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A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE
by Sarah HelmDuring World War Two the Special Operation Executive's French Section sent more than 400 agents into Occupied France -- at least 100 never returned and were reported 'Missing Believed Dead' after the war. Twelve of these were women who died in German concentration camps -- some were tortured, some were shot, and some died in the gas chambers. Vera Atkins had helped prepare these women for their missions, and when the war was over she went out to Germany to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines. But while the woman who carried out this extraordinary mission appeared quintessentially English, she was nothing of the sort. Vera Atkins, who never married, covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past. In A LIFE IN SECRETS Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera's many veils and -- with unprecedented access to official and private papers, and the cooperation of Vera's relatives -- vividly reconstructed an extraordinary life.
Life in the Legion: The Experiences of a British Volunteer in the French Foreign Legion in the Late 19th Century
by Frederic MartynOn campaign under the tricolor“This is an essential book for all those interested in the French Foreign Legion because it is a brilliant first hand account written by an English 'gentleman volunteer' who experienced 'life in the legion' in the late 1880's and who had previously been a serving officer in one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army. Far from being a tale of hardship and abuse, the author had nothing but admiration for the Legion and—as an experienced soldier—obviously thoroughly enjoyed the five years he spent serving in its ranks. The writer quite simply could not have enough action and he volunteered to serve in Tonkin, Dahomey and against the Tuareg tribesmen of North Africa. In consequence this book is full of colourful and detailed campaign and battle action which is compellingly recounted by a fighting soldier more than capable of putting his engrossing story into words. Highly recommended.”-Print ed.
Life in the Victorian Kitchen: Culinary Secrets and Servants' Stories
by Karen FoyA fascinating and deeply researched behind-the-scenes journey into Victorian-era kitchens, with authentic nineteenth-century techniques, tips, and recipes. Have you ever wondered what life was like for domestic servants, the etiquette involved during upper class banquets, or simply wished for a glimpse of day-to-day life in the Victorian kitchen? During the nineteenth century, the kitchen was a place where culinary worlds collided, bridging the gap between social classes. From the rural cottage to the well-staffed country house, Karen Foy takes readers on an entertaining and informative journey through a lost culinary world, uncovering the customs, traditions, and history surrounding some of Britain&’s best loved dishes. Discover nineteenth-century tips, techniques, stories, and superstitions. Try your hand at using an egg to foretell the future, or timeless recipes for everything from apple wine to sheep&’s head pie.
The Life & Legend of a Rebel Leader: Wat Tyler
by Stephen BasdeoIn 1381, England was on the brink - the poor suffered the effects of war, the Black Death, and Poll Tax. At this time the brave Wat Tyler arose to lead the commoners, forming an army who set off to London to meet with King Richard II and present him with a list of grievances and demands for redress. Tyler was treacherously struck down by the Lord Mayor. His head hacked from his shoulders, pierced on a spike, and made a spectacle on London Bridge. Yet he lived on through the succeeding centuries as a radical figure, the hero of English Reformers, Revolutionaries, and Chartists.The Life and Legend of a Rebel Leader: Wat Tyler examines the eponymous hero's literary afterlives. Unlike other medieval heroes such as King Arthur or King Alfred, whose post medieval manifestations were supposed to inspire pride in the English past, if Wat Tyler's name was invoked by the people, the authorities had something to fear.
The Life Of A Regimental Officer During The Great War — 1793-1815: Compiled From The Correspondence Of Colonel Samuel Rice, C.B., K.H. 51st Light Infantry And From Other Sources
by A. F. Mockler-Ferryman Colonel Samuel Rice C.B., K.H.The 51st Light Infantry, or 52nd as they were numbered during the French wars, were always viewed as a crack unit within the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular army. As a part of the Light Division, they formed part of the skirmish screen that would be the first to strike during an advance and the last bulwark of defence during a retreat.Colonel Samuel Rice fought in all of the 51st campaigns during the period starting as the most junior of officers, an ensign rising to the rank of Lt.-Colonel in November 1813. He fought in the engagements at Coruña, Fuentes d'Oñoro, Cuidad Rodrigo, the storm of Badajoz, Salamanca, San Murcial and Orthez. He also saw service on Corsica, Cape of Good Hope, Sri Lanka and at Waterloo near Hougomont. His letters are blended into a tight and gripping narrative by Antony Mockler-Ferryman, blending a historical overview with the eye-witness details of the individual.Author -- Mockler-Ferryman, A. F. 1856-1930.Author -- Colonel Samuel Rice, C.B., K.H.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in Edinburgh, W. Blackwood and sons, 1913. Original Page Count - xv, 326 pages.
Life of a Sailor: By Capt. Frederick Chamier, R. N. (Seafarers' Voices)
by Frederick ChamierChamier was a Royal Navy officer, who like his exact contemporary Captain Marryat is best remembered for a series of naval novels. The Life of a Sailor was his first publication and is usually catalogued as fiction, which may be a tribute to Chamiers story-telling skills but it is wrong the book is an exact account of his naval career, with every personality, ship and event he describes corroborated by his service records. By the time he went to sea in 1809, the heroic age of Nelson was over, but the war was far from won, and he was to see a lot of action, from anti-slavery patrols off Africa to punitive raids on the American coast during the War of 1812.His descriptions of the latter were to prove highly controversial. Like many liberal officers, he deplored the strategy of bringing the war to the civilian population, and the book was much criticised by more senior naval officers for saying so. Chamier represents a new generation of post-Nelsonic naval officer, more gentlemanly, better educated and perhaps more open-minded he certainly got on well with Lord Byron, whom he met in Constantinople and his sympathies generally look forward to the Victorian age. He was too young to rise to high rank, and after the Napoleonic War, like many others, he was condemned to a life on half-pay and perhaps forced into a literary career, but out of it came one of the eras most authentic accounts of a junior officers naval service.
The Life of a Scilly Sergeant
by Colin Taylor‘Policing is like this everywhere but not everywhere is Scilly’Meet Sergeant Colin Taylor, he has been a valuable member of the police force for over 20 years, 5 of which have been spent policing the ‘quiet’ Isles of Scilly, a group of islands off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula. Colin has made it his purpose to keep the streets of Scilly free from drunk anchor thieves, Balance Board riders and other culprits, mostly drunken, intent on breaking the law. This book is the first hand account of how he did it.Coupled with his increasingly popular ‘Isle of Scilly Police Force’ Facebook page, this book charts the day to day trials and tribulations of a small-island police officer, told in a perfectly humorous and affectionate way. This book is a fantastic read and Colin's antics are soon to be the feautre of a major ITV TV series.
Life of a Teenager in Wartime London
by Duncan LeatherdaleLife in wartime London evokes images of the Blitz, of air-raid shelters and rationing, of billeted soldiers and evacuated children. These are familiar, collective memories of what life was like in wartime London, yet there remains an often neglected area of our social history: what was life like for teenagers and young people living in London during the Second World War?While children were evacuated and many of their friends and family went to fight, there were many who stayed at home despite the daily threat of air raids and invasion. How did those left behind live, work and play in the nation's capital between 1939 and 1945? Using the diary entries of nineteen-year-old trainee physiotherapist Glennis 'Bunty' Leatherdale, along with other contemporary accounts, Life of a Teenager in Wartime London is a window into the life of a young person finding their way in the world. It shows how young people can cope no matter the dangers they face, be it from bombs or boys, dances or death.
The Life Of Admiral Lord Collingwood [Illustrated Edition]
by William Clark RussellIncludes 12 illustrationsThe name of Horatio Nelson still rings across the United Kingdom, and further afield, as a great and gallant naval hero worthy of remembrance through the ages, his statue still stands atop a lofty column in one of the busiest squares in the world. However Nelson was only one of many heroes that fought the French Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, without whom the outcome may have been very different.Never seeking the public acclaim craved by his close friend and comrade Horatio Nelson, Cuthbert Collingwood was one such hero who stood with the great Admiral from the Nile to the former's death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Brave, determined, a great friend to the sailor's under his command, Collingwood was instrumental in defeating the French and he took command of the British Fleet after Trafalgar. Almost never ashore, his constant battles with the French along with exhausting blockade duties drove him into an early grave in 1810.In this excellent biography, penned by noted naval author William Clark Russell the full scope of the exploits, adventures and victories of Admiral Collingwood are recounted in vivid detail.
A Life of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham: A Twentieth Century Naval Leader (Cass Series: Naval Policy And History Ser. #Vol. 25)
by Michael SimpsonCunningham was the best-known and most celebrated British admiral of the Second World War. He held one of the two major fleet commands between 1939 and 1942, and in 1942-43, he was Allied naval commander for the great amphibious operations in the Mediterranean. From 1943 to 1946, he was the First Sea Lord and a participant in the wartime conference
A Life of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham: A Twentieth Century Naval Leader (Cass Series: Naval Policy And History Ser. #Vol. 25)
by Michael SimpsonThis book presents an account of the life of naval commander Andrew Cunningham, the best-known and most celebrated British admiral of the Second World War. It supplements Cunningham's papers by Cabinet and Admiralty records, papers of his service contemporaries and of Churchill.
The Life of Alcibiades: Dangerous Ambition and the Betrayal of Athens (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology #68)
by Jacqueline de RomillyThis biography of Alcibiades, the charismatic Athenian statesman and general (c. 450–404 BC) who achieved both renown and infamy during the Peloponnesian War, is both an extraordinary adventure story and a cautionary tale that reveals the dangers that political opportunism and demagoguery pose to democracy. As Jacqueline de Romilly brilliantly documents, Alcibiades's life is one of wanderings and vicissitudes, promises and disappointments, brilliant successes and ruinous defeats. Born into a wealthy and powerful family in Athens, Alcibiades was a student of Socrates and disciple of Pericles, and he seemed destined to dominate the political life of his city—and his tumultuous age.Romilly shows, however, that he was too ambitious. Haunted by financial and sexual intrigues and political plots, Alcibiades was exiled from Athens, sentenced to death, recalled to his homeland, only to be exiled again. He defected from Athens to Sparta and from Sparta to Persia and then from Persia back to Athens, buffeted by scandal after scandal, most of them of his own making. A gifted demagogue and, according to his contemporaries, more handsome than the hero Achilles, Alcibiades is also a strikingly modern figure, whose seductive celebrity and dangerous ambition anticipated current crises of leadership.
The Life of Andrew Jackson (Signature Ser.)
by Robert V. Remini"A wonderful portrait, rich in detail, of a fascinating and important man and an authoritative . . . account of his role in American History.” —New York Times Book ReviewThe classic one-volume abridgement of the National Book Award-winning biography of Andrew Jackson from esteemed historian Robert V. Remini.As president of the United Sates from 1829 to 1837, Andrew Jackson was a significant force in the nation's expansion, the growth of presidential power, and the transition from republicanism to democracy. A forceful yet sometimes tragic hero, Jackson was a man whose strength and flaws were larger than life, a president whose convictions provided the nation with one of the most influential and colorful administrations in our history.In this enthralling, meticulously crafted abridgment, Remini captures the essence of the life and career of the seventh president of the United States.
The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union
by Bell Irvin WileyIn this companion to The Life of Johnny Reb, Bell Irvin Wiley explores the daily lives of the men in blue who fought to save the Union. With the help of many soldiers' letters and diaries, Wiley explains who these men were and why they fought, how they reacted to combat and the strain of prolonged conflict, and what they thought about the land and the people of Dixie. This fascinating social history reveals that while the Yanks and the Rebs fought for very different causes, the men on both sides were very much the same.
The Life of Charles A. Dana
by James Harrison WilsonCharles Anderson Dana (August 8, 1819 – October 17, 1897) was an American journalist, author, and senior government official. He was a top aide to Horace Greeley as the managing editor of the powerful Republican newspaper New-York Tribune until 1862. During the American Civil War, he served as Assistant Secretary of War, playing especially the role of the liaison between the War Department and General Ulysses S. Grant. In 1868 he became the editor and part-owner of The New York Sun. He at first appealed to working class Democrats but after 1890 became a champion of business-oriented conservatism.“The author, a Major-General of U.S. Volunteers, first met Dana during the Vicksburg campaign, and "it was my good-fortune to serve with him in the field during three of the most memorable campaigns of the Civil War, and for a short period under him as a bureau office of the War Department. As a journalist and as Assistant Secretary of War, Mr. Dana was one of the most influential men of his time. Weighed for the strength and variety of his faculties, and for his power to interest and impress upon men's minds, he must be considered as the first of America's editors. Yet it happened that in the great era of the Civil War his energies were so vigorous and effective, that he must also be classed among the real heroes of that unequalled conflict. He exerted a tremendous influence upon both the men and the measures of his day. As field correspondent, and office assistant to Stanton, the great War Secretary, he was potent in deciding the fate of leading generals as well as shaping the military policies of the Administration. With the possible exception of John A. Rawlins, Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff to General Grant, Dana exerted a greater influence over Grant's military career than any other man.”-Preface.
Life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton
by Lewis Alexander LeonardCharles Carroll played a big part in the drama of American Independence, a far bigger part than is popularly supposed. School histories dismiss him with a few lines and most histories give larger space to men who played for minor parts. For this reason historical justice has never been fully accorded to Charles Carroll. This book corrects that injustice. Its author, a Marylander by birth, with the zeal and enthusiasm of a native son for his own heath, its traditions and its men of note, has given years to the research needed to unearth such a mine of historical knowledge. And with him it has been a labor of love. His forbears were intimately connected with the Carrolls and so Mr. Leonard has more than musty old records for the source of his inspiration. I believe that he has done simple justice to the name and fame of Charles Carroll and nothing more. The great pity is, it was not done years ago.George Washington had no truer, no stauncher friend than Charles Carroll, though the world has partially blinked the fact. Others of the Colonial fathers might waver here, and falter there, but Charles Carroll always upheld the hands of Washington as Aaron and Hur upheld the hands of Moses in his battle with Amalek. In this country Charles Carroll saw the Promised Land for which sages had sighed and philosophers had dreamed and for it he risked his all on the turn of the Revolutionary die, and his all was more in worldly goods than any other signer of the Declaration of Independence.
The Life of Col. Ethan Allen
by Jared SparksCovers the life of Ethan Allen as he fights for first the New Hampshire Grants and then for the newly declared United States of America. His capture of Fort Ticonderoga and his fight to make Vermont an Independent state are all related.“THE first settlement of Vermont, and the early struggles of the inhabitants not only in subduing a wilderness, but establishing an independent government, afford some of the most remarkable incidents in American history. When we now survey that flourishing State, presenting in all its parts populous towns and villages, and witness the high degree of culture to which it has attained, and which, under the most favored social organization, is usually the slow achievement of time, we can hardly realize that seventy years ago the whole region from the Connecticut River to Lake Champlain was a waste of forests, an asylum for wild beasts, and a barrier against the inroads of the savages upon the border settlements of the New England Colonies. This change has been brought to pass in the first place by a bold and hardy enterprise, and an indomitable spirit of freedom, which have rarely been equalled; and afterwards by the steady perseverance of an enlightened and industrious population, deriving its stock from the surrounding States, and increasing rapidly from its own resources. To the historian this is a fertile and attractive theme. By the biographer it can only be touched, as bearing on the deeds and character of the persons, who have been the principal actors in the train of events.Among those, who were most conspicuous in laying the foundation upon which the independent State of Vermont has been reared, and indeed the leader and champion of that resolute band of husbandmen who first planted themselves in the wilderness of the Green Mountains was ETHAN ALLEN.”-Print ed.
The Life of Col. Seth Warner: With an Account of the Controversy Between New York and Vermont, From 1763 to 1775
by Daniel ChipmanColonel Seth Warner played a conspicuous part in the War of Independence, third in command of the expedition to capture Fort Ticonderoga, at the Siege of Quebec, the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington and the Saratoga campaign. However, his merits and exploits were overshadowed by his colleague, sometime commander and political rival Ethan Allan. In the late 1770s and early 1780s, Ethan Allen, who had spent three years as a prisoner of war, his brother Ira, and Governor Thomas Chittenden dominated Vermont politics, and Warner's influence waned.In this volume distinguished Vermont historian Daniel Chipman records the real and true story of this American hero.“SEVERAL years since, I observed that great injustice had been done to the character of Seth Warner, by certain unintentional errors in existing history. I observed also that historians had omitted to state his services so fully as to enable the reader duly to appreciate his merits, and feeling a strong desire to correct those errors, supply those omissions, and transmit his character to posterity in its true light, I undertook to collect materials for a memoir of Seth Warner, but I was so unsuccessful, that I was compelled to abandon the object. Although I knew Warner, personally, only as a boy knows a man, yet, from those who were both his and my contemporaries, I had a full knowledge of the man, but I could not think it either useful or proper to portray his character, on my own authority, unsupported by evidence.”
Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington Vol. I (Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington #1)
by W. H. MaxwellOriginally published in 1839, this is the FIRST volume in a series of three published between 1839-1841, which together form an impressive biography of Field-Marshall Arthur Wellington, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain whose defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain’s military heroes. Written when witnesses of the Iron Duke’s exploits were still alive, Maxwell used much firsthand information was available from serving a discharged military personnel to enrich the narrative.In this volume the future Duke’s career is taken up to his arrival to take command in the Peninsula for the second time after Moore’s disastrous retreat in 1809.Richly illustrated throughout with steel and wood engravings.
Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington Vol. II (Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington #2)
by W. H. MaxwellOriginally published in 1840, this is the SECOND volume in a series of three published between 1839-1841, which together form an impressive biography of Field-Marshall Arthur Wellington, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain whose defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain’s military heroes. Written when witnesses of the Iron Duke’s exploits were still alive, Maxwell used much firsthand information was available from serving a discharged military personnel to enrich the narrative.In this volume the Duke’s career is recounted up to his huge success at the battle of Salamanca in 1812.Richly illustrated throughout with steel and wood engravings.
Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington Vol. III (Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington #3)
by W. H. MaxwellOriginally published in 1841, this is the THIRD volume in a series of three published between 1839-1841, which together form an impressive biography of Field-Marshall Arthur Wellington, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain whose defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain’s military heroes. Written when witnesses of the Iron Duke’s exploits were still alive, Maxwell used much firsthand information was available from serving a discharged military personnel to enrich the narrative.In this volume the Duke’s career is recounted culminating in his victory on the field of Waterloo.Richly illustrated throughout with steel and wood engravings.
Life of General George Monck: For King and Cromwell
by Peter ReeseGeneral George Monck is famous for the key role he played in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. His actions changed the course of British history, but his statesmanship in the dangerous time between the death of Cromwell and the bloodless return of Charles II distracts attention from his extraordinary career as a soldier and general, admiral, governor and administrator. During the confused, often bloody era of the English Civil Wars and the Protectorate he was one of the great survivors. Peter Reese, in this perceptive new study, follows Monck through his long, varied career, from his impoverished upbringing in the West Country and his military apprenticeship on the Continent, to his experience as a commander on both sides during the civil wars. He distinguished himself on the battlefields of Ireland and Scotland, and as a general-at-sea for both Cromwell and Charles II. His shrewdness and firmness of character, his skill as a leader, his high popularity with his troops and his occasional ruthlessness gained for him a formidable reputation. On Cromwell's death he was one of the few men in England with the power, personal authority and political skill to secure the restoration of Charles II and to bring to an end twenty years of conflict.
The Life of General Hugh Mercer With Brief Sketches of General George Washington,: John Paul Jones, General George Weedon, James Monroe etc.
by John T. GoolrickHugh Mercer was born in 1726 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland...Although trained as a doctor he would go on to serve in a military capacity as physician in Bonnie Prince Charlie’s 1746 Jacobite rebellion. Following the decisive failure of the revolt at the battle of Culloden, Mercer fled his native country and sought refuge in the American colonies...His fighting days were only just beginning, seeing service in the Seven Years War and most famously in the American War of Independence.“In the early days of the Revolution, Mercer took command of a small force of Virginia Minute Men from Spotsylvania, King George, Stafford, and Caroline Counties. Eventually, he rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army, and in the winter of 1776 accompanying his old acquaintance, George Washington, in the New York City Campaign, and subsequent retreat to New Jersey.Following the Patriot victory at Trenton, New Jersey, Mercer led a vanguard of 350 soldiers toward Princeton, New Jersey with orders from Washington to destroy the Stony Brook Bridge. On January 3, 1777, Mercer met a larger British force under the command of Col. Charles Mawhood at Clarke’s Orchard. The struggle between these two forces quickly turned into a race to secure the strategic position on the heights of a nearby hill...As his men began to fall back, Mercer stepped forward and desperately rallied his men with the words “Forward! Forward!” His command was met by the forceful thrust of British bayonets to his chest, and he fell to the ground.Finding Mercer still alive, Continental soldiers removed him to a nearby oak tree, which would later bear his name, and finally to the field hospital in the Thomas Clarke House, where he died of his wounds on January 12, 1777. The Patriots ultimately succeeded in driving the British from Princeton, and the legacy of General Mercer’s courageous efforts became a rallying cry for American troops.”-Battlefields.org
Life of General Philip Schuyler, 1733-1804
by Bayard TuckermanPhilip John Schuyler served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was a member of the First United States Senate. Schuyler played a key role in the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga, as well as in earlier campaigns including the Invasion of Canada, and the Battles of Lake Champlain and Fort Ticonderoga. Coming from a family deeply rooted in the Dutch-influenced culture of New York, Schuyler was a member of the civic and social elite representing New York in the Continental Congress and the United States Senate.-Mount Vernon.org
Life of General Stand Watie: The Only Indian Brigadier General of the Confederate Army and the Last General to Surrender
by Mabel Washbourne AndersonWatie was born in 1806 near Calhoun Georgia. Watie left for the Indian Territory in 1835 and was one of the Cherokee leaders before the Civil War. He was the only Native American Confederate General commanding the Confederate Indian Cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi. Watie was the highest ranked Native American in the Confederate army and renowned for his leadership in the Battle of Pea Ridge and other battles. He also was the last Confederate general to surrender, three months after Lee at Appomattox. Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender in June 1865. The author was the grandniece of Stand Watie.