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Who is This ? ? ?


Stoppage Drill

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For me, this is one of the most outstanding characters of the war. 

Twenty six multi-national honours and awards. Fully engaged throughout the duration, and when honoured with a government posting, moved his office to the front line to continue amongst the action. 

A very fine General, thus far overlooked by us.20170611_123600.jpg.9ea2f8a294624c145692cecd59cb6ae7.jpg

Edited by neverforget
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3 hours ago, neverforget said:

For me, this is one of the most outstanding characters of the war. 

Twenty six multi-national honours and awards. Fully engaged throughout the duration, and when honoured with a government posting, moved his office to the front line to continue amongst the action. 

A very fine General, thus far overlooked by us.20170611_123600.jpg.9ea2f8a294624c145692cecd59cb6ae7.jpg

 

Is that the (Bavarian) Military Order of Max Joseph?

 

EDIT - and those stars at his collar - is he Austrian? (I'm clutching at straws here!)

Edited by Uncle George
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Živojin Mišić?  (Please,don't ask me to spell that again)

 

On 11/06/2017 at 15:34, Uncle George said:

 

Is that the (Bavarian) Military Order of Max Joseph?

 

EDIT - and those stars at his collar - is he Austrian? (I'm clutching at straws here!)

 

On 11/06/2017 at 16:19, cdr said:

Belgian general De Ceuninck

 

fyi

 

Carl

 

Forgive the delayed response gents. I'm at work and had an unexpected breakdown to deal with.

It is in fact the remarkable Armand De Ceuninck. Well done to Carl.

I'm quite surprised that he has slipped under our radar for so long.

The posts he held during the war were as follows:

Section Chief of General Staff of the Army, 1912-1914.

Commander of the 18th Mixed Brigade, 1914-1915.

Commander of the 6th Division of the Army, 1915-1917.

Minister of War, 1917-1918.

Commander of the 4th Division of the Army, 1918-1920.

Lieutenant-General of Artillery.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_De_Ceuninck

A quite impressive C.V.

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This man was a pillar of an unsuccessful minority government. He took part in an enterprise which, launched in an atmosphere of hope, crashed and burned.

 

image.jpg

 

EDIT: image from Wikipedia.

Edited by Uncle George
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Without even trying to see a picture of the officer concerned, I will guess-from your words-that it is Christopher Birdwood Thomson, killed when R101 was less than successful

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Thomson, yes. I wanted to post on the combined themes of a minority government, and a doomed enterprise.

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28 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

Thomson, yes. I wanted to post on the combined themes of a minority government, and a doomed enterprise.

Careful now old chap. You'll get your wrist slapped ? ???

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13 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

Thomson, yes. I wanted to post on the combined themes of a minority government, and a doomed enterprise.

 

      There's an awful lot to choose from in Twentieth Century British history!!   

       One of my old customers as a bookseller was an excellent Oxford historian, now deceased, who wished to do a book on these grand public schemes and political mechanics of how they became absolute disasters- R101, Blue Streak, TSR2,etc. I obtained for him an excellent book on R101- Masefield, Peter G. To Ride The Storm: The Story of the Airship R.101. London: William Kimber, 1982. 

   William Kimber published a good number of first hand accounts of WW2-always worth collecting

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#6592:

 

Doomed enterprise - Ll.G's Stage Army - the Coaly Libs;

 

Minority Government - the Boneless Wonder's 1929 Ministry;

 

GW - Minister of Munitions.

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16 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

#6592:

 

Doomed enterprise - Ll.G's Stage Army - the Coaly Libs;

 

Minority Government - the Boneless Wonder's 1929 Ministry;

 

GW - Minister of Munitions.

Very generous clues. Is it Christopher Addison?

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2 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Very generous clues. Is it Christopher Addison?

 

Yes indeed.

 

What about these two - Conservative and Unionist walking in step:

 

(Image from Pinterest)

image.jpg

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11 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

 

Yes indeed.

 

What about these two - Conservative and Unionist walking in step:

 

(Image from Pinterest)

image.jpg

I think I they might be Carson and Henry Edward Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale?

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16 minutes ago, neverforget said:

I think I they might be Carson and Henry Edward Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale?

 

Carson - yes.

 

5 minutes ago, Stoppage Drill said:

Certainly Carson. Is t' other one Effie Smith ?

 

F.E. - yes. 

 

Seen inspecting members of the UVF:

image.jpg

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  54 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Very generous clues. Is it Christopher Addison?

 

Yes indeed.

 

     But he built a lot of public housing as the Minisetr for Housing -Land Fit For Heroes,etc. Oh, government and housing-Oh dear,still touchy. Stopping now.

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29 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

 

Carson - yes.

 

 

F.E. - yes. 

 

Seen inspecting members of the UVF:

image.jpg

Effie Smith had an interesting escapade in France in - I think - 1915 when he got up the nose of GHQ and got himself arrested.

 

He had previously wangled himself a staff post 'Recording Officer' with the Indian Corps.

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14 minutes ago, Stoppage Drill said:

Effie Smith had an interesting escapade in France in - I think - 1915 when he got up the nose of GHQ and got himself arrested.

 

He had previously wangled himself a staff post 'Recording Officer' with the Indian Corps.

 

An anecdote from Beaverbrook's 'Politicians and the War' (1928):

image.jpg

image.jpg

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Financial Secretary to the Treasury during the GW. Then, later:

 

"Having won an election just the year before, [the] Conservative party had a comfortable majority in the Commons and could have waited another four years, but the government was concerned. [This man] felt the need to receive a mandate from the people, which, if successful, would strengthen his grip on the Conservative party leadership ... "

 

Image from inconsistenbabblings.tumblr.com.

image.jpg

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Is it a young Stanley Baldwin?

 

Pete.

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22 minutes ago, Fattyowls said:

Is it a young Stanley Baldwin?

 

Pete.

 

Yes. A bit obvious perhaps. But, ...

 

"The result however backfired on Baldwin, who lost a host of seats to Labour and the Liberals ... "

 

Quotes from here:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1923

Edited by Uncle George
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....very topical. I wouldn't have got it if it wasn't obvious uncle G; it's the first I've identified for ages although all of the recent ones have been very interesting.

 

Pete.

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  The less said about the truly horrible F.E. the better.

Now-how about this chap....       No, he's not a Victorian undertaker  who has just lost his wallet. Again, a  minority government of yesteryear is involved.  This chap rejoined his regiment at the outbreak of war in 1914 but rose a little higher than his Mess colleagues by the end of it.  His career took an unexpected nautical turn sometime later and is highly unusual in that he took part in meetings of a special type of club without ever being a proper member.

1stViscountChelmsford.jpg

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