's great foes until the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese.
FIRST BURMESE WARS
Starting in the middle of 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by the Taungoo Dynasty of Burma. The Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49) began with Burmese an invasion and a failed siege of Ayutthaya. A second siege (1563–64) led by King Bayinnaung forced King Maha Chakkraphat to surrender in 1564. The royal family was taken to Bago, Burma, with the king's second son Mahinthrathirat installed as the vassal king. In 1568, Mahinthrathirat revolted when his father managed to return from Bago as a Buddhist monk. The ensuing third siege captured Ayutthaya in 1569 and Bayinnaung made Mahathammarachathirat his vassal king.
After Bayinnaung's death in 1581, uparaja Naresuan proclaimed Ayutthaya's independence in 1584. The Thai fought off repeated Burmese invasions (1584–1593), capped by an elephant duel between King Naresuan and Burmese heir-apparent Mingyi Swa in 1593 during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya in which Naresuan famously slew Mingyi Swa (observed 18 January as Royal Thai Armed Forces day). The Burmese–Siamese War (1594–1605) was a Thai attack on Burma, resulting in the capture of the Tanintharyi Region as far as Mottama in 1595 and Lan Na in 1602. Naresuan even invaded mainland Burma as far as Taungoo in 1600, but was driven back.
After Naresuan's death in 1605, northern Tanintharyi and Lan Na returned to Burmese control in 1614.
The Ayutthaya Kingdom's attempt to take over Lan Na and northern Tanintharyi in 1662–1664 failed.
Foreign trade brought Ayutthaya not only luxury items but also new arms and weapons. In the mid-seventeenth century, during King Narai's reign, Ayutthaya became very prosperous. In the eighteenth century, Ayutthaya gradually lost control over its provinces. Provincial governors exerted their power independently, and rebellions against the capital began.
SECOND BURMESE WARS
In the mid-eighteenth century, Ayutthaya again became ensnared in wars with the Burmese. The Burmese–Siamese War (1759–60) begun by the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma failed. The Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67) resulted in the sack of the city of Ayutthaya and the end of the kingdom by debellatio in April 1767.
KINGSHIP OF AYUTTHAYA KINGDOM
The kings of Ayutthaya were absolute monarchs with semi-religious status. Their authority derived from the ideologies of Hinduism and Buddhism as well as from natural leadership. The king of Sukhothai was the inspiration of Inscription 1 found in Sukhothai, which stated that King Ramkhamhaeng would hear the petition of any subject who rang the bell at the palace gate. The king was thus considered as a father by his people.
At Ayutthaya, however, the paternal aspects of kingship disappeared. The king was considered the chakkraphat (Sanskrit chakravartin) who through his adherence to the law made all the world revolve around him. According to Hindu tradition, the king is the avatar of Vishnu, destroyer of demons, who was born to be the defender of the people. The Buddhist belief in the king is as righteous ruler (Sanskrit: dharmaraja), aiming at the well-being of the people and who strictly follows the teaching of Gautama Buddha.
The kings' official names were reflections of those religions: Hinduism and Buddhism. They were considered as the incarnation of various Hindu gods: Indra, Shiva or Vishnu (Rama). The coronation ceremony was directed by brahmins as the Hindu god Shiva was "lord of the universe". However, according to the codes, the king had the ultimate duty as protector of the people and the annihilator of evil.
According to Buddhism, the king was also believed to be a bodhisattva. One of the most important duties of the king was to build a temple or a Buddha statue as a symbol of prosperity and peace.
For locals, another aspect of the kingship was also the analogy of "The Lord of the Land" or "He who Rules the Earth" (Phra Chao Phaendin). According to the court etiquette, a special language, Rachasap (Sanskrit: Rājāśabda, "Royal Language"), was used to communicate with or about royalty. In Ayutthaya, the king was said to grant control over land to his subjects, from nobles to commoners, according to the Sakna or Sakdina system codified by King Borommatrailokkanat (1448–88). The Sakdina system was similar to, but not the same as feudalism, under which the monarch does not own the land. While there is no concrete evidence that this land management system constituted a formal palace economy, the French François-Timoléon de Choisy, who came to Ayutthaya in 1685, wrote, "the king has absolute power. He is truly the god of the Siamese: no-one dares to utter his name." Another 17th-century writer, the Dutchman Jan van Vliet, remarked that the King of Siam was "honoured and worshipped by his subjects second to god." Laws and orders were issued by the king. For sometimes the king himself was also the highest judge who judged and punished important criminals such as traitors or rebels.
In addition to the Sakdina system, another of the numerous institutional innovations of Borommatrailokkanat was to adopt the position of uparaja, translated as "viceroy" or "prince", usually held by the king's senior son or full brother, in an attempt to regularise the succession to the throne - a particularly difficult feat for a polygamous dynasty. In practice, there was inherent conflict between king and uparaja and frequent disputed successions. However, it is evident that the power of the Throne of Ayutthaya had its limit. The hegemony of the Ayutthaya king was always based on his charisma in terms of his age and supporters. Without supporters, bloody coups took place from time to time. The most powerful figures of the capital were always generals, or the Minister of Military Department, Kalahom. During the last century of Ayutthaya, the bloody fighting among princes and generals, aiming at the throne, plagued the court.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
THE REFORMS OF KING
Borommatrailokkanat (r.1448–1488) placed the king of Ayutthaya at the centre of a highly stratified social and political hierarchy that extended throughout the realm. Despite a lack of evidence, it is believed that in the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the basic unit of social organisation was the village community composed of extended family households. Title to land resided with the headman, who held it in the name of the community, although peasant proprietors enjoyed the use of land as long as they cultivated it. The lords gradually became courtiers (อำมาตย์) and tributary rulers of minor cities. The king ultimately came to be recognised as the earthly incarnation of Shiva or Vishnu and became the sacred object of politico-religious cult practices officiated over by royal court brahmans, part of the Buddhist court retinue. In the Buddhist context, the devaraja (divine king) was a bodhisattva. The belief in divine kingship prevailed into the eighteenth century, although by that time its religious implications had limited impact.With ample reserves of land available for cultivation, the realm depended on the acquisition and control of adequate manpower for farm labour and defence. The dramatic rise of Ayutthaya had entailed constant warfare and, as none of the parties in the region possessed a technological advantage, the outcome of battles was usually determined by the size of the armies. After each victorious campaign, Ayutthaya carried away a number of conquered people to its own territory, where they were assimilated and added to the labour force. Ramathibodi II (r.1491–1529) established a corvée system under which every freeman had to be registered as a phrai (servant) with the local lords, Chao Nai (เจ้านาย). When war broke out, male phrai were subject to impressment. Above the phrai was a nai (นาย), who was responsible for military service, corvée labour on public works, and on the land of the official to whom he was assigned. Phrai Suay (ไพร่ส่วย) met labour obligations by paying a tax. If he found the forced labour under his nai repugnant, he could sell himself as a that (ทาส, slave) to a more attractive nai or lord, who then paid a fee in compensation for the loss of corvée labour. As much as one-third of the manpower supply into the nineteenth century was composed of phrai. Wealth, status, and political influence were interrelated. The king allotted rice fields to court officials, provincial governors, military commanders, in payment for their services to the crown, according to the sakdi na system. The size of each official's allotment was determined by the number of commoners or phrai he could command to work it. The amount of manpower a particular headman, or official, could command determined his status relative to others in the hierarchy and his wealth. At the apex of the hierarchy, the king, who was symbolically the realm's largest landholder, theoretically commanded the services of the largest number of phrai, called phrai luang (royal servants), who paid taxes, served in the royal army, and worked on the crown lands.
However, the recruitment of the armed forces depended on nai, or mun nai, literally meaning 'lord', officials who commanded their own phrai som, or subjects. These officials had to submit to the king's command when war broke out. Officials thus became the key figures to the kingdom's politics. At least two officials staged coups, taking the throne themselves while bloody struggles between the king and his officials, followed by purges of court officials, were always seen.
King Trailok, in the early sixteenth century, established definite allotments of land and phrai for the royal officials at each rung in the hierarchy, thus determining the country's social structure until the introduction of salaries for government officials in the nineteenth century.
Outside this system to some extent were the sangha (Buddhist monastic community), which all classes of men could join, and the Overseas Chinese. Wats became centres of Thai education and culture, while during this period the Chinese first began to settle in Thailand and soon began to establish control over the country's economic life.
The Chinese were not obliged to register for corvée duty, so they were free to move about the kingdom at will and engage in commerce. By the sixteenth century, the Chinese controlled Ayutthaya's internal trade and had found important places in the civil and military service. Most of these men took Thai wives because few women left China to accompany the men.
Uthong was responsible for the compilation of a Dharmaśāstra, a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The Dharmaśāstra remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century. A bureaucracy based on a hierarchy of ranked and titled officials was introduced, and society was organised in a related manner. However, the caste system was not adopted.
The sixteenth century witnessed the rise of Burma, which had overrun Chiang Mai and Laos and made war on the Thai. In 1569, Burmese forces, joined by Thai rebels, mostly royal family members of Thailand, captured the city of Ayutthaya and carried off the whole royal family to Burma. Dhammaraja (1569–90), a Thai governor who had aided the Burmese, was installed as vassal king at Ayutthaya. Thai independence was restored by his son, King Naresuan (1590–1605), who turned on the Burmese and by 1600 had driven them from the country.
Determined to prevent another treason like his father's, Naresuan set about unifying the country's administration directly under the royal court at Ayutthaya. He ended the practice of nominating royal princes to govern Ayutthaya's provinces, assigning instead court officials who were expected to execute policies handed down by the king. Thereafter royal princes were confined to the capital. Their power struggles continued, but at court under the king's watchful eye.
To ensure his control over the new class of governors, Naresuan decreed that all freemen subject to phrai service had become phrai luang, bound directly to the king, who distributed the use of their services to his officials. This measure gave the king a theoretical monopoly on all manpower, and the idea developed that since the king owned the services of all the people, he also possessed all the land. Ministerial offices and governorships - and the sakdina that went with them - were usually inherited positions dominated by a few families often connected to the king by marriage. Indeed, marriage was frequently used by Thai kings to cement alliances between themselves and powerful families, a custom prevailing through the nineteenth century. As a result of this policy, the king's wives usually numbered in the dozens.
Even with Naresuan's reforms, the effectiveness of the royal government over the next 150 years was unstable. Royal power outside the crown lands - although in theory absolute - was in practice limited by the looseness of the civil administration. The influence of central government and the king was not extensive beyond the capital. When war with the Burmese broke out in late eighteenth century, provinces easily abandoned the capital. As the enforcing troops were not easily rallied to defend the capital, the city of Ayutthaya could not stand against the Burmese aggressors.
RELIGION
Ayutthaya's main religion was Theravada Buddhism. However, many of the elements of the political and social system were incorporated from Hindu scriptures and were conducted by Brahmin priests. Many areas of the kingdom also practised Mahayana Buddhism, Islam and, influenced by French Missionaries who arrived through China in the 17th century, some small areas converted to Roman Catholicism. The influence of Mahayana and Tantric prractices also entered Theravada Buddhism, producing a tradition called Tantric Theravada.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Thais never lacked a rich food supply. Peasants planted rice for their own consumption and to pay taxes. Whatever remained was used to support religious institutions. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, however, a remarkable transformation took place in Thai rice cultivation. In the highlands, where rainfall had to be supplemented by a system of irrigation that controlled the water level in flooded paddies, the Thais sowed the glutinous rice that is still the staple in the geographical regions of the North and Northeast. But in the floodplain of the Chao Phraya, farmers turned to a different variety of rice - the so-called floating rice, a slender, non-glutinous grain introduced from Bengal - that would grow fast enough to keep pace with the rise of the water level in the lowland fields.
The new strain grew easily and abundantly, producing a surplus that could be sold cheaply abroad. Ayutthaya, situated at the southern extremity of the floodplain, thus became the hub of economic activity. Under royal patronage, corvée labour dug canals on which rice was brought from the fields to the king's ships for export to China. In the process, the Chao Phraya - mud flats between the sea and firm land hitherto considered unsuitable for habitation - was reclaimed and placed under cultivation. Traditionally the king had a duty to perform a religious ceremony blessing the rice plantation.
Although rice was abundant in Ayutthaya, rice export was banned from time to time when famine occurred because of natural calamity or war. Rice was usually bartered for luxury goods and armaments from westerners, but rice cultivation was mainly for the domestic market and rice export was evidently unreliable. Trade with Europeans was lively in the seventeenth century. In fact European merchants traded their goods, mainly modern arms such as rifles and cannons, with local products from the inland jungle such as sapan (lit. bridge) woods, deerskin and rice. Tomé Pires, a Portuguese voyager, mentioned in the sixteenth century that Ayutthaya, or Odia, was rich in good merchandise. Most of the foreign merchants coming to Ayutthaya were European and Chinese, and were taxed by the authorities. The kingdom had an abundance of rice, salt, dried fish, arrack and vegetables.
Trade with foreigners, mainly the Dutch, reached its peak in the seventeenth century. Ayutthaya became a main destination for merchants from China and Japan. It was apparent that foreigners began taking part in the kingdom's politics. Ayutthayan kings employed foreign mercenaries who sometimes entered the wars with the kingdom's enemies. However, after the purge of the French in late seventeenth century, the major traders with Ayutthaya were the Chinese. The Dutch from the Dutch East Indies Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC), were still active. Ayutthaya's economy declined rapidly in the eighteenth century, until the Burmese invasion caused the total collapse of Ayutthaya's economy in 1788.
CONTACTS WITH THE WEST
In 1511, immediately after having conquered Malacca, the Portuguese sent a diplomatic mission headed by Duarte Fernandes to the court of King Ramathibodi II of Ayutthaya. Having established amicable relations between the kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of Siam, they returned with a Siamese envoy with gifts and letters to the King of Portugal. They were the first Europeans to visit the country. Five years after that initial contact, Ayutthaya and Portugal concluded a treaty granting the Portuguese permission to trade in the kingdom. A similar treaty in 1592 gave the Dutch a privileged position in the rice trade.
Foreigners were cordially welcomed at the court of Narai (1657–1688), a ruler with a cosmopolitan outlook who was nonetheless wary of outside influence. Important commercial ties were forged with Japan. Dutch and English trading companies were allowed to establish factories, and Thai diplomatic missions were sent to Paris and The Hague. By maintaining all these ties, the Thai court skilfully played off the Dutch against the English and the French, avoiding the excessive influence of a single power.
In 1664, however, the Dutch used force to exact a treaty granting them extraterritorial rights as well as freer access to trade. At the urging of his foreign minister, the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon, Narai turned to France for assistance. French engineers constructed fortifications for the Thais and built a new palace at Lopburi for Narai. In addition, French missionaries engaged in education and medicine and brought the first printing press into the country. Louis XIV's personal interest was aroused by reports from missionaries suggesting that Narai might be converted to Christianity.
The French presence encouraged by Phaulkon, however, stirred the resentment and suspicions of the Thai nobles and Buddhist clergy. When word spread that Narai was dying, a general, Phetracha, killed the designated heir, a Christian, and had Phaulkon put to death along with a number of missionaries. The arrival of English warships provoked a massacre of more Europeans. Phetracha (reigned 1688–93) seized the throne and expelled the remaining foreigners. Some studies said that Ayutthaya began a period of alienation from western traders, while welcoming more Chinese merchants. But other recent studies argue that, due to wars and conflicts in Europe in the mid-eighteenth century, European merchants reduced their activities in the East. However, it was apparent that the Dutch East Indies Company or VOC was still doing business in Ayutthaya despite political difficulties.
THE FINAL PHASE
After a bloody period of dynastic struggle, Ayutthaya entered into what has been called the golden age, a relatively peaceful episode in the second quarter of the eighteenth century when art, literature, and learning flourished. There were foreign wars. Ayutthaya fought with the Nguyễn Lords (Vietnamese rulers of South Vietnam) for control of Cambodia starting around 1715. But a greater threat came from Burma, where the new Alaungpaya dynasty had subdued the Shan states.
The last fifty years of the kingdom witnessed a bloody struggle among the princes. The throne was their prime target. Purges of court officials and able generals followed. The last monarch, Ekathat, originally known as Prince Anurakmontree, forced the king, who was his younger brother, to step down and took the throne himself.
According to a French source, Ayutthaya in the eighteenth century comprised these principal cities: Martaban, Ligor or Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Tenasserim, Jungceylon or Phuket Island, Singora or Songkhla. Her tributaries were Patani, Pahang, Perak, Kedah and Malacca.
In 1765, a combined 40,000-strong force of Burmese armies invaded the territories of Ayutthaya from the north and west. Major outlying towns quickly capitulated. The only notable example of successful resistance to these forces was found at the village of Bang Rajan. After a 14 months' siege, the city of Ayutthaya capitulated and was burned in April 1767. Ayutthaya's art treasures, the libraries containing its literature, and the archives housing its historic records were almost totally destroyed, and the Burmese brought the Ayutthaya Kingdom to ruin.
The Burmese rule lasted a mere few months. The Burmese, who had also been fighting a simultaneous war with the Chinese since 1765, were forced to withdraw in early 1768 when the Chinese forces threatened their own capital.
With most Burmese forces having withdrawn, the country was reduced to chaos. All that remained of the old capital were some ruins of the royal palace. Provinces proclaimed independence under generals, rogue monks, and members of the royal family.
One general, Phraya Taksin, former governor of Taak, began the reunification effort. He gathered forces and began striking back at the Burmese. He finally established a capital at Thonburi, across the Chao Phraya from the present capital, Bangkok. Taak-Sin ascended the throne, becoming known as King Taak-Sin or Taksin.
The ruins of the historic city of Ayutthaya and "associated historic towns" in the Ayutthaya historical park have been listed by the UNESCO as World Heritage Site. The city of Ayutthaya was refounded near the old city, and is now capital of the Ayutthaya province.
WIKIPEDIA
The Stars and Stripes flies from a building on the left. The town was taken by a Cavalry Reconnaissance unit of the 1st U.S. Army. 6 March, 1945.
38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron.
Photographer: T/5 F. G. Roinsett, 165th Signal Photo Co.
Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.
Japans surrender to Allied Forces
Representatives of Japan including Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu stand aboard the USS Missouri prior to the signing of the Instrument of Surrender September 2nd 1945.
I’m certain this is a press shot and not just a random shot from one of the sailors. Either way, I’m happy it’s found its way into my collection.
Unknown photographer.
Scanned from the original Photograph.
"He's mine"
"No way man, He's mine"
I'm afraid I will miss you all. I'm going to Dallas, Texas on friday. I'll be gone for 10 days. I will not upload anymore pictures until I come back on the 23rd.
I will be around flickr checking everyone's work and commenting on stuff though :) so that's good.
God bless ya'all. I'll be seeing you around.
I've just uploaded 3 pictures at once...all in black&white (sepia):
1- Surrender... You're Surrounded (current)
In December 1939, the US Army Air Corps had to consider the possibility that Nazi Germany might win a war in Europe, and that war with Japan was a possibility. If the Germans overran Europe, then bombers would have to operate from bases in Iceland or the Azores; if war came to the Pacific, the B-17s then in service would not have the range to reach Japan from the Philippines. With this in mind, the USAAC opened a competition for a heavy bomber that could carry 20,000 pounds of bombs over 2500 miles at 400 mph. Consolidated, Douglas, Lockheed, and Boeing all submitted design ideas, but Boeing’s experience in heavy bomber design won it the contract for two prototypes, designated XB-29. Before the first aircraft even flew, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of the Soviet Union, and America’s entry into the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor increased the orders of B-29s to 500 aircraft, at a total cost of $4 billion—a contract unheard of at the time.
When Boeing rolled out the first XB-29 Superfortress in September 1942, it was completely different from earlier Allied bomber designs. Besides being larger and capable of carrying a bombload only rivaled by the Avro Lancaster, the B-29 had a circular fuselage to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. It would be pressurized, allowing the crew to operate in comfort at 30,000 feet, a marked increase in altitude and crew comfort over the B-17s and B-24s then heading for combat in Europe and the Pacific; at that height, antiaircraft fire would be ineffective and only a few Axis fighters could reach the B-29. To further increase the B-29’s defensive capabilities, all four fuselage turrets were integrated into a primitive fire control computer controlled by one man, who would direct the other gunners onto targets.
Because the B-29 was so advanced an aircraft, it was no surprise that it ran into teething problems, mainly engine fires that would plague the Superfortress throughout its career. Making matters worse was the urgent need for the aircraft, as losses over Europe rose alarmingly and Japan’s war industry lay out of range of current aircraft; Boeing also constantly tweaked the design in an attempt to cure the engine fire problem and increase the Superfortress’ performance. So many design changes were being made that even the four plants that produced the B-29 across the United States could not keep up, leading to then-Senator Harry Truman being ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt to investigate the delays. A maximum effort in a subzero Kansas winter in March-April 1944 finally gave the USAAF 150 combat-ready B-29As. By this time, the situation in Europe had eased so that the B-29 would not be needed, and so the Superfortress was earmarked for the Pacific, with the first aircraft arriving in China in April 1944. This brought not only the heretofore untouched Japanese industry in northern China within range for the first time, but also Japan itself.
However, missions from China, appropriately codenamed Operation Matterhorn, were to prove troublesome at best. While B-29s were able to hit Japan for the first time in June 1944, the mission exhausted available fuel and ordnance available in China and damage was minuscule. To support one B-29 mission, three dangerous supply missions had to be flown over “the Hump,” the Himalayan Mountains, and the literally hand-built B-29 airfields in China were vulnerable to attack from Japanese land forces. With this in mind, the B-29s were withdrawn from China to the recently-taken Mariana Islands of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian in September 1944; one of the reasons the Marianas had been invaded to begin with was to provide a base for the Superfortress. Tokyo itself was struck on the first B-29 mission to Japan from the Marianas, but once more, damage was light to the target. USAAF planners discovered why: the jet stream over Japan was so powerful that it scattered bombs in midair. Complicating the matter was that Japan had decentralized its war industry through the cities, instead of concentrating them in one area as the Germans had in Europe.
Curtis LeMay, commander of 20th Bomber Command in the Marianas, had the solution. After experimenting with a full-scale city built in Utah, it was determined that Japan’s wooden cities were vulnerable to fire. B-29 crews were ordered to remove all defensive armament but the tail turret for added speed: the next attacks on Japan, codenamed Operation Downfall, would be made at low level at night to get below the jet stream, while precision bombing would be switched to area bombing with incendiaries. The results, begun in April 1945, were horrifyingly spectacular: Tokyo was razed to the ground with the deaths of over 100,000 people in a firestorm so intense it uprooted trees.
Encouraged by these results, B-29s would go on to destroy nearly every major Japanese city over the next three months. Simultaneously, Superfortresses mined the inland seas of the Japan island chain; combined with the US Navy’s submarine offensive, Japan’s industry ground to a halt, its defenses were in tatters (to the point that B-29s dropped leaflets warning Japanese civilians which cities were scheduled to be burned next), and the populace faced mass famine.
As the Japanese government still refused to surrender, President Truman authorized what he hoped would shock Japan into ending the war: the use of the atomic bomb. By the time the first bomb was detonated in July 1945, a handpicked B-29 group, the 509th Composite Group, had already been formed using special “Silverplate” modified Superfortresses built specifically for the atomic mission. Led by Paul Tibbets, one of the most experienced bomber pilots of the war, the 509th was to drop two atom bombs, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was enough that Japan finally agreed to surrender in August 1945. The B-29 had ended World War II.
World War II did not end the B-29’s career. As the only bomber capable of carrying the heavy atomic bombs of the time, it would have to stay in the inventory until larger bombers could replace it, namely the Convair B-36 and Boeing’s own planned successor, the B-52. As such, B-29s were used in nuclear testing throughout the late 1940s and were supplied to Great Britain as a deterrent to the Soviet Union; RAF B-29s were known as Washington Is. (Ironically, the Soviet Union also had B-29s: reverse-engineering from B-29s forced down in Russia during the war, Tupolev produced the Tu-4 Bull. Tu-4s would test the USSR’s own atomic bombs.)
As the B-36 came on line, the B-29 was gradually retired, but it was to have one last hurrah in the Korean War—again, because no other bomber was available in quantity or with the range to strike targets in North Korea from Japan. At first, the B-29 was used in daylight attacks, but the presence of MiG-15 jet fighters forced it back into the night. Nonetheless, the B-29s caused considerable damage to North Korea’s infrastructure, vastly complicating Communist supply lines. When the war ended in 1953, so did the B-29’s active service. While some were converted to weather reconnaissance and tanker aircraft, most ended up being scrapped; the last B-29 left USAF service in 1960. Today, only about 26 B-29s survive in museums; two, "Fifi" and "Doc," are flyable.
Next to the "Enola Gay," the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, "Bockscar" is the most famous Superfortress ever built. Like the other B-29s of the 509th Composite Group, "Bockscar" (44-27297) was a "Silverplate" B-29, built specifically for atomic bomb delivery. It was named for its first pilot, Captain Frederick Bock, and was a play on boxcar. Ironically, Bock would not fly "Bockscar" on its flight to Nagasaki on 9 August 1945; instead, Major Charles Sweeney would fly the aircraft, while Bock flew Sweeney's B-29, "The Great Artiste."
The original target of "Bockscar" was the city of Kokura, but it was switched to Nagasaki when bad weather prevented a visual attack on Kokura. "Bockscar" carried the "Fat Man" plutonium nuclear weapon: it was dropped on Nagasaki at 10:58 AM. 35,000 people were killed in the explosion or the immediate aftermath; casualties were lower than at Hiroshima because "Fat Man" detonated on contact with the ground and landed in a valley, which protected half the city from blast effect. "Bockscar," which had been suffering from fuel transfer issues, barely made it to an emergency landing at Kadena, Okinawa a few hours later, and was nearly wrecked on landing when two engines failed due to fuel starvation.
After the war, "Bockscar" returned to the United States, but was retired in 1946 to storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona in what is now the AMARG storage facility. It was kept on display, but confusingly as "The Great Artiste" rather than its actual identity--probably because Sweeney had been originally assigned to the "Artiste," which flew as an observation aircraft on both atomic bomb missions. Finally, in 1961, it was flown to the National Museum of the USAF and restored in its actual colors.
Because of its sheer size and the relatively small World War II gallery at the NMUSAF, it is virtually impossible to photograph all of "Bockscar," so the nose is what is usually pictured. The nose art was added after the aircraft returned to the United States, and depicts a flying boxcar between Salt Lake City (where the crew began training) and Nagasaki. The five "fat man" mission symbols above the nose art indicate four practice missions and the red Nagasaki mission. 77 was the aircraft number.
This is not the first time I've seen "Bockscar"--my family saw her at the NMUSAF in 1977, as seen in this picture taken by my dad (www.flickr.com/photos/31469080@N07/15456436193/in/photoli...). 40 years almost to the day separate the two pictures.
You're not supposed to touch the aircraft at the museum, and I encourage people not to do it...but I must admit I touched the rear fuselage of "Bockscar" as I passed underneath it later on. Just like with the Spruce Goose in Oregon, how often do you get a chance to touch history?
by my self in darkness
i want to get out but am
thinking by the easy way
and it's killing my self
or open that window to find
my way wich it's the harder
and my fear that people dont like me
but i should promise my self
i'll keep going on and on and never stop
but am still lost and afraid
Raise your glass to the hard working people,
Lets drink to the uncounted heads.
Lets think of the wandering millions,
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead. (*)
...or how to dismantle a red boat :)
Last photos for that day.
No squirrel was harmed when dismantling the boat.
[one more inside]
(*) "Salt Of The Earth" by The Rolling Stones
turned in stating "Hard to handle" "pulls on the leash". Just arrived as I was leaving.
3 y/o cute as a button, friendly, very handsome
Already microchipped
Not my best contemplative street shot, but I like it for the sense of repose as the subject waits to cross the street.
And welcome to our annual trip round the churches of Kent during the Heritage Open Weekend as organised by English Heritage.
On a wet and cool morning, our first stop was just outside Dartford at Sutton-at-Hone, where we hoped it would be open. As it was, the door was unlocked and two volunteers met us and offered us tea and biscuits as well as our own tour round the church. A fine welcome.
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A fascinating church showing good quality medieval work and contrasting nineteenth-century rebuilding. The main chancel and nave date from the fourteenth century - a period of much rebuilding in this part of Kent - while the south aisle is separated from the nave by an unequivocally Victorian arcade. In April 1615 the church was accidentally burnt down by a man shooting pigeons (see also Charing) and all the furnishings date from after this period. Especially fine is the early seventeenth-century pulpit. The monument in the south aisle to Sir Thomas Smythe (d. 1625), an early official of the East India Company, is a good example of alabaster craftsmanship.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Sutton+at+Hone
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SUTTON-AT-HONE
LIES the next parish south-eastward from Wilmington, and was once so considerable, as to give name to the whole lath. It was called in Latin, Suthtuna, from its situation south of the town of Dartford, and had the addition of At-Hone, from its lying low in the valley.
THIS PARISH contains about 3100 acres of land, of which 250 are wood. It is pleasantly situated as to the eastern part of it in the vale, through which a branch of the river Darent runs at the eastern boundary of it, near which the turnpike road from Dartford to Farningham, and so on to Sevenoke, leads through it, passing through Hawley and the village of Sutton; near it are most of the gentlemen's seats in it mentioned below, the parsonage, and vicarage. Hence the ground rises westward to the hill, having the church standing at one field's distance from the above road, still higher to Gilton-hill and Swanley, at the western boundary as the parish, at Birchwood corner, adjoining to the high road from Foot's Cray to Farningham. The soil of this parish is in general light, stony, and much inclined to gravel, though there is a good deal of chalk in several different parts of it; and there is some fertile lands in the southern part, adjoining to Horton; the western part, adjoining to the Farningham road, is very poor indeed, and such of it as is not coppice wood is mostly covered with heath and furze, especially about that part called the Warren.
Our HERBALISTS have taken notice of the following SCARCE HERBS and PLANTS in this parish, viz.
Ocymum sylvestre, or wild basil, found in plenty near St. John's. (fn. 1)
Millesolium flare rubro, red flowered yarrow, in the Hollydeans.
Ebulus, five sambucus humilis, dane wort, or dwarf elder, in the grounds near St. John's, and in the Netherway there.
Tapsus barbatus, mullein, or bigtaper, grows likewise iu plenty uear St. John's.
That curious naturalist, Abraham Hill, esq. lord of the manor of St. John's, about the year 1670, planted in an orchard, adjoining to his mansion here, the most curious fruits from Devonshire and Herefordshire, both apples and pears, used in those counties for making cyder and perry, with the intent of introducing them among the orchards of this county, many of which are still remaining here; among which are many trees of that scarce fruit, called the Kentish pippin.
In the book of Domesday, Levenot de Sudtone is said to have had the privileges of sac and soc within the lath of Sutton.
Robert Basing, in the reign of king John, gave to the Knights Hospitallers the MANORS of SUTTON-AT-HONE and of HALGELL, now HAWLEY, in this parish.
Elen de Saukevile, daughter of Ralph de Dene, gave all her land of Lageham, in Penshurst, to the manor of Sutton. Ralph de Penshurst gave more lands and rents there to this manor. Nicholas, son of Nicholas de Twytham, gave rents, with their appurtenances, in the parish of Sutton; and Gilbert, son of William Helles, gave more lands and rents to it. In the first year of king Edward, the prior of St. John had a confirmation of his liberties for his lands in Sutton-at-Hone, (fn. 2) &c. This manor seems, by the antient rentals of it, to have been formerly accounted but as an appendage to that possessed by the knights in Dartford, which was constantly stiled, Manerium de Derteford cum Sutton-at-Hone; which, besides the parishes of Dartford and Sutton, extended into those of Ash, Penshurst, Edenbridge, Chelsfield, and Nockholt, and into Limpsfield, in Surry.
The manor of Sutton continued part of the possessions of the Knights Hospitallers, who had a commandery established here. This was a convenient mansion, of which they had several on their different estates, in which there was a society of these knights placed, who were to take care of their rents and lands in the neighbourhood of it. They were allowed proper maintenance out of the revenues under their care, and the remainder was accounted for to the grand prior at London; (fn. 3) in which state it remained till their dissolution, in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. when by an act, passed specially for that purpose, all their lands and possessions were given to the king; who, that year, granted the office of receiver-general of the revenues of the late dissolved hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, in England, to Sir Maurice Denys, descended of a good family in Gloucestershire, who bore for his arms, Gules, three leopards heads, or, jessant fleurs de lis azure, over all a bend engrailed of the third; and he, from this grant, and having the grant of several of these possessions afterwards, acquired the addition of St. John's to his name. In like manner all other great estates and possessions, as well of the late monasteries as of attainted persons, were sought after by the courtiers and great men, who first begged the offices of bailiffs and receivers of them, to be more certainly acquainted with their value, and then got the grants of them in fee; after which, in his 35th year, he granted to Sir Maurice Denys St. John's, among other premises, this manor of Sutton-at-Hone, alias St. John's, the chapel of Sutton, and other lands and premises belonging to it, to hold in capite, by knights service.
Anno 4 queen Elizabeth, Sir Maurice Denys levied a fine of this manor, and two years after died possessed of it, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death. Lady Elizabeth Denys, his widow, who had been first the wife of Nicholas Stathan, mercer, of London, by whom she had no issue, then became possessed of it, and died in the 19th year of it; and by her will gave this manor to her only daughter, Elizabeth, the widow of Vincent Randyll, esq. and their two daughters, Catherine and Martha, who, on their mother's death, became possessed of it in undivided moieties. Martha Randyll carried her moiety in marriage to Thomas Cranfield, esq. of London, who bore for his arms, Or, on a pale azure, three fleurs de lis of the first; on whose death it came to their son, Sir Randyll Cranfield, who, in the 7th year of king Charles I. executed a writ of partition of this manor with Sarah countess of Leicester, and her son Sir John Smith, owners of the other moiety of it; and each of them possessing part of the demesnes, as well as part of the services, each moiety became a separate manor.
That which was allotted to Cranfield retained the name of St. John's, alias SUTTON MANOR, and included the antient mansion and chapel of the knightshere; and to this manor was allotted the court leet, usually held for it. Sir Randyll Cranfield, by his will, in 1635, gave this manor of St. John's, alias Sutton, to his son, Vincent Cranfield. esq. who, by deed and fine, laid in 1649, conveyed it to Mr. Thomas Hollis, merchant, of London; and he, with Elizabeth his wife, in 1660, passed it away, by deed and fine levied, to Abraham Hill, esq. merchant of London, who did not get possession of it till the year 1667. He afterwards resided at St. John's, where he died in 1721, and was buried in Sutton church. He was descended of a good family, who had been for some generations seated at Shilston, in Devonshire; one of whom, Robert Hill, esq. was sheriff of that county in the 7th year of king Henry VI. and representative in parliament for it in the 26th of that reign, and bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron between three water bougets, sable. One of his descendants, and fifth son of Robert Hill, esq. of Shilston, seated himself at Truro, in Cornwall, whose son Richard was an alderman of the city of London. He died in 1659, and was bu ried with much pomp in the church of St. Dionis Backchurch, London, leaving by Agnes his wife, a son, Abraham Hill, esq. before mentioned, who was a most ingenious and learned man, one of the first encouragers, and a fellow of the Royal Society, at the first institution of it. By his first wife Anne, daughter of Sir Bulstrode Whitlock, he left a son, Richard, and a daughter, Frances.
Richard Hill, esq. survived his father but a few weeks, and dying without issue, this manor devolved to his sister, Mrs. Frances Hill, who resided here, and died possessed of it, in 1736, unmarried, and lies buried in the south isle of Sutton church, with the rest of her family, having a most remarkable and singular epitaph on her monument and grave stone; she by her will gave it, as well as her other Kentish estates, near Tunbridge, to her kinsman, William Hill, esq. of Carwythinick, in Cornwall, who in the latter end of 1780, sold it to Mr. John Mumford, of Sutton place, who died in 1787, and by his will devised this manor to his eldest son, William Mumford, esq. of this parish, the present owner of it; and the mansion of it to his youngest son John Mumford, esq. who was sheriff in 1796, and now resides in it. Of the mansion the north side only remains, which was formerly the chapel belonging to it: this has long since been converted into the dwelling-house, and was almost rebuilt in the year 1755.
The OTHER MOIETY of the manor of St. John's, alias Sutton-at-Hone, since known by the name of SUTTON MANOR, was carried in marriage, by Catherine, the other daughter of Vincent Randyll, to Robert Wrote, esq. whose son, Francis Wrote, esq. of Gunton, in Suffolk, in the 10th year of king James, conveyed it to Sir William Swan, of Southfleet; and he, in the 14th year of the same reign, passed it away to George Cole, esq. of the Inner Temple, London, who, two years after, sold this moiety, together with the moiety of the chapel of the late priory of St. John's, with all tithes, oblations, &c. belonging to it, and other lands in Sutton and Wilmington, to Sir Thomas Smith, second son of Customer Smith, of Westenhanger, who was a great navigator, and entrusted in many weighty matters relating to the trade of this kingdom. He had been ambassador to the emperor of Russia, and afterwards resided at Brookeplace in this parish, where he died in 1625, as is conjectured, of the plague, which raged greatly here at that time. He bore for his arms, Azure, a chevron engrailed, or, between three lions passant guardant of the second; which he quartered with those of Judde, Chiche, Criol, Creveceur, Averenches, Chichele, and Stafford; having by will left many charitable benefactions to several parishes in this county, and entrusted them to the care of the Skinner's company, who pay them yearly. He lies buried in this church, under a most costly monument, having his effigies at full length recumbent on it. He left by his third wife, Sarah, daughter and heir of William Blount, esq. who was the next year married to Robert Sidney earl of Leicester; a son, John, afterwards knighted, who, together with his mother, Sarah, countess of Leicester, owners of one moiety of the manor of St. John's, executed their writ of partition of it with Sir Randyll Cranfield, owner of the other moiety, in the 7th year of Charles I. as has been already mentioned.
THAT PART, allotted to the countess of Leicester and her son, thus becoming a separate manor, with a court baron appendant to it, acquired the name of the manor of Sutton, and after the countess of Leicester's death, came, with Brook-place, into Sir John Smith's possession. He died possessed of Sutton manor and Brook-place, with much other land in this county, leaving by the lady Isabella, daughter of the earl of Warwick, one son, Robert, and a daughter, Isabella, married to John lord Robartes, of Truro.
¶Robert Smythe, esq. was of Bounds, in Bidborough, and of Sutton, and married the lady Dorothy Sidney, relict of Henry earl of Sunderland, by whom he had one son, Robert Smythe, esq. of Sutton-atHone, who was governor of Dover castle, and died in 1695, possessed of this manor and Brook-place, leaving Catherine his wife, daughter of William Stafford, of Blatherwick, in Northamptonshire, surviving, and two sons, Henry and William, (fn. 4) to whom this manor and seat descended, as heirs in gavelkind.
In the 10th year of king William, she, as guardian to her two insant sons, obtained an act of parliament for vesting this manor and seat, among others, in this county, in trustees to sell the same, who accordingly, in 1699, conveyed them to Sir John Le Thieullier, of London.
Charities.
FOUR ACRES of land were given for the repair of the church.
THOMAS TERREY, yeoman, of Shoreham, in 1628 gave by will, a house and land at Dean in Horton, to the poor, now of the annual produce of 3l. 5s.
Mrs. KATHERINE WROTE built, and gave to the use of this parish, an alms-house, containing 4 rooms on a floor, with separate gardens. On the front of these houses is this inscription: These alms houses were erected by Kath. Wrote, widow, late wife of Robt. Wrote, esq. A. D. 1597. And these two coats of arms: Three piles azure, on a chief of the 2d, a griffin passant; and, on a saltier azure, 5 swans impaling on a bend 3 birds. And she left by will a house, barn and garden, adjoining the north end of the above houses, for the repair of them, now of the annual produce of 3l. 10s.
SIR THOMAS SMITH gave by will in 1625, the yearly sum of 5l. 10s. for six loaves of good bread, of 4d. each, to be given every Sunday to fix of the poorest and most honest inhabiting householders of this parish, to be paid by the Skinners Company.
Mrs. CATHERINE BAMME, of Gillingham, gave by her deed in 1572, 20s. per annum for the use of the poor, to be paid out of a farm, called Darlands, in Gillingham, vested in lord Vere.
The tenant of the parsonage is bound, by his lease from the dean and chapter, to give 20 bushels of peas, and two bushels of wheat yearly to the poor.
ABRAHAM HILL, esq. and his heirs, as lords of the manor of St. John's, on the ground of which the alms-houses before-mentioned were built, have the right of nominating a poor person to the southernmost of them; he having, in 1720, built two more houses on the garden-ground of that house. His daughter, Mrs. Frances Hill, allotted a small field adjoining, for gardens and other uses of those houses.
THOMAS HARRIS, esq. in 1769, by will gave 5l. per annum to the poor, to buy linen cloth for the term of 50 years, vested in the heirs of John Mumford, esq. and now of that annual produce.
SUTTON-AT-HONE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the deanry of Dartford, and diocese of Rochester. The church is a handsome building, consisting of two isles and a chancel, with a towersteeple at the west end, containing three bells. It is dedicated to St. John Baptist.
It was, on April 27, 1615, burnt down, by a person's firing off a gun in the church at a bird, that had taken shelter in it. From which time till April 21, 1617, all baptisms were solemnized at Darent.
Among other monuments and memorials in this church are the following:—In the chancel, a memorial for Thomas Gifford, M. D. obt. 1669, arms, a lion passant guardant on a chief, three stirrups; under the raised part of it, on which the altar stands, is a vault, in which several of the vicars and their families are buried. At the west end of the south isle, near the door, are memorials for the Staceys of Deptford, buried in a vault underneath, arms, on a fess 3 fleurs de lis between 3 birds. Against the south wall, a monument, with the figure of a woman in white marble, half length, in alto relievo, for Mrs. Frances Hill, daughter of Abraham Hill, esq. great grand daughter of William, lord Willoughby, of Parham, obt. unmarried 1736, æt. 78; arms, Hill. In the small south chancel, at the east end, a mural monument for Abraham Hill, esq. of St. John's, in this parish, the son of Richard Hill, esq. descended out of Devonshire; he was twice married, 1st, to Anne, daughter of Sir Bulstrode Whitlock, by Frances, daughter of William, lord Willoughby, of Parham; 2dly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Pratt, esq. by the former he left Frances and Richard. He died 1721, æt. 88; arms, Hill, impaling azure a chevron ingrailed, between 3 falcons, or, and again impaling Pratt. Another monument for Richard Hill, esq. be fore-mentioned. He married Frances Eyres, and died in 1722, s. p. and she re-married in 1723, Francis Bathurst, esq. of Franks, in Horton. On the south side is a most stately monument, on which, under an arch richly ornamented, lies the figure of a man at full length in his robes, his head resting on a cushion, the whole finely executed, and over him an inscription for Sir Thomas Smith, of Sutton-place, in this parish, governor of the EastIndia and other trading companies, treasurer of the Virginian plantation, prime undertaker in 1612, of the discovery of the north-west passage, and some time ambassador to the emperor and great duke of Russia and Muscovy, &c. &c. obt. 1625; at the top, on each side, a celestial and terrestrial globe, and between them a large shield of arms, being Smith, azure a chevron ingrailed between 3 lions passant, guardant, or, quartering 8 other coats. A memorial for Henry Smith, esq. son and heir of Robert Smith, esq. great grandson of Sir Thomas Smith beforementioned. The said Henry left by Elizabeth, only daughter of Dr. John Lloyd, prebendary of Windsor, an only child, Sydney Stafford Smith. He died in 1706, æt. 29, leaving his widow surviving. Above, the arms of Smith impaling Lloyd, at the entrance to this chancel are 2 small antient folding doors of oak carved with gothic work, on the upper part of which are scrolls, and on each door a full face, carved with a tongue, through a buckle hanging out of the mouth, being an allusion to an antient family in this parish of the name of Puckletongue; under the pew in the north isle, belonging to Hawley-house, is a vault, in which lie several of the owners of that seat, especially of the family of Leigh, to the present time. In the church yard is a vault and monument for John Lethieullier, esq. of Sutton-place, and his two wives; he died s. p. in 1760; and on the north side a tomb, and under it a vault for the Percivals, of Hawley, in this parish; and on the south side are vaults for the Saundersons, of Gillingham, and the Searles, of Hackstable. (fn. 20)
King Henry I. granted the church of Sutton, with the chapels of Kingsdown and Wilmington, with the tythes of them in corn, cattle, pannage, mills, and all other things, to the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester. (fn. 21)
Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, who was elected to this see in the time of the Conqueror, having divided the revenues of his church between himself and his convent, allotted this church, with the chapels belonging to it, to the share of the monks, which was confirmed by king Henry II. and afterwards by Henry, bishop of Rochester. (fn. 22)
Bishop Gilbert de Glanvill, in the reign of king Richard I. on the compromise of the great dispute, which he had with the priory, concerning the gifts which bishop Gundulph, his predecessor, had made to it, granted this church, with the chapel of Wilmington, to the priory, towards the support of their almonry; and ordained, that Gilbert, then rector, should be perpetual vicar of it, paying to the monks, as for the tithes of corn, four marcs yearly; and that, after his decease, or resignation, the perpetual vicar of Sutton should have cure of souls, and in the name of his vicarage, take for his maintenance, all the altarage, as well in small tythes as in oblations, and all obventions belonging to it, except the tythe of corn; and further, that he should possess the alms-land then belonging to it, or which any one might in future give to it, excepting the court-lodge, with the buildings and the meadow belonging to the monks there. And he further ordained, that the cellarer of the priory should sustain all the burthens of it, as well in respect to the bishop as the archdeacon, except synodals, which the vicar himself should pay. It appears by the decrees of archbishop Hubert and Richard, that this appropriation was merely conditional; and it seems never to have taken place; (fn. 23) for in the year 1253, Laurence, bishop of Rochester, appropriated and confirmed to the priory this church, with the chapels of Kingsdown and Wilmington, towards the support of the almonry, in recompence for their giving up their right in the churches of Frindsbury and Dartford, which he got appropriated to his own fee, (fn. 24) provided that the cure of souls in the said church and chapel should be served, and in no wife neglected, by a proper vicar, who should be from time to time provided by the bishop, and his successors, in the church of Sutton; and to proper vicars in the said chapels, to be presented to him and his successors, by the prior and convent. This appropriation was confirmed by John, bishop of Rochester, in 1478. (fn. 25)
In consequence of the above appropriation, the paparishes of Sutton and Wilmington continued one parsonage, with two distinct vicarages; which were, at the general dissolution, surrendered, together with the other possessions of the priory of Rochester, into the hands of the crown, and were two years afterwards, anno 33 king Henry VIII. settled, by that king on the new-erected dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose possessions they still remain.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. the church of Sutton was valued at thirty-five marcs, and the vicarage at one hundred shillings. (fn. 26)
Walter, prior, and the convent of Rochester, in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. demised for the term of eighty-five years, to Nicholas Statham, gent. this parsonage, with the presentation to the vicarage, at the yearly rent of 13l. 6s. 8d. and three bushels of wheat, at Ladytide, to the poor of Sutton and Wilmington; the said Nicholas to repair the premises, and to find straw for thatching the churches of Sutton and Wilmington.
¶By the survey taken by order of the state in December 1649, of the manor and rectory of Sutton, parcel of the then late dean and chapter of Rochester, it appears, that it then consisted of the scite, containing two large barns, a small granary, and barn-yard of two roods of land; all which were estimated at two pounds per annum, and the tythes belonging to it at seventyeight pounds per annum. All which were let, by the dean and chapter, anno 14 king Charles I. to the trustees of Ambrose Beale, for twenty-one years, at 13l. 11s. 8d. The lessee was bound to repair the chancel, and to make the usual payment to the vicar of Sutton, of twenty bushels of peas annually, and two bushels of wheat; to the vicar of Wilmington, of wheat, rye, barley, peas, one quarter each, and twenty shillings and eight-pence in money; the vicarages of the churches being excepted out of the lease.
By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Sutton at-Hone was a vicarage, worth sixty pounds per annum; master Robert Hazelwood then enjoying it. (fn. 27)
This vicarage was augmented by the dean and chapter, soon after the restoration, with the annual sum of ten pounds, besides which the vicar receives an old pension of four nobles, and four quarters of grain, viz. of wheat, rye, barley, and peas, one quarter of each, out of the parsonage; and two shillings annually from Sir Thomas Smith's charity.
The demesne lands belonging to the manor of St. John's, claim an exemption from tythes when in the owner's occupation, as having part of the revenues of the knights hospitallers, concerning which exemption a decree was made confirming it, anno 10 Elizabeth. (fn. 28)
There are twenty-four acres and a half of glebe land, widely dispersed in small pieces, belonging to this vicarage. It is valued in the king's books at ten pounds, and the yearly tenths at one pound. (fn. 29) The present value of the parsonage is near four hundred pounds per annum, and the yearly out goings about fifty pounds. Thomas Harris, lessee of this parsonage, who died in 1769, built near the yard, on part of the glebe, a small but neat parsonage house, in which Mr. William Mumford, the present lessee of it, till lately resided.
The court antiently held for the manor of this rectory, has been disused for a number of years.
There was an agreement concerning tythes entered into between the monks of Rochester, and the brotherhood of the knights of St. John's, in 1217; after much altercation, and an appeal to the pope, by which it was settled, that the monks should take the tythes of sheaves in the demesne lands, which the brotherhood possessed in Sutton, who were allowed a right to take all other tythes whatsoever arising therefrom. (fn. 30)
Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jim Battle and Chief Inspector Debbie Dooley.
The mother of a young man who was stabbed to death in Tameside is appealing for people to ‘bin the blade’ as part of a week-long knife surrender.
Rhian Jones’ son Dominic Doyle tragically lost his life when he was stabbed during a night out in Denton. He was just 21 years old when he died.
Desperate to stop any other family suffering the same pain, his mother Rhian is supporting Greater Manchester Police’s knife surrender.
The surrender, which takes place 21 – 27 November, will see dedicated bins placed into 11 police stations in Greater Manchester.
Knives – including illegal weapons or any other unwanted bladed instruments - can be dropped off in the bins safely and anonymously, with no questions asked.
Rhian Jones said: “I want to support the ‘Bin the Blade’ campaign because my 21 year old son Dominic Doyle was killed by a gang of knife wielding youths.
“It was an unprovoked attack, which took away my only child.
“As part of the campaign I want to speak directly to the mums of these youths carrying knives. Be open and honest with them and talk to them about carrying knives.
“Please don't think it will never happen to you because that's what I thought and it could be you burying your son or daughter next time because someone was carrying a knife.
“This needs to stop, we need to get the knives off the streets. Please support the campaign - bin the blade and save a life.”
Detective Chief Inspector Debbie Dooley from the Xcalibre Task Force at GMP said: “Knives pose a serious risk within our communities and the more we can take off our streets, the greater chance we have of saving lives.
“We don’t want any other family to go through the pain and suffering that Rhian and her family have had to endure and we appeal to residents to take this opportunity to hand in their blades safely and anonymously.”
Deputy Police and Commissioner Jim Battle said: “Campaigns like this have proved successful in the past, taking hundreds of knives off our streets before they fall into the wrong hands. Now we ask the people of Greater Manchester to once again look to their consciences, do the right thing and bin the blade. Please take this opportunity to get rid of your blades anonymously and continue to work with us to make our streets safer for future generations.”
To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.
You should call 101, new national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.
Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.
You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.
The first time I saw the "Unconditional Surrender" statue in Sarasota was a couple of years ago, and I got a pretty standard photo of the embrace with a lousy background and hazy sky.
The second time around I backed off a bit and tried to show the statue's position next to busy US 41 in downtown Sarasota. The passing automobiles and another photographer provided some perspective, and a terrific February day with a blue sky didn't hurt.
There's an interesting story behind the statue's history here in Sarasota (sorry about the advertising at the end), and the article also tells about the famous photograph on which it's based.
To maintain constant control of everything is to never be happy. To truly experience happiness and peace, one must let go of adversity and surrender everything.
A woman sits alone near a rail-way overpass near Dupont and Christie.
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