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137-702: The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army . It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranking below the Victoria Cross , until it was discontinued in 1993 when it was replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross . The medal was also awarded to non-commissioned military personnel of other Commonwealth Dominions and Colonies. The Distinguished Conduct Medal
274-533: A Husband ! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before—was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life! Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen's companion, replacing Melbourne as the dominant influential figure in the first half of her life. Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square . After
411-401: A civil list allowance of £385,000 per year. Financially prudent, she paid off her father's debts. At the start of her reign Victoria was popular, but her reputation suffered in an 1839 court intrigue when one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings , developed an abdominal growth that was widely rumoured to be an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Sir John Conroy. Victoria believed
548-558: A Life in the Highlands , a sequel to her earlier book, which she dedicated to her "devoted personal attendant and faithful friend John Brown". On the day after the first anniversary of Brown's death, Victoria was informed by telegram that her youngest son, Leopold, had died in Cannes . He was "the dearest of my dear sons", she lamented. The following month, Victoria's youngest child, Beatrice, met and fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg at
685-530: A bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play-hours with her dolls and her King Charles Spaniel , Dash . Her lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin, but she spoke only English at home. In 1830, the Duchess and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills , stopping at towns and great country houses along
822-473: A bill granting Ireland home rule , but to Victoria's glee it was defeated. In the ensuing election , Gladstone's party lost to Salisbury's and the government switched hands again. In 1887, the British Empire celebrated Victoria's Golden Jubilee . She marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession on 20 June with a banquet to which 50 kings and princes were invited. The following day, she participated in
959-540: A bomb made in England. The ensuing diplomatic crisis destabilised the government, and Palmerston resigned. Derby was reinstated as prime minister. Victoria and Albert attended the opening of a new basin at the French military port of Cherbourg on 5 August 1858, in an attempt by Napoleon III to reassure Britain that his military preparations were directed elsewhere. On her return Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for
1096-699: A brief ministry led by Russell, Derby returned to power. In 1866, Victoria attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since Albert's death. The following year she supported the passing of the Reform Act 1867 which doubled the electorate by extending the franchise to many urban working men, though she was not in favour of votes for women. Derby resigned in 1868, to be replaced by Benjamin Disraeli , who charmed Victoria. "Everyone likes flattery," he said, "and when you come to royalty you should lay it on with
1233-649: A constituency in rural and urban seats. All three objectives were eventually finalised with South Africa to become a union which was the wish of both the Liberal British government and Jan Smuts. On the question of black enfranchisement, the British government was prepared to accept the final wishes of the National Convention. The colonies of the Transvaal, Orange River and Natal wanted no black enfranchisement while
1370-452: A crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws . Many Tories—by then known also as Conservatives —were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the free-trade oriented liberal conservative " Peelites "), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell . Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in
1507-695: A formal engagement, but assumed that the match would take place in due time. Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837, and a regency was avoided. Less than a month later, on 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone , and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle,
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#17328481253181644-476: A grand service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral on 27 February 1872, and republican feeling subsided. On the last day of February 1872, two days after the thanksgiving service, 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor, a great-nephew of Irish MP Feargus O'Connor , waved an unloaded pistol at Victoria's open carriage just after she had arrived at Buckingham Palace. Brown, who was attending the Queen, grabbed him and O'Connor
1781-642: A lack of a hearing given to the opinions of the Boer generals by the English administrators concerning Chinese mine labour, due to a belief that they did not represent the Boer population, and due to the lack of self-rule, Louis Botha and others met in 1904 at a Volkskongres . The result of this people congress was the unification of the Boer political movement in the Transvaal into a new party called Het Volk in January 1905 by Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. This new party's objective
1918-399: A large proportion of Boer men as prisoners of war and their families in concentration camps. As the British followed a scorched earth policy in the Transvaal, Boer lands, stock and farms had been destroyed. At the conclusion of the war, it was necessary to reconstruct a "government" for the new colony and this was begun with the appointment of a Resident Magistrate in every district of
2055-735: A laurel-spray and no date. In undress uniform or on occasions when only ribbons are worn, a silver rosette is worn on the ribbon to indicate the award of each bar. The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and dark crimson, with a 10 millimetres wide navy blue band in the centre. All awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal were notified in the London Gazette and, during the First World War, citations were generally also included. From 1854 to 1914 3,529 medals and 13 second award bars were awarded. Of these, about 808 medals were awarded for
2192-513: A loose gathering of ex-colonial and ZAR officials and diamond mining magnates, labour and businessmen. They called for the allowance of the colony to create its own policy and strive for self-government and for the party to be eventually renamed the Nationalists. The Transvaal Progressive Association, formed in November 1904 and active from February 1905, had a similar membership but was linked to
2329-402: A memorial tablet "placed by his grateful Sovereign and Friend, Victoria R.I." On 2 March 1882, Roderick Maclean , a disgruntled poet apparently offended by Victoria's refusal to accept one of his poems, shot at the Queen as her carriage left Windsor railway station . Gordon Chesney Wilson and another schoolboy from Eton College struck him with their umbrellas, until he was hustled away by
2466-469: A month after Leopold's birth Albert complained in a letter to Victoria about her "continuance of hysterics" over a "miserable trifle". In early 1855, the government of Lord Aberdeen , who had replaced Derby, fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the Crimean War . Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria
2603-480: A mortgage. The loan scheme was never going to compensate a person for the actual loss experienced by the war. Damage and the reconstruction required varied from district to district. In the larger towns, municipal or health boards were "appointed" to manage them under the Resident Magistrate. They had limited functions and the only rates they levied were for sanitary functions. Within fifteen months of
2740-432: A pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge. Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840. Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail. In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill, London . In 1850, the Queen did sustain injury when she
2877-450: A policeman. Victoria was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but was so pleased by the many expressions of loyalty after the attack that she said it was "worth being shot at—to see how much one is loved". On 17 March 1883, Victoria fell down some stairs at Windsor, which left her lame until July; she never fully recovered and was plagued with rheumatism thereafter. John Brown died 10 days after her accident, and to
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#17328481253183014-469: A private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped. Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances. Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism. Russell's ministry, though Whig,
3151-559: A procession and attended a thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey . By this time, Victoria was once again extremely popular. Two days later on 23 June, she engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters, one of whom was Abdul Karim . He was soon promoted to " Munshi ": teaching her Urdu and acting as a clerk. Her family and retainers were appalled, and accused Abdul Karim of spying for the Muslim Patriotic League, and biasing
3288-420: A relatively balanced view of the conflict, and condemned atrocities on both sides. She wrote of "her feelings of horror and regret at the result of this bloody civil war", and insisted, urged on by Albert, that an official proclamation announcing the transfer of power from the company to the state "should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence and religious toleration". At her behest, a reference threatening
3425-522: A rural seat while an urban seat would have fifteen percent more constituents. This system for the constituencies would ensure that the Afrikaner would dominate politics in years to come and would be one of the many reasons why Jan Smuts would lose the 1948 South African general election , sweeping D.F. Malan to power and the beginning of Apartheid . The results of the negotiations at the Convention became
3562-554: A system that would favour the Boers and Het Volk in a new political assembly. More than a year later in February 1907 an election was held with Het Volk running on two issues; Chinese labour needing to be ended when new labour sources were found and reconciliation with Britain with which they hoped would attract the English labourer vote as well as selling themselves as an alternative to the mining capitalistic Progressive Party . The election
3699-589: A teenager, Victoria resisted persistent attempts by her mother and Conroy to appoint him to her staff. Once queen, she banned him from her presence, but he remained in her mother's household. By 1836, Victoria's maternal uncle Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831, hoped to marry her to Prince Albert , the son of his brother Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Leopold arranged for Victoria's mother to invite her Coburg relatives to visit her in May 1836, with
3836-494: A trowel." With the phrase "we authors, Ma'am", he complimented her. Disraeli's ministry only lasted a matter of months, and at the end of the year his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone , was appointed prime minister. Victoria found Gladstone's demeanour far less appealing; he spoke to her, she is thought to have complained, as though she were "a public meeting rather than a woman". In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain, fed by
3973-509: A united country in the form of a National Convention. The objective of the convention was to find a solution to the political, racial and economic problems encountered by these colonies and find common ground between the Boers and the English. On 12 October 1908, the thirty delegates of the four colonies met in Durban under the Chairmanship of Sir Henry de Villiers . Twelve delegates came from
4110-674: A year later, the Princess gave birth to the Queen's first grandchild, Wilhelm , who would become the last German emperor. In March 1861, Victoria's mother died, with Victoria at her side. Through reading her mother's papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply; she was heart-broken, and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for "wickedly" estranging her from her mother. To relieve his wife during her intense and deep grief, Albert took on most of her duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble. In August, Victoria and Albert visited their son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales , who
4247-725: The British Empire , with the first awards to colonial troops made in 1872, to the West India Regiment . Members of the Indian Army remained ineligible since they could receive the Indian Order of Merit and, from 1907, the Indian Distinguished Service Medal . From September 1916, members of the Royal Naval Division were made eligible for military decorations, including the Distinguished Conduct Medal, for
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4384-631: The British Relief Association , more than any other individual famine relief donor, and supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition. The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home , was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century. By 1846, Peel's ministry faced
4521-510: The Cape Colony , eight from the Transvaal and five each from the Orange River and Natal Colonies representing a gathering of sixteen from an English background with the remaining fourteen of Boer origin. The main issues discussed were whether the four colonies would become a country made up of a union or a federation , who would be allowed to vote, and the number of voters who would make up
4658-543: The Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844, he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign. Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolutions of 1848 , and fled to exile in England. At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848, Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of Osborne House ,
4795-531: The Great Exhibition ) and Napoleon I 's tomb at Les Invalides (to which his remains had only been returned in 1840), and were guests of honour at a 1,200-guest ball at the Palace of Versailles . This marked the first time that a reigning British monarch had been to Paris in over 400 years. On 14 January 1858, an Italian refugee from Britain called Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with
4932-646: The King's African Rifles and the Royal West African Frontier Force . These were superseded by the British Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1943. These colonial Distinguished Conduct Medals were of the same design as the British version, with an additional territorial or unit inscription on the reverse, in a curved line above the regular inscription. In the aftermath of the 1993 review of the British honours system , which formed part of
5069-456: The Natal , Orange River and Transvaal colonies, but under British influence there was the need now to unite the country under one government. In May 1908, Jan Smuts, Transvaal Colonial Secretary proposed a gathering of representatives from all four colonies and decide on a customs and railways agreement and also included a proposal that the colonies appoint delegates to discuss a constitution for
5206-631: The Royal Australian Air Force . Thirty first Bars were awarded, all to members of the Army and the majority for actions during the First World War. The last award to an Australian was made in 1972, arising from the Vietnam War . The medal was first awarded to a Canadian on 19 April 1901. Altogether, there were 2,132 awards to Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force personnel, 38 first Bars and one second Bar. Between 1899 and 1970, 525 awards of
5343-593: The Victoria Cross and a mention in dispatches could be awarded posthumously. In May 1894, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt various military medals for award to their local military forces. The Colony of Natal and the Cape Colony introduced this system in August and September 1894 respectively, and the Transvaal Colony followed in December 1902, while Australia, Canada and New Zealand also adopted
5480-458: The abolition of slavery . The Queen commissioned a Tory, Robert Peel , to form a new ministry. At the time, it was customary for the prime minister to appoint members of the Royal Household , who were usually his political allies and their spouses. Many of the Queen's ladies of the bedchamber were wives of Whigs, and Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories. In what became known as
5617-642: The presbyterian Church of Scotland than the episcopal Church of England . Disraeli also pushed the Royal Titles Act 1876 through Parliament, so that Victoria took the title "Empress of India" from 1 May 1876. The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1 January 1877. On 14 December 1878, the anniversary of Albert's death, Victoria's second daughter Alice, who had married Louis of Hesse , died of diphtheria in Darmstadt . Victoria noted
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5754-535: The " bedchamber crisis ", Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal. Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen, and consequently resigned his commission, allowing Melbourne to return to office. Though Victoria was now queen, as an unmarried young woman she was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Conroy. The Duchess
5891-535: The "undermining of native religions and customs" was replaced by a passage guaranteeing religious freedom. In the 1874 general election , Disraeli was returned to power. He passed the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 , which removed Catholic rituals from the Anglican liturgy and which Victoria strongly supported. She preferred short, simple services, and personally considered herself more aligned with
6028-478: The British Empire as civilising and benign, protecting native peoples from more aggressive powers or cruel rulers: "It is not in our custom to annexe countries", she said, "unless we are obliged & forced to do so." To Victoria's dismay, Disraeli lost the 1880 general election , and Gladstone returned as prime minister. When Disraeli died the following year, she was blinded by "fast falling tears", and erected
6165-466: The Cape Colony wished to keep what limited enfranchisement it had for all other races. A compromise was reached and all the colonies' wishes concerning their racial make-up for enfranchisement were accepted, though subject to a repeal by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. As to the objective of rural and urban constituencies, it was decided to allow fifteen percent fewer constituents for
6302-623: The Colony and indeed all the South African dominion without offending the English. You have only to sacrifice ‘the nigger’ and the game is easy. Any attempt to secure fair play for them makes the Dutch fractious and almost unmanageable." Prior to the grant of responsible self-government on 6 December 1906, the Colony was administered by an Executive Council appointed by the Governor. The first elected Cabinet of
6439-694: The Crimean War and 2,092 for the Second Boer War , with some of the latter being the Edward VII version. During the Boer War, six medals were awarded posthumously and six dated bars were awarded, three of them to recipients who had won their first Distinguished Conduct Medal in this war. For the First World War , 24,620 medals as well as 472 first bars and nine second bars were awarded, with 46 further awards for
6576-761: The DCM in the 1990s, as part of the creation of their own gallantry awards under their own honours systems. In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood , the Distinguished Conduct Medal ranks on par with the Distinguished Conduct Medal (Natal) and takes precedence after the Air Force Cross and before the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal . The medal
6713-404: The Distinguished Conduct Medal were made to New Zealanders. More than 300 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to South Africans during the two World Wars. Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days—which
6850-654: The Distinguished Conduct Medal were made to members of allied forces, including 5,227 for the First World War and 107 for the Second World War. (Lists of WW1 awards to allied forces are kept in country specific files within the WO 388/6 series at Kew , and were published in 2018.) Beginning in the Second Boer War, the Distinguished Conduct Medal has been awarded to 2,071 members of the Australian Army and to three members of
6987-459: The Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller , Sir John Conroy , who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover. The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of her father's family), and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them. The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William's illegitimate children. Victoria shared
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#17328481253187124-463: The Duke of Kent married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , a widowed German princess with two children— Carl (1804–1856) and Feodora (1807–1872)—by her first marriage to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen . Her brother Leopold was Princess Charlotte's widower and later the first king of Belgium . The Duke and Duchess of Kent's only child, Victoria was born at 4:15 a.m. on Monday 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria
7261-464: The Governor for district commission under the magistrate. They would consist of one British subject, and two Boers, one from those who had surrendered early on in the war and one who had fought until the end. The commission would have two functions, one to provide assistance and issuing of rations, equipment, transport and plough animals to those affected by the war, and the second to investigate claims for compensation for actual damages sustained during
7398-489: The Hanoverian succession. While Victoria inherited the British throne, her father's unpopular younger brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland , became King of Hanover . He was Victoria's heir presumptive until she had a child. At the time of Victoria's accession, the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne . He at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced monarch, who relied on him for advice. Charles Greville supposed that
7535-405: The King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen ." Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again. Since 1714, Britain had shared a monarch with Hanover in Germany, but under Salic law , women were excluded from
7672-774: The Nationalists (old Transvaal Responsible Government Association) that won 6 seats, four on the Witwatersrand and two in Pretoria but their leader Richard Solomon failed to win his seat. The Transvaal Independent Labour Party won three seats in the Witwatersrand after contesting 14, but their leader Frederic Creswell failed to gain a seat. Louis Botha became Prime Minister of the Transvaal and Agriculture minister with Jan Smuts as its colonial secretary. Other new cabinet ministers included J de Villiers, Attorney-General and Mines, Henry Charles Hull , Treasurer, Johann Rissik, Land and Native Affairs, Harry Solomon held Public Works and Edward Rooth as whip . The Progressives in opposition would be led by George Farrar and Abe Bailey as
7809-502: The Queen against the Hindus. Equerry Frederick Ponsonby (the son of Sir Henry) discovered that the Munshi had lied about his parentage, and reported to Lord Elgin , Viceroy of India , "the Munshi occupies very much the same position as John Brown used to do." Victoria dismissed their complaints as racial prejudice. Abdul Karim remained in her service until he returned to India with a pension, on her death. Victoria's eldest daughter became empress consort of Germany in 1888, but she
7946-420: The Queen as "Mrs. Brown". The story of their relationship was the subject of the 1997 movie Mrs. Brown . A painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer depicting the Queen with Brown was exhibited at the Royal Academy , and Victoria published a book, Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands , which featured Brown prominently and in which the Queen praised him highly. Palmerston died in 1865, and after
8083-508: The Queen in the spreading of false rumours about Lady Flora. When Lady Flora died in July, the post-mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen. At public appearances, Victoria was hissed and jeered as "Mrs. Melbourne". In 1839, Melbourne resigned after Radicals and Tories (both of whom Victoria detested) voted against a bill to suspend the constitution of Jamaica . The bill removed political power from plantation owners who were resisting measures associated with
8220-707: The Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor . They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace , London. Victoria was love-struck. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary: I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness—really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such
8357-407: The Queen's seclusion, was boosted after the establishment of the Third French Republic . A republican rally in Trafalgar Square demanded Victoria's removal, and Radical MPs spoke against her. In August and September 1871, she was seriously ill with an abscess in her arm, which Joseph Lister successfully lanced and treated with his new antiseptic carbolic acid spray. In late November 1871, at
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#17328481253188494-446: The Service. After the Second World War, most Commonwealth countries created their own honours system and no longer recommended British awards. The last Distinguished Conduct Medal awards for the Canadian Army were for Korea. The last Australian DCM award was announced in The London Gazette on 1 September 1972 for Vietnam, as was the last New Zealand award, announced on 25 September 1970. Canada , Australia and New Zealand replaced
8631-482: The Transvaal Colony was formed on 4 March 1907. The Transvaal Colony lay between Vaal River in the south and the Limpopo River in the north, roughly between 22½ and 27½ S, and 25 and 32 E. To its south it bordered with the Orange Free State and Natal Colony , to its south-west were the Cape Colony , to the west was the Bechuanaland Protectorate (later Botswana ), to its north was Rhodesia , and to its east were Portuguese East Africa and Swaziland . Except in
8768-539: The aid of the new anaesthetic, chloroform . She was so impressed by the relief it gave from the pain of childbirth that she used it again in 1857 at the birth of her ninth and final child, Beatrice, despite opposition from members of the clergy, who considered it against biblical teaching, and members of the medical profession, who thought it dangerous. Victoria may have had postnatal depression after many of her pregnancies. Letters from Albert to Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self-control. For example, about
8905-456: The coincidence of the dates as "almost incredible and most mysterious". In May 1879, she became a great-grandmother (on the birth of Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen ) and passed her "poor old 60th birthday". She felt "aged" by "the loss of my beloved child". Between April 1877 and February 1878, she threatened five times to abdicate while pressuring Disraeli to act against Russia during the Russo-Turkish War , but her threats had no impact on
9042-414: The colony who became District Commissioners while an Assistant Magistrate carried out the legal and magisterial duties of the area. Roman-Dutch law was translated into English so the law courts could continue, with some old acts repealed and a considerable amount of new law promulgated by the authorities in Johannesburg. The Resident Magistrate then submitted the names of three members of the district to
9179-408: The consternation of her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby , Victoria began work on a eulogistic biography of Brown. Ponsonby and Randall Davidson , Dean of Windsor , who had both seen early drafts, advised Victoria against publication, on the grounds that it would stoke the rumours of a love affair. The manuscript was destroyed. In early 1884, Victoria did publish More Leaves from a Journal of
9316-512: The death of Victoria's aunt Princess Augusta in 1840, the Duchess was given both Clarence House and Frogmore House . Through Albert's mediation, relations between mother and daughter slowly improved. During Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but either both bullets missed or, as he later claimed,
9453-418: The deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller , John Conroy . She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch , attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who
9590-399: The draft South Africa Act which was released for viewing on 9 February 1909. By 19 August 1909, the South Africa Act passed through the British Parliament and into law. As to the question of black enfranchisement, Milner saw this is a serious issue when it came to a peace treaty: "If I did not have some conscience about the treatment of blacks I personally could win over the Dutch in
9727-404: The drive to remove distinctions of rank in respect of awards for bravery, the Distinguished Conduct Medal was discontinued, as was the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal and the award, specifically for gallantry, of the Distinguished Service Order . These three decorations were replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross , to serve as the second level award for gallantry for all ranks of all the Arms of
9864-656: The end of the war in 1902, the political administration of the Transvaal colony was controlled by members of a legislative and executive council, all appointed by the British Administrators under Alfred Milner and the Colonial Secretary in London. In 1903, three seats in the Transvaal Legislative council were offered to Louis Botha , Jan Smuts and Koos de la Rey , but they turned the British down. Due to
10001-425: The end of the war, the municipal government was introduced with preparations made for fair elections based on property valuation and the creation of voters' rolls with the registration process explained in English and Dutch. The British administrators set out to place most Boer farmers back on their land by March 1903 with nineteen million pounds spent on war damages, grants and loans. The administrators reformed
10138-839: The entire territory became the Transvaal Province of the Union of South Africa. Both the Boer republics, the South African Republic (ZAR) and the Orange Free State were defeated in the Anglo-Boer War and surrendered to the UK. The peace treaty ( Treaty of Vereeniging ) contained the following terms: In 1902, with peace following the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging , the new Transvaal colony
10275-583: The events or their conclusion with the Congress of Berlin . Disraeli's expansionist foreign policy, which Victoria endorsed, led to conflicts such as the Anglo-Zulu War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War . "If we are to maintain our position as a first-rate Power", she wrote, "we must ... be Prepared for attacks and wars , somewhere or other , CONTINUALLY." Victoria saw the expansion of
10412-424: The following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to bait Francis into taking a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plainclothes policemen, and convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life , John William Bean also tried to fire
10549-418: The following seventeen years, she and Albert had a further eight children: Albert Edward , Alice , Alfred , Helena , Louise , Arthur , Leopold and Beatrice . The household was largely run by Victoria's childhood governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen from Hanover . Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria and had supported her against the Kensington System. Albert, however, thought that Lehzen
10686-409: The fourth son of King George III and Queen Charlotte . Until 1817, King George's only legitimate grandchild was Edward's niece Princess Charlotte of Wales , the daughter of George, Prince Regent (who would become George IV). Princess Charlotte's death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis that brought pressure on Prince Edward and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children. In 1818,
10823-636: The guns had no shot. He was tried for high treason , found not guilty by reason of insanity , committed to an insane asylum indefinitely, and later sent to live in Australia. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria's popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis . Her daughter, also named Victoria , was born on 21 November 1840. The Queen hated being pregnant, viewed breast-feeding with disgust, and thought newborn babies were ugly. Nevertheless, over
10960-463: The height of the republican movement, the Prince of Wales contracted typhoid fever, the disease that was believed to have killed his father, and Victoria was fearful her son would die. As the tenth anniversary of her husband's death approached, her son's condition grew no better, and Victoria's distress continued. To general rejoicing, he recovered. Mother and son attended a public parade through London and
11097-596: The improvement of relations between France and Britain. She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans , who were related by marriage through the Coburgs. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at Château d'Eu in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French monarch since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on
11234-530: The ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced. In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight . In the next four years, over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine . In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen". In January 1847 she personally donated £2,000 (equivalent to between £230,000 and £8.5 million in 2022) to
11371-510: The late occupant's declining business". Her uncle Leopold wrote to her advising her to appear in public. She agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage. Through the 1860s, Victoria relied increasingly on a manservant from Scotland, John Brown . Rumours of a romantic connection and even a secret marriage appeared in print, and some referred to
11508-455: The latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight , at the age of 81. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover , she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Victoria's father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn ,
11645-540: The medal. However, only the Natal and Canada versions were finally awarded. A territorial version of the Distinguished Conduct Medal was approved for the Union of South Africa in 1913, but was never awarded. More than 300 members of the Union Defence Forces were awarded the applicable British versions of the decoration during the two World Wars. In 1903 specific African Distinguished Conduct Medals were established for
11782-479: The mining industry's opposed self-rule and preferred a legislature nominated by the High Commissioner with strong links to Britain. They were led by George Farrar and Percy Fitzpatrick . The pro-Boer Liberal Party in Britain came to power in January 1906 with a new policy for the two former Boer colonies, one of self-rule. Jan Smuts visited London and managed to persuade the new government to formulate
11919-415: The obverse: The reverse of all versions is smooth, with a raised rim, and bears the inscription " FOR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT IN THE FIELD " in four lines, underlined by a laurel wreath between two spear blades. The bar for a second or subsequent award is straight and also of silver. Bars awarded between 1881 and mid–1916 bear the month and year of the subsequent award, while those awarded after mid–1916 bear
12056-470: The opposition whip. They all assembled for the first time in March 1907. After the 1907 election, the issue of Chinese mining labour was revisited with Het Volk believing there was enough labour in the form of black and white miners. Taking into account the economic interests of the Transvaal, Botha ensured a gradual policy of repatriation of Chinese labour. By 1908, the Boers had won control, in elections, of
12193-734: The period 1920–39. For the Second World War , 1,891 medals and nine first bars were awarded. Post War , a total of 153 DCMs were earned between 1947 and 1979, including 45 to Australian and New Zealand forces for service in Vietnam. A further 25 awards were made after 1979, nine for service in Northern Ireland , eight for the South Atlantic , and eight for the Gulf War , including a number of retrospective awards up to 2006. Honorary awards of
12330-490: The policy attracted too few settlers. By the end of 1901, gold mining finally resumed on the Rand around Johannesburg , having virtually stopped since 1899. Backed by the mining magnates and the British administrators, there was a need to restart the industry but labour was required. Just prior to the war, white miners wages were high and magnates weren't keen to increase the wages and since black miners wages had been reduced before
12467-612: The poor state of the Royal Navy in comparison to the French Navy . Derby's ministry did not last long, and in June 1859 Victoria recalled Palmerston to office. Eleven days after Orsini's assassination attempt in France, Victoria's eldest daughter married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in London. They had been betrothed since September 1855, when Princess Victoria was 14 years old; the marriage
12604-468: The population through two main means. One by increasing the English-speaking population of the Transvaal and the other by teaching the Boer children in English with very little Dutch used, followed by self-rule. The Transvaal Boers' political objectives were the restoration of self-rule in the colony and the political environment to be dominated by the Boers. As the war ended the British were faced with
12741-510: The possibility of loss of mining and their jobs. By 1906, the gold mines of the Witwatersrand were in full production and by 1907, South African gold mines represented thirty-two percent of the worlds gold output. By 1910, Chinese labour ended on the Witwatersrand and the restrictive job reservation laws preventing Chinese miners doing certain jobs was replicated for Black miners. From
12878-603: The process started in the winter of 1902. Refugees from the concentration camps and prisoners of war were returned to their districts in a system of drafts. At the depots, they would receive farm equipment, tents and rations to start again and transport to their destinations. Food rations were provided for almost a year. Families would receive a token grant irrespective of their ability to pay it back and additional material and equipment required were obtained via interest-free loans with small cash loans also attracting no interest, with larger loans attracting four percent interest by
13015-501: The prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy. He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see." However at 17, Victoria, though interested in Albert, was not yet ready to marry. The parties did not undertake
13152-550: The public diminished the popularity of the monarchy, and encouraged the growth of the republican movement. She did undertake her official government duties, yet chose to remain secluded in her royal residences— Windsor Castle , Osborne House, and the private estate in Scotland that she and Albert had acquired in 1847, Balmoral Castle . In March 1864, a protester stuck a notice on the railings of Buckingham Palace that announced "these commanding premises to be let or sold in consequence of
13289-463: The purpose of introducing Victoria to Albert. William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands , second son of the Prince of Orange . Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes. According to her diary, she enjoyed Albert's company from the beginning. After
13426-440: The recipient's discharge from the Army. Since January 1918 recipients have been entitled to the post-nominal letters DCM. A bar to the medal, introduced in 1881, could be awarded in recognition of each subsequent act of distinguished conduct for which the medal would have been awarded. During the First World War, concern arose that the high number of medals being awarded would devalue the medal's prestige. The Military Medal
13563-454: The rumours. She hated Conroy, and despised "that odious Lady Flora", because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess in the Kensington System. At first, Lady Flora refused to submit to an intimate medical examination, until in mid-February she eventually acquiesced, and was found to be a virgin. Conroy, the Hastings family, and the opposition Tories organised a press campaign implicating
13700-450: The state agricultural departments to modernise farming in the colony which resulted in a maize and beef surplus by 1908. They also attempted to solve the poor white problem by settling them as tenant farmers on state land, but the lack of capital and labour caused the scheme to fail. An attempt was made to place English settlers on farmland so as to anglicise the Transvaal and increase the English-speaking population but this failed, too, as
13837-446: The two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children. William married in 1818, in a joint ceremony with his brother Edward, but both of William's legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on 27 March 1819, two months before Victoria was born. Victoria's father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather died and
13974-440: The visit she wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful." Alexander, on the other hand, she described as "very plain". Victoria wrote to King Leopold, whom she considered her "best and kindest adviser", to thank him "for
14111-509: The war and not increased, so black labourers weren't interested in working the mines. Unskilled white labour was ruled out as their wages would be too high for the work done, so the mining magnates and their Chamber of Mines in 1903 sought alternative labour in the form of cheap Chinese workers. The legislation to import Chinese labour was introduced to the Transvaal Legislative Council on 28 December 1903 by George Farrar and
14248-506: The war's duration. Otherwise, it remained an exclusively Army award until 1942, when other ranks of the Royal Navy , Royal Air Force and the Navies and Air Forces of the Dominions and Colonies also became eligible for distinguished conduct in action on the ground. In 1979 eligibility for a number of British awards, including the DCM, was extended to permit posthumous awards. Until that time, only
14385-410: The war. Repatriation depots were established in the districts and they were stocked with food, seed, agricultural equipment, transport, plough animals, stone and building material. The rail transport network struggled to compete with the army transport requirement to maintain a garrison and civilian requirements to repair the colony. All feed for transport animals had to be brought to the depots as
14522-488: The way. Similar journeys to other parts of England and Wales were taken in 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835. To the King's annoyance, Victoria was enthusiastically welcomed in each of the stops. William compared the journeys to royal progresses and was concerned that they portrayed Victoria as his rival rather than his heir presumptive. Victoria disliked the trips; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill, and there
14659-446: The wedding of Victoria's granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine to Henry's brother Prince Louis of Battenberg . Beatrice and Henry planned to marry, but Victoria opposed the match at first, wishing to keep Beatrice at home to act as her companion. After a year, she was won around to the marriage by their promise to remain living with and attending her. Victoria was pleased when Gladstone resigned in 1885 after his budget
14796-464: The widowed and childless Melbourne was "passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one", and Victoria probably saw him as a father figure. Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838 at Westminster Abbey . Over 400,000 visitors came to London for the celebrations. She became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace and inherited the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall as well as being granted
14933-681: Was longer than those of any of her predecessors —constituted the Victorian era . It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom , and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire . In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India . Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III ), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . After
15070-493: Was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, Robert Pate . As Victoria was riding in a carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her forehead. Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years' transportation. Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated. Peel became prime minister, and
15207-476: Was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin, and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney . In November, Albert was made aware of gossip that his son had slept with an actress in Ireland. Appalled, he travelled to Cambridge, where his son was studying, to confront him. By the beginning of December, Albert was very unwell. He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner , and died on 14 December 1861. Victoria
15344-534: Was awarded only to commissioned officers. Prior to its institution, there had been no official medal awarded by the British Crown in recognition of individual acts of gallantry in the Army. The Meritorious Service Medal , established in 1845 to reward long serving warrant officers and sergeants, was awarded several times up to 1854 for gallantry in action, although this was not the medal's main purpose. One earlier award specifically for acts of gallantry by other ranks
15481-543: Was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Charles Manners-Sutton , on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace. She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Tsar Alexander I of Russia , and Victoria , after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Prince Regent. At birth, Victoria
15618-716: Was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to see her. When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "schocking [ sic ] alternative". Victoria showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock. Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. They felt mutual affection and
15755-462: Was debated for 30 hours and successfully voted on after its three readings on 30 December 1903, coming into law in February 1904. Having been rubber-stamped by the British and mining appointed Transvaal Legislative Council it outlined extremely restrictive employment contracts for the Chinese workers and the idea had been sold via a fear campaign aimed at white miners about the need for this labour or face
15892-464: Was defeated. She thought his government was "the worst I have ever had", and blamed him for the death of General Gordon during the Siege of Khartoum . Gladstone was replaced by Lord Salisbury . Salisbury's government only lasted a few months, however, and Victoria was forced to recall Gladstone, whom she referred to as a "half crazy & really in many ways ridiculous old man". Gladstone attempted to pass
16029-506: Was delayed by the Queen and her husband Albert until the bride was 17. The Queen and Albert hoped that their daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussian state. The Queen felt "sick at heart" to see her daughter leave England for Germany; "It really makes me shudder", she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters, "when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one." Almost exactly
16166-523: Was devastated. She blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering . He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said. She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in London in the following years. Her seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor". Her weight increased through comfort eating, which reinforced her aversion to public appearances. Victoria's self-imposed isolation from
16303-484: Was faced with intertwined economic and political issues that needed to be resolved. The economic issues faced included the restoration of the mining industry to pre-war levels, then growing it further with the need for extra labour, the restoration of the Boers to their lands and increasing the agricultural output of those farms. The political issue faced depended on what side of politics one stood on. The existing British administrators under Alfred Milner wished to anglicise
16440-421: Was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: George, Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, Duke of York ; William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent. Prince George had no surviving children, and Prince Frederick had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so
16577-462: Was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister. Napoleon III, Britain's closest ally as a result of the Crimean War, visited London in April 1855, and from 17 to 28 August the same year Victoria and Albert returned the visit. Napoleon III met the couple at Boulogne and accompanied them to Paris. They visited the Exposition Universelle (a successor to Albert's 1851 brainchild
16714-527: Was held on 20 February 1907 and Het Volk won the election gathering 37 of 69 seats. It stood 43 candidates and won 34 seats outright, all the country seats were gained except Barberton , three seats in Pretoria and four on the Witwatersrand with three independents aligning themselves with the party. The Progressive Party stood 34 candidates and won 21 seats, twenty on the Witwatersrand and one in Pretoria with five Randlords winning seats. Other parties included
16851-478: Was identified with strict standards of personal morality . Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet " grandmother of Europe ". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in
16988-402: Was incompetent and that her mismanagement threatened his daughter Victoria's health. After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue, Lehzen was pensioned off in 1842, and Victoria's close relationship with her ended. On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London , when John Francis aimed a pistol at her, but the gun did not fire. The assailant escaped;
17125-496: Was instituted by Royal Warrant on 4 December 1854, during the Crimean War , as an award to warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the British Army for "distinguished, gallant and good conduct in the field". For all ranks below commissioned officer, it was the second highest award for gallantry in action after the Victoria Cross , and the other ranks equivalent of the Distinguished Service Order , which
17262-573: Was later sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, and a birching . As a result of the incident, Victoria's popularity recovered further. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , the British East India Company , which had ruled much of India, was dissolved, and Britain's possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent were formally incorporated into the British Empire . The Queen had
17399-441: Was little time for her to rest. She objected on the grounds of the King's disapproval, but her mother dismissed his complaints as motivated by jealousy and forced Victoria to continue the tours. At Ramsgate in October 1835, Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence. While Victoria was ill, Conroy and the Duchess unsuccessfully badgered her to make Conroy her private secretary . As
17536-592: Was not favoured by the Queen. She found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary , Lord Palmerston , who often acted without consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen. Victoria complained to Russell that Palmerston sent official dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge, but Palmerston was retained in office and continued to act on his own initiative, despite her repeated remonstrances. It
17673-458: Was only in 1851 that Palmerston was removed after he announced the British government's approval of President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte 's coup in France without consulting the Prime Minister. The following year, President Bonaparte was declared Emperor Napoleon III, by which time Russell's administration had been replaced by a short-lived minority government led by Lord Derby . In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with
17810-472: Was still a minor. King William distrusted the Duchess's capacity to be regent, and in 1836 he declared in her presence that he wanted to live until Victoria's 18th birthday, so that a regency could be avoided. Victoria later described her childhood as "rather melancholy". Her mother was extremely protective, and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so-called " Kensington System ", an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by
17947-430: Was struck in silver and is a disk, 36 millimetres (1.4 inches) in diameter and 3 millimetres (0.12 inches) thick. The suspender of all versions is of an ornamented scroll pattern. The manner of attachment of the suspender to the medal varied between medal versions and, on early versions, allows the medal to swivel. All medals awarded bear the recipient's number, rank, name and unit on the rim. There were eight variants of
18084-558: Was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William. She was fourth in line while William's second daughter, Princess Elizabeth , lived, from 10 December 1820 to 4 March 1821. Prince Frederick died in 1827, followed by George IV in 1830; their next surviving brother succeeded to the throne as William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive . The Regency Act 1830 made special provision for Victoria's mother to act as regent in case William died while Victoria
18221-519: Was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The borders of the Transvaal Colony were larger than the defeated South African Republic (which had existed from 1856 to 1902). In 1910
18358-412: Was the unofficial Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry , instituted by Major General Sir Harry Smith in 1851. Although the British government initially disapproved of Sir Harry's institution of the medal, it subsequently paid for it and thereby gave it recognition, but not official status. The Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded with a gratuity, that varied in amount depending on rank, and given on
18495-472: Was therefore instituted on 25 March 1916 as an alternative and lower award, with the Distinguished Conduct Medal reserved for more exceptional acts of bravery. Around 25,000 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded during the First World War, with approximately 1,900 during the Second World War. The Distinguished Conduct Medal could also be awarded to military personnel serving in any of the Sovereign's forces in
18632-596: Was to seek reconciliation with Britain, which would be favoured by the British opposition Liberal Party , and Boer self-rule for the Transvaal. English political movements included the Transvaal Responsible Government Association, the Transvaal Progressive Association and labour groups under an Industrial Labour Party. The Transvaal Responsible Government Association was formed in late 1904 by E.P Solomon and made up of
18769-510: Was widowed a little over three months later, and Victoria's eldest grandchild became German Emperor as Wilhelm II . Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany would go unfulfilled, as Wilhelm was a firm believer in autocracy . Victoria thought he had "little heart or Zartgefühl [tact] – and ... his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped [ sic ]". Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony ( Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈtransfɑːl] )
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