When did people stop commemorating the Napoleonic Wars?

[Pickman's model]

Nelsons column, Waterloo station, a fair number of Beacon Hills scattered around the country... ?

Yeh. Building columns and stations obvs passive and beacons early warning system, not in any sense passive or commemorative

Try again

 

[StoneRoad]

Also, I suspect that sometimes a family or home area connection will keep commemorations of past events going longer than otherwise.
There might be a local history society for the areas concerned, but as since a lot of the Napoleonic era warfare was at sea or abroad, the UK has rather less means of marking such events ...

 

[newbie]

Yeh. Building columns and stations obvs passive and beacons early warning system, not in any sense passive or commemorative

Try again

of course they're commemorative and equally they're passive, just as the tapestry is passive but getting it out every year century after century for a commemoration is as active as marching around the Cenotaph.

Locals wouldn't have renamed prominent hills if the Armada hadn't been sighted. Many fortifications were created during the 20th century wars and previously but then abandoned unused without changing either official or local names. I'm surprised you think our heritage doesn't reflect important historic events, but does somehow dwell on the preparation for them.

 

[newbie]

Also, I suspect that sometimes a family or home area connection will keep commemorations of past events going longer than otherwise.
There might be a local history society for the areas concerned, but as since a lot of the Napoleonic era warfare was at sea or abroad, the UK has rather less means of marking such events ...

there are plenty of Martello towers, Palmerston & Royal Commission forts, Brennan Torpedo stations and so on built to defend against invasion (then and later) that could but don't act as a focus for commemoration. Had any of the invasions actually happened and those places been put to use they would probably be prayed at annually.

 

[Pickman's model]

of course they're commemorative and equally they're passive, just as the tapestry is passive but getting it out every year century after century for a commemoration is as active as marching around the Cenotaph.

Locals wouldn't have renamed prominent hills if the Armada hadn't been sighted. Many fortifications were created during the 20th century wars and previously but then abandoned unused without changing either official or local names. I'm surprised you think our heritage doesn't reflect important historic events, but does somehow dwell on the preparation for them.

I think you'll find beacons in many places were situated for other reasons and often pre- or postdated the Armada, e.g. Brecon beacons. Naming a hill beacon does not in itself associate the naming with 1588 or any of the other Armadas (Armadi?). Your simplistic, anachronistic notions much as I expected.

 

[newbie]

I think you'll find beacons in many places were situated for other reasons and often pre- or postdated the Armada, e.g. Brecon beacons. Naming a hill beacon does not in itself associate the naming with 1588 or any of the other Armadas (Armadi?). Your simplistic, anachronistic notions much as I expected.

your tawdy insults much as I expected.

Beacons around Brecon were apparently to warn about invading English, which presumably happened pretty regularly. While I don't doubt that signal fires on top of hills in England predate the Armada, I've found no evidence a co-ordinated system was ever used in anger to protect the country prior to it. Can you produce any?

1372 apparently see here :The DNA of the ROC

Calling somewhere a beacon and calling it Beacon Hill are not the same. None of the Beacon Hill descriptions I've looked at show that specific name predating the Armada, though almost all of them mention it. Obviously the tallest hill for miles around would have had a historic name, esp as many of them were ancient hillforts. At least a couple, Harting Beacon and Lytchett Beacon were apparently renamed after the Armada. I think your suggestion that the name Beacon Hill was widely used before the Armada needs verification.

 

[mojo pixy]

Around Portsmouth there's a ring of fortifications, including several in the sea, that date from Napoleonic times - at least, times when fear of a French invasion was high. A couple are museums (one in particular, Fort Brockhurst, is a museum specifically about these Palmerston's Follies, and is fairly interesting, at least for anyone interested in that kind of thing obvs). A few are still used by the MOD for various reasons, one of the sea forts is a restaurant now, at least one has been used and maybe is still used as a centre for immigrants being 'processed'.

Portsmouth is a bit special in this respect though, around the area are numerous military objects dating back centuries, and just about every war England has ever been in is commemorated there somewhere, certainly if the Navy was involved (which it usually was)

 

[Pickman's model]

your tawdy insults much as I expected.

Beacons around Brecon were apparently to warn about invading English, which presumably happened pretty regularly. While I don't doubt that signal fires on top of hills in England predate the Armada, I've found no evidence a co-ordinated system was ever used in anger to protect the country prior to it. Can you produce any?

Calling somewhere a beacon and calling it Beacon Hill are not the same. None of the Beacon Hill descriptions I've looked at show that specific name predating the Armada, though almost all of them mention it. Obviously the tallest hill for miles around would have had a historic name, esp as many of them were ancient hillforts. At least a couple, Harting Beacon and Lytchett Beacon were apparently renamed after the Armada. I think your suggestion that the name Beacon Hill was widely used before the Armada needs verification.

you wilfully misunderstand what I say and so I see scant reason to continue discussing the matter with you.

For example when I say naming a hill beacon anyone with half a brain or who wasn't deliberately misunderstanding posts would understand the meaning to be naming it Beacon Hill. Nor did I say that the name Beacon Hill widespread before 1588. On your way, you tawdry charlatan

 

[DotCommunist]

Every July I get out the sharpe box set to remember talevera and the peninsular army

 

[newbie]

edit: ignore the

you wilfully misunderstand what I say and so see scant reason to continue discussing the matter with you.

you willfully don't say anything.

 

[Pickman's model]

edit: ignore the

you willfully don't say anything.

Yeh. Unlike you I don't lie about what's been said

 

[newbie]

Yeh. Unlike you I don't lie about what's been said

give over with the needle. Either you can substantiate what little you've said or you can't.

 

[Slo-mo]

I wonder if the Royal British Legion had any conversations with the last WW1 veterans before they died, or if they are having any conversations with the remaining WW2 veterans? It would be good to get their views while we can.

My own view ( which should count for fuck all) is that 2045 is the very earliest we should consider stopping, but we shouldn't still be commemorating in 2145.

 

[Pickman's model]

give over with the needle. Either you can substantiate what little you've said or you can't.

I disagree that this is passive commemoration, I dispute there is such a thing as passive commemoration, as I view this Beacon bollocks as the same as roads named blenheim, buller or balaclava. You've adduced no evidence to support your claim that this is passive commemoration just that there's lots of Beacon Hills of varying ages

 

[tim]

Will they ever fucking stop commemorating it?

 

[mojo pixy]

tbf though, every time someone argues a case under French law, they're commemorating Napoleon. And that some form of Code Napoleon is used across Europe and a lot of the rest of the world is certainly a tribute to the wars.

 

[newbie]

I disagree that this is passive commemoration, I dispute there is such a thing as passive commemoration, as I view this Beacon bollocks as the same as roads named blenheim, buller or balaclava. You've adduced no evidence to support your claim that this is passive commemoration just that there's lots of Beacon Hills of varying ages

is 'Bob Marley Way' (local to here) not a commemoration? or is it just the word 'passive' you're pointlessly quibbling about?

 

[Pickman's model]

is 'Bob Marley Way' (local to here) not a commemoration? or is it just the word 'passive' you're pointlessly quibbling about?

You jumped onto this to show examples of passive commemoration. It's rubbish, it's a conscious decision to have bob marley way or whatnot, if you don't know what it is you're commemorating then it's not commemorative, it's just a name. Commemorating always active. And if you go back you'll find you're the only person quibbling about the passive

 

[Pickman's model]

Will they ever fucking stop commemorating it?

One time they invited a neighbouring army to take part but it was something of a disaster

 

[tim]

One time they invited a neighbouring army to take part but it was something of a disaster

The poor lambs did their best, but they couldn't muster that sense of joie de vivre that comes so naturally to the French

 

[newbie]

Commemorating always active.

oh I see. So a street (or hill) name is active. Cool.

 

[dylanredefined]

Within Naval circles, and some Army Units, the role they played in the Napoleonic battles is not forgotten.

Well having heard of the 7years war being an excuse for a punch up they could probably do with forgetting some of it.

 

[StoneRoad]

Well having heard of the 7years war being an excuse for a punch up they could probably do with forgetting some of it.

I'm thinking of the "Battle Honours" on the Colours.

 

[JimW]

I'm thinking of the "Battle Honours" on the Colours.

Or the back badge the Glosters wore/wear in amalgamated form, from Battle of Alexandria iirc

 

[dylanredefined]

I'm thinking of the "Battle Honours" on the Colours.

Learned more history from battle honours than I ever did at school though some of the honours might be a bit dubious.
Starting a fight as the Quebec regiment do not want drink a toast to General Wolfe is particular stupid.

 

[likesfish]

It was a perfectly reasonable response to the vile foreigners being foreign and nearly french and disrespecting the regiment and their betters.

of course, the RMP RAF POLICE UN Cypriot police Britsh embassy and British high command saw our the reasonable point of view
did they hell

 

[agricola]

Nelsons column, Waterloo station, a fair number of Beacon Hills scattered around the country... ?

Maida Vale as well

 

[Kaka Tim]

when did you last see a war memorial for the glorious dead of the french revolutionary / napoleonic wars?

commemoration as we know it only started round the time of the crimean war (e.g. memorial at dover and another down by pall mall).

funnily enough there is one - Norman Cross, just off the A1 near perterborough - a memorial to french soldiers who died there in a Napoleonic POW camp (the world's first POW camp according to wikipedia).

Norman Cross - Wikipedia

 

[19force8]

Oh yes. The debate me and my friend were having is whether "a long time" should equal forever.

The English Civil War was a terribly long and bloody conflagration but within a hundred years, certainly within 200 ,the country had moved on.

Contrast that with NI where they still actively commemorate the Battle of the Boyne and you can see that never forgetting isn't always a good thing.

Or with the USA where they still fly the confederate flag and worship statues of the heroes of the south.

 

[MrSki]

The Russians still celebrate the Patriotic war of 1812 where they gave The Grande army a spanking.