155-565: St Bees School is a co-educational fee-charging school , located in the West Cumbrian village of St Bees , England. In 1583, it was founded by Edmund Grindal , the Archbishop of Canterbury , as a free grammar school for boys. The school remained small, with fewer than 40 pupils, until the expansions of the Victorian era . Paid for by mineral revenues and helped by the arrival of railway, by
310-533: A Labour MP, wrote to the prime minister asking that the entire adult population be trained in the use of arms and given weapons to defend themselves. Similar calls appeared in newspaper columns: in the 12 May issue of the Sunday Express , a brigadier called on the government to issue free arms licences and permits to buy ammunition to men possessing small arms, and the same day, the Sunday Pictorial asked if
465-646: A blackpowder -powered mortar ; the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade , a glass bottle filled with highly-flammable material and the Smith gun , a small artillery gun that could be towed by a car. By late 1940, the Home Guard had amassed 847,000 rifles, 47,000 shotguns and 49,000 machine guns of various kinds. With more than 1,682,000 volunteers, 739,000 men were thus unarmed. There was little improvement in June 1941, when Churchill wrote to
620-459: A Preparatory Department was launched, catering for pupils from the age of 8 until they joined the main school. At this time, a nearby independent school with a prep department, Harecroft Hall, had just closed. The school again expanded in September 2010 to include pupils from age four. On 13 March 2015, it was announced without prior warning by the school governors that due to falling pupil numbers
775-505: A class with boys, but other research suggests that when the previous attainment is taken into account, that difference falls away. According to advocates of coeducation, without classmates of the opposite sex, students have social issues that may impact adolescent development. They argue that the absence of the opposite sex creates an unrealistic environment not duplicated in the real world. Some studies show that in classes that are separated by gender, male and female students work and learn on
930-582: A designated 'runner' (no Home Guard units were issued with wireless sets until 1942), who would usually be a motorbike owner. Otherwise, the battle platoon was static and would defend a defined local area and report on enemy activity in that area, but it was neither equipped nor expected to join up with the mobile forces of the regular army. Each Home Guard unit would establish and prepare a local strongpoint, from which 'civilians' (non-Home Guard) would be cleared if possible, and aim to defend that strongpoint for as long as possible. It might be forced to retreat towards
1085-567: A journalist and key advocate of the LDV and later the Home Guard, opened a private training camp for the LDV at Osterley Park , outside London, in early July 1940. Wintringham's training methods were mainly based on his experience in the International Brigades in Spain. Those who had fought alongside him in Spain trained volunteers in anti-tank warfare and demolitions . Bert "Yank" Levy was one of
1240-465: A letter to Samuel Hoare , the Lord Privy Seal , on 8 October 1939, Churchill called for a Home Guard force of 500,000 men over the age of 40 to be formed. While government officials were debating the need for a home defence force, such forces were actually forming themselves without any official encouragement. In Essex , men not eligible for call-up into the armed forces were coming forward to join
1395-471: A mixed-sex secondary school. Its first enrollment class consisted of 78 male and 36 female students. Among the latter was Rebecca Gratz who would become an educator and philanthropist. However, the school soon began having financial problems and it reopened as an all-male institution. Westford Academy in Westford, Massachusetts has operated as mixed-sex secondary school since its founding in 1792, making it
1550-571: A mixture of petrol and a gelling agent. The Home Guard inherited weapons that the regular army no longer required, such as the Blacker Bombard antitank weapon, and weapons they no longer desired, such as the Sticky bomb . The arsenal also included weapons that could be produced cheaply without consuming materials needed to produce armaments for the regular units such as the Northover Projector ,
1705-477: A more aggressive role. Nevertheless, it would have been expected to fight well-trained and equipped troops despite having only negligible training and only weapons such as home-made bombs and shotguns (a solid ammunition for shotguns was developed for that purpose), personal sidearms and firearms that belonged in museums. Patrols were carried out on foot , by bicycle , even on horseback and often without uniforms, although all volunteers wore an armband printed with
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#17328765263601860-929: A need for advanced education for women at a time when they were not admitted to most institutions of higher education." Notable examples include the Seven Sisters colleges, of which Vassar College is now coeducational and Radcliffe College has merged with Harvard University . Other notable women's colleges that have become coeducational include Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Ohio Wesleyan Female College in Ohio , Skidmore College , Wells College , and Sarah Lawrence College in New York state, Pitzer College in California, Goucher College in Maryland and Connecticut College . By 1900
2015-537: A neighbouring strongpoint but would not surrender so long as ammunition held out. Most towns of any size would have a number of such Home Guard units, each defending its own strongpoint and providing 'defence in depth', which should ideally be sited to offer supporting fire to cover one another and to control road access through the town from all directions. Each battle platoon had a headquarters section; commander, second in command, runner, and at least one marksman 'sniper' with an M1917 Enfield rifle. The fighting force of
2170-467: A partnership with Full Circle Education Group, the school reopened on 6 September 2018. Numbers at the school have continued to increase, and as of 2024, there are over 100 students. The school grounds occupy approximately 250 acres (100 ha), and the oldest buildings date from the late 16th century. The buildings around the main quadrangle in the Foundation block are Grade II listed . This includes
2325-499: A positive impact of single-sex schooling on education achievement [...] but others finding average null effects"; they concluded that after controlling for "individual, parental and school-level factors [...] on average, there is no significant difference in performance for girls or boys who attend single-sex schools compared to their mixed-school peers in science, mathematics or reading." Home Guard (United Kingdom) The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV )
2480-475: A semiautomatic rifle fired from the shoulder (as was advised in Home Guard training manuals), one or two such weapons in a battle platoon could provide formidable additional firepower. In the hands of a trained soldier, each BAR could maintain a firing rate of up to 40 single shots per minute. Furthermore, the British government had placed large commercial orders for Thompson submachine guns , which were issued first to
2635-399: A single-sex setting could be less prepared, nervous, or uneasy. However, some argue that at certain ages, students may be more distracted by the opposite sex in a coeducational setting, but others point to this being based on an assumption that all students are heterosexual. There is evidence that girls may perform less well in traditionally male-dominated subjects such as the sciences when in
2790-450: A wooden fore-grip and rigid triangular bipod added. Within a few months, the Home Guard had acquired proper uniforms and equipment as the immediate needs of the regular forces were satisfied. Special trains were laid on to rush the M1917 rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles to Home Guard units, and by the end of July, all had been distributed. Priority in mid-1940 was given to Home Guard units on
2945-506: Is known as the 'Old St. Beghians' Society' and provides a link between the students and the school. Among other things, it organizes "Old St Beghians Day" once a year, publishes a magazine called the Old St. Beghian twice a year, and both holds and participates in many golfing tournaments. There are several regional branches of the society which traditionally hold annual meals and reunions. Notable Old St. Beghains include two Vice-Chancellors of
3100-468: Is one of the many Muslim countries where most schools and colleges are single-gender although some schools and colleges, and most universities are coeducational. In schools that offer O levels and A levels, co-education is quite prevalent. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, most universities were coeducational but the proportion of women was less than 5%. After the Islamization policies in
3255-403: Is used to refer to a mixed school. The word is also often used to describe a situation in which both sexes are integrated in any form (e.g., "The team is coed"). Less common in the 21st century is the noun use of word "coed", which traditionally referred to a female student in a mixed gender school. The noun use is considered by many to be sexist and unprofessional, the argument being that applying
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#17328765263603410-523: The .30-06 Springfield cartridge, an 0.30 inch round, a type of ammunition totally different from and more powerful than the 0.303 round used by the service issue British Lee–Enfield rifle. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) red band was painted around the fore end of the stock of the Enfield and BAR weapons as a warning since a 0.303 round would not load, but jam the rifle. The Thompson guns used .45 ACP pistol ammunition, again not British Army standard, which
3565-610: The Amazon Defence Corps . In December 1941, a more organised but still unofficial Women's Home Defence (WHD) was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill , Labour MP for Fulham West . WHD members were given weapons training and basic military training. Limited female involvement in official Home Guard units was to be permitted later 'auxiliaries', on the understanding that these would be in traditional female support roles (e.g., clerical, driving) and not in any way seen as combatants. The War Office continued to lay down
3720-619: The Armadillo armoured truck , the Bison mobile pillbox and the Bedford OXA armoured car (some of these makeshift vehicles were also operated by Royal Air Force units for aerodrome defense). Lord Beaverbrook , the Minister of Aircraft Production , had sponsored the emergency creation of the "Car Armoured Light Standard" (a commercial car body with a simple armoured hull and light machine gun), known as
3875-666: The Auxiliary Units , an extremely secretive force of more highly trained guerrilla units with the task of hiding behind enemy lines after an invasion, emerging to attack and destroy supply dumps , disabling tanks and trucks, assassinating collaborators , and killing sentries and senior German officers with sniper rifles. They would operate from pre-prepared secret underground bases, excavated at night with no official records, in woods, in caves, or otherwise concealed. These concealed bases, upwards of 600 in number, were able to support units ranging in size from squads to companies. In
4030-623: The Beaverette , for the British armed forces but, to the intense annoyance of the British Army command, he insisted on reserving considerable numbers for Home Guard units guarding key air components factories. LDV units broke into museums, appropriated whatever weapons could be found and equipped themselves with private weapons such as shotguns. Many veterans who had served in the First World War had retained German sidearms as trophies, but ammunition
4185-573: The Commander in Chief Home Forces , General Walter Kirke , believed that the threat of invasion was greatly exaggerated and were sceptical, but others were not, including Winston Churchill , the new First Lord of the Admiralty . Churchill argued that some form of home defence force should be raised from people who were ineligible to serve in the regular forces but wished to serve their country. In
4340-1146: The Crown and was not entirely comparable to combatants in a war between sovereign states. German and Austrian military traditions were, if anything, more absolute in rejecting any recognition of civilian militia combatants as prisoners of war since the German response to the nonuniformed francs-tireurs who had attacked German forces during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It had long been standard German military practice that civilians who attacked German troops in areas that opposing regular forces had surrendered, withdrawn or chosen not to defend should be considered properly liable to be shot out of hand. Indeed, German military doctrine had always maintained that their military forces were further entitled in such circumstances to take reprisals against unarmed local civilians - taking and executing hostages, and leveling villages: "fight chivalrously against an honest foe; armed irregulars deserve no quarter". The actions of regular German forces during
4495-496: The Home Office and MI5 instituted the 'Invasion List', a list of around 1,000 persons whose 'recent conduct or words indicated that they were likely to assist the enemy' and who would be apprehended by the police in the event of an invasion, hoping thereby to forestall the expectations of many LDV volunteers that they would then be empowered to act as 'Judge, Jury and Executioner' of potential collaborators and fifth columnists. At
4650-653: The Hui and Salars , find coeducation to be controversial, owing to Islamic ideas on gender roles. On the other hand, the Muslim Uyghurs have not historically objected to coeducation. Admission to the Sorbonne was opened to girls in 1860. The baccalauréat became gender-blind in 1924, giving equal chances to all girls in applying to any universities. Mixed-sex education became mandatory for primary schools in 1957 and for all universities in 1975. St. Paul's Co-educational College
4805-599: The Ming dynasty and Yuan Mei 's school during the Qing Dynasty , enrolled both male and female students. In the 1910s, women's universities were established, such as Ginling Women's University and Peking Girls' Higher Normal School, but there was no coeducation in higher learning schools. Tao Xingzhi , the Chinese advocator of mixed-sex education, proposed The Audit Law for Women Students (規定女子旁聽法案, Guī Dìng Nǚ Zi Páng Tīng Fǎ Àn) at
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4960-563: The United Kingdom , which admitted boys and girls from its opening onwards. This has always been a day school only. The world's oldest co-educational both day and boarding school is Dollar Academy , a junior and senior school for males and females from ages 5 to 18 in Scotland , United Kingdom. From its opening in 1818, the school admitted both boys and girls of the parish of Dollar and the surrounding area. The school continues in existence to
5115-626: The V-1 flying bombs that followed them in the summer of 1944. The Home Guard's first official kill was shot down on Tyneside in 1943. The Home Guard in Northern Ireland also took part in gun battles with the IRA . A major new function emerged for the Home Guard after the German bombing campaign, the Blitz , in 1940 and 1941; resulting in large numbers of unexploded bombs in urban areas. Home Guard units took on
5270-618: The War Office saying that "every man must have a weapon of some sort, be it only a mace or a pike ". The civil servants took Churchill at his word and ordered 250,000 pikes from the Ministry of Aircraft Production , each consisting of a long steel tube with an obsolete bayonet welded to the end. When the first reached the Home Guard, there was uproar, and it is thought that none was actually issued. Captain Godfrey Nicholson , MP, spoke for
5425-482: The 1.5 million members could be provided with their own rifle or pistol. Although large numbers of M1917 Enfield rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles had been purchased for the use of the Home Guard, they had had to be laboriously cleaned of their heavy cosmoline packing grease by the Home Guard units themselves. All the American guns (M1917 Enfield Rifles, BAR, Lewis light machine guns and Browing M1917 machine guns) used
5580-467: The 1930s. The situation became so critical that the governors attempted to have the school nationalized . In the end, the old boys put together a rescue package and the school remained independent. Help was at hand, but during the Second World War, Mill Hill School was evacuated to St Bees after their buildings were occupied by the government. Under-used facilities could now be put to good use, to
5735-473: The 19th century. The world's oldest co-educational school is thought to be Archbishop Tenison's Church of England High School, Croydon , established in 1714 in the United Kingdom, which admitted 10 boys and 10 girls from its opening, and remained co-educational thereafter. This is a day school only and still in existence. The Scottish Dollar Academy was the first mixed-sex both day and boarding school in
5890-610: The Brandenburgers in Poland served under the command of the Abwehr , German military intelligence. Counterpart tactics were employed in the spring of 1940 in support of the German invasions of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, but German success in those invasions was more substantially because of the use of paratroopers to seize and hold key defence points behind the front line and to prevent
6045-611: The British press speculated that the German Gestapo had already prepared two lists of British civilians: " The Black Book " of known anti-fascists and prominent Jews who would be rounded up following an invasion and 'The Red Book' of 'Nazi sympathisers' who would support the German invaders as a fifth column. The police and security services found themselves deluged with a mass of denunciations and accusations against suspected fifth columnists. General Ironside , Commander in Chief, Home Forces,
6200-531: The Briton Frederic Harrison said after visiting the United States that "The whole educational machinery of America ... open to women must be at least twentyfold greater than with us, and it is rapidly advancing to meet that of men both in numbers and quality". Where most of the history of coeducation in this period is a list of those moving toward the accommodation of both men and women at one campus,
6355-469: The First World War there were 300 pupils. The 1930s saw a large decrease in numbers due to the Great Depression . However, the numbers rose again during World War II, and this was followed by an era of further expansion. In 1978, the school became co-educational . On 13 March 2015, it was announced by the school governors that due to falling pupil numbers the school would close in summer 2015. In
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6510-498: The First World War, but former British governments had consistently refused to recognise captured irregular combatants in uniform as prisoners of war. Indeed, most of the Irish Republican volunteers executed by the British administration following the 1916 Easter Rising had been fighting or at least surrendered in full Irish Volunteer or Irish Citizen Army uniforms. However, that was an uprising or rebellion of subjects of
6665-522: The First World War, but the actual total reserve stockpile amounted to 300,000, and they had already been earmarked for the expansion of the army by 122 infantry battalions. Instead, the War Office issued instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails and emergency orders were placed for Ross rifles from Canada. In the absence of proper weapons, local units improvised weapons, especially grenades, mortars and grenade projectors, from whatever came to hand, and
6820-529: The First World War; and in the summer of 1940 there were no more than 1.5 million serviceable frontline military rifles available in total. Contracts had been placed in the UK, Canada and the United States to build new factories for an updated Lee-Enfield model (designated Rifle No. 4), but in 1940 they were still a long way from volume production. The LDV's original role had been envisaged by the army as largely observing and reporting enemy movements, but it swiftly changed to
6975-493: The Home Guard from 1941 onwards (especially to the secret Auxiliary Units ). The British Expeditionary Force had lost almost its entire stock of Bren light machine guns in the Dunkirk evacuation and the regular army initially fell back on prewar and American Lewis guns as a stopgap; but by the end of 1940, around 14,000 of these American Lewis guns (together with some 4,000 American M1917 Browning machine guns ) had been released to
7130-536: The Home Guard training in Osterley, and Wintringham and his associates were gradually sidelined. Wintringham resigned in April 1941. Ironically, despite his support of the Home Guard, Wintringham was never allowed to join the organisation himself because of a policy barring membership by communists and fascists . Nevertheless, Home Guard members continued to express dissatisfaction with their armaments until 1943 since not all of
7285-504: The Home Guard when he said in the House of Commons that the provision of pikes, "if not meant as a joke, was an insult". Lord Croft , the Under-Secretary of State for War , could have blamed the fiasco on Churchill but defended the decision by saying that the pike was "a most effective and silent weapon". His name was attached to the affair thereafter. The armaments shortage was solved when
7440-444: The Home Guard's powerful arsenal of shotguns, bombs and grenades would be most effective; and German tanks and vehicles would be constrained by narrow, winding streets. The Home Guard had a number of secret roles. That included sabotage units who would disable factories and petrol installations following the invasion. Members with outdoor survival skills and experience (especially as gamekeepers or poachers ) could be recruited into
7595-410: The Home Guard. From the perspective of the War Office, this removed weapons using US ammunition from regular army use, and had the further advantage that the three volunteers in the machine gun team would not expect rifles. This model of Lewis gun had been designed to be swivel-mounted in aircraft; before issuing to the Home Guard the fitted spade-handle stock was extended into a crude shoulder stock, and
7750-487: The House of Commons at the end of August 1940 that he had always considered the fifth column threat to be exaggerated, and many of those detained were silently released. From then on, however, the primary official response to fears of fifth column activity was that the names of those for whom there was substantial grounds for suspicion would be added to the 'Invasion List' and that fifth column activity otherwise would be countered by
7905-454: The LDV and calling for volunteers to join the force: "You will not be paid, but you will receive a uniform and will be armed." In the official radio announcement, Eden called on men between the ages of 17 and 65 years in Britain who were not in military service but wished to defend their country against paratroops in the envent of an invasion to enroll in the LDV at their local police station. It
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#17328765263608060-485: The LDV and suggesting that it be renamed as the 'Home Guard'. Despite resistance from Eden and other government officials, who noted that one million "LDV" armbands had already been printed and the cost of printing another million 'Home Guard' armbands would be excessive, Churchill would not be dissuaded. On 22 July, the LDV was officially renamed the Home Guard. Churchill ruled decisively on the issue of whether civilian volunteers should actively resist German forces, even at
8215-700: The Reformation, coeducation was introduced in Western Europe, when certain Protestant groups urged that boys and girls should be taught to read the Bible. The practice became very popular in northern England, Scotland, and colonial New England, where young children, both male and female, attended dame schools . In the late 18th century, girls gradually were admitted to town schools. The Society of Friends in England, as well as in
8370-677: The Second World War consistently conformed to those principles: captured partisans in the Soviet Union and the Balkans, whether they were fighting in uniform or not, were killed on the spot. German radio broadcasts described the British Home Guard as 'gangs of murderers' and left no doubt that they would not be regarded as lawful combatants. By the end of 1940, the Home Guard was established into 1,200 battalions , 5,000 companies and 25,000 platoons . For its primary defensive role, each section
8525-621: The Security Services, they should be supplied to local Home Guard units in the event of an invasion. Lord Swinton was ordered by Churchill to determine the true extent of the threat and to propose measures to deal with it. Swinton's immediate response was that internment of British nationals with pro-German sympathies should be greatly extended, and Oswald Mosley and other leaders of the British Union of Fascists were interned on 21 May 1940, with some 700 other suspects. However, following
8680-483: The South Coast and Home Counties and those defending key air industry suppliers from air and paratroop attack, and had an invasion happened in September or October, those Home Guard units would have largely been well equipped and armed for a static defence role, the key remaining lack being an effective anti-tank grenade capable of being launched a reasonable distance. After September 1940, the army began to take charge of
8835-574: The UK. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest both boarding and day mixed-sex educational institution in the world still in existence. In England, the first non-Quaker mixed-sex public boarding school was Bedales School , founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley and becoming mixed in 1898. Ruckleigh School in Solihull was founded by Cathleen Cartland in 1909 as a non-denominational co-educational preparatory school many decades before others followed. Many previously single-sex schools have begun to accept both sexes in
8990-594: The US embassy spying for the Germans, was apprehended by MI5 . Kent had in his possession a locked ledger of 235 names, which was the prewar membership records of the " Right Club ", an anti-war and anti-Semitic association run by the Conservative MP Archibald Maule Ramsay . None of that was made public at the time, but there was widespread public demand that if the names in the 'Red Book' could be obtained by
9145-426: The United Kingdom and other strategically important sites such as airfields, factories and explosives stores, until late 1944, when they were stood down. They were formally disbanded on 31 December 1945, eight months after Germany's surrender. Men aged 17 to 65 years could join, although the age limits were not strictly enforced. One platoon had a fourteen year old and three men in their eighties enrolled in it. Service
9300-408: The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, debates began in official circles about the possible ways in which the German military might invade Britain. In the first week of the conflict, numerous diplomatic and intelligence reports seemed to indicate that there was the possibility of an imminent German amphibious assault. Many government ministers and senior army officials, including
9455-580: The United States were single-sex. Examples include Collegiate School , a boys' school operating in New York by 1638 (which remains a single-sex institution); and Boston Latin School , founded in 1635 (which did not become coeducational until 1972). Nonetheless, mixed-sex education existed at the lower levels in the U.S. long before it extended to colleges. For example, in 1787, the predecessor to Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania , opened as
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#17328765263609610-400: The United States, pioneered coeducation as they did universal education, and in Quaker settlements in the British colonies, boys and girls commonly attended school together. The new free public elementary, or common schools , which after the American Revolution supplanted church institutions, were almost always coeducational, and by 1900 most public high schools were coeducational as well. In
9765-437: The University of Cambridge , a number of professors, and three Victoria Cross recipients. The comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson also attended the school as a pupil. Mixed-sex education Mixed-sex education , also known as mixed-gender education , co-education , or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed ), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education
9920-442: The War Office , public-spirited citizens had handed over registered firearms and shotguns, the police issuing certificates allowing these to be used for LDV duties. By July 1940, over 50,000 civilian shotguns were being used by the LDV and specialised solid-ball 12-bore shot-gun ammunition was developed for units. For public (and enemy) consumption, the government maintained that large stocks of Lee–Enfield rifles remained from
10075-430: The War Office and the press and to many ex-senior officers attempting to use their influence to obtain weapons or permission to begin patrolling. The issue of weapons to LDV units was particularly problematic for the War Office, as it was recognised that the rearming and re-equipping of the regular forces would have to take precedence over the LDV. Following a radio appeal on 23 May by Richard Law , Financial Secretary to
10230-409: The War Office for a small units of volunteer defenders attached to the existing regular searchlight companies; and by General Headquarters Home Forces under General Kirke for more loosely-organised local bands to be raised under the authority of the Lords Lieutenant of each county. Over Sunday 12 May 1940,the War Office and senior military officials rapidly compared plans, concluding in favour of
10385-472: The War Office to regular army headquarters throughout Britain explaining the status of LDV units: volunteers would be divided into sections, platoons, companies and groups - each with an appointed volunteer leader; but none would be paid, and leaders of units would not hold commissions or have the power to command regular forces. Finance and logistics for units would be administered (within Great Britain) by County Territorial Army Associations Implementation of
10540-439: The administrative and logistical foundations for the LDV organisation. Eden's public words were generally interpreted as an explicit promise to provide everyone who volunteered with a personal firearm. In retrospect, it was recognised that recruitment would have been better limited to the numbers required (and capable of being armed), with later volunteers given places on a waiting list. However, once volunteers had been enlisted, it
10695-465: The advance of the enemy even by a few hours to give the regular troops time to regroup. They were also tasked with guarding and defending key transport intersections and factories in rear areas against possible capture by paratroops or fifth columnists . An additional prime purpose was to maintain control of the civilian population in the event of an invasion, to forestall panic and to prevent communication routes from being blocked by refugees; so as to free
10850-511: The armed services, the civilian police or other civil defence volunteer organisations, approximately one in five men were Home Guard volunteers. Their primary role was to act as a secondary defence force in their home locality in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany . The Home Guard were initially ordered to observe, and report back to General Headquarters Home Forces, any airborne or seaborne invading forces in their local area; an order extended subsequently to harassing and obstructing
11005-434: The army's efforts during an invasion, but to ignore the calls for a home defence force to be set up would be politically problematic. An officially-sponsored home defence force would allow the government greater control and also allow for greater security around vulnerable areas such as munitions factories and airfields; but there was some confusion over who would form and control the force, with separate plans being drawn up by
11160-619: The bombing group attacked with grenades, submachine guns and shotguns. As many Germans as possible should be killed, and no prisoners would be taken. Battle tactics were derived substantially from the experience of Spanish Republican forces although they also drew on the experience of the British Army (and the IRA) in Ireland. The emphasis was on drawing the Germans into fighting in central urban areas at short ranges, where stone buildings would provide cover; lines of communication between units would be short;
11315-402: The bulk were workplace-based, especially as co-operation from employers was necessary to ensure that volunteers would be available for training and operational patrols. Indeed, many employers envisaged their LDV units primarily as protecting industrial plants from fifth column and paratroop attack. The Home Guard did not initially admit women as volunteers. Some women formed their own groups like
11470-461: The campus serving black students at the site of what is now Florida A&M University . Florida did not return to coeducation at UF and FSU until after World War II, prompted by the drastically increased demands placed on the higher education system by veterans studying via GI Bill programs following World War II. The Buckman arrangements officially ended with new legislation guidelines passed in 1947. Several early primary and secondary schools in
11625-454: The chief trainers, and his lectures became the source for a book on guerrilla warfare . Supplies of small arms to the Home Guard improved radically after July 1940, when the active support of US President Franklin Roosevelt allowed the British government to purchase 500,000 M1917 Enfield Rifles and 25,000 M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles from the reserve stock of the US armed forces, but
11780-475: The country. However, for quite a while, women sometimes were treated rudely by their male classmates. The prejudice of some male professors proved more unsettling. Many professors disapproved of the admission of women into their classes, citing studies that claimed that women were mentally unsuited for higher education, and because most would "just get married", they were using resources that, they believed, male students would use better. Some professors simply ignored
11935-412: The creation of 12 divisions similar in composition to that of the International Brigades , which had been formed in Spain during the conflict. The divisions would be raised by voluntary enlistment targeting ex-servicemen and youths. Despite great interest by the War Office in the book's assertion that 'security is possible', Wintringham's call to train 100,000 men immediately was not implemented. When
12090-457: The defending forces from concentrating against the main German ground forces. British public opinion conflated the two tactics and concluded that the rapidity of the German victories in Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands had to be caused by German paratroops linking with a prepared 'fifth column' in each country of Nazi sympathisers and ethnic Germans. Now that Britain might potentially face invasion,
12245-440: The early 1980s, the government established Women's colleges and Women's universities to promote education among women who were hesitant to study in mixed-sex environment. Today, however, most universities and a large number of schools in urban areas are co-educational. In the United Kingdom the official term is mixed , and today most schools are mixed. A number of Quaker co-educational boarding schools were established before
12400-437: The enemy were within the defensive perimeter of the town in force and they would then be attacked with concentrated firepower of bombs, grenades, shotguns and automatic weapons (as much as possible from above and from the rear), with the object of forcing them into cover close by. Retreating enemy forces would be counterattacked (again preferably from the rear), the automatic weapons group of each squad providing covering fire while
12555-459: The event of an invasion, all Auxiliary Units would disappear into their operational bases and would not maintain contact with local Home Guard commanders, who should indeed be wholly unaware of their existence. Hence, although the Auxiliaries were Home Guard volunteers and wore Home Guard uniforms, they would not participate in the conventional phase of their town's defence but would be activated once
12710-404: The event of an invasion, was to man roadblocks, observe German troop movements, convey information to the regular forces and guard places of strategic or tactical importance. The War Office believed that the LDV would act best in such a passive role because of its lack of training, weapons and proper equipment. Such a role clashed with the expectations of LDV commanders and members who believed that
12865-561: The expense of setting themselves outside the protection of the Geneva Conventions . The 'Rules of War' , he pointed out, had been drawn up with the express intention of avoiding defeated combatants fighting on to the last. However, in the fight against Nazism, any outcome, including the complete destruction of a town and the massacre of its population, would be preferable to its acquiescing to Nazi rule. The Home Guard in 1940 were an armed uniformed civilian militia, entirely distinct from
13020-492: The extensive mineral rights for a minimal amount on which much of the prosperity of the Lowthers was built. As a result of this fraud being exposed in 1812, the case eventually went to Court of Chancery . In 1842, compensation was paid by the Lowthers which was used to build the present open quadrangle, which includes the original schoolhouse. Further expansion was facilitated by more equitable mineral revenues. The Royal Hotel
13175-527: The financial benefit of St Bees School. The two schools were run independently, and sports teams from each school would frequently play against each other. The cadet corps of the two schools combined with village volunteers to form the St Bees Home Guard . Seventy-two boys died during the Second World War, and the Memorial Hall was established in their memory. During the 1950s, a new science block
13330-647: The first coeducational public or state university in the United States in 1855, and for much of the next century, public universities, and land grant universities in particular, would lead the way in mixed-sex higher education. There were also many private coeducational universities founded in the 19th century, especially west of the Mississippi River. East of the Mississippi, Wheaton College (Illinois) graduated its first female student in 1862. Bates College in Maine
13485-537: The first mass-produced Sten submachine guns entered service early in 1942. The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 had been supported by prepared irregular units raised from ethnic German populations in western Poland. Linking with the Brandenburg Regiment , troops equipped to fight in the uniforms of their opponents or disguised as civilians. As the German armed services refused to countenance regular troops engaging in such clearly irregular tactics,
13640-469: The first time, all Home Guard members could have their own issue firearm. Home Guard training at Osterley Park had disseminated experience from Spanish Republican forces, in using improvised grenades and bombs in urban warfare against tanks. Two particular weapons were recommended for that purpose: the satchel bomb , a fused explosive charge in a canvas bag, and the Molotov cocktail , a glass bottle containing
13795-621: The government had considered training golfers in rifle shooting to eliminate stray parachutists. The calls alarmed government and senior military officials, who worried about the prospect of the population forming private defence forces that the army would not be able to control, and in mid-May, the Home Office issued a press release on the matter. It was the task of the army to deal with enemy parachutists, as any civilians who carried weapons and fired on German troops were likely to be executed if captured. Moreover, any lone parachutist descending from
13950-496: The household. As time progressed, education became more structured and formal. Women often had very few rights when education started to become a more important aspect of civilization. Efforts of the ancient Greek and Chinese societies focused primarily on the education of males. In ancient Rome, the availability of education was gradually extended to women, but they were taught separately from men. The early Christians and medieval Europeans continued this trend, and single-sex schools for
14105-422: The internment of suspect aliens to prevent the formation of a fifth column and to allow the population to take up arms to defend themselves against an invasion. Calls for some form of home defence force soon began to be heard from the press and from private individuals. The press baron Lord Kemsley privately proposed to the War Office that rifle clubs form the nucleus of a home defence force, and Josiah Wedgwood ,
14260-614: The lack of strong Christian principles among the settlers of the American West. They decided to establish a college and a colony based on their religious beliefs, "where they would train teachers and other Christian leaders for the boundless most desolate fields in the West". Oberlin College and the surrounding community were dedicated to progressive causes and social justice. Though it did reluctantly what every other college refused to do at all, it
14415-431: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, coeducation grew much more widely accepted. In Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union, the education of girls and boys in the same classes became an approved practice. In Australia, there is a trend towards increased coeducational schooling with new coeducational schools opening, few new single-sex schools opening and existing single-sex schools combining or opening their doors to
14570-438: The legacy of self-reliant improvisation in the face of what was interpreted as official disregard and obstruction was to remain as a characteristic of the Home Guard throughout its existence. Another problem that was encountered as the LDV was organised was the definition of the role the organisation was to play. Initially, in the eyes of the War Office and the army, the LDV was to act as 'an armed police constabulary', which, in
14725-464: The legal status of members of the Armed Forces. In the rush to complete a plan and announce it to the public many administrative and logistical problems had been left unresolved, such as how the volunteers in the new force would be armed, which caused problems as the force evolved. On the evening of 14 May 1940, Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden gave a radio broadcast announcing the formation of
14880-622: The legion appears to have dissolved itself at the same time. The Battle of France began on 10 May 1940, with the Wehrmacht invading Belgium, the Netherlands and France. By 20 May, German forces had reached the English Channel , and on 28 May, the Belgian Army surrendered. The combination of the large-scale combined operations mounted by the Wehrmacht during the invasion of Norway in April and
15035-467: The letters "LDV". There were also river patrols using the private craft of members. Many officers from the First World War armed themselves with Webley Mk VI .455 revolvers (officers had been expected to purchase their sidearms privately and retained them in civilian life). There were also numerous private attempts to produce armoured vehicles by adding steel plates to cars or lorries, often armed with machine guns . These improvised vehicles included
15190-671: The local Home Guard defence had ended to inflict maximum mayhem and disruption over a further necessarily brief but violent period. It is a common fallacy that the Home Guard never fired a shot in anger during the whole of the Second World War. In fact, individual Home Guardsmen helped man anti-aircraft guns as early as the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. By 1943, the Home Guard operated its own dedicated batteries of anti-aircraft guns, rockets , coastal defence artillery and engaging German planes with their machine guns. They are credited with shooting down numerous Luftwaffe aircraft and
15345-654: The loss at sea on 2 July 1940 of the SS ; Arandora Star , carrying German and Italian internees to Canada, the impracticalities and potential injustices of internment became more apparent, and the public understanding of the fifth column threat changed from being directed towards enemy nationals towards upper and upper-middle class Englishmen. Within a few weeks, the Security Services admitted that it had been unable to confirm any actual instance of organised fifth column activity or even any actual confirmed fifth columnist. Churchill, "with an impressive display of amnesia" , asserted in
15500-484: The meeting of Nanjing Higher Normal School held on December seventh, 1919. He also proposed that the university recruit female students. The idea was supported by the president Kuo Ping-Wen , academic director Liu Boming , and such famous professors as Lu Zhiwei and Yang Xingfo, but opposed by many famous men of the time. The meeting passed the law and decided to recruit women students next year. Nanjing Higher Normal School enrolled eight Chinese female students in 1920. In
15655-489: The oldest continuously operating coed school in America. The oldest continuously operating coed boarding school in the United States is Westtown School , founded in 1799. A minister and a missionary founded Oberlin in 1833. Rev. John Jay Shipherd (minister) and Philo P. Stewart (missionary) became friends while spending the summer of 1832 together in nearby Elyria . They discovered a mutual disenchantment with what they saw as
15810-612: The opposite gender. The first mixed-sex institution of higher learning in China was the Nanjing Higher Normal Institute , which was renamed National Central University and Nanjing University . For millennia in China, public schools, especially public higher learning schools, were for men. Generally, only schools established by zōng zú (宗族, gens) were for both male and female students. Some schools, such as Li Zhi 's school during
15965-629: The organisation would be best suited to an active role of hunting down and killing parachutists, and fifth columnists , as well as attacking and harassing German forces. "In the popular mind it was the twin terrors of Nazi paratrooper and Fifth Columnist traitor which were the Home Guard’s nemesis, its natural enemy. Notwithstanding that the Home Guard actually spent most of its time preparing to defend 'nodal points' against tank attack, operating anti-aircraft artillery or locating unexploded bombs." The clash led to morale problems and even more complaints to
16120-556: The original schoolroom on the lower northern side of the quadrangle. The main campus is now concentrated around Wood Lane, adjacent to the Foundation block. The school was founded in 1583 by Edmund Grindal , Archbishop of Canterbury , who was born in St Bees , at Cross Hill House. The oldest part of the school, known as Foundation was built in 1587, opposite the Priory Church. Thanks to an agreement with Queen's College Oxford and
16275-596: The past few decades: for example, Clifton College began to accept girls in 1987. The first higher-education institution in the United Kingdom to allow women and men to enter on equal terms, and hence be admitted to academic degrees, was the University of Bristol (then established as University College, Bristol ) in 1876. Given their dual role as both boarding house and educational establishment, individual colleges at Oxford and Cambridge remained segregated for much longer. The first Oxford college to house both men and women
16430-423: The platoon consisted of three squads of around 8 men, each squad having a three-man automatic weapons group (usually with one either of a BAR or Lewis gun) and a rifle/bomb group armed with M1917 rifles, grenades and sticky-bombs, and a Thompson or Sten sub-machine gun if possible. Men without rifles should all have shotguns, if available. The basic tactical principle was 'aggressive defence'; fire would be held until
16585-472: The preparatory department at Oberlin in 1833 and the college department in 1837. The first four women to receive bachelor's degrees in the United States earned them at Oberlin in 1841. Later, in 1862, the first black woman to receive a bachelor's degree ( Mary Jane Patterson ) also earned it from Oberlin College. Beginning in 1844, Hillsdale College became the next college to admit mixed-sex classes to four-year degree programs. The University of Iowa became
16740-690: The present day with around 1,250 pupils. The first co-educational college to be founded was Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Oberlin, Ohio . It opened on 3 December 1833, with 44 students, including 29 men and 15 women. Fully equal status for women did not arrive until 1837, and the first three women to graduate with bachelor's degrees did so in 1840. By the late 20th century, many institutions of higher learning that had been exclusively for men or women had become coeducational. In early civilizations, people were typically educated informally: primarily within
16895-532: The press and the War Office from LDV members who were opposed, as they saw it, the government's leaving them defenceless and placing them in a noncombatant role. Complaints about the role of the LDV and continuing problems encountered by the War Office in its attempts to clothe and arm the LDV, led the government to respond to public pressure in August, redefining the role of the LDV to include delaying and obstructing German forces through any means possible. Also in August,
17050-583: The privileged classes prevailed through the Reformation period. The early periods of this century included many religious schools and the first major public schools in the country had been established for males and females. In the 16th century, at the Council of Trent , the Roman Catholic church reinforced the establishment of free elementary schools for children of all classes. The concept of universal elementary education, regardless of sex, had been created. After
17205-581: The proposals from GHQ Home Forces; and then on 13 May 1940 worked out an improvised scheme for a home defence force, to be called the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). There had been no consulation with other government departments that would be affected, no consultation with the Treasury over spending approval, and no consultation with the legal officers of the Crown over how volunteers might be claimed to have
17360-547: The prospect that much of the English Channel coast would soon be occupied made the prospect of a German invasion of the British Isles alarmingly real. Fears of an invasion grew rapidly, spurred on by reports both in the press and from official government bodies, of a fifth column operating in Britain that would aid an invasion by German airborne forces . The government soon found itself under increasing pressure to extend
17515-474: The purchase of local tithes, the school prospered both financially and academically. Although specifically incorporated for the education of boys from Cumberland and Westmorland , in 1604, pupils from outside those counties were also being educated at St Bees. However, the school only grew gradually. The school enjoyed financial security for many years, but this was threatened from 1742 onwards when Sir James Lowther fraudulently obtained an 867-year lease of
17670-588: The regular armed forces. Volunteers originally had no recognised military rank, were not subject to military discipline and could withdraw (or be withdrawn by their employers) at any time. In 1941, nominal ranks were introduced for Home Guard 'officers', and in 1942, limited conscription was implemented intended for circumstances where Home Guard forces were taking over functions from regular forces (chiefly coastal artillery and anti-aircraft batteries), and non-officer volunteers became 'privates'. Volunteers remained legally civilians and failure to attend when ordered to do so
17825-565: The regular army, with a General Staff Officer coordinating with civilian regional commissioners to divide these areas into defined zones with an appointed, volunteer, leader. In London, zones were organised on the basis of police districts. On 17 May, the LDV achieved official legal status when the Privy Council issued the Defence (Local Defence Volunteers) Order in Council , and orders were issued from
17980-458: The regular forces to fight the Germans. During the German bombing campaign of ' The Blitz ' they were given the duty of seeking out and guarding unexploded bombs, in the course of which over 1,000 were killed. From 1942, the Home Guard manned coastal artillery and anti-aircraft gun and rocket batteries, releasing regular soldiers for the invasion of Europe. The Home Guard continued to man observation points and roadblocks, and to guard coastal areas of
18135-569: The regulations proved to be extremely difficult, particularly as the primary focus of the War Office and General Headquarters Home Forces was on Operation Dynamo , the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk between 27 May and 4 June 1940. The apparent lack of focus led to many LDV members becoming impatient, particularly when it was announced that volunteers would receive only armbands printed with "L.D.V." on them until proper uniforms could be manufactured, and there
18290-539: The same level as their peers, the stereotypical mentality of the teacher is removed, and girls are likely to have more confidence in the classroom than they would in a coeducational class. In a 2022 study published in the British Educational Research Journal which examined the Irish educational system, the authors stated that the existing "empirical evidence is somewhat ambiguous, with some studies finding
18445-462: The same time, Churchill, who had assumed the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, became involved in the matter after being alerted to the problems, obtaining a summary of the current LDV position from the War Office on 22 June 1940. After reviewing the summary, Churchill wrote to Eden stating that in his opinion, one of the main causes of disciplinary and morale problems stemmed from the uninspiring title of
18600-427: The same time,' women were considered to be the physical manifestations of the coeducation movement. While men were called students, women were called coeds. The message was that women . . . were not really students." Numerous professional organizations require that the gender-neutral term "student" be used instead of "coed" or, when gender is relevant to the context, that the term "female student" be substituted. If
18755-615: The same year Peking University also began to allow women students to audit classes. One of the most notable female students of that time was Chien-Shiung Wu . In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded. The Chinese government pursued a policy of moving towards co-education and nearly all schools and universities have become mixed-sex. In recent years, some female or single-sex schools have again emerged for special vocational training needs, but equal rights for education still applies to all citizens. Indigenous Muslim populations in China,
18910-408: The school 'good' on their quality scale. One of the aims of St Bees is to provide an opportunity for pupils to appreciate the arts as well as to experience the benefit of time on stage and behind the scenes. Music is also featured strongly in the curriculum. Former pupils of St Bees School are styled 'Old St. Beghians.' An Old St. Beghians' Club was founded in 1908 by master J. W. Aldous. Today, it
19065-484: The school were awarded the Victoria Cross . (See St. Bees V.C. winners for more details). Old boy Alfred Critchley became one of the youngest Brigadier-Generals, at the age of 27. One hundred and eighty boys and staff died during the war, and a memorial was built overlooking the sports fields where so many had previously played. After the war, in common with many other schools, the numbers decreased, especially in
19220-486: The school would close in summer 2015. In response, a four-point rescue plan was proposed on 23 March by a "rescue team" made up of interested parties. However, on 17 April 2015, it was confirmed by the governors that the school would shut down. A formal statement said that the governors were also trustees of the St Bees Foundation and that they are committed to it having a future in education in west Cumbria and "to
19375-524: The self-styled " Legion of Frontiersmen ". Officials were soon informed of the development of the legion, with the Adjutant-General , Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson , arguing that the government should encourage the development of more unofficial organisations. The fear of invasion in 1939 quickly dissipated as it became evident that the German military was not in a position to launch an invasion of Britain; official enthusiasm for home defence forces waned and
19530-612: The sexes were educated together, we should have the healthy, moral and intellectual stimulus of sex ever quickening and refining all the faculties, without the undue excitement of senses that results from novelty in the present system of isolation. For years, a question many educators, parents, and researchers have been asking is whether it is academically beneficial to teach boys and girls together or separately at school. Some argue that coeducation has primarily social benefits by allowing males and females of all ages to become more prepared for real-world situations and that students familiar with
19685-410: The skies in the summer of 1940 was far more likely to be a downed RAF airman than a German Fallschirmjäger . Nevertheless, private defence forces soon began to be formed throughout the country, often sponsored by employers seeking to bolster defence of their factories. This placed the government in an awkward position. The private forces, which the army might not be able to control, could well inhibit
19840-456: The state of Florida was an exception. In 1905, the Buckman Act was one of consolidation in governance and funding but separation in race and gender, with Florida State College for Women (since 1947, Florida State University ) established to serve white females during this era, the campus that became what is now the University of Florida serving white males, and coeducation stipulated only for
19995-405: The task of locating unexploded bombs after raids and, if such bombs were found (often after several months or years), would commonly assist in sealing off the danger area and evacuating civilians. Most Home Guard wartime fatalities occurred in the course of that task. Aside from deaths in accidents, the Home Guard lost a total of 1,206 members on duty to unexploded bombs, air and rocket attacks during
20150-479: The term solely to women implies that "normal" education is exclusively male: technically both male and female students at a coeducational institution should be considered "coeds". Writing for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in 2017, author and educator Barbara Boroson described the noun use as "unfortunate", observing that "Although coeducation means 'the education of both sexes together at
20305-450: The use of the site as support both for the future activities of the foundation and the village of St Bees." On 20 March 2017, it was announced that the school would re-open in partnership with Full Circle Education Group after refurbishment. The school re-opened on 6 September 2018. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection was in 2018, six months after the school reopened with 10 pupils. Following this inspection, Ofsted inspectors rated
20460-501: The very limited initial issue of standard Lee-Enfield rifles was withdrawn as the American arms became available, as were some 25,000 Pattern 14 .303 rifles (the British calibre version of the M1917 Enfield) and 60,000 Canadian Ross rifles . The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles lacked the bipod stand and carrying handle that the US army had applied in an attempt to convert the weapon into a light machine gun but, when used primarily as
20615-511: The war, there were no reserve ammunition stocks, which reinforced the impression that they were not frontline weapons. For regular shooting practice, the Home Guard mainly borrowed Territorial Army shooting ranges and guns, with limited issue of live .22 and .303 ammunition. From 1942, the Thompson guns (and their ammunition) were increasingly withdrawn to be issued to Commando forces but were replaced by large numbers of Sten submachine guns. For
20770-416: The war. For the first few weeks the LDV were poorly armed since the regular forces had priority for weapons and equipment. Since the government could not admit the severe shortage of basic armaments for the regular troops in 1940, the public remained deeply frustrated at the failure to issue rifles to the LDV. Rifles were a particular problem, as domestic production of new Lee-Enfield rifles had ceased after
20925-492: The women students. By the end of the 19th century 70% of American colleges were coeducational, although the state of Florida was a notable exception; the Buckman Act of 1905 imposed gender-separated white higher education at the University of Florida (men) and Florida State College for Women . (As there was only one state college for blacks, the future Florida A&M University , it admitted both men and women.) The white Florida campuses returned to coeducation in 1947, when
21080-478: The women's college became Florida State University and the University of Florida became coeducational. In the late 20th century, many institutions of higher learning that had been exclusively for people of one sex became coeducational. A number of Greek-letter student societies have either been established (locally or nationally) or expanded as co-ed fraternities. In American colloquial language, "coed" or "co-ed"
21235-573: Was an unpaid armed citizen militia supporting the 'Home Forces' of the British Army during the Second World War . Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard comprised more than 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, such as those who were too young or too old to join the regular armed services (regular military service was restricted to those aged 18 to 41) and those in reserved occupations . Excluding those already in
21390-476: Was anticipated that up to 500,000 men might volunteer, a number that conformed generally with the Army's expectation of the total numbers required to fulfill the LDV's expected functions. However, the announcement was met with much enthusiasm: 250,000 volunteers tried to sign up in the first seven days, and by July this had increased to 1.5 million. Social groups such as cricket clubs began forming their own units, but
21545-520: Was bought and converted into the Grindal house, while the construction of the School House and the headmaster's residence was done on Wood Lane. By 1900, the school's chapel, additional classrooms, library, swimming baths, Gymnasium, science labs, and lecture theater had been built. By the beginning of the First World War, the school had reached three hundred pupils. During the First World War, old boys of
21700-461: Was built, formally opened by Barnes Wallis in 1959, and in the 1970s the school became co-educational . New boarding houses were purchased off-campus for both girls and boys, Bega House and Abbot's Court respectively. To celebrate the school's quatercentenary in 1983, an appeal was launched which would give the school a new sports hall, opened in 1988. The 1990s the Whitelaw Building
21855-419: Was considered impossible from a public relations perspective to then dismiss them. Nevertheless, the regular forces saw no priority in providing more arms and equipment to the new force than would have been needed had numbers been properly constrained in the first place. In telegrams to the lord lieutenants of each county it was explained that LDV units would operate in predefined military areas already used by
22010-469: Was convinced that substantial landowners in the British fifth column had already prepared secret landing strips in South East England for the use of German airborne forces. The Imperial General Staff, spurred on by Churchill, pressed for widespread internment of Nazi- sympathisers. The government's worst fears were briefly thought to have been confirmed on 20 May 1940. Tyler Kent , a cipher clerk in
22165-583: Was inaugurated by Prince Charles. It was a multi-function business center and teaching area which was named after the then chairman of the board of Governors, William Whitelaw . In 2000, Barony House was refurbished entirely and renamed the Fox Music Centre in memory of old St Beghin Bill Fox. To mark the millennium , a time capsule was buried in the northeast corner of the Quadrangle. In September 2008,
22320-420: Was more common up to the 19th century, mixed-sex education has since become standard in many cultures, particularly in western countries. Single-sex education remains prevalent in many Muslim countries. The relative merits of both systems have been the subject of debate. The world's oldest co-educational school is thought to be Archbishop Tenison's Church of England High School, Croydon , established in 1714 in
22475-469: Was no assurance as to when weapons would be issued to units. The impatience led to many units conducting their own patrols without official permission, often led by men who had previously served in the armed forces. The presence of many veterans and the appointment of ex-officers to command LDV units, only worsened the situation, with many believing that they did not require training before being issued weapons. That led to numerous complaints being received by
22630-474: Was one major reason that the weapons had been turned down for use by the regular army in the first place. Indeed, it rapidly became accepted that any weapons firing US calibre .30 ammunition would go to the Home Guard. Each gun came with an adequate supply of ammunition: 50 rounds for each Enfield, 750 for each BAR and up to 1,000 rounds for the 'Tommy Guns'. However, Home Guard units were commonly not allowed to fire them in practice shooting as, until America entered
22785-425: Was open to women from its founding in 1855, and graduated its first female student in 1869. Cornell University and the University of Michigan each admitted their first female students in 1870. Around the same time, single-sex women's colleges were also appearing. According to Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra: " women's colleges were founded during the mid- and late-19th century in response to
22940-534: Was punishable by civilian authorities. Nevertheless, the British Government consistently maintained that as Home Guard service was strictly to be undertaken only in approved uniform. Uniformed volunteers would be lawful combatants within the Geneva Conventions and so would be " prisoners of war " if captured. That was an argument with a long history since armed civilian irregulars (uniformed and non-uniformed) had been widely employed by smaller combatant nations in
23095-421: Was scarce. Members of the public deposited their sporting rifles at their local police stations, to be used (on loan) by the LDV, and local police forces themselves donated their stocks of military rifles, again on loan, but those expedients provided only around 8,000 rifles (although that number did not include volunteers' use of their own firearms). Ex- communist and Spanish Civil War veteran Tom Wintringham ,
23250-575: Was the first college to admit both women and African Americans as students. Women were not admitted to the baccalaureate program, which granted bachelor's degrees, until 1837; prior to that, they received diplomas from what was called the Ladies' Course. The initial 1837 students were Caroline Mary Rudd, Elizabeth Prall, Mary Hosford, and Mary Fletcher Kellogg. The early success and achievement of women at Oberlin College persuaded many early women's rights leaders that coeducation would soon be accepted throughout
23405-1023: Was the first mixed-sex secondary school in Hong Kong . It was founded in 1915 as St. Paul's Girls' College. At the end of World War II , it was temporarily merged with St. Paul's College , which is a boys' school. When classes at the campus of St. Paul's College were resumed, it continued to be mixed and changed to its present name. Some other renowned mixed-sex secondary schools in town include Hong Kong Pui Ching Middle School, Queen Elizabeth School , and Tsuen Wan Government Secondary School . Most Hong Kong primary and secondary schools are mixed-sex, including government public schools, charter schools, and private schools. Mongolia's first co-educational school, named Third School, opened in Ulaanbaatar on November 2, 1921. Subsequent schools have been co-educational and there are no longer any single-sex schools in Mongolia. Pakistan
23560-442: Was the graduate-only Nuffield College in 1937; the first five undergraduate colleges ( Brasenose , Hertford , Jesus , St Catherine's , and Wadham ) became mixed in 1974. The first mixed Cambridge college was the graduate-only Darwin from its foundation in 1964. Churchill , Clare , and King's Colleges were the first previously all-male colleges of the University of Cambridge to admit female undergraduates in 1972. Magdalene
23715-488: Was the last all-male college to become mixed in 1988. The last women's college in Oxford, St Hilda's , became mixed as of Michaelmas term 2008. Two colleges remain single-sex (women-only) at Cambridge: Murray Edwards (New Hall) and Newnham . The oldest extant mixed-sex institute of higher education in the United States is Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio , which was established in 1833. Mixed-sex classes were admitted to
23870-482: Was trained and equipped to operate as a single, largely independent 'battle platoon', with an operational establishment of between 25 and 30 men at any one time although, as volunteers would also have full-time jobs, the numbers of volunteers in each section would be around twice that establishment. In the event of an invasion, the Home Guard battle platoons in a town would be under the overall control of an Army military commander and maintain contact with that commander with
24025-589: Was unpaid (although out-of-pocket expenses could be claimed) but gave a chance for older or inexperienced soldiers to support the war effort. The origins of the Second World War Home Guard can be traced to Captain Tom Wintringham , who returned from the Spanish Civil War and wrote a book entitled How to Reform the Army . In the book, as well as many regular army reforms, Wintringham called for
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