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Remembered in the landscape: Oliver Locker-Lampson

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  Oliver Locker-Lampson The younger son of the poet Frederick Locker, and his second wife, Hannah Jane Lampson,who had  taken the name Locker-Lampson as a condition of his father-in-law's will, he was educated at Cheam School, Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he gained an Honours Tripos Degree in History and Modern Languages. While at Cambridge, he was co-editor of Granta with Edwin Montagu and President of the Amateur Dramatic Club. After Cambridge he studied law at the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in 1907 but never practised. Locker-Lampson worked as a journalist and was a founding director of a Norwich-based motorcar vendor, Duff, Morgan and Vermont.  Locker-Lampson was elected to the House of Commons at the January 1910 general election as the member for the Ramsey Division in Huntingdonshire, defeating the Liberal incumbent. He stood as a Conservative Unionist on a Tariff Reform ticket and was re-elected in the December 1910 general election....

Death in a time of Ice: Mortality in London during the Frost Fair of 1715/16.

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  Death in an Age of Ice On the 24th November 1715 a severe frost marked the beginning of almost 11 weeks of sub zero temperatures until around 9th February, when the thaw set in.  During that time the Bills of Mortality kept a steady record of those who died in this time of ice. Printed in the Thames Jan, 1715/16 This article is a brief look at the second half of the big freeze that engulfed London in the winter of 1715/16 during which a frost fair took place. It is not intended to draw big conclusions but show a brief glimpse into life in the capital. [1] It has been estimated that London's population was around 630,000, had grown rapidly and was still waxing mightily.  [2]   The Thames froze solidly in the grip of the winter.   By 2nd January 1715/16 the Newcastle Courant noted ‘The River Thames is now quite frozen over, and if the frost continues, the watermen will build booths to sell brandy and other liquors therein. It also carried the alarming news that...

Landing Craft [Tanks] and how to break them: A misusers guide.

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  Landing Craft [Tanks] and how to break them: A misusers guide.   Photo Malindine (Lt) War Office official photographer - H 19057 IWM caption : THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1939-45; A Crusad er I tank emerges from a tank landing craft (TLC 124) during tests of a portable concrete roadway, in this case laid on the beach, 26 April 1942. The need for a purposeful way to put men and material on a hostile shore had been on the minds of the Royal Navy since it commissioned its first Motor Landing Craft in 1926.  A specific vessel which could deliver tanks  was launched in November 1940.  While the image, for people of a certain age, would be of a single Airfix Sherman tank coming out of the ship, the first LCTs [mark 1] could carry three tanks.  The Mark 2 could carry seven and later marks had a larger capacity  [1].  In truth, however, the designation T for Tank would be more accurately rendered T for Things.  Of all the tasks that the ...