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1657_38 | Paintings with articles once in the collection
Titian
Poesie for Philip II
Venus and Adonis, two versions, but not Philip's
Perseus and Andromeda
Diana and Callisto
Diana and Actaeon
The Rape of Europa
The Death of Actaeon
Other
The Three Ages of Man
Venus Anadyomene
Venus and Cupid with a Lute-player (now Fitzwilliam Museum)
Other artists
Colonna Altarpiece by Raphael
The Raising of Lazarus , by Sebastiano del Piombo
Jupiter and Io and Danaë by Correggio
Origin of the Milky Way , by Tintoretto
The Mill, by Rembrandt
Allegory of Virtue and Vice, Allegory of Wisdom and Strength and Venus and Mars by Paolo Veronese
Orléans Madonna by Raphael |
1657_39 | Current locations
National Gallery, London - at least 25 works, plus two currently on loan there.
National Gallery of Scotland - sixteen works, including those on loan.
Wallace Collection, London - 6 works
Metropolitan Museum, New York - At least three works, the Raphael Colonna Altarpiece and a predella panel, a Philippe de Champaigne, and a Veronese
National Gallery of Art, Washington - four works by: Rembrandt, Ludovico Carracci, Sébastien Bourdon and ?Jan Cossiers (as well as two important works from other sources once in the collection of Earl Gower).
Frick Collection, New York - two Veroneses (see above), two portraits of Frans Snyders and his wife by van Dyck
Other works are in: Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Malibu, Paris, Rome, Boston (Titian The Rape of Europa), Tokyo, Kansas City, and many other cities.
Notes |
1657_40 | References
Brigstocke, Hugh; Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland, 2nd Edn, 1993, National Galleries of Scotland,
Buchanan, William; Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures of Great Masters into England by the Great Artists since the French Revolution, 1824, Ackermann, London, published in 1824 (of which the first 200 pages of Volume I are devoted to the Orleans sales, listing the works and most prices and buyers) Memoirs of Painting online text also republished in 2008 by Read Books
Gould, Cecil, The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, National Gallery Catalogues, London 1975,
Lloyd, Christopher, The Queen's Pictures, Royal Collectors through the centuries, National Gallery Publications, 1991,
Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540-1600, 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, |
1657_41 | Reitlinger, Gerald; The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760-1960, Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961
Trevor-Roper, Hugh; Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517-1633, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976
Turner, Nicholas, Federico Barocci, 2000, Vilo
Watson, Peter; Wisdom and Strength, the Biography of a Renaissance Masterpiece, Hutchinson, 1990, |
1657_42 | Further reading
Schmid, Vanessa I (ed), The Orleans Collection, 2018, D Giles Ltd,
Cristina di Svezia, Le Collezioni Reali (exhibition catalogue), Mondadori Electa, Milan, 2003,
Folliot, Franck, Forray, Anne, and Mardrus, Françoise; articles in Le Palais-Royal (exhibition catalogue), Musée Carnavalet, Paris 1988
Macgregor, Arthur, ed.; The Late King's Goods. Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of the Commonwealth Sale Inventories, Alistair McAlpine / Oxford University Press, 1989,
Brotton, Jerry. Sale of the Late King's Goods: Charles I & His Art Collection, Macmillan, 2006,
External links
The Bridgewater Syndicate Web feature from the National Gallery
The Bridgewater Collection: Its Impact on Collecting and Display in Britain Lecture text by Susanna Avery-Quash, Research Curator in the History of Collecting: delivered at the National Gallery 7 December 2009
Orléans
1630s establishments in Sweden
1792 disestablishments
Italian art
Swedish monarchy |
1658_0 | Olean ( ) is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County and serves as its financial, business, transportation and entertainment center. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern Tier region of Upstate New York.
The city is surrounded by the town of Olean and is located in the southeastern part of Cattaraugus County. The population was 13,437 in 2019 per the United States Census Bureau.
History
The first European in the area was possibly Joseph de La Roche Daillon, a missionary and explorer from Canada. La Roche reported on the presence of oil near Cuba, the first petroleum sighting in North America. At that time the area was a part of the territory of the Wenrohronon or Wenro Indians, an Iroquois speaking people. In 1643, the Wenro tribes became the first victims of a series of brutal conflicts known as the Second Beaver War. |
1658_1 | The area was first settled by Europeans around 1765, called by the Indian name Ischua. Officially, this was illegal, as the British had declared the land in the Allegheny River watershed to be part of the Indian Reserve after conquering the territory in the French and Indian War two years prior. The surface is a hilly upland, separated into two distinct parts by the valley of the Allegheny. The highest points are above the valley. During the American Revolutionary War, the 1779 Sullivan Expedition established the first road to what would become Olean, blazing a trail to what is now Kittanning, Pennsylvania along the path of what is now New York State Route 16. |
1658_2 | Originally the entire territory of the county of Cattaraugus was called the Town of Olean, formed March 11, 1808. As population allowed, the county was split in half and the top half was called "Hebe", and was taken off in 1812, a part of Perrysburgh in 1814, then Great Valley in 1818. Hinsdale formed in 1820, and Portville in 1837, leaving the current boundary of Olean that lies upon the south line of the county, near the southeast corner. The area remained sparsely populated until 1804, when Major Adam Hoops acquired the land and gave it its modern name. Hoops was a surveyor and Revolutionary War veteran, and was politically connected with Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Along with Morris, Hoops became involved with the Holland Land Company, which was settling western New York. |
1658_3 | This was a time of great western expansion into places such as Ohio and Indiana. Since neither canals nor railroads had become widespread by this point, the main means of travel were either by cart or by small-boat travel. The Allegheny River was a major transportation route. Hoops believed that a great city could be created at the confluence of the Allegheny and one of its tributaries, and went looking for the right spot. In 1804, he found one where Olean Creek meets the river; the confluence was important, as it was the farthest point downstream in the state before hitting the Seneca Reservation that surrounded most of New York's piece of the river. Hoops received title to from the Holland Land Company in 1804. Hoops' brother Robert came to the site and built the first permanent structure near today's Forness Park, calling the area Hamilton in honor of Alexander Hamilton. |
1658_4 | In a letter to Joseph Ellicott in 1804, Hoops discusses the name Olean from the local Oil Springs and the Latin word oleum:
Canandaigua, N.Y., April 15, 1804
"To Joseph ELLICOTT, Esq., Batavia, New York. |
1658_5 | Dear Sir,―It was proposed to me at New York to drop the Indian name of Ischue or Ischua (it is also spelt other ways). Confusion might arise from the various spellings, of which to obviate all risk I have concluded so to do as proposed. The neighborhood of the oil spring suggests a name different in sound, though perhaps not different in meaning, which I wish to adopt,―it is "Olean." You will do me a favor by assisting me to establish this name. It may easily be done now by your concurrence. The purpose will be most effectually answered by employing the term, when occasion requires, without saying anything of an intended change of name. To begin, you will greatly oblige me by addressing the first letter you may have occasion to write to me, after I receive the survey, to the Mouth of Olean. The bearer being properly instructed, there will be thereafter no difficulty. Your co-operation in the matter (the effect of which, though not important in itself, may be so on account of |
1658_6 | precision) will oblige. Your servant, A. HOOPS |
1658_7 | The Post Office recognized the new town as "Olean Point". The site was surveyed by 1808, and a map from that year shows a basic street pattern that still survives, along with most of the modern street names. In 1823, the city is called Olean, without the "Point", on county maps. |
1658_8 | In 1854 Olean was formally incorporated by the New York State Legislature, and the trustees elected at the first subsequent town meeting were Dr. Lambert Thithney, C.B.B. Barse, Charles Thing, and John K. Comstock. Enos C. Brooks was appointed clerk of Olean. |
1658_9 | Timber and railroads
Adam Hoops's dream of creating a major transportation hub on the Allegheny River, on the scale of a Buffalo or a Pittsburgh, was never realized, and he himself died in poverty. Nonetheless, Olean prospered and was soon the central town of the region. Olean grew quickly as a transportation hub for migrants taking the Allegheny River into Ohio. For much of this era, Olean was larger and better known than its northern competitor, Buffalo. This period ended with the creation of the great canals, especially the Erie Canal in 1825. The Allegheny River was usually too shallow for the larger steamboats to navigate except in the spring, and only two steamboats—the Allegheny in 1830 and the New Castle of 1837—reached the city. A Genesee Valley Canal was extended to Olean and the Allegheny River in 1862, but the Allegheny's shallowness and the rise of the railroads rendered it obsolete before it even opened. |
1658_10 | Timber was a major industry in New York and Pennsylvania between 1830 and 1850, and Olean was the chief timber town in the region during those times. After river travel declined, Olean became the regional railroad hub. The town was the crossroads of several railroads, a situation which endures into today with the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. |
1658_11 | Olean was the home of several corporations. During the late-19th century, Olean had a few mills, a bicycle company, a manufacturer of mechanical pumps and a glass works, among other factories. St. Bonaventure University was founded just outside town in 1858. Olean was incorporated as a village in 1854, and as a city in 1893. Olean was a rival of the comparably-populated, but much newer, city of Salamanca, New York at the turn of the 20th century, but the decline of the timber industry in southwestern Cattaraugus County and complications with Salamanca being situated on borrowed Seneca Nation land allowed Olean to continue growing while Salamanca declined.
Oil and rum-running
Oil was first discovered in the region by a French explorer in 1632, but it was rediscovered for commercial use during the Pennsylvania oil rush. Oil became the city's claim to fame for fifty years. |
1658_12 | Olean was the railroad and pipeline hub for the surrounding oil region. The operations HQ of Standard Oil's New York affiliate, Socony, was based in the city. Oil produced on both sides of the state line (e.g. in Bradford, Pennsylvania) would be transported to Olean for rail travel. For a short time, Olean was the world's largest oil depot, complete with a "tank city" on the edge of town. A pipeline was also built linking the city to Standard Oil refineries in Bayonne, New Jersey. The oil industry maintained a presence in the city until 1954, the same year in which Olean's population peaked.
Oil also produced Olean's highest-ranking politician. Oil executive Frank W. Higgins was governor of New York in 1905–1907. Higgins' family owned grocery stores in the area, and Higgins also ran this business before his political career. To this day, Olean is one of the few smaller cities in New York State to be home to a governor. |
1658_13 | Olean garnered notoriety as a major stop on bootlegging routes during Prohibition through the 1920s until 1933. Dempsey, the Chief of Police, did not condone these thugs or their illegal activities. He did not aggressively pursue arrests, however, unless he had evidence that the violator was responsible for a crime committed in his jurisdiction. As long as you kept your nose clean in the Olean City limits, it was a "safe haven". Local stories relating to this period are numerous. Some are documented and some are legends. Olean, located on a back-road route between Chicago and New York City, was often frequented by famous mobsters of the era. Al Capone of Chicago, probably the most famous gang leader of the time, visited Olean in pursuance of his illegal endeavors. Olean was nicknamed "Little Chicago" in the press, due to its connection with mobsters and bootleggers, and Capone was a frequent visitor. |
1658_14 | Today
Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County. The city's population peaked at an estimated 25,000 during the mid-1950s. The current population of the city is around 15,000.
Geography
Olean is located in southeastern Cattaraugus County at (42.08264, -78.430965).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 4.19%, is water.
The city is located where Olean Creek flows into the Allegheny River and by the Southern Tier Expressway (Interstate 86 and New York State Route 17). New York State Route 417 passes east–west through the city and intersects New York State Route 16, a north–south highway.
Climate
Demographics |
1658_15 | As of the census of 2000, there were 15,347 people, 6,446 households, and 3,803 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,588.0 people per square mile (999.2/km2). There were 7,121 housing units at an average density of 1,200.8 per square mile (463.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 93.31% White, 3.47% Black or African American, 0.43% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.24% of the population.
There were 6,446 households, out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.97. |
1658_16 | In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.6% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,400, and the median income for a family was $38,355. Males had a median income of $32,341 versus $22,469 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,169. About 13.9% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.
Economy |
1658_17 | Cutco is headquartered in Olean and manufactures all of its knives in the city.
Dresser-Rand's North American headquarters was in Olean.
Hysol Corporation, later bought by Dexter Corporation and then Henkel was one of Olean's largest employers. Henkel sold the company to SolEpoxy in 2010.
Colonial Radio Group was headquartered in Olean from 2009 to 2018. It has since exited the region and moved to the Carolinas.
Olean General Hospital, is part of Upper Allegheny Health System (UAHS), which includes Bradford Regional Medical Center (BRMC) in Bradford, Pennsylvania. UAHS provides care to a service area with more than 160,000 individuals in Southwestern New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania.
Olean Wholesale Grocery, a regional grocery wholesaler, was located just east of the city. It was bought out by C&S Wholesale Grocers with intent to close the facility in 2019. |
1658_18 | Education
Olean has two elementary schools — East View Elementary and Washington West Elementary; a middle school — Olean Intermediate Middle School; and Olean High School is the city's public high school. It was the site of the Olean High School shooting in 1974.
Archbishop Walsh Academy is Olean's Roman Catholic school for grades K-12.
A branch of Jamestown Community College is within the city. St. Bonaventure University is a few miles to the west in the town of Allegany.
Sports
Bradner Stadium, originally built in the 1920s, is a multi-purpose stadium which for years was once the home to the minor-league baseball teams the Olean Oilers. However, in 2012 the Olean Oilers were recreated. The Oilers currently play in the NYCBL League and won the League Championship in 2015 and 2016.
Olean is also the home of the Southern Tier Diesel adult amateur football team. |
1658_19 | Bradner Stadium also hosts the Olean High School football team. The Huskies play all of their home games in the stadium located in East Olean.
Historic sites
The following are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Beardsley-Oliver House, Conklin Mountain House, Oak Hill Park Historic District, Olean Armory, Olean Public Library, Olean School No. 10, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Complex, Temple B'Nai Israel, Union and State Streets Historic District, and the United States Post Office.
The Church of St Mary of the Angels on Henley Street was built in 1915 and was designated by Pope Francis as a basilica in 2017. |
1658_20 | Transportation
Interstate 86 spans east–west and is to the northern edge of Olean. New York Route 16 heads north from Olean to Buffalo. New York Route 417 heads east from Olean. Until 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad operated the Buffalo Day Express heading north from Washington, D.C. through Olean to Buffalo (the Baltimore Day Express operated on the southbound version of the route). The Penn Central railroad operated an unnamed successor train through Olean from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Buffalo between 1968 and May 1, 1971, when passenger train service in the region ended with the inception of AMTRAK.
Since 2001, the former Erie Lackawanna Railway mainline between Hornell, NY and Meadville, PA has been operated by the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, a shortline railroad that has also operated portions of the former Pennsylvania Railroad Buffalo Line, both north and south of its Olean headquarters, since 2007. |
1658_21 | Until January 6, 1970, the Erie Lackawanna Railroad operated through Olean with the Chicago - Hoboken, New Jersey " Lake Cities": the last passenger train to traverse the entire Southern Tier. The Erie and the PRR train stations were about one mile apart.
The nearest general commercial airports with scheduled flights for the public are in Erie, Buffalo and the Elmira area.
Notable people
Sports
Claude Allen, Olympic athlete
George Capwell, soccer manager
Eddie Donovan, New York Knicks head coach (1961–1965), head coach, St. Bonaventure University, 1954–1961
Bob Lanier, Basketball Hall of Fame player, St. Bonaventure University player (1967–1970), Detroit Pistons player (1970–1980), Milwaukee Bucks (1980–1984)
John McGraw, Baseball Hall of Fame player and manager
John Wojcik, former MLB player
Louis Zamperini, World War II prisoner of war survivor, inspirational speaker, and former American competitor in the Olympics. |
1658_22 | Arts
Beverly Bower, opera singer
Bill Easley, saxophonist
JG Faherty, science fiction author
Jeff Fahey, actor
Donald Innis, architect who invented the floating airport
Bobby Johnston, film composer, musician
Robert Lax, poet
Grace Marra, musician
Thomas Merton, religious writer
Meg Saligman, muralist
Jon Serl, folk artist
Tom Stephan (aka Superchumbo), remix artist
Clifford Ulp, art professor
Politics
Augustus Barrows, Wisconsin lumberman and legislator
Chauncey J. Fox, New York State senator
Edward M. Gabriel, United States ambassador to Morocco
James F. Hastings, Republican U.S. congressman, 1969–1976
Frank W. Higgins, 35th governor of New York from 1905 to 1906
Frederick S. Martin, early Republican congressman
Timothy H. Porter, congressman
Heather Tully, nurse and member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
James C. Willson, 12th mayor of Flint, Michigan
Catharine Young, New York state senator |
1658_23 | Other
George G. Lundberg, pilot
Joe Mayer, founder of the town of Mayer, Arizona
Peter Tomarken, host of the game show Press Your Luck
See also
Radio stations in the Olean market
National Register of Historic Places listings in Cattaraugus County, New York
References
External links
City of Olean official website
Olean on Rootsweb
Populated places established in 1765
Cities in New York (state)
Cities in Cattaraugus County, New York
1765 establishments in New York |
1659_0 | This list of most-disliked YouTube videos contains the top 50 videos with the most dislikes of all time, as derived from YouTube charts. The dislike count is taken directly from the page of the video itself. YouTube implemented a like and dislike button on video pages in 2010 as part of a major site redesign. This feature serves as a replacement for the previous five-star rating system, which was found to be ineffective because of the rare selection of ratings from two to four stars. Of the 50 videos in this list, 6 also appear in the list of most-viewed YouTube videos and 4 appear in the list of most-liked YouTube videos. Note that dislike count does not indicate the true unpopularity of videos, which is better represented by dislike percentage, also provided in the table. For instance "Despacito", "Baby Shark Dance", and "Gangnam Style" all appear on this list, but appear in the list of most-liked YouTube videos as well. , Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes has the most videos in the top 50 |
1659_1 | with eleven, while YouTube has three and Jingle Toons have two. |
1659_2 | On December 13, 2018, YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind became the most disliked video on the video sharing platform, with 15 million dislikes rapidly surpassed the music video for Justin Bieber's song "Baby", which entered the Guinness World Records book as the most disliked video on YouTube and on the Internet. As of July 9, 2021, YouTube Rewind 2018 has over 7.1 million more dislikes than Justin Bieber's Baby.
In March 2011, "Baby", which then had 1.17 million dislikes, was surpassed by the video for Rebecca Black's "Friday", yielding more than 1.2 million dislikes. "Friday" amassed over three million dislikes before the video was taken down in June 2011. The video was reinstated three months later and has not been taken down since. |
1659_3 | Measurement of dislikes on YouTube has been of academic and political interest. Following its immediate negative reception, Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign advertisement "Strong" garnered over 600,000 dislikes within five days. This phenomenon was seen by Mike Barthel of The Village Voice as a reason not to judge entertainment and politics by the same standard of online publicity; he opined that the only time people are going to care more about politics than entertainment is when there is a clear and immediate threat to their well-being. Recently, many videos from news channels and corporations have been dislike bombed when they talk about topics like the 2020 election or the COVID-19 pandemic. |
1659_4 | Music videos, including children's music videos, made up a majority of the most disliked uploads to YouTube. "Baby Shark Dance" is the most disliked "made for kids" video, with over 13.3 million dislikes. 2016 showed the most disliked video game trailer, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, which stands at over three million dislikes. It became YouTube's second-most-disliked video within two weeks of being released. In 2016, PewDiePie achieved a video in the top 3 by specifically asking his own viewers to dislike his video. |
1659_5 | In August 2020, the Indian film Sadak 2s trailer became the most disliked movie trailer on YouTube. In the first two days after its release, the trailer received 5.3 million dislikes and currently has over 12 million dislikes. On August 18, at about 18:00 UTC, it surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" to become the second most-disliked video with 13.24 million dislikes. As of October 2021, more than half of the top 50 most-disliked videos are music videos for children, with 31 of these 50 videos (62%) being set as "made for kids" according to YouTube's changes in policy on January 6, 2020 to comply with COPPA. |
1659_6 | On November 10, 2021, YouTube announced that it would make dislike counts on videos private, purportedly to "reduce harassment associated with targeted dislike attacks." The announcement and update was widely criticized by the YouTube community, including from creators and YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, due to visible dislikes allowing users to immediately spot videos that are fraudulent, unhelpful, dangerous, explicit, discriminatory or generally poor-quality.
Top videos
The following table lists the top 50 most disliked videos on YouTube, with the estimated and final visible dislike counts being rounded to the nearest multiple of 10,000 and 1,000 dislikes, respectively, as well as the creator, dislike percentage and date of publication to YouTube. On December 13, 2021, YouTube removed public dislike counts on all videos. The amount of dislikes just before the removal will be shown below, taken from the night of December 12, 2021.
Legend: |
1659_7 | Historical most-disliked videos
The following table lists the last 4 videos to become YouTube's most disliked video, from the implementation of the dislike button in March 2010 to December 2021.
{| class=wikitable
! Title
! Uploader
! Dislikes*
! Upload date
! Date achieved
! Days held
! Ref(s)
! Notes
|-
| "~YouTube Worst Video of All Time~ vote 1 star, leave comment"*
| donotasyoudo
| ~195,000
|
|
| style=text-align:center;" | ~143
|
|
|-
| "Baby"*| Justin Bieber
| ~200,000
|
| ~
| style="text-align:center;" | ~220
|
|
|- bgcolor="#ffd9d9"
| "Friday"‡
| trizzy66
| 1,200,000
|
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 79
|
|
|-
| "Baby"⁂
| Justin Bieber
| 1,450,000
|
|
| style="text-align:center;" |2,737
|
|
|-
| "YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind"
|YouTube
| 9,882,000
|
|
| style="text-align:center;" |1,096
|
|
|-
! colspan="8" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;" | As of
|} |
1659_8 | *The approximate number of dislikes each video had when it became YouTube's most-disliked video.''
Timeline of Most Disliked Videos (March 2010 - December 2021)
See also
List of most-liked YouTube videos
List of most-viewed YouTube videos
List of most-subscribed YouTube channels
List of most-viewed online videos in the first 24 hours
List of most-viewed online trailers in the first 24 hours
Notes
References
YouTube Most Disliked
YouTube Most Disliked
Most Disliked Videos
Most Disliked
Criticism
YouTube controversies |
1660_0 | The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) was an Allied offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was directed against Luftwaffe targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1 April 1944. The subsequent highest priority campaigns were against V-weapon installations (June 1944) and petroleum, oil, and lubrication (POL) plants (September 1944). Additional CBO targets included railyards and other transportation targets, particularly prior to the invasion of Normandy and, along with army equipment, in the final stages of the war in Europe. |
1660_1 | The British bombing campaign was chiefly waged by night by large numbers of heavy bombers until the latter stages of the war when German fighter defences were so reduced that daylight bombing was possible without risking large losses. The US effort was by day – massed formations of bombers with escorting fighters. Together they made up a round-the-clock bombing effort except where weather conditions prevented operations.
The Pointblank directive initiated the primary portion of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive intended to cripple or destroy the German aircraft fighter strength, thus drawing it away from frontline operations and ensuring it would not be an obstacle to the invasion of Northwest Europe. The directive issued on 14 June 1943 ordered RAF Bomber Command and the U.S. Eighth Air Force to bomb specific targets such as aircraft factories; the order was confirmed at the Quebec Conference, 1943. |
1660_2 | Up to that point the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces had mostly been attacking German industry in their own way – the British by broad night attacks on industrial areas and the US in "precision attacks" on specific targets. The operational execution of the directive was left to the commanders of the forces and as such even after the directive the British continued in night attacks and the majority of the attacks on German fighter production.
Casablanca directive
Both the British and the US (through the Air War Plans Division) had drawn up their plans for attacking the Axis powers. |
1660_3 | After the British Ministry of Economic Warfare (MEW) published the "Bombers' Baedeker" in 1942 that identified the "bottleneck" German industries of oil, communications, and ball bearings, the Combined Chiefs of Staff agreed at the January 1943 Casablanca Conference to conduct the "Bomber Offensive from the United Kingdom" and the British Air Ministry issued the Casablanca directive on 4 February with the object of:
"The progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial and economic systems and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened. Every opportunity to be taken to attack Germany by day to destroy objectives that are unsuitable for night attack, to sustain continuous pressure on German morale, to impose heavy losses on German day fighter force and to conserve German fighter force away from the Russian and Mediterranean theatres of war." |
1660_4 | After initiating the preparation of a U.S. targeting plan on December 9, 1942; on March 24, 1943, General "Hap" Arnold, the USAAF Commander requested target information from the British, and the "Report of Committee of Operations Analysts" was submitted to Arnold on March 8, 1943 and then to the Eighth Air Force commander as well as the British Air Ministry, the MEW, and the RAF commander. The COA report recommended 18 operations during each three-month phase (12 in each phase were expected to be successful) against a total of 6 vulnerable target systems consisting of 76 specific targets. The six systems were 1) German submarine construction yards and bases, 2) German aircraft industry, 3) ball bearing manufacture, 4) oil production, 5) synthetic rubber and tires, and 6) military transport vehicle production. Using the COA report and information from the MEW, in April 1943 an Anglo-American committee (composed of British Chiefs of Staff and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff) under |
1660_5 | Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker; led by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr.; and including Brig. Gen. Orvil A. Anderson completed a plan for the "Combined Bomber Offensive from the United Kingdom", which projected the US bomber strength for the four phases (944, 1,192, 1,746, & 2,702 bombers) through to 31 March 1944. Eaker added a summary and final changes such as: "If the growth of the German fighter strength is not arrested quickly, it may become literally impossible to carry out the destruction planned" ("Intermediate Objectives" section). |
1660_6 | CBO Plan
A committee under General Ira C. Eaker, led by Brigadier General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr. and including Brig. Gen. Orvil A. Anderson, drew up a plan for Combined Bomber Operations. Finished in April 1943, the plan recommended 18 operations during each three-month phase (12 in each phase were expected to be successful) against 76 specific targets. The plan also projected the US bomber strength for the four phases (944, 1,192, 1,746, and 2,702 bombers) through 31 March 1944. |
1660_7 | Eaker's "Combined Bomber Offensive Plan" was "a document devised to help Arnold get more planes and men for the 8th Air Force" and not "designed to affect British operations in any substantive way." While the CBO Plan was being developed, the British independently drew up a plan in April 1943 entitled "The Attack on the GAF" which identified German fighter strength as "the most formidable weapon...against our bomber offensive" and advocated attacks on airfields and aircraft factories, The document recommended attacks on 34 airfields that were within range of the Rhubarb and Circus operations. The plan identified ten towns as suitable for attack by high level daytime bombing followed by RAF night attacks and may have influenced target selection by the Eighth AF (and, later, the Ninth AF). The Combined Chiefs of Staff approved the "Eaker Plan" on May 19, 1943, and identified six specific "target systems" such as the German aircraft industry (including fighter strength): |
1660_8 | 1. Intermediate objectives
German fighter strength
2. Primary objectives:
German submarine yards and bases
The remainder of the German aircraft industry
Ball bearings
Oil (contingent upon attacks against Ploiești)
3. Secondary objectives:
Synthetic rubber and tires
Military motor transport vehicles
Pointblank directive
On 14 June 1943, the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued the Pointblank directive which modified the February 1943 Casablanca directive. Along with the single-engine fighters of the CBO plan, the highest priority Pointblank targets were the fighter aircraft factories since the Western Allied invasion of France could not take place without fighter superiority. In August 1943, the Quebec Conference upheld this change of priorities. |
1660_9 | Among the factories listed were the Regensburg Messerschmitt factory (which would be attacked at high cost in August), the Schweinfurter Kugellagerwerke ball-bearing (attacked in October and also causing heavy USAAF losses) and the Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) which produced Bf 109 fighters.
Beginning of operations
The Combined Bomber Offensive began on 10 June 1943 during the British bombing campaign against German industry in the Ruhr area known as the "Battle of the Ruhr". Pointblank operations against the "intermediate objective" began on 14 June, and the "Effects of Bombing Offensive on German War Effort" (J.I.C. (43) 294) by the Joint Intelligence Subcommittee was issued 22 July 1943. |
1660_10 | The Germans built large-scale night-time decoys like the Krupp decoy site (German: Kruppsche Nachtscheinanlage) which was a German decoy-site of the Krupp steel works in Essen. During World War II, it was designed to divert Allied airstrikes from the actual production site of the arms factory.
Losses during the first months of Pointblank operations and lower-than-planned U.S. bomber production resulted in Chief of the Air Staff Sir Charles Portal complaining about the 3-month CBO delay at the Cairo Conference, where the British refused a U.S. request to place the CBO under a "single Allied strategic air commander." After Arnold submitted the October 9, 1943 "Plan to Assure the Most Effective Exploitation of the Combined Bomber Offensive" on October 22 the "Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff" signed orders to raid "the aircraft industries in the southern Germany and Austria regions". |
1660_11 | July 1943 was the first time that the USAAF would coordinate a raid on the same location as the RAF. They were to fly two daylight missions against industrial targets (U-boat pens and yards) in Hamburg following the opening raid of the RAF campaign against Hamburg. However fires started by the night's bombing obscured the targets and the USAAF " were not keen to follow immediately on the heels of RAF raids in the future because of the smoke problem". |
1660_12 | In October 1943 Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, C-in-C of RAF Bomber Command writing to his superior urged the British government to be honest to the public regarding the purpose of the bombing campaign and openly announce that:
"the aim of the Combined Bomber Offensive...should be unambiguously and publicly stated. That aim is the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers, and the disruption of civilized life throughout Germany.
It should be emphasized that the destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives, the creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale, and the breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by fear of extended and intensified bombing, are accepted and intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of attempts to hit factories." |
1660_13 | On February 13, 1944, the CCS issued a new plan for the "Bomber Offensive", which no longer included German morale in the objective: "The subject of morale had been dropped and [the number of cities with targets] gave me a wide range of choice. ... the new instructions therefore made no difference" to RAF Bomber Command operations (Arthur Harris). The February 13 plan was given the code name Argument, and after the weather became favorable on February 19, Argument operations were conducted during "Big Week" (February 20–25). Harris claimed the Argument plan was not "a reasonable operation of war", and the Air Staff had to order Harris to bomb the Pointblank targets at Schweinfurt.
In practice the USAAF bombers made large scale daylight attacks on factories involved in the production of fighter aircraft. The Luftwaffe was forced into defending against these raids, and its fighters were drawn into battle with the bombers and their escorts.
Pointblank operations |
1660_14 | Following the heavy losses (about ¼ of the aircraft) of "Black Thursday" (14 October 1943), the USAAF discontinued strikes deep into Germany until an escort was introduced that could follow the bombers to and from their targets. In 1944, the USAAF bombers—now escorted by Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and North American P-51 Mustangs—renewed their operation. Gen. Eaker gave the order to "Destroy the enemy air force wherever you find them, in the air, on the ground and in the factories." |
1660_15 | General Eaker was replaced at the start of 1944 as 8th Air Force commander by then-Major General Jimmy Doolittle Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred in early 1944 when he changed USAAF policy which required escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. With his permission, some of the American fighters on bomber escort missions would fly further ahead of the bombers' (combat box) formations with the intention of "clearing the skies" of any Luftwaffe fighter opposition heading towards the formations. This greater freedom for the fighters fatally disabled the Zerstörergeschwader ("destroyer wing") of twin-engined heavy fighters wings and their replacement, single-engined Sturmgruppen of heavily armed Fw 190s, clearing each force of bomber destroyers from Germany's skies throughout early 1944. And after the bombers had hit their targets, the USAAF fighters were free to strafe German airfields and transport on the return journey to base, contributing |
1660_16 | significantly to the achievement of air superiority by Allied air forces over Europe. |
1660_17 | Soon after Doolittle took command of the 8th Air Force, between February 20 and 25, 1944, as part of the Combined Bomber Offensive, the USAAF launched "Operation Argument", a series of missions against the Third Reich that became known as "Big Week". The Luftwaffe was lured into a decisive battle for air superiority through launching massive attacks by the bombers of the USAAF, protected by squadrons of Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and North American P-51 Mustangs, on the German aircraft industry. In defeating the Luftwaffe, the Allies achieved air superiority and the invasion of Western Europe could proceed.
Battle of Berlin |
1660_18 | The wording of both the Casablanca directive and the Pointblank directive allowed the Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command Arthur "Bomber" Harris sufficient leeway to continue the British campaign of night-time Area Bombardment against German industrial cities which targeted both the factories and - indirectly through destruction of housing - the factory workers. |
1660_19 | Between 18 November 1943 and 31 March 1944, RAF Bomber Command fought the Battle of Berlin, a campaign of 16 major raids on the German capital, interspersed with many other major and minor raids across Germany to reduce the predictability of the British operations. In these 16 raids the RAF destroyed around 4,500 acres (18 km²) of Berlin for the loss of 300 aircraft. Harris had planned to reduce most of the city to rubble, break German morale and so win the war. During the period of the battle of Berlin, the British lost 1,047 bombers across all its bombing operations in Europe with a further 1,682 aircraft damaged, culminating in the disastrous raid on Nuremberg on 30 March 1944. The campaign did not achieve its strategic objective, and coupled with the RAF's unsustainable losses (7–12% of aircraft committed to the large raids), the official British historians identified it as an operational defeat for the RAF. At the end of Battle of Berlin, Harris was obliged to commit his heavy |
1660_20 | bombers to the Transport Plan attacks on lines of communications in France as part of the preparations for the Normandy Landings and the RAF would not return to begin the systematic destruction of Germany until the last quarter of 1944. |
1660_21 | Pointblank outcome |
1660_22 | Operation Pointblank showed that Germany's aircraft and ball bearings plants were not very vulnerable to air attack. Its production of synthetic rubber, ammunition, nitrogen, and ethyl fluid was concentrated in fewer factories and would likely have been much more vulnerable. Despite bombing, "German single-engine fighter production ... for the first quarter of 1944 was 30% higher than for the third quarter of 1943, which we may take as a base figure. In the second quarter of 1944, it doubled; by the third quarter of 1944, it had tripled, in a year's time. In September 1944, monthly German single-engine fighter production reached its wartime peak – 3031 fighter aircraft. Total German single-engine fighter production for 1944 reached the amazing figure of 25,860 ME-109s and FW-190s" (William R. Emerson). Following Operation Pointblank, Germany dispersed the 27 larger works of its aircraft industry across 729 medium and very small plants (some in tunnels, caves, and mines). |
1660_23 | However, Operation Pointblank did help to diminish the Luftwaffes threat against the Allies, and by the Normandy Landings, the Luftwaffe had only 80 operational aircraft on the North French Coast, which managed about 250 combat sorties against the 13,743 Allied sorties that day.
According to Charles Webster and Noble Frankland, Big Week and the subsequent attack on the aircraft industry reduced "the fighting capacity of the Luftwaffe" through threatening the bombing of strategic targets and "leaving the German fighters with no alternative other than to defend them" but "the combat was primarily fought and certainly won" by the US long range fighters. |
1660_24 | Overlord air plan |
1660_25 | During the "winter campaign against the German aircraft industry ... January 11 [-] February 22, 1944", review began on the initial air plan for the Overlord which omitted the requirement "to seek air superiority before the landings were attempted." Instead, the plan was to bomb communications targets (primary) and rail yards and repair facilities (secondary). Air Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who would command the tactical element of the invasion air forces had been assigned the responsibility on June 26, 1943, for drafting the plan, and at the February 14, 1944, meeting regarding the Overlord air plan, he claimed German fighters would defend and be defeated during the attacks on rail yards, and if not, air superiority would instead be won over the D-Day beaches. Harris rebutted that even after the planned rail attacks, German rail traffic would be sufficient to supply invasion defenses; and Spaatz proposed attacks on industry in Germany to require fighters to be moved away from |
1660_26 | the Overlord beaches to defend the plants. Tedder concluded that a committee needed to study the pre-Overlord targeting, but when the committee met in March, no consensus was reached. |
1660_27 | On March 25, 1944 Portal chaired a meeting of the generals and restated the Pointblank objective of air superiority was still the highest CBO priority. Although the "Joint Chiefs of Staff" had previously argued that it was impossible to impede German military rail traffic due to the large reserve capacity, for the secondary priority Portal identified that pre-invasion railyard attacks only needed to reduce traffic so tactical airpower could inhibit enemy defenses during the first 5 weeks of OVERLORD. As endorsed on March 6 by the MEW and the U.S. Mission for Economic Affairs, Spaatz again proposed that "execution of the oil plan would force the enemy to reduce oil consumption ... and ... fighting power" during Overlord. Although "concerned that military transportation experts of the British Army had not been consulted" about the Transportation Plan, Eisenhower decided that "apart from the attack on the GAF [German Air Force] the transportation plan was the only one which offered a |
1660_28 | reasonable chance of the air forces making an important contribution to the land battle during the first vital weeks of Overlord". Control of all air operations was transferred to Eisenhower on April 14 at noon. |
1660_29 | However, after "very few German fighters rose to contest the early attacks on French rail yards" and the Ninth (tactical) AAF in England had dropped 33,000 tons of bombs through April on French railway targets, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt in May 1944 that he was not "convinced of the wisdom of this plan" Although Tedder's original Overlord air directive in mid-April listed no oil targets, Eisenhower permitted Spaatz to test that the Luftwaffe would defend oil targets more heavily. During the trial raids of May 12 and May 28, German fighters heavily defended the oil targets, and after the invasion had not begun during the good weather of May, Luftwaffe fighters in France were recalled to defend Reich industry. The German plan was to await the invasion and then, "on the cue words 'Threatening Danger West'," redeploy fighter strength back to unused French air bases when needed against the invasion. The last two Jagdgeschwader 26 Fw 190As, piloted by Josef Priller and his wingman |
1660_30 | Heinz Wodarczyk, that were to be recalled conducted two of the very sparse Luftwaffe day sorties over the Normandy beaches on D-day, and on June 7/8 the Luftwaffe began redeploying c. 600 aircraft to France for attacking the Normandy bridgehead. |
1660_31 | Pointblank operations ended on the fifth day of the Invasion. and the highest priority of the Combined Bomber Offensive became operations against the German rocket weapons in June 1944 and the Oil Campaign in September. Tedder's proposal to keep oil targets as the highest priority and place "Germany's rail system in second priority" was approved by the CSTC on November 1. On April 12, 1945, Strategic Bombing Directive No. 4 ended the strategic bombing campaign in Europe.
See also
Operation Crossbow
Oil Campaign of World War II
Transportation Plan
Notes
Notes
Citations
References
(cited by Mets, p. 409): |
1660_32 | Kuter quotes an Air Ministry memorandum for the July 5 meeting. (cited by Mets note 60, pp. 269, 394: at a "staff meeting the British Chiefs of Staff ... 5 July 1944 ... Portal had tried to move Harris away from area bombing to join in the attacks on oil. ... the recommendation that emerged was a gigantic attack on Berlin")
became the secondary priorities. (quoted by Mets note 23, pp. 260,393)
Craven, Wesley Frank, and Cate, James Lea, editors (1983). The Army Air Forces In World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, (Vol. 1).
(1949). Volume Two – Europe: Torch to Pointblank: August 1942 – December 1943
Further reading |
1660_33 | World War II strategic bombing
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United States
Military history of France during World War II
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving Germany
Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving Canada |
1661_0 | George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros, (30 January 1628 – 16 April 1687) was an English statesman and poet.
Life
Early life
George was the son of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, favourite of James I and Charles I, and his wife Katherine Manners. He was only seven months old when his father was assassinated at Portsmouth by the renegade officer John Felton. Subsequently, he was brought up in the royal household of Charles I, together with his younger brother Francis and the King's own children, the future Charles II and James II. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained the degree of Master of Arts in 1642. For a time he was taught geometry by Thomas Hobbes. During this time he was also acquainted with George Aglionby, whose influence he later accredited with persuading him to follow the English King in the Civil War.
Involvement in the English Civil War |
1661_1 | In the Civil War he fought for the King, and took part in Prince Rupert of the Rhine's attack on Lichfield Close in April 1643.
Under the care of the Earl of Northumberland, George and his brother travelled abroad and lived in Florence and Rome. When the Second English Civil War broke out they joined Royalists under the command of Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland in Surrey, in July 1648.
Holland scraped together a small force of 600 men and appointed Buckingham as his General of the Horse. This force was scattered after a minor engagement near Kingston upon Thames in which Buckingham's brother Francis was killed. Buckingham himself escaped after an heroic stand against six Roundhead opponents, his back against an oak tree, which became the stuff of Cavalier legend. After another doomed combat at St Neots the Duke succeeded in escaping to the Netherlands.
Exile with Charles II |
1661_2 | Because of his participation in the rebellion, his lands, which had been restored to him in 1647 on account of his youth, were confiscated and given to his future father-in-law, Thomas, Lord Fairfax. On 19 September 1649, Charles II conferred on him the Order of the Garter (KG) and admitted him to his Privy Council on 6 April 1650. |
1661_3 | In opposition to Hyde, Buckingham supported the alliance with the Scottish Presbyterians, accompanied Charles to Scotland in June, and allied himself with the Marquess of Argyll, dissuading Charles from joining the Royalist plot of October 1650, and being suspected of betraying the plan to the covenanting leaders. That May, he had been appointed general of the eastern association in England, and was sent to raise forces abroad; the following year, he was chosen to lead the projected movement in Lancashire and to command the Scottish royalists. He fought alongside Charles at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, but escaped alone to Rotterdam in October. |
1661_4 | His subsequent negotiations with Oliver Cromwell's government, and his readiness to sacrifice the interests of the church, separated him from the rest of Charles's advisers and diminished his influence. His estrangement from the royal family was completed by his audacious courtship of the king's widowed sister Mary, Princess of Orange, and by a money dispute with Charles.
Return and imprisonment |
1661_5 | In 1657, he returned to England, and on 15 September married Mary, daughter of Anne and Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who had fallen in love with him although the banns of her intended marriage with Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield were being called in church. Buckingham was soon suspected of organizing a Presbyterian plot against the government. An order was issued for his arrest on 9 October, despite Fairfax's interest with Cromwell. He was placed under house arrest at York House in April 1658, escaped, and was rearrested on 18 August. He was then imprisoned in the Tower of London until his mother and father-in-law negotiated his release on 23 February 1659. He was freed after promising not to assist the enemies of the government, and on Fairfax's security of £20,000. He joined Fairfax in his march against General John Lambert in January 1660, and afterwards claimed to have gained Fairfax to the cause of the Restoration.
After the Restoration |
1661_6 | The returning King Charles at first received Buckingham (who met him at his landing at Dover) coldly, but Buckingham was soon back in favour. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, carried the Sovereign's Orb at the coronation on 23 April 1661, and was made Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire on 21 September. The same year, he accompanied Princess Henrietta to Paris to marry the Duke of Orleans, but made such shameless advances to her that he was recalled. On 28 April 1662 he was admitted to the Privy Council. His confiscated estates, amounting to £26,000 a year, were restored to him, and he was said to be the king's richest subject. He helped suppress the projected insurrection in Yorkshire in 1663, went to sea in the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, and took measures to resist the Dutch or French invasion in June 1666. |
1661_7 | He was, however, debarred from high office by the influence of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the Chancellor. Buckingham now plotted to effect the Chancellor's ruin. He organized parties in both Houses of Parliament to support the Importation Act 1667 prohibiting the import of Irish cattle, partly to oppose Clarendon and partly to thwart the Duke of Ormonde. Having asserted during the debates that "whoever was against the bill had either an Irish interest or an Irish understanding", he was challenged to a duel by Ormonde's son Lord Ossory. Buckingham avoided the encounter, and Ossory was sent to the Tower. A short time afterwards, during a conference between the two Houses on 19 December, he came to blows with the Marquess of Dorchester: Buckingham pulled off the marquess's periwig, and Dorchester also "had much of the duke's hair in his hand." According to Clarendon, no misdemeanour so flagrant had ever before offended the dignity of the House of Lords. The offending peers |
1661_8 | were both sent to the Tower, but were released after apologising; and Buckingham vented his spite by raising a claim to the title of Baron Ros, held by Dorchester's son-in-law. His opposition to the government had lost him the king's favour, and he was now accused of treasonable intrigues, and of having cast the king's horoscope. His arrest was ordered on 25 February 1667, and he was dismissed from all his offices. He avoided capture till 27 June, when he gave himself up and was imprisoned in the Tower. |
1661_9 | He was released by 17 July, was restored to favour and to his appointments on 15 September, and took an active part in the prosecution of Clarendon. When Clarendon fell, he became the chief minister, even though he held no high office except that of Master of the Horse, bought from the Duke of Albemarle in 1668.
Villiers was a signatory to The Several Declarations of The Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, a document published in 1667 which led to the creation of the Royal Africa Company. |
1661_10 | In 1671 he was elected chancellor of Cambridge, and in 1672 high steward of the University of Oxford. He favoured religious toleration, and earned the praise of Richard Baxter; he supported a scheme of comprehension in 1668, and advised the Royal Declaration of Indulgence in 1672. He upheld the original jurisdiction of the Lords in Skinner's Case. With these exceptions Buckingham's tenure of office was chiefly marked by scandals and intrigues. His illicit connection with the Countess of Shrewsbury led to a duel with her husband the Earl at Barn Elms on 16 January 1668, in which the Earl was fatally wounded. The tale that the countess witnessed the encounter disguised as a page appears to have no foundation; but Buckingham provoked an outrage when he installed the "widow of his own creation" in his own and his wife's house, and sent his wife to her father's house. |
1661_11 | Buckingham was thought to be behind the idea of obtaining the divorce of the childless queen, Catherine of Braganza (though this never happened). He intrigued against James, Duke of York, against Sir William Coventry—one of the ablest statesmen of the time, whose fall he procured by provoking Coventry to send him a challenge—and against the Duke of Ormonde, who was dismissed in 1669. He was even suspected of having instigated Thomas Blood's attempt to kidnap and murder Ormonde, and was charged with the crime in the king's presence by Ormonde's son, Lord Ossory, who threatened to shoot him dead in the event of his father's meeting with a violent end. Arlington, next to Buckingham himself the most powerful member of the "Cabal" and a favourite of the king, was less easy to overcome; and he derived considerable influence from the control of foreign affairs entrusted to him. Buckingham always had been an adherent of the French alliance, while Arlington concluded through Sir William Temple |
1661_12 | the Triple Alliance of 1668. On the complete volte-face and surrender made by Charles to France in 1670, Arlington, a Roman Catholic, was entrusted with the first Treaty of Dover of 20 May—which besides providing for the united attack on the Dutch Republic, included Charles's undertaking to proclaim himself a Catholic and to reintroduce the Roman Catholic faith into England,—while Buckingham was sent to France to carry on the sham negotiations which led to the public treaties of 31 December 1670 and 2 February 1672. He was much pleased with his reception by Louis XIV, declared that he had "more honours done him than ever were given to any subject", and, was presented with a pension of 10,000 livres a year for Lady Shrewsbury. |
1661_13 | In June 1672, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, he accompanied Arlington to Nieuwerbrug to impose terms on the Prince of Orange, and when these were refused with Arlington arranged a new treaty, the Accord of Heeswijk with Louis. After all this activity he suffered a keen disappointment in being passed over for the command of the newly formed Blackheath Army in favour of the Duke of Schomberg. Buckingham was given command of a regiment, but resented serving under Schomberg. He now knew of the secret treaty of Dover, and towards the end of 1673 his jealousy of Arlington became open hostility. He threatened to impeach him, and endeavoured with the help of Louis to stir up a faction against him in parliament.
Downfall |
1661_14 | This, however, was unsuccessful, and in January 1674 both houses of Parliament attacked Buckingham. In the Lords, the trustees of the young Earl of Shrewsbury complained that Buckingham publicly continued his affair with the Countess, and that a son of theirs had been buried in Westminster Abbey with the title of Earl of Coventry; Buckingham and the countess were required to apologize and give security for £10,000 not to cohabit together again. In the House of Commons he was attacked as the promoter of the French alliance, of "popery" and arbitrary government. He defended himself chiefly by endeavouring to blame Arlington; but the house approved a petition to the king to remove Buckingham from his councils, presence and from employment forever. Charles, who had been waiting for a favourable opportunity, and who was enraged at Buckingham's disclosures, quickly consented. |
1661_15 | Buckingham retired, reformed his ways, attended church with his wife, began to pay his debts, became a "patriot", and was claimed by the country or opposition party as one of their leaders. In the spring of 1675 he was conspicuous for his opposition to the Test Oath and for his abuse of the bishops, and on 16 November he introduced a bill for the relief of the nonconformists. On 15 February 1677 he was one of the four lords who tried to embarrass the government by raising the question whether the parliament, not having assembled according to the act of Edward III once in the year, had not been dissolved by the recent prorogation. The motion was rejected and the four lords were ordered to apologize. When they refused, they were sent to the Tower, Buckingham in particular exasperating the House by ridiculing its censure. He was released in July, and immediately entered into intrigues with Paul Barillon, the French ambassador, with the object of hindering the grant of supplies to the |
1661_16 | king; and in 1678 he visited Paris to get the assistance of Louis XIV for the opposition's cause. |
1661_17 | He took an active part in prosecuting those implicated in the "Popish Plot", and accused the lord chief justice (Sir William Scroggs) in his own court while on circuit of favouring the Roman Catholics. Because of this, a writ was issued for his arrest, but it was never served. He promoted the return of Whig candidates to Parliament, constituted himself the champion of the dissenters, and was admitted a Freeman of the City of London. He, however, separated himself from the Whigs on the exclusion question, probably on account of his dislike of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Shaftesbury, was absent from the great debate in the Lords on 15 November 1680, and was restored to the king's favour in 1684.
Retirement |
1661_18 | He took no part in public life after James II's accession, but returned to his manor of Helmsley in Yorkshire, probably because of poor health and exhausted finances. In 1685 he published a pamphlet, entitled A short Discourse on the Reasonableness of Man's having a Religion in which after discussing the main subject he returned to his favourite topic, religious toleration. The tract provoked some rejoinders and was defended, amongst others, by William Penn, and by the author himself in The Duke of Buckingham's Letter to the unknown author of a short answer to the Duke of Buckingham's Paper (1685). In hopes of converting him to Roman Catholicism, James sent him a priest, but Buckingham ridiculed his arguments. He died on 16 April 1687, from a chill caught while hunting, in the house of a tenant in Kirkbymoorside in Yorkshire (it is known as Buckingham House and it is located in the town centre), expressing great repentance and feeling himself "despised by my country and I fear |
1661_19 | forsaken by my God". |
1661_20 | The miserable picture of his end drawn by Alexander Pope is greatly exaggerated. Buckingham was buried on 7 June 1687 in Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey, with greater splendour than the late king. With his death, the family founded by the extraordinary rise to power and influence of the first duke ended. As he left no legitimate children, the title became extinct, and his great estate was completely dissipated; of the enormous mansion he constructed at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire only the arcaded terrace remains. |
1661_21 | Character |
1661_22 | Buckingham was one of the archetypal Restoration rakes, part of the "Merry Gang" of courtiers whose other members included John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Sir Charles Sedley, Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, and the playwrights William Wycherley and George Etherege. Following the tone set by the monarch himself, these men distinguished themselves in drinking, sex and witty conversation. Buckingham is often judged ostentatious, licentious, and unscrupulous, the "Alcibiades of the seventeenth century." But even his critics agree that he was good-humoured, good-natured, generous, an unsurpassed mimic, and the leader of fashion. His good looks and amusing wit made him irresistible to his contemporaries, in spite of his moral faults and even crimes. A contemporary observer at the Court of Charles II found him: "Courteous, affable, generous, magnanimous...he is adored by the people....On the other hand he is an atheist, blasphemer, violent, cruel and infamous for his |
1661_23 | licentiousness, in which he is so wrapped up that there is no sex, nor age, nor condition of persons who are spared from it". His portrait has been drawn by Burnet, Count Hamilton in the Memoires de Grammont, John Dryden, Alexander Pope in the Epistle to Lord Bathurst, and Sir Walter Scott in Peveril of the Peak. John Reresby calls him "the first gentleman of person and wit I think I ever saw", and Burnet bears the same testimony. Dean Lockier, after alluding to his unrivalled skill in riding, dancing and fencing, adds, "When he came into the presence-chamber it was impossible for you not to follow him with your eye as he went along, he moved so gracefully". Racing and hunting were his favourite sports, and his name long survived in the hunting songs of Yorkshire. |
1661_24 | The Duke was the patron of Abraham Cowley, Thomas Sprat, Matthew Clifford and William Wycherley. He dabbled in chemistry, and according to Thomas Burnet, "he thought he was very near the finding of the philosopher's stone." He set up the Vauxhall glassworks at Lambeth, the productions of which were praised by John Evelyn; and he spent much money, according to his biographer Brian Fairfax, in building substructiones insanae. John Dryden described him under the character of Zimri in celebrated lines in the poem Absalom and Achitophel (to which Buckingham replied in Poetical Reflections on a late Poem ... by a Person of Honour, 1682): |
1661_25 | Buckingham, however, cannot with any truth be called "mankind's epitome". On the contrary, the distinguishing features of his life are incompleteness, aimlessness, imperfection, insignificance, neglected talent and wasted opportunity. "He saw and approved the best", says Brian Fairfax, "but did too often deteriora sequi (Latin > "follow the worst")". He is more severely but more justly judged by himself. In light-hearted moments he wrote "Methinks, I see the wanton houres flee, And as they passe, turne back and laugh at me", but his last recorded words, "O! what a prodigal have I been of that most valuable of all possessions—Time!" express with exact truth the fundamental flaw of his character and career, of which he had at last become conscious.
Works |
1661_26 | Buckingham wrote occasional verses, pamphlets, lampoons, satires and plays showing undoubted (but undeveloped) poetic gifts, a collection of which, containing however many pieces not from his pen, was first published by Tom Brown in 1704; while a few extracts from a commonplace book of Buckingham of some interest are given in an article in the Quarterly Review of January 1898. He was the author of The Rehearsal, an amusing and clever satire on the heroic drama and especially on Dryden's The Conquest of Granada (first performed on 7 December 1671, at the Theatre Royal, and first published in 1672), a deservedly popular play which was imitated by Henry Fielding in Tom Thumb the Great, and by Sheridan in The Critic. It is believed that Samuel Butler had a hand in it. Dryden had his revenge in his picture of Buckingham as Zimri in Absalom and Achitophel. Buckingham also published two adapted plays: a version of John Fletcher's The Chances (1682) and The Restoration or Right will take |
1661_27 | place, from Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster (publ. 1714); and also The Battle of Sedgmoor and The Militant Couple (publ. 1704). The latest edition of his works is that by T. Evans (2 vols. 8vo, 1775). Another work is named by Wood, A Demonstration of the Deity, of which there is now no trace. |
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