Great Britain, North Ireland
& The Republic of Ireland
Heritage, History, Traditions & Customs
“The British Isles Historic Society Newsletter”
06-21a Queen’s Birthday
June 12th. Queen Elizabeth’s II, Official Birthday the Sovereign's birthday was first officially marked in the Kingdom
of Great Britain in 1748, for King June 6th. D-Day, George II. 1944, Battle of Queen’s Birthday History Normandy: The royal birthday, a.k.a. The King’s Birthday During World has been present on the United Kingdom calendar War II (1939-1945), since 1748 when King George II ruled. The exact day the Battle of has been moved around several times. Significantly, Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August King Edward, who reigned from 1902 to 1910, 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western moved the celebration to summer in hope for better Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed weather. Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, After the British Commonwealth stopped 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 existing as an Empire, various territories made their American, British and Canadian forces landed on five own decisions on keeping the Queen’s birthday beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily holiday. Some even have two – for example, fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The Scotland and Canada also observes the birthday of invasion was one of the largest amphibious military Queen Victoria in May. assaults in history and required extensive planning. The official ceremony of the Holiday, Trooping Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale The Colours, has existed in some forms since the deception campaign designed to mislead the 17th century. The Colours stand for the flags of the Germans about the intended invasion target. By late different regiments in the Royal Army. Since 1820, August 1944, all of northern France had been the accession year of King George 4th, this liberated, and by the following spring the Allies had magnificent parade became an annual ceremony of defeated the Germans. The Normandy landings have monarchs checking out their troops. been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day TRIVIA: Our Queen has a sense of humour. Queen Elizabeth II Once on a low-key trip to Scotland, she met Born: April 21, 1926 (age 95 some American tourists while walking. When the years), Mayfair, London, United tourists asked if she lived locally, she mentioned that Kingdom she had a house nearby, and when asked if she’d Full name: Elizabeth Alexan- ever met the Queen she simply pointed at her dra Mary Windsor security and said, “No, but he has!” Spouse: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Juno Beach: Nearly (m. 1947–2021) 150,000 Allied troops landed Children: Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Prin- or parachuted into the cess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Prince Ed- invasion area on D-Day, ward, Earl of Wessex including 14,000 Canadians at Juno Beach. The Royal Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom Canadian Navy contributed and 15 other Commonwealth realms. Elizabeth was 110 ships and 10,000 sailors and the RCAF born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the contributed 15 fighter and fighter-bomber Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and squadrons to the assault. Total Allied casualties on Queen Elizabeth). Her father ascended the throne on D-Day reached more than 10,000, including 1,074 the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in Canadians, 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home The Queen’s and began to undertake public duties during the birthplace is now Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary a fancy Cantonese Territorial Service. In 1947, she married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and restaurant Denmark, with whom she had four children: Charles, Called Hakkasan, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince at 17 Bruton Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Street in Mayfair Wessex. Breakfast with the Queen! The Queen loves scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a grating of truffle. But she was too frugal to ever order fresh truffles and only really enjoyed them at Christmas when the truffles were TRIVIA: As Queen, she has been served by 14 sent as a gift.” Instead, she prefers UK Prime Ministers Including Winston Churchill, regular cereal with fresh fruit for a Margaret Thatcher and more recently, Boris typical breakfast. Johnson. Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh “His legacy will live on forever ”
Born: June 10, 1921, Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece Died: April 9, 2021, Windsor Castle, Windsor, United Kingdom
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was a member of the British royal family as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. Philip was born June 10, 1921, Mon Repos, Corfu, Greece into the Greek and Danish royal families. He was born in Greece, but his family was exiled from the country when he was eighteen months old. Philip’s father was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882–1944), a younger son of King George I of the Hellenes (originally Prince William of Denmark). His mother was Princess Alice (1885–1969), who was the eldest daughter of Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st marquess of Milford Haven, and Princess Victoria of Hesse and the Rhine, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Reared chiefly in Great Britain, Philip was educated at Gordonstoun School, near Elgin, Moray, Scotland, and at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, England. From January 1940 to the end of World War II, he served with the Royal Navy in combat in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. His marriage to his distant cousin Princess Elizabeth took place in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947. On the eve of his wedding, he was designated a Royal Highness and was created a Knight of the Garter, Baron Greenwich, Earl of Merioneth, and Duke of Edinburgh. While much of his time was spent fulfilling the duties of his station, Philip engaged in a variety of philanthropic endeavours. He served as president of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) from 1981 to 1996, and his International Award program allowed more than six million young adults to engage in community service, leadership development, and physical fitness activities. In 2011, to mark his 90th birthday, Elizabeth conferred on him the title and office of lord high admiral, the titular head of the Royal Navy. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-duke-of-Edinburgh Corpach Wreck, Queen Elizabeth II was Fort William, Scotland, UK born on April 21, 1926. Her Majesty was the first child of King George VI Built in 1975, the fishing (The Duke of York) and Queen vessel trawler MV Dayspring Elizabeth. once brought mackerel and herring to the shores of the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Scottish Highlands. Last II is Queen of Canada. She has launched in the early 2000s, she dedicated her life to public service and continues to had been safely moored for serve Canada and Canadians. On her 21st birthday over a decade when she ran aground during a storm (April 21, 1947), she addressed the Commonwealth on 8 December 2011. and dedicated her life "whether it be long or short" to the service of A kipper is a others. Ever since, she has been whole herring, a small, steadfast in keeping her promise oily fish, that has been — a promise valued by Canada split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the and the entire Commonwealth. dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold- smoked over smouldering woodchips (typically oak). TRIVIA: Queen Elizabeth remains the only In Britain, Ireland, Scotland and on the Isle on female royal family member to have entered the Man kippers are most commonly consumed for armed forces, and is currently the only living head of breakfast. In Great Britain, kippers, along with other state who officially served in World War II. preserved smoked or salted fish such as the bloater and buckling, were also once commonly enjoyed as a Hattit kit,is a high tea or supper treat, most popularly with inland traditional Scottish milk and urban working-class populations before World dish. The fresh milk used in War II. the recipe must be warm The Kipper was invented by a man called John and traditionally it was Woodger in 1843. John lived in Seahouses, made by milking straight Northumberland and worked as a Fish Monger when from a cow into a pail or other vessel (the kit) one day he left some prepared fish in a room containing fresh buttermilk and sometimes rennet. overnight with a smoking stove. Recipes variously instruct to mix well or to refrain from stirring. More milk was added at the next The Manx word for kipper is skeddan jiarg milking. The resultant "hat" that floats atop the which literally translates as red herring. whey is then skimmed off and mixed with sugar, Our Queen the Truck Driver: nutmeg, or cinnamon and sometimes wine. The Elizabeth eventually joined the hatted kit tends to become more acid, so limewater women's Auxiliary Territorial Service or charcoal may be added with later use of a batch. and trained as a truck driver and It may be served with cream, stewed fruit or with mechanic in 1945, when she was 18 years old. brown bread and salt, instead of butter. Queen Elizabeth’s Canadian Patronage: The Queen’s Royal Patronage — Canadian Organizations Royal Canadian Air Force Association (1951) Her Majesty is patron of more than 600 Canadian Cancer Society (1952) charities and organizations, of which 36 are in Canadian Red Cross Society (1952) Canada. These include the Canadian Cancer Society Navy League of Canada (1952) Royal Canadian Air Force Benevolent Fund (1952) and the Canadian Nurses Association. This sense of Royal Canadian Naval Benevolent Fund (1952) service has been transmitted to all members of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (1952) Royal Family. Canadian Medical Association (1952) Canadian National Exhibition Association (1952) The Queen continues to highlight the critical Royal Canadian Humane Association (1952) role of the Canadian Forces by serving as Colonel-in- Save the Children Canada (1952) Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (1953) Chief, Captain General and Air Commodore-in-Chief Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (1953) of the following units across Canada: Federated Women's Institutes of Canada (1953) Canadian Nurses Association (1957) Royal Canadian Air Force Toronto French School (1979) St. John's Ravenscourt School (1981) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada The Royal Canadian Naval Association (1995) The Calgary Highlanders The Duke of Edinburgh Patronage:
Canadian Military Engineers Abbotsford Flying Club (1962) Brant Wildlife Festival (1992 - 1996) The Canadian Grenadier Guards British Railway Modellers of North America (1971) Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (1955) Governor General's Foot Guards Canadian Club (London) Governor General's Horse Guards Canadian Curling Association (1965) Canadian Cutting Horse Association (1962) The King's Own Calgary Regiment Canadian Medical Association (1959) Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (1963) Le Régiment de la Chaudière College of Family Physicians of Canada (1973) Dawson City Museum and Historical Society (1960) The Royal New Brunswick Regiment Engineering Institute of Canada (1953) Fondation de la faune du Québec (1989) The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery HMCS Discovery Wardroom (1951) Royal 22e Régiment Massey College (University of Toronto) (2002) Naval Officers' Association of Canada (1958) 48th Highlanders of Canada Naval Officers' Club (Montréal) (1952) Outward Bound Canada (1969) The Canadian Armed Forces Legal Branch Porcupine Rod and Gun Club (1962) Privy Council – Canada (1957) The Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders Royal Canadian Naval Sailing Association (1953) Royal Canadian Regiment Association (1971) The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment Royal Canadian Yacht Club (Toronto) (1952) The Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering Royal Montreal Curling Club (1951) Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club (1952) In 2012, the Queen became Commissioner-in- Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club (1954) Chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Royal Society of Canada (1957) Royal Vancouver Yacht Club (1976) Her Majesty held the title of Honorary Commissioner St. James's Club (Montréal) (1952) since 1953. Seaforth Highlanders of Canada Officers’ Mess (1996) South Saskatchewan Wildlife Association (1987) https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/royal- family/queen.html Cont. page 10 …... …. From page 9 … Prince Philip Patronage Canada has the most Toronto Club (1966) places named after Her Toronto Press (and Media) Club (1959) Majesty, with 22 places University Club of Montreal (1976) Upper Canada College (1955) named after the country’s Upper Canada College Campaign (1988) queen, including two sets of Vancouver Club (1954) Queen Elizabeth Islands and the mountainous Queen Vancouver Racquets Club (1971) Vancouver Rowing Club (1975) Elizabeth Ranges. That’s probably not a surprise, Water ski and wakeboard Canada (1952) considering Canada is the country Queen Elizabeth World Affairs Canada (1989) has been to the most. The Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal family also share Patronage with many organization in Canada Vancouver: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Park, Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza, Maldon Sea Salt is a salt Queen Elizabeth Elementary school, Queen Elizabeth producing company in Maldon (Essex) School Annex, on the high-salinity banks of the River Blackwater (namely favoured by flat Princess Elizabeth Wedding Dress tide-washed salt marshes and low rainfall). Its Still reeling from an clay-lined salt pans date back to Roman times and atmosphere of post-war austerity, amounted to 45 according to the Domesday Book in Elizabeth used ration coupons and a 1086. The brine is evaporated over fires mounted on 200-coupon supplement from the an elaborate network of brick flues, rendering its government to pay for her wedding rare pyramid-shaped crystals. dress. But don't be fooled, the dress As with Sea Salt, Celtic Sea Salt is created by was extremely elegant; it was made of ivory evaporating sea water, and then what is left behind duchesse silk, encrusted with 10,000 imported seed is the salt. However, this salt specifically comes from pearls, took six months to make, and sported a seawater near the town of Guérande in France. The 13-foot train. (It cost just under $40,000 to recreate seawater is concentrated, first in clay silt ponds, and the dress for The Crown TV Series.) then in shallow pans that are formed in the native Credits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeddingDress clay. A Killie pie is a steak and HOME OWNER: Queen gravy pie, created initially for Elizabeth became a homeowner at Kilmarnock Football Club and just six years old sold at their stadium, Rugby Park. Local bakery Brownings has produced the pie When the people of Wales for the club since 2003, and it is also sold in Aldi, gifted her a house in the grounds of SPAR and selected Scotmid stores in Scotland. Windsor’s Royal Lodge. Named Y Bwthyn Bach, it means “little cottage”. Newgrange is 5,000 years old, Princess Elizabeth made her making it older than the ancient first radio broadcast in October pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge. 1940, during the Second World During the winter solstice, light penetrates through War. to the burial tomb for about 19 minutes. "Maundy Money," named for an officer named Alexander Seton, a rela- the Queen has silver tive of A.C. Anderson. Seton served as lieutenant coins—currently with colonel on HMS Birkenhead and which sank off the Elizabeth's likeness on coast of Africa (famous for being the first time the front—that are "women and children first" was heard). given to pensioners in Joseph Despard a ceremony called Maundy Thursday. The royal Pemberton (July 23, 1821 – custom dates back to the 13th century, in which the November 11, 1893) was a surveyor royal family was expected to wash the feet of and for the Hudson's Bay Company, distribute gifts to penniless subjects as a symbolic Surveyor General for the Colony of gesture to honor Jesus’s act of washing the feet of Vancouver Island, a pre-Confederation politician, a the poor in the Bible. Once the 18th century rolled businessman and a farmer. He was born in 1821 in around and washing people's dirty feet wasn't seen Dublin, Ireland and died in 1893 in Oak Bay, British as befitting of a royal, the act was replaced with Columbia. Joseph Pemberton laid out Victoria's town money allowances bequeathed by the monarch. site, southern Vancouver Island and townsites along Pemberton B.C. the Fraser River. He married Teresa Jane Grautoff and they are the parents of Canadian painter Sophie In 1827, the Hudson's Bay Pemberton. The town of Pemberton was named Company's men first penetrated after him. the valleys of the Birkenhead and Lillooet Rivers. Frances A Bath Oliver is a hard, dry Ermantinger arrived then by way biscuit or cracker made from flour, of Seton Lake and Anderson Lake, butter, yeast and and James Murray Yale came three years later, milk; often eaten having made the trip north from Fort Langley. In all with cheese. It was likelihood both men were searching for a safe route invented by physician William for fur brigades from Kamloops and Fort Langley, for Oliver of Bath, Somerset around a route to bypass the lower Fraser River canyons. 1750, giving the biscuit its name. In 1846, Alexander Caulfield Anderson Sowans or sowens, also travelled through this country with the same called virpa, is a Scottish dish made purpose: to decide if company horses could make using the starch remaining on the their way from the Fraser to present day Mount inner husks of oats after milling. The Currie and on, by way of Lillooet and Harrison Lakes, husks are allowed to soak in water and ferment for a to Fort Langley. By then, as of the Oregon Treaty, the few days. The liquor is strained off and allowed to lower Columbia River, the main link with the Interior, stand for a day to allow the starchy matter therein to was American, and for that reason Governor settle. Simpson considered a new route "most highly important." The men travelled on foot and by canoe TRIVIA: The ball that drops in from Kamloops to the south end of the lake named Times Square on New Year’s Eve is for the leader (Anderson Lake). Seton Lake was made by Waterford Crystal. Mary Rose, Worcestershire sauce is Portsmouth, England, perhaps the Worcester's most famous UK product. It was first produced in The Mary Rose, Worcester by two chemists, John Henry VIII’s favourite warship, sank in 1545 during Wheeley Lea and William Perrins, and the Battle of the Solent. She served 34 years at sea, went on sale in 1837. It is still produced seeing several historical moments in her lifetime in the city today, although the origin of from transporting troops to northern England for the the recipe remains a mystery. Battle of Flodden to attacking the French fleet at The story goes that Lord Sandys, a Brest. The Mary Rose was raised from the seabed in local aristocrat who had been Governor 1982 after years of archaeological work and now the of Bengal, visited the chemist shop historic warship lives in the Mary Rose Museum in asking for a recipe he had found in India to be made Portsmouth. More than 19,000 items were up. Lea and Perrins made an extra jar for recovered from the wreck site including human themselves, but found they did not like the remains, guns and clothes. The ship can be viewed concoction and stored it in the cellar. Some time close up at the museum, which was redesigned in later they retasted the preparation to discover it was 2016 to offer delicious. visitors an even Although today the ingredients are listed the more immersive exact recipe has never been revealed and remains a experience. closely guarded secret. Lea and Perrins has not been the only Queen Elizabeth owned Worcestershire sauce to be made. Its early success an elephant, two giant turtles, a encouraged other firms to copy the recipe in jaguar and a pair of sloths competition, we know of over 30 in Worcester alone. Sauces were particularly popular during the Presents from other countries, 19th century as they gave flavour to otherwise plain all of which live in London Zoo. Note: In 2001, the food and helped tenderise tough cuts of meat. 172-year history of keeping elephants at London Zoo came to an end. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld In Worcester, J.Williams & Co The Garibaldi biscuit ("under the patronage of the Duke of consists of currants squashed Gloucester") and Parry's in The Cross were and baked between two thin advertising bottled sauce from the 1820's, oblongs of biscuit dough—a sort and the earliest references to 'Worcester of currant sandwich. The biscuits are similar to Eccles Sauce' by exactly that name associate it cake as well as the Golden Raisin Biscuits once made with the famous lamprey dish. by Sunshine Biscuits. http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/ worcesterorworcestershiresauce.htm TRIVIA: There is a village in Limerick, Ireland, called Hospital. It does not have a hospital. House of Windsor: Vancouver’s Technically, the Queen's last name is Lord Strathcona "Windsor," which was first chosen by Elementary George V in 1917 after the royal family wanted to distance them- Named for selves from "Saxe-Coburg-Gotha"— Donald Alexander the dynasty to which they belonged—for sounding Smith, first Baron of Strathcona (1820-1914), too Germanic during World War I. Scottish-Canadian financier and politician. But as a way to distinguish themselves from Students originally went to Hastings Mill the rest of the royal family, in 1960 Elizabeth and School. After the fire of 13 June 1886, the families Philip adopted the official surname Windsor- scattered. A new school called East or Oppenheimer Mountbatten. Street opened on 26 January 1887 at 522 Oppenheimer Street (now East Cordova Street.) It moved in March 1891 to Pender and Jackson and Abernethy Biscuits was called the East End School. The school was Now made as a medium renamed Strathcona in 1900. to low bake biscuit of coarse Donald Alexander Smith, wheat flour with salt and Born: August 6, 1820, Forres, United sugar typically 2¾ins diameter x 3/16ins thick, Kingdom, 1st Baron Strathcona and impressed with indented dots. Some early receipts Mount Royal GCMG GCVO PC DL FRS, included caraway seeds. known as Sir Donald A. Smith between Abernethy’s are an early form of Digestive May 1886 and August 1897, was a Biscuit, designed to aid digestion, older, of lower Scottish-born Canadian businessman who became bake, slightly thinner and using less bran than the one of the British Empire's foremost builders and modern Digestive Biscuit form. philanthropists. During his lifetime, and including Original Receipt from 'The Bread And Biscuit the bequests left after his death, he gave away just Baker's And Sugar-Boiler's Assistant' by Robert over $7.5 million plus a further £1 million (not Wells, 1890 (Wells 1890) including private gifts and allowances) to a huge variety of charitable causes across Canada, Abernethy Biscuits. (Dr. Abernethy's the United Kingdom and the United States Original Recipe.) Wikipedia 1 quart of milk, 6 eggs, The Céide 8 ozs. of sugar, ½ oz. of caraway Fields in County seeds, with flour sufficient to make Mayo are the most the whole of the required extensive Stone Age consistency. They are generally site in the world. It weighed off at 2 ozs. each, moulded up, pinned and contains the oldest known field systems in the world docked, and baked in a moderate oven. (6,000 years old) and Europe’s most massive stone . enclosure (77 km). MORE GOOD READING ON: “Brit History Month” Your Heritage, History, Traditions Sponsored by the British Isles Historic Society & Customs of England, North Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, July 1st. till July 31st. 2021 Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland by the British Isles Historic A History, Heritage, Customs and Traditions Society and are available at: celebration of those immigrants, fur traders, https://rssg.org.uk/branches/overseas/ americas/canada farmers, explorers, financiers, prospectors, During the merchants, etc. that came from the countries that 1981 Trooping make up the British Isles: England, Scotland, Wales, the Colour, the Cornwall, North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Queen led a royal Those that came from the British Isles, that left their procession on homeland for hopes of a brighter future. horseback down They took on and endured hardships and challenges the Mall toward Buckingham Palace when shots rang to make British Columbia, Canada their new home. out. A 17-year-old named Marcus Sarjeant, who was Their names are on buildings, towns and cities, obsessed with the assassinations of figures like John parks, roads, rivers, lakes and mountains. Lennon and John F. Kennedy, fired a series of blanks We remember their contribution to the events that toward Elizabeth. Sarjeant—who wrote in his diary, made history in B.C. Their history needs to be shared "I am going to stun and mystify the whole world with with others so that their energy and efforts will be nothing more than a gun"—was thankfully unable to recognized and their successes recorded. purchase live ammunition in the UK. He received a prison sentence of five years under the 1848 Treason Partan bree is a seafood Act, but was released in October 1984. soup speciality from north-eastern Scotland, where much of the MV Captayannis, country's fishing fleet is based. Its Helensburgh, name derives from its ingredients, partan being the Scotland, UK Gaelic and Scots for crab and bree a Scots term for Known in soup. Crab and rice are used as main ingredients. Scotland as the “sugar boat”, the MV Captayannis was a Greek sugar TRIVIA: Queen Elizabeth has voluntarily paid -carrying ship that sank in the River Clyde in 1974 income and capital gains taxes since 1992, but has after a wild storm. The brutal storm forced the ship always been subject to Value Added Tax. to roll onto her port side and she’s still that way Paris buns are a sweetened decades later. Plans to blow up the wreckage were breadlike cake similar to scones. A discarded due to worries about the site's proximity recipe from an 1881 cookbook refers to a nearby bird sanctuary. The wreck has never to Paris buns as "Scotch" and says been removed and is now a popular spot with that three of the buns cost a penny. tourists, divers and birdlife alike.