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Dual topology

In functional analysis and related areas of mathematics a dual topology is a locally convex topology on a vector space that is induced by the continuous dual of the vector space, by means of the bilinear form (also called pairing) associated with the dual pair.

The different dual topologies for a given dual pair are characterized by the Mackey–Arens theorem. All locally convex topologies with their continuous dual are trivially a dual pair and the locally convex topology is a dual topology.

Several topological properties depend only on the dual pair and not on the chosen dual topology and thus it is often possible to substitute a complicated dual topology by a simpler one.

Definition
Given a dual pair $$(X, Y, \langle, \rangle)$$, a dual topology on $$X$$ is a locally convex topology $$\tau$$ so that
 * $$(X, \tau)' \simeq Y.$$

Here $$(X, \tau)'$$ denotes the continuous dual of $$(X,\tau)$$ and $$(X, \tau)' \simeq Y$$ means that there is a linear isomorphism
 * $$\Psi : Y \to (X, \tau)',\quad y \mapsto (x \mapsto \langle x, y\rangle).$$

(If a locally convex topology $$\tau$$ on $$X$$ is not a dual topology, then either $$\Psi$$ is not surjective or it is ill-defined since the linear functional $$x \mapsto \langle x, y\rangle$$ is not continuous on $$X$$ for some $$y$$.)

Properties

 * Theorem (by Mackey): Given a dual pair, the bounded sets under any dual topology are identical.
 * Under any dual topology the same sets are barrelled.

Characterization of dual topologies
The Mackey–Arens theorem, named after George Mackey and Richard Arens, characterizes all possible dual topologies on a locally convex space.

The theorem shows that the coarsest dual topology is the weak topology, the topology of uniform convergence on all finite subsets of $$X'$$, and the finest topology is the Mackey topology, the topology of uniform convergence on all absolutely convex weakly compact subsets of $$X'$$.

Mackey–Arens theorem
Given a dual pair $$(X, X')$$ with $$X$$ a locally convex space and $$X'$$ its continuous dual, then $$\tau$$ is a dual topology on $$X$$ if and only if it is a topology of uniform convergence on a family of absolutely convex and weakly compact subsets of $$X'$$

title: Dual topology


text:
Floris Takens

Floris Takens (12 November 1940 – 20 June 2010) was a Dutch mathematician known for contributions to the theory of chaotic dynamical systems.

Together with David Ruelle, he predicted that fluid turbulence could develop through a strange attractor, a term they coined, as opposed to the then-prevailing theory of accretion of modes. The prediction was later confirmed by experiment. Takens also established the result now known as the Takens's theorem, which shows how to reconstruct a dynamical system from an observed time-series. He was the first to show how chaotic attractors could be learned by neural networks.

Takens was born in Zaandam in the Netherlands. He attended schools in The Hague and in Zaandam before serving in the Dutch army for one year (1960–1961). At the University of Amsterdam, he concluded his undergraduate and graduate studies. He was granted a doctorate in mathematics in 1969 under the supervision of Nicolaas Kuiper for a thesis entitled The minimal number of critical points of a function on a compact manifold and the Lusternik–Schnirelmann category.

After his graduate work, Takens spent a year at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, in Bures-sur-Yvette, near Paris, where he worked with David Ruelle, René Thom, and Jacob Palis. His friendship with Palis has taken him many times to the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Their collaboration produced several joint publications.

Takens was a professor at the University of Groningen, in Groningen, the Netherlands from 1972 until he retired from teaching in 1999.

Takens was member of:
 * The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1991)
 * The Brazilian Academy of Sciences (since 1981), and
 * The editorial board for the Springer-Verlag's Lecture Notes in Mathematics.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Floris Takens


text:
S&H Green Stamps

S&H Green Stamps was a line of trading stamps popular in the United States from 1896 until the late 1980s. They were distributed as part of a rewards program operated by the Sperry & Hutchinson company (S&H), founded in 1896 by Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson. During the 1960s, the company issued more stamps than the U.S. Postal Service, and distributed 35 million catalogs a year. Customers received stamps at the checkout counters of supermarkets, department stores, and gasoline stations among other retailers, which could then be redeemed for products from the catalog. Top Value Stamps ceased operations in the early 1980s, after which S&H would accept savings books for those left with unredeemed Top Value books, before S&H itself also ceased business.

S&H Green Stamps had several competitors, including Greenbax Stamps offered by Piggly Wiggly, Gold Bell Gift Stamps (in the Midwest), Triple S Stamps (offered by Grand Union Supermarkets), Gold Bond Stamps, Blue Chip Stamps, Plaid Stamps (a project of A&P Supermarkets), Top Value Stamps, King Korn Stamps, Quality Stamps, Gunn Brothers given by Safeway, Buccaneer, and Eagle Stamps (a project of several divisions of the May Department Stores Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, and offered, notably, by May Company stores, supermarkets, drug stores, gas stations, and dry cleaners in the midwest area).

Beginnings
Sperry & Hutchinson began offering stamps to U.S. retailers in 1896. The retail organizations that distributed the stamps were primarily supermarkets, gasoline filling stations, and stores. They bought the stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses to shoppers based on the dollar amount of a purchase. A 1963 magazine article stated that the average supermarket paid $2.45 for the stamps needed to fill one collector book.

The stamps were issued in denominations of one, ten, and fifty points, perforated with a gummed reverse. As shoppers accumulated the stamps, they moistened the reverse and mounted them in collector's books, which were provided free by S&H. The books contained 24 pages and filling a page required 50 points, so each book contained 1,200 points. Shoppers could then exchange filled books for premiums, including housewares and other items, from the local Green Stamps store or catalog. Each premium was assigned a value expressed by the number of filled stamp books required to obtain it.

Classification
Green Stamps were one of the early retail loyalty programs, by which retailers purchased the stamps from the operating company and then gave them away at a rate determined by the merchant. Some shoppers would choose one merchant over another because they gave out more stamps per dollar spent.

International
The company also traded overseas. During the early 1960s, it initiated S&H Pink Stamps in the United Kingdom, having been beaten to their green shield trademark during 1958 by Richard Tompkins's Green Shield Trading Stamp Company.

Legal issues
In 1972, the company was brought before the United States Supreme Court for violating the unfairness doctrine. In FTC v. Sperry & Hutchinson Trading Stamp Co., the court held that restricting the trade of the stamps was illegal.

Sperry and Hutchinson was sold by the founders' successors in 1981 to Baldwin United. In 1999, it was purchased from Leucadia National, a holding firm, by a member of the founding Sperry family. At that time, only about 100 U.S. stores were offering Green Stamps.

On-line factors
Eventually, with the rise of the Internet and the World Wide Web, the company modified its practices, and offered "greenpoints" as rewards for online purchases. The Greenpoints could be earned and redeemed at only a few stores, such as Foodtown in New York state and New Jersey.

The S&H Greenpoints program was discontinued as of October 4, 2020 and it was announced that all legacy S&H Green Stamps no longer had value and could no longer be redeemed, while S&H Greenpoints totals would be transferred to a new program called Freshpoints.

Purchase
Anthony Zolezzi, founder of Bubba Gump Shrimp Company,   Pet Promise Natural Dog Food  and Greenopolis Recycling Rewards, purchased the company in 2013 with plans to relaunch it.

Furniture division
Between 1969 and 1971, Sperry & Hutchinson bought four furniture companies, which became part of a Richmond, Virginia-based furniture division in 1974. While S&H bought other furniture companies, the first four became a High Point, North Carolina-based division called S&H Furniture in 1976. In 1981, S&H executives bought the division along with other investors, forming LADD Holding Co. in 1981 and LADD Furniture Inc. in 1983.

S & H Solutions
On December 7, 2006, it was announced that S&H Solutions was purchased by San Francisco-based Pay By Touch. The purchase price was in excess of $100 million in cash and stock. Pay By Touch suddenly shut its operations in 2008 and sold its assets to other corporations. S&H Solutions was acquired in 2012 by Prologics Redemption Solutions, a company which creates private label retailer loyalty reward systems

title: S&H Green Stamps


text:
Bernhard Fernow

Bernhard Eduard Fernow (January 7, 1851 – February 6, 1923) was the third chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Division of Forestry of the United States from 1886 to 1898, preceding Gifford Pinchot in that position, and laying much of the groundwork for the establishment of the United States Forest Service in 1905. Fernow's philosophy toward forest management may be traced to Heinrich Cotta's preface to Anweisung zum Waldbau (Instruction in Silviculture) or Linnaeus' ideas on the "economy of nature." Fernow has been called the "father of professional forestry in the United States."

Early life and education
Fernow was born in Hohensalza (Inowrocław) in the Prussian Province of Posen. He spent time with his uncle, who managed the estate of his extended family. After finishing his secondary studies, Fernow spent a year in the Prussian forest service. He then studied at the University of Königsberg and the Royal Prussian Academy of Forestry at Münden, his studies being interrupted for military service in the Franco-Prussian War. Before graduating from college, he met Olivia Reynolds, an American woman accompanying her brother during his studies in Germany. They got engaged, and he followed her to the United States. Married in 1879, the couple had five children. Olivia actively helped him in the many aspects of his work.

Career
He emigrated to the United States in 1876, leaving an upset family in Germany who had been expecting him to manage the family estate. He found little market in the United States for his skills as a professional forester, and worked various odd jobs until 1878 when he got a job in Pennsylvania managing the 15,000 acres of woods which were used to obtain charcoal for the foundry of Cooper-Hewitt and Co. Fernow's observation and works like Report on the Forests of North America (Charles S. Sargent, 1884) showed him the need for proper forest management in the U.S., and he lectured on the subject. Through his job and trade connections, he got to know Abram S. Hewitt, who was influential in President Grover Cleveland's decision to give Fernow a senior position in the Deaprtment of Agriculture.

USDA Division of Forestry
Fernow became chief of the United States Department of Agriculture's Division of Forestry in 1886. His main policy goals were the establishment of a national forest system and introduction of scientific forest management. He produced many scientific reports while working toward the creation of national forests to protect watersheds. Displays that Fernow prepared for the forestry exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair played a prominent role in generating public support for establishing a Prussian-style national forest service and system for educating professional foresters in the United States.

Cornell University
In 1898 Fernow left the Division of Forestry to become the first dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell, the first four-year forestry school in the United States. The program's life was short, being closed in 1903 following a veto of state appropriations by New York governor Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr. in response to a conflict over the direction and management of the School's experimental forest in Franklin County, New York. In his veto message Governor Odell said: "The operations of the College of Forestry have been subjected to grave criticism, as they have practically denuded the forest lands of the State without compensating benefits. I deem it wise therefore to withhold approval of this item until a more scientific and more reasonable method is pursued in the forestry of the lands now under the control of Cornell University."

As the univertsity's director, Fernow played a central role in this controversy. He had organized a plan to demonstrate how the northern hardwood forests of the area, which had previously been logged of their large spruce and white pine timber by former owners, the Santa Clara Lumber Company, could be replanted with higher-value conifers, especially white pine. The plan drew criticism from adjacent landowners who successfully lobbied the State to oppose it because it involved clearcutting a total of 30000 acre of forestland at the rate several thousand acres per year to prepare for planting conifers. Smoke from the burning of brush and logging slash, along with Fernow's arrogant disposition toward landowners from nearby Upper Saranac Lake further alienated the public.

In 1899, 1903, and 1908, forest fires inflicted damage in the Adirondacks, consuming tens of thousands of acres. Most fires were started by sparks flying from coal-burning locomotive stacks and landing on logging slash. Louis Marshall, with a summer residence at Knollwood Club on Saranac Lake, branded locomotives as "instruments of arson." The worst sin of the lumbermen was the fire menace that they left behind, and which caused incalculable destruction. Nevertheless, Fernow had a 6 mi long railroad spur built from Axton to Tupper Lake in order to deliver logs to the Brooklyn Cooperage Company facility. The management plan had the backing of Cornell's president Schurman, and was found to be technically sound, if imperfectly carried out, by Fernow's contemporaries who practiced forestry in Europe and America. Still, the controversy resulted in Fernow's most notable professional failure, and has been seen in retrospect as evidence of his weakness at operating in the public arena to gain public and political support for forest management.

Subsequent positions
After leaving Cornell, Fernow became the nation's first consulting forester, with an office in New York City.

In 1907, he became the first professor of forestry in a four-year baccalaureate degree program at the Pennsylvania State University, in State College. After teaching the 1907 spring semester at Penn State, Fernow left to become the first head of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto. He gave as a reason for leaving Penn State an argument with Joseph Rothrock, head of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy, over the future of that school.

In 1907, Fernow became the founding Dean of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry, Canada's first university school devoted to forest science. He served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Forestry, which he had started at Cornell in 1902, until his death in 1923. He became a member of the Commission of Conservation of Canada on its organization in 1910.

Harriman Expedition
In 1899, Fernow was recruited as a member of New York's E. H. Harriman expedition to Alaska along with fellow Cornell University alumnus Louis Agassiz Fuertes. The expedition set sail from Seattle on May 31, 1899 aboard the refitted steamer, the George W. Elder. "His research on the expedition was hampered by the fact that the coastal itinerary never gave him a look at the inland forests. His overview thus limited, he concluded that Alaska would never be a great source of timber: the wood was inferior and the conditions of lumbering too difficult. Some say that history has proven him wrong, but his opinion did have an effect: for a time, it discouraged commercial interests from prospecting for timber in the Alaskan forests."

Legacy
Fernow's reputation and legacy may have suffered because of the success and efforts of Pinchot and others who did not share Fernow's Prussian-style vision for professional forestry in America; Nonetheless, Fernow was among the pioneers of forestry education in America. The curriculum he set up at Cornell served as the model for professional forestry programs in North America.

 * Fernow's most enduring contributions were his work on the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 and the Organic Act of 1897 for the United States Congress.
 * The Journal of Forestry, now official publication of the Society of American Foresters, continues publication to this day.
 * Mount Fernow, the eighth highest mountain in Washington state, in Chelan County, was named for Bernhard Fernow by Albert H. Sylvester. According to the Washington Placenames database, there is second, smaller Mount Fernow, in King County; and a series of five lakes in Washington state, also named after Fernow.
 * Fernow Hall at Cornell University was built in 1912 and named after Fernow.
 * The Fernow Experimental Forest, a 4700 acre outdoor laboratory and classroom run by the United States Forest Service, was established in 1934 near Parsons, West Virginia and named for Fernow.
 * A plaque honoring Fernow is placed at 44.253°N, -74.343°W within Fernow Forest, a 68-acre (27.5 ha) remnant of the plantings from the failed experimental forest in what is now the Adirondack Park. A self-guided nature trail can be followed through the forest that includes specimens of Eastern White Pine and Norway Spruce planted as a part of the Cornell Demonstration Forest.

Works

 * The White Pine (1899)
 * Report upon Forestry Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture 1877-98 (1899)
 * Economics of Forestry (1902)
 * History of Forestry (1907)
 * The Care of Trees (1911)

In addition, he issued many other official reports and bulletins as part of his work for the USDA.

title: Bernhard Fernow


text:
Power Shift (conference)

Power Shift is an annual youth summit which has been held in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other Power Shift Conferences are also being organised by members of the International Youth Climate Movement including Africa, Japan and India. The focus of the events is on climate change policy.

History

The first Power Shift conference was held from November 2 to 5, 2007 in Washington, D.C., and was organised by the Energy Action Coalition. The second American conference occurred two years later on February 27 to March 2, 2009.

Following on from the success of the American format, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition organised a Power Shift event in Sydney, Australia, on July 11 to July 13, 2009. Similarly, the UK Youth Climate Coalition has scheduled the first British version of the event to run from October 9 to October 12, 2009. The first New Zealand Power Shift will be run between the 7th and 9 December 2012 in Auckland.

The aim of the Power Shift Conferences is to build the youth climate movement in their respective nations, which is achieved through workshops, expert panel discussions, keynote speakers, and a lobby day or a "Day of Action" as it is alternatively known.

American Power Shift conferences
The first Power Shift Conference took place from November 2 to 5 in 2007 with between 5,000 and 6,000 students and young people in attendance. It is claimed that due to the number of young people who attended the conference, it became the largest activist youth event on climate change in history. At the University of Maryland, College Park, a rally of between 2,000 and 3,000 people on the steps of the Capitol building and a Lobby Day. The event was also attended by a number of keynote speakers which included Al Gore. The main aim of the first conference was to urge elected officials to pass legislation which would include three planks taken from the platform of the climate advocacy coalition 1Sky:
 * The creation of a 5 million-strong Clean Energy Job Corps
 * The reduction of greenhouse gases to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, which scientists say is the baseline for mitigating the worst effects of global warming
 * A moratorium on new coal plants and divestment from fossil fuel and highway subsidies.

On February 27 to March 2, 2009, the second American Power Shift Conference took place. Similarly to the first summit, it included workshops, panel discussions, and speakers focusing on addressing climate change and environmental justice. Casper ter Kuile the co-director of the UK Youth Climate Coalition states that it is more than a youth movement, it is "social movement". This time, keynote speakers included Van Jones, Bill McKibben of 350.org, Ralph Nader, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The third American Power Shift took place April 15 to 18, 2011, in Washington, D.C., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The conference had over 10,000 attenders. People came to support various environmental movements, many in protest of President Barack Obama's alleged weakness on environmental issues. Guest speakers included former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford, and environmental advocate Van Jones.

The fourth Power Shift conference in the US was also the first outside of Washington. It was instead held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on October 19–21, 2013. Keynote speakers included Gasland director Josh Fox, Sierra Club director Michael Brune, and Kandi Mossett of the Indigenous Environmental Network. The program included a rally against coal production and the organization of protests against the Keystone XL Pipeline.

2006 conferences
In 2006, a series of student conferences on energy security were organized under the name PowerShift by the 20/20 Vision Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization based out of Maryland. (They were not affiliated with the 2007 and later Power Shift conferences organized by the Energy Action Coalition.) Over 250 people participated in the first conference which took place in Kalamazoo, MI on April 1, 2006, and featured former Central Intelligence Agency director Jim Woolsey giving a keynote speech on U.S. oil dependence and national security. The conferences also featured a simulated energy wargame called Oil Shockwave, developed by non-profit groups Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) and the National Commission on Energy Policy. The website for the conference series has been taken down, but is viewable using the Internet Wayback Machine.

Australian Power Shift conferences
Two years later in 2009, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, in partnership with the University of Western Sydney, GetUp and Greenpeace, organised the Australian Power Shift Conference on July 11 to 13, 2009. Approximately 1,500 young people attended the summit. Guests included former Vice President of the United States Al Gore, the swimmer Ian Thorpe and the actress Brooke Satchwell. The event concluded with a flashmob action outside the Sydney Opera House. In 2010, the AYCC held three regional Power Shift Conferences in Adelaide, Canberra and Geelong.

In 2011, the AYCC organised Power Shift Conferences in Perth and Brisbane with over 1,000 young people. Speakers included Bill McKibben, Kumi Naidoo, Anna Rose, Dick Smith and Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki.

In 2013 the AYCC will hold Australia's largest ever Power Shift, in Melbourne from July 13–15.

In 2022 Power Shift is set to be held in the city of Brisbane from September 23–25.

Canadian Power Shift conference
The first Canadian Power Shift event was held from October 23 to October 26, 2009, in Ottawa, Ontario, by the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. Subsequent summits were held in Ottawa, ON in 2012; Victoria, BC in 2013; Halifax, NS in 2014; and Edmonton, AB in 2016.

New Zealand Power Shift summit
A collaboration between 350.org Aotearoa and Generation Zero, a student environmental movement, and other individuals, will bring "Power Shift NZ-Pacific" to New Zealand for the first time, December 7–9, 2012, at the University of Auckland.

Confirmed speakers so far include; American Environmentalist Bill McKibben, Mayor of Auckland Len Brown and Xena: Warrior Princess actress Lucy Lawless.

UK Power Shift conferences
On October 9–12, 2009, the UK version of Power Shift was held at the Institute of Education in London. Modelled on a similar event to one organised by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and carrying the same name as the Energy Action Coalition event in the US, the event intended to develop the youth climate movement and provide young people with training on public speaking. The training was based on the techniques developed by Marshall Ganz, a civil rights activist who is credited with devising the successful grassroots organizing model and public narrative training for 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. The Power Shift event intended to serve as a feeder to the International Day of Action organised by 350.org on October 24.

A PowerShift UK event scheduled in 2011 was cancelled, but large-scale youth climate movement events have been taking place annually under the name Shared Planet since 1999, organised by the UK's largest student-led climate campaigning network People & Planet.

On May 3–4, 2014, a Power Shift UK event was held in London, titled 'Breaking Down the Barriers and Diversifying the Climate Movement'. Open to people from all walks of society who want to contribute to action on climate change, the event brought people across the UK together for a weekend of discussions and workshops, to share stories and ideas for action, and to challenge assumptions about diversifying the climate movement.

title: Power Shift (conference)


text:
James Skinner

James Skinner may refer to:

 * James Skinner (MP) (died 1558), MP for Reigate
 * James Skinner (missionary) (died 1821) English missionary and translator, see J. V. S. Taylor
 * James Skinner (East India Company officer) (1778–1841), Anglo-Indian soldier, founder of cavalry regiments, Skinner's Horse and 3rd Skinner's Horse
 * James Atchison Skinner (1826–1894), Scottish-born farmer, merchant and political figure in Ontario, Canada
 * James Scott Skinner (1843–1927), Scottish fiddler and dancing master
 * J. Allen Skinner (1890–1974), British trade unionist and pacifist
 * Jimmy Skinner (footballer) (1898–1984), English footballer
 * Jimmy Skinner (1917–2007), ice hockey coach
 * James John Skinner (1923–2008), Irish-born Zambian and Malawian jurist
 * James A. Skinner (born 1944), former CEO of McDonald's
 * James Skinner (CANZUK International) (fl. 2011–2018), executive director of CANZUK International
 * James L. Skinner (born 1953), American theoretical chemist

title: James Skinner


text:
ITnet

ITnet (Institute of Technology Network) was a PoS based multi Mbit/s network created for the Institutes of Technology in Ireland. ITnet used 45 Mbit/s links to each of the institutions and an international link of 310 Mbit/s via HEAnet.

The system was proposed in 1991 between Regional Technical College, Cork and Regional Technical College, Carlow, as they were then called. In 1993 an agreement was reached to create RTCnet. The system was running by 1994 with its hub in University College Dublin and service management at Carlow. All Regional Technical Colleges were connected to the system.

In 1998 RTCnet became ITnet to reflect the change in status of the Regional Technical College system to Institutes of Technology. The hub of the system and service management moved to Institute of Technology, Tallaght where an international link was provided via HEAnet.

ITnet was incorporated into HEAnet during 2007 and 2008 and has now ceased to exist as an independent network for the IoTs. All internet services are now provided directly to the Institutes by HEAnet.

title: ITnet


text:
Talk:Karl Weidling

VfD
On April 6, 2005, this article was nominated for deletion. The result was make into redirect. See Votes for deletion/Karl Weidling for a record of the discussion. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 13:39, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Karl Weidling


text:
Talk:Phenotypic freedom

Closed deletion listing
This article was listed for deletion on 10 April, 2005. The discussion was closed with the result of no consensus. This article will not be deleted. You can view the discussion, which is no longer live: Votes_for_deletion/Phenotypic freedom. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 13:40, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Phenotypic freedom


text:
User talk:Bustria

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! TAS 13:42, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
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Image Tagging Image:Cardvidal.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Cardvidal.jpg. I notice the 'image' page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is therefore unclear. If you have not created this media yourself then you need to argue that we have the right to use the media on Wikipedia (see copyright tagging below). If you have not created the media yourself then you should also specify where you found it, i.e., in most cases link to the website where you got it, and the terms of use for content from that page.

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If you have uploaded other media, please check that you have specified their source and copyright tagged them, too. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that any unsourced and untagged images will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Shyam ( T / C ) 16:48, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Untagged image
An image you uploaded, Image:Coat of arms rosales.jpg, was tagged with the coatofarms copyright tag. This tag was deleted because it does not actually specify the copyright status of the image. The image may need a more accurate copyright tag, or it may need to be deleted. If the image portrays a seal or emblem, it should be tagged as seal. If you have any questions, ask them at Media copyright questions. -- 19:14, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Image:Sin2001.jpg listed for deletion
An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Sin2001.jpg, has been listed at Images and media for deletion. Please see the to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Abu badali (talk) 15:19, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Bustria


text:
African Steamship Company

The African Steamship Company was a British shipping line in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

History
The company was founded in 1852 by Macgregor Laird, the younger son of the shipbuilder William Laird, and based in Birkenhead. The main focus of the company at first was trading with the Niger River area and other west African ports, bringing west-African palm oil back to Britain. The monthly mail steamer to the then Gold Coast (now Ghana), appointed by Royal Charter, came with a subsidy of 30,000 pounds sterling per year from the British government, starting from 1852.

In 1864 the African Steamship Company was taken over by Fletcher & Parr of Liverpool and, in turn, in 1891 absorbed into Elder Dempster & Co.

The company proved sufficiently successful that in 1869 a rival company, the British and African Steam Navigation Company, was founded, but both companies later came to an arrangement on sailing times. The business of the African Steamship company was purchased by Elder, Dempster and Company, Limited in 1891, who had bought the British and African Steam Navigation Company two years earlier, although both companies continued operating as distinct organisations.

Further expansion began with a transatlantic route using large cargo vessels, trading from Liverpool to the St Lawrence River and from Liverpool to the southern ports of the United States. A later route from Bristol to St Lawrence was also established.

The company also diversified into a number of businesses related to the trade, including a bank, oil-mills for processing the palm oil, a hotel in Grand Canary for tourists, and a fruit brokerage in London to deal with the banana trade.

Trade with the West Indies began in 1901, with a direct, fortnightly service from Avonmouth to Jamaica, subsidised by the Colonial Office.

As part of Elder Dempster, the company was bought by Sir Owen Philipp's Royal Mail Group in 1909.

title: African Steamship Company


text:
User talk:Tobias Dammers

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! TAS 13:45, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * How to edit a page
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 * If you're ready for the complete list of Wikipedia documentation, there's also Topical index.

Trombone bore sizes
Thanks for catching my goof there--the .567" was a typo. However, .562" has become a quite common bore through the F attachment on orchestral tenors. If you'd like to deal with that somehow in the article, go ahead. If you want me to, that's fine, too. Just let me know. --Jemiller226 07:30, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * That wasn't me, I'm afraid. Tobias Dammers 09:01, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, you're right. It was the anonymous contributor right before you.  Sorry for the confusion...I'll go fix it now. --Jemiller226 18:01, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Tobias Dammers


text:
User talk:Zaphood

Apology
I called someone a nazi. I'm sorry about it for i'm sure he/she is not a national socialist. For this i make amends. From here to eternity I WOW never to commit this offence again, even tho wikipedia is not cencured. --Zaphood (talk) 00:03, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

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LOG
To DO -Expand both the article on DPPP and the VfD on it. -Find accurate info on (other) explosives & wiki them

 * Account created
 * Added: DPPP ( actually added Dppp and can't move it to DPPP so re-creating via cut-and-paste)
 * Added: Linked from acetone peroxide 'related articles' -> DPPP
 * Uncle G thought that foron2.gif is copyvio; IS NOT!
 * Made: Ascii representation to material info box on DPPP
 * Material info box on DPPP (stub)
 * Added: Zaphood:talk formatting
 * Being attacked by an administrator timvickers
 * Soft kill (an article of mine) was redirected wihout any discussion.
 * Being IP banned for using DNA's mobile internet service.
 * Logged a Complaint about formentioned.

Researching bifocals Admin killed research material. Lost taste. frack this, you can have all your delusions about bold editing. there be tyrants around.

Zaphood 23:45, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Scratch pad:DPPP
Misc info for expanding dppp article:

--gen Diphoronepentaperoxide(DPPP)

Boiling Point 457.0±45.0 °C Press: 760.0 (1) Torr Flash Point 197.4±51.8 °C (1) ACD

--pat:trans:EN

German patent DE 1951660. IPC: C07D; C06B.

Explosive diphoron pentaperoxide. Mackowiak, Wolfgang. Ger. Offen. (1971), 4 pp. CODEN: GWXXBX DE 1951660 19710422 Patent written in German. Application: DE 69-1951660 19691014. CAN 74:143985 AN 1971:143985 CAPLUS

1969

Diphoronepentaperoxide C18H26O2(O2)5

Field of invention: the invention refers to an explosive which has special properties that make it suitable especially for mining and as well for military purposes.

Task: The invention wants to make blasting operations cheaper and easier.

Solution: Following cheap substances are required for synthesis:

1 part conc. hydrochloric acid(HCl) 1 part acetone (CH3COCH3) 2 parts 30% hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)

Process of manufacture:

1 part of acetone are added to 1 part hydrochloric acid, through which acetone polymerizes to phoron; then 2 parts of hydrogen peroxide are added, through which two molecules of HCl bond with the two C-double-bonds of the phoron.

In the course of the reaction free chlorine develops, which bonds with 3 hydrogen atoms of the phoron to give 3 HCl and bonds itself with phoron. Hydrogen peroxide causes the chlorine atoms to split off the phoron and the peroxide itself bonds with the phoron.

Eylashes
Removing them.

Because of the fact, that one peroxy-bond stays half-opened, one also open phoronperoxide adds to give diphoronpentaperoxide, which precipitates from the solution in crystalline form.

Properties: a)insoluble in water b)still explosive when heavily contaminated c)detonation velocity approx. 9000m/s d)low detonation temperature approx. 200°C e)does not develop smoke upon detonation, does not smell, no solid residues. f)ignition by fire, blasting cap or electric g)does not decompose at long storage h)yield of manufacturing process approx. 90%

title: User talk:Zaphood


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User talk:ChrisGude

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! TAS 13:47, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
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title: User talk:ChrisGude


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Benoît de Boigne

Benoît Leborgne (24 March 1751 – 21 June 1830), better known as Count Benoît de Boigne or General Count de Boigne, was a military adventurer from the Duchy of Savoy (when he was born part of the Kingdom of Sardinia) who made his fortune and name in India with the Marathas. He was also named president of the general council of the French département of Mont-Blanc by Napoleon I.

The son of shopkeepers, Leborgne was a career military man. He was trained in European regiments and then became a success in India in the service of Mahadaji Sindhia of Gwalior in central India, who ruled over the Maratha Empire. Sindhia entrusted him with the creation and organization of an army. He became its general, and trained and commanded a force of nearly 100,000 men organized on the European model, which allowed the Maratha Empire to dominate north India, though it ultimately proved unable to match the military of the East India Company in the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars. Along with his career in the army, Benoît de Boigne also worked in commerce and administration. Among other titles, he became a Jaghirdar which gave him enormous land holdings in India.

After a turbulent life, Benoît de Boigne returned to Europe, first to England, where he married a French emigrant after having repudiated his first, Persian wife; then to France during the Consulate, and finally back to Savoy. He devoted the end of his life to charity in Chambéry, where he was born. The king of Sardinia gave him the title of Count.

Early life
He was born at Chambéry in Savoy on 24 March 1751, the son of a fur merchant. His paternal grandfather, born at Burneuil in Picardy, moved to Chambéry, in the Dukedom of Savoy, at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1709 the grandfather married Claudine Latoud, born in 1682. They had thirteen children, of whom only four reached the age of twenty, and opened up a fur shop on rue Tupin in Chambéry. This shop made an impression on the young Benoît Leborgne. In his Mémoires, he wrote that he was fascinated by the exotic sign outside the shop. It was brightly colored and featured wild animals including lions, elephants, panthers and tigers, with the motto underneath: "You can go ahead and try something else, you will all come to Leborgne, the fur dealer." The child's imagination was stimulated, and he kept asking his parents and grandparents about the animals. He wanted to know more about the far-off countries where they lived.

His father, Jean-Baptiste Leborgne, born in 1718, frequently traveled on business to wild-fur markets and brought back bearskins, fox, beaver, and marten furs, and many other animal pelts. Sometimes he traveled as far as Scotland, and he dreamed of going to the Indies. His wife was against this, but he passed his dream on to his son.

His mother, Hélène Gabet, born in 1744, was born into a family of notaries who worked closely with the Savoy Senate. Although her family was not happy about her marriage to a fur merchant, they accepted it. Benoît was the third of the couple's seven children – three boys and three girls. One of his brothers, Antoine-François, became a monk at the monastery of Grande Chartreuse, but influenced by ideas of the French Revolution, he left and later married. His son Joseph became a notable lawyer in Turin. Benoît, who had been destined for the law, was not the only adventurer in his family. His brother Claude went to Santo Domingo, in what is now the Dominican Republic. Claude was imprisoned in Paris during the Reign of Terror, and later became a deputy for the island of Santo Domingo (now called Hispaniola) in the Council of Five Hundred under the French Directory. During the first empire (of Napoleon) he was named to office in Paris and took the title of Baron. This title was given to him, like the title of Count given to his brother Benoît Leborgne, by the king of Sardinia, in 1816. At the age of 17, Benoît Leborgne fought a duel with a Piedmont officer and wounded him. This cost him his chance to join the Brigade de Savoie. He therefore enlisted in the French Army.

Early military career
Leborgne began his military career in the north of France in 1768, as an ordinary soldier in Louis XV's Irish Regiment, directed by Lord Clare and quartered in Flanders. This regiment was made up mostly of Irish emigrants who had left Ireland for other Catholic nations in Europe; at this time Irish Catholics were disenfranchised in Kingdom of Ireland under the penal laws. During this period, many Irishmen left Ireland for the Catholic countries of Europe or for North America. Here Benoît Leborgne learned English and the rudiments of army life. He listened to the military tales of his superior officers, especially those of Major Daniel Charles O'Connell about India. Many years later, he met O'Connell again in England and was introduced through him to his future wife Adèle.

While in the Irish Regiment, Leborgne took part in several campaigns which took him across Europe, as well as to islands in the Indian Ocean, including Bourbon Island (now called Réunion). In 1773, at age 22, Benoît Leborgne resigned from the army. Lord Clare and Colonel Meade had died, bringing changes to the Regiment. Europe was at peace and his chances of promotion had become slim.

The Russian-Turkish war
As he was leaving the Irish Regiment, young Leborgne learned from the newspapers that Prince Fyodor Grigoryevich Orlov of Russia was raising, in the name of Empress Catherine II of Russia, a Greek regiment to attack the Ottoman Empire. At the time, Russia was attempting to extend its territory to acquire a port on the Black Sea, and was using the anti-Turkish sentiments of people under Ottoman domination to aid its project. Leborgne saw a chance of advancement and adventure. He went back to Chambéry for a short time and got a letter of recommendation to Prince Orlov through the cousin of a client of his mother's, who was a close acquaintance of the prince. First Leborgne went to Turin, which was then the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, where he met the cousin. Afterwards, he went to the Veneto, then crossed to the Aegean Sea. He arrived in Paros, where Prince Orlov was forming his Greek-Russian regiment. The prince accepted him and he joined the ranks.

Leborgne quickly saw that his enlistment was a mistake. The prince confided to him his doubts on the future military campaign and its chances of victory. These pessimistic forecasts were quickly confirmed. On the island of Tenedos, the Turks were victorious, and the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) ended for Leborgne with his capture by the Turks, although some members of his regiment succeeded in escaping. He was taken to Constantinople and became a slave, where he had to do menial work for many weeks. However, his owner soon noticed that he could speak English and put him to work serving the British official Lord Algernon Percy. Percy, surprised to see an enslaved European, was able to procure Leborgne's freedom after a week of negotiations, with the aid of the British embassy.

Preparations for India

Lord Percy took Leborgne as a guide through the Greek islands back to Paros, where Leborgne officially resigned from his regiment. He was free again, but had only his last pay received from before his resignation. He travelled to Smyrna (now İzmir), which at the time was a prosperous, booming city. There, Leborgne met merchants from many countries, including India, which was believed to hold much wealth, like the diamonds of Golconda and the sapphires of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Some of these merchants told him their theories about the existence of trade routes passing north of India, in upper Kashmir or along the glaciers of Karakoram. He also learned that many rajahs regularly sought out European officers to organize and command their armies.

These stories persuaded Leborgne to try his chances. Through his friend Lord Percy, he was able to get letters of recommendation to Lord Hastings and Lord Macartney in India. He also asked for letters of recommendation from Prince Orlov in Saint Petersburg, where the prince obtained an audience for him with the Empress Catherine II. Leborgne explained to her he wanted to discover new trade routes to India passing through Afghanistan or Kashmir. The empress, wishing to extend her power to Afghanistan, agreed to help him. At the end of 1777, Leborgne began a journey with many detours. After having tried to travel by land, he gave up and decided to reach India by ship. However, during the voyage to Egypt, a storm washed away all his possessions, including the letters of recommendation. Not wishing to abandon his journey, Leborgne went to the British consulate in Egypt and met Sir Baldwin. After a number of discussions, he was advised to take service in British East India Company, and he was given a letter of recommendation to this effect.

Military glory and fortune in India
In the late 18th century, the influence of the Maratha Empire was gradually declining. The British were triumphing over their Portuguese, French, and Dutch rivals in India, where all the countries had hastened to install trading posts. The British East India Company was the most powerful military and economic force and came to dominate India. The East India Company established a powerful administration placed under the direct responsibility of the British Crown. Many Europeans benefited from the political confusion on the Indian subcontinent, offering their services as mercenaries to Indian princes and becoming rich merchants themselves. The Europeans had the advantage of military experience in the European wars, knowledge of arms production, especially cannons, and of new military strategies.

Arrival in India
In 1778, Leborgne arrived at the Indian port of Madras (now Chennai). He was poor and to make a living, taught fencing. While teaching, he met a nephew of the British governor of the city, Sir Thomas Rumbold. He was offered a position as an officer in the 6th battalion of sepoys, a troop of local inhabitants raised by the Company. He accepted, and gradually learned the local customs and began training the sepoys. He lived in Madras for four years, but became restless. He was ambitious, and decided to go to Delhi in the north of India, where the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II held court. The Marathas and Rajputs were employing Europeans and giving them the command of their armies. The new governor, Lord MacCartney, gave Leborgne letters of recommendation to the governor of the province of Bengal, in Calcutta, and Leborgne sailed there.

He met governor Warren Hastings, who approved his projects of exploration. Again he was given letters of recommendation, this time to Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, the Nawab of Oudh, in Lucknow. The rajah was a vassal of the East India Company. In January 1783, Leborgne started his trip. He traveled through many extremely poor villages, learning about the culture and religion of India and noted the different Muslim and Hindu neighborhoods in various places.

Arrival in Lucknow

In Lucknow, Leborgne was received by the nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah and was invited to live with Colonel Pollier, in the service of the Company. As Middleton, an Englishman present when Leborgne met the nawab, explained to him afterward, this invitation was in fact an order; if he refused he would have been thrown in prison. Colonel Antoine Polier, a Swiss, received him warmly. Leborgne discovered that Lucknow had many European residents. He met two who spoke French. The first, Claude Martin, was from Lyons and had made his fortune in India; the second, Drugeon, was from Savoy like himself. The nawab gave Leborgne a kelat, richly decorated with gold and diamonds, along with letters of exchange for Kandahar and Kabul, and 12,000 rupees. The nawab kept Leborgne, with many others, as a privileged captive for five months. Polier explained to Leborgne that although he had been given the letters of exchange, he would have to be patient. While waiting, Leborgne began to learn Persian and Hindi.

He also changed his name at this time to sound more aristocratic. From then on he called himself de Boigne, inspired by the English pronunciation of his name (English-speakers could not pronounce the "r" correctly). Along with Claude Martin, his friend from Lyons, de Boigne occupied himself by selling silver jewelry, silk carpets, and arms enameled in gold. He also went tiger-hunting on elephant-back with Polier and the nawab.

Leaving Lucknow for Delhi
In August 1783, de Boigne received permission to leave Oudh and went north to search for new trade routes. His journey by horse led him to Delhi in the company of Polier, who also had to go there for business. During the trip, de Boigne saw the Taj Mahal and other Indian sights, including various smaller kingdoms and tribes. In Delhi, an Englishman named Anderson offered to get de Boigne an audience with Emperor Shah Alam, whose court was at the Red Fort. During this audience, de Boigne told the emperor about his proposal to seek new trade routes, but the emperor put off any decision ("We'll see"). De Boigne waited in Delhi, hoping for a favorable answer. However, circumstances were about to change. The day after the audience, an imperial edict gave Mahadji Sindhia the government of the provinces of Delhi and Agra. In other words, Sindhia became the imperial regent and the real power, while Emperor Shah Alam, without being deposed, was now only a figurehead. In 1790, de Boigne summarized Indian politics of the time:

"The respect toward the house of Timur [the Moghul dynasty] is so strong that even though the whole subcontinent has been withdrawn from its authority, no prince of India has taken the title of sovereign. Sindhia shared this respect, and Shah Alam [Shah Alam II] was still seated on the Moghul throne, and everything done in his name."

In the midst of these political upheavals, de Boigne met Armand de Levassoult, a European friend of Polier. Levassoult was in the service of Begum Joanna Nobilis (Begum Samru of Sardhana, d. 1836), an influential woman respected by the emperor, but also by his Maratha adversaries. For a few days, de Boigne found himself in Delhi unable to go north, since the local administration did not give him permission. However, he met Levassoult again and Levassoult invited him to go to Sindhia's camp with him.

Doubted by Marathas, betrayed by Jaipur
The Marathas had set up camp to besiege the citadel of Gwalior, in which a Scot named George Sangster, whom de Boigne had met in Lucknow, was commanding the garrison. When Levassoult and de Boigne arrived in the Maratha camp, they received a warm welcome. Levassoult presented his friend as the bravest of soldiers, and de Boigne was given a tent. However, while he was away from it, his baggage was stolen, and with it the precious letters of exchange of Hastings and also the letter for Kabul and Peshawar. He soon learned that this theft had been ordered by Sindhia himself, who wanted to know more about this suspect European. De Boigne, wanting revenge, decided to send a discreet message to Sangster in the besieged citadel and proposed an attack on the Maratha camp. But while he was waiting for the answer, he was called by an enraged Sindhia who had discovered the message. De Boigne had to explain that his act was a response to the theft of his baggage and letters of exchange.

Sindhia discussed with De Boigne about an expedition to the north of India and a resulting possible invasion by the Afghans. He then offered to de Boigne the command of the camp guard, which de Boigne refused. Vexed, Sindhia dismissed him without returning his precious papers. This misadventure showed de Boigne that his project of exploration was unpopular among Indians, and he decided to abandon it. His argument with Sindhia came to the ears of Sindhia's enemies, first to the Rajah Pratap Singh of Jaipur, who was looking for a European officer to form two battalions. De Boigne accepted the offer and returned to Lucknow to raise and train the troops. The British, suspicious, asked de Boigne to explain himself to Hastings, who, after hearing his intentions, allowed him to continue. Once the battalions were recruited and operational, de Boigne and his men started for Jaipur. However, en route they were stopped at Dholpur by a local petty lord whose fortress blocked the only passage. After they gave him a ransom, he allowed them to pass. This episode displeased the Rajah of Jaipur, who dismissed de Boigne without any compensation, while keeping the two new battalions.

In the service of the Maratha empire
After a time wandering, de Boigne again met his friend Levassoult, who introduced him to the Catholic convert Begum Joanna. She confided to him that Sindhia, the Maratha chief wanted him back. Although Sindhia had been mistrustful of de Boigne's projects of exploration, and in spite of their argument over the confiscated baggage, Sindhia had been impressed with de Boigne's two European-trained battalions, which contrasted sharply with his own troops. De Boigne finally agreed to enter the service of the Marathas. He was put in charge of organizing a cannon foundry in Agra, as well as equipping and arming 7000 men in two battalions. De Boigne from this time quickly became an influential man. One of the first actions under his command was the October 1783 capture of the citadel of Kalinjar in the region of Bundelkhand. The rajah of this region ended up parleying with de Boigne, which allowed Sindhia to enter Delhi as its master. The Maratha chief named himself "Column of the Empire" and Prime Minister. His seizure of power led to many conflicts and betrayals.

Over the next few years there were many battles among Marathas, Mughals, Kachwahas and Rathores. At the battles of Lalsot (May 1787) and of Chaksana (24 April 1788), de Boigne and his two battalions proved their worth by holding the field when the Marathas were losing. The year 1788 was especially turbulent. On 10 August Ghulam Kadir had the Emperor Shah Alam's eyes torn out. On 14 August the Maratha army, allied with the army of Begum Joanna and of that of her old enemy Ismail Beg, entered Delhi, retaking the town it had once lost. Kadir escaped but was captured, and the Marathas killed him gruesomely, among other tortures putting out his eyes and cutting off his ears and nose. His corpse was then given to the emperor. Once more Mahadji Sindhia had triumphed and was now the true power in India. It was at this time that Benoît de Boigne proposed to Sindhia the creation of a brigade of 10,000 men in order to consolidate his conquest of India. Sindhia refused because his treasury could not afford it, but also because he had doubts about the superiority of the artillery-infantry combination, as opposed to the cavalry that had been the main weapon of the Maratha armies. This refusal caused a new dispute between the two men, and Benoît de Boigne resigned. Once more unemployed, he returned to Lucknow.

Commercial life and first marriage
Back in Lucknow, Benoît de Boigne found his old friends Antoine-Louis Polier and Claude Martin. Martin persuaded de Boigne to work with him in trade. His military skills were useful, for at the time, Indian trade routes were dangerous, and even warehouses in the cities were sometimes robbed. Claude Martin and Benoît de Boigne built a warehouse inside an old fort. It included saferooms and a trained armed guard to watch it. Quickly, this business became successful. De Boigne also carried on a trade in precious stones, copper, gold, silver, indigo, cashmere shawls, silks, and spices. He became rich and now owned a luxurious house with many servants, a wine-cellar, and valuable horses. At this time, de Boigne fell in love with a young woman from Delhi known as Nur Begum ("light" in Arabic). Her name was Halime Banu or HalimeBanu BanuHalime. She was the daughter of a colonel in the Persian Guard of the Great Moghul, whom he had met to discuss a simple lawsuit. The same day, he asked the colonel for his daughter's hand in marriage. After a long discussion, the father accepted, even though de Boigne refused to convert to Islam as was normally required for the husband of a Muslim woman. De Boigne wooed Noor, who could speak perfect English. The wedding lasted several days, first in Delhi, with sumptuous feasts, then more simply in Lucknow. The couple had two children, a daughter, Banu, or Anna (1789–1804) and a son Ali Bakhsh (otherwise Charles Alexander born in 1792. He visited England in 1797 with his wife and their two young children.

A general in the service of the Maratha empire, with the title of jaghir

In 1788, Sindhia sent a discreet message to de Boigne. Sindhia wished to unite north and northwest India. At the time, the Rajputs and the Marathas had a tense relationship. The Marathas were levying the peasants with more taxes. Sindhia succeeded in convincing de Boigne to return to his service. He asked him to organize a brigade of 12,000 men within a year (January 1789–January 1790). De Boigne became commander-in-chief and general, the highest title under "rajah." To be able to pay his men, Sindhia gave his new general a jaghir, a fief given for the lifetime of its holder, against a payment in return to the imperial treasury. At the death of its holder, the jaghir reverted to another deserving officer. The revenues from the jaghir allowed the officer to pay his men. Benoît de Boigne received the Doab, a region of plains in Uttar Pradesh. This plain was covered with jungle and included several towns like Meerut, Kol and Aligarh. De Boigne had to use some of his savings to renovate this new land. He built a citadel and stores. The military camp built by de Boigne was very European. To work with the new brigade, he hired Drugeon from Savoy, Sangster from Scotland, John Hessing, a Dutchman, as well as Frémont and Pierre Cuillier-Perron, two Frenchmen, a German named Anthony Pohlmann and an Italian, Michael Filoze. The administrative and military language became French, and the flag of Savoy, red with a white cross, became the ensign of the new brigade. Because of his high rank, Sindhia obliged de Boigne to have a personal guard, and de Boigne chose 400 Sikhs and Persians. The brigade itself consisted of approximately nine battalions of infantry, each with its own artillery and baggage train. The brigade artillery included about fifty bronze cannons, of which half were big-caliber and transported by oxen, and the other pieces by elephants and camels. De Boigne's brigade also invented a weapon composed of six musket-barrels joined together. The brigade was supported by 3000 elite cavalry, 5000 servants, team drovers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and others. A novelty for India was the ambulance corps, in charge of rescuing wounded soldiers, including enemy soldiers. De Boigne also acquired a parade elephant named Bhopal. The brigade was ready in 1790.

Military campaigns and victories
Starting in 1790, the brigade had to face Rajputs, Ismail Beg, and the rajahs of Bikaner and Jaipur. De Boigne decided to attack this coalition by surprise on 23 May. De Boigne demonstrated his military talent by gaining one victory after another. The East India Company began to become concerned about this new Maratha army, dangerous to their domination. Within six months of 1790, in a hostile, hilly terrain, de Boigne's brigade defeated 100,000 men, confiscated 200 camels and 200 cannons, many bazaars, and fifty elephants. The Maratha army attacked and took seventeen fortresses by siege. It won several decisive battles, among which the most difficult were the battles of Patan, Merta, and Ajmer. The Rajputs recognized the authority of Sindhia as prime minister. The Marathas were now the masters of northern and northwestern India. During these military campaigns, de Boigne continued his commercial association with Claude Martin from a distance. Sindhia, more powerful than ever, asked de Boigne to raise two more brigades. These were formed and their command was given by de Boigne to Frémont and Perron, assisted by Drugeon.

For a while, de Boigne could enjoy his new social position and the respect that his victories had won him, as well as the reforms which he had undertaken in his jaghir. But the calm was of short duration, and military campaigns started up again. The Marathas of central India became a threat. Due to internal differences, a new coalition of Holkar and Sindhia's enemy Ismail Beg, menaced the territory of Sindhia in northern India, and in spite of diplomatic negotiations and promises of imperial titles, there was a battle of Lakhari in 1793 between Holkar-Ismail Beg and Sindhia. De Boigne's brigades won and captured Ismail Beg, but his life was spared because de Boigne admired his brave spirit. De Boigne now attacked Holkar and after a fourth battle, the most exciting and dangerous, according to de Boigne, his troops won another victory. However, de Boigne was weary of war. The rajah of Jaipur, now in a position of weakness, preferred peace. De Boigne was rewarded by Sindhia with an enlargement of the jaghir, and also gave a jaghir to de Boigne's son, only an infant at the time.

Trusted by Maratha chiefs. European events
Sindhia had become the most powerful man in India, with many enemies. As they were not able to beat him militarily, the Maratha chief faced conspiracies, intrigue and treason. De Boigne was a faithful follower and Sindhia trusted him and made him a confidant. De Boigne now was running imperial affairs for Sindhia in north and northwestern India. The minister Gopal Rao, whose brother had been engaged in a famous plot with Nana Farnavis (Nana Fadnavis), came to Aligarh to visit de Boigne to show his loyalty to Sindhia. But while India was now a confederation under the Maratha authority, the situation in Europe was changing profoundly. The French Revolution had overturned the equilibrium in Europe, and also in Europe's colonial empires. On 12 November 1792 a Savoy assembly proclaimed its unity with France. Until 1815, de Boigne was now considered a Frenchman like any other. The brigades of the Maratha army under de Boigne's command were under European officers now divided by the political situation in Europe: one of the two French officers was a royalist and the other supported the revolution. De Boigne tried to keep his army out of European politics. He was more worried about the situation of Sindhia, who was still in Poona; Sindhia ordered him to send help, as he became concerned with British intrigues. De Boigne sent him 10,000 men under the command of Perron.

On 12 February 1794, Sindhia died of high fever. De Boigne remained faithful to Daulat Rao Sindhia, the nephew and legitimate heir of Sindhia. De Boigne soon realized that the political situation had changed. His ideal of India as a confederation of free states would never come to pass. Sindhia's successor was less capable than his predecessor. In 1795, after twenty years in India, and in worsening health, de Boigne left his command, installing Perron in his place, and prepared his departure for Europe. At the end of his career in India, he was head of an army of almost 100,000 men, organized on the European model; this army would later see action in the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars. In November 1796 de Boigne left India, accompanied by his family and his most faithful Indian servants. He sold his personal guard to the British, with the consent of his men, for a price equivalent to 900,000 Francs Germinal.

Return to Europe and second marriage
Benoît de Boigne left for England, where he installed his household near London. Although he had been born a Savoyard, the Revolution had made him a Frenchman, and therefore a potential enemy of the British. His wealth and his letters of credit were held in abeyance at the bank. However, his military prowess was known to many British who had campaigned in India, some of whom had dined with him in India. This sympathy allowed de Boigne to take British nationality on 1 January 1798. The nationality was conditional upon his remaining in Britain or its colonies. Wishing to leave London, de Boigne acquired a house in the English countryside, in Dorsetshire. He considered going back to Chambéry, his native town, but the political situation was too uncertain. He also thought of entering politics, but his position was not good enough for the British parliament, since the parties expected candidates to have gone to the best British schools, have well-connected friends, and also to have a wife who could carry on diplomatic conversation and organize parties and receptions. De Boigne had his family christened, and Noor became Hélène. Although his seat was in the country, he was near London and went there often. He met many French emigrants, all waiting to be able to go back to France. In 1798, de Boigne met a Mademoiselle d'Osmond, sixteen years old. He repudiated his first wife, who had not been able to adapt to British customs and had become more and more distant, returning to her Indian habits. De Boigne was now completely taken by his new love. Not being legally married to Hélène under British law, he agreed to give her alimony and engaged a tutor for their children. On 11 June 1798, he married Adèle d'Osmond.

Unhappy second marriage; discovery of France under the Consulate
His second wife, born in 1781, was an emigrant from a penniless, though noble, old family from Normandy. De Boigne did not reveal his own lowly origins before the marriage. He seems to have wished, after his adventurous life, to start a family and establish himself in Europe through the help of his wife's high-placed relations. But from the beginning, the marriage was not a success. De Boigne had a hard time adapting to European manners after so long in India, and the 30-year difference in age between him and his wife added to the difficulty. He was jealous. He also now took opium to assuage the pain of his dysentery, and his wife and her family claimed he abused it. During this period, France was under the Consulate, and many French emigrants returned to France. De Boigne decided to go back as well, and in 1802 he settled in Paris, where the consul Napoleon Bonaparte was enjoying great popularity. De Boigne's wife went back to live with her parents. On 30 April 1802, de Boigne discovered from Drugeon, who had stayed in India, that Perron had become an important person there, but that Perron was greedy for money and seized his friend's property to get de Boigne's money and accelerate its decline.

In Paris, de Boigne became friends with General Paul Thiébault, who asked him several times to meet Napoleon so that he could become an officer in the French army. However, de Boigne, who was now in his fifties, did not want to return to his former rank of colonel, under the orders of younger men. Although he refused, the offer was renewed. In 1803, Napoleon offered a new proposition to Benoît de Boigne. He asked him to take command of Russian and French troops who would reach India through Afghanistan and push the East India Company out of the subcontinent. But nothing came of this. Benoît de Boigne bought the Château de Beauregard, La Celle-Saint-Cloud for his wife, and she moved in on 2 November 1804. The property was ceded to Francesco Borghèse, Prince Aldobrandini of the House of Borghese, on 14 November 1812, in exchange for a house in Châtenay (now Châtenay-Malabry).

Final return to Savoy
Benoît de Boigne returned to Savoy definitively in 1807. There, he had himself called "General de Boigne." He lived alone in the château of Buisson-Rond near Chambéry, which he had bought in 1802 and appointed luxuriously for his young wife. But she continued to live in the Paris region, where she lived in the château of Beauregard and then of Châtenay. In this Parisian life she found the material for her celebrated Mémoires, which were published in 1907. The Comtesse de Boigne rarely came to Buisson-Rond, although she occasionally gave urbane receptions during the summer on her way home from taking the waters at Aix, in the company of her friends Madame Récamier, Madame de Staël, Adrien de Montmorency (Anne Adrien Pierre de Montmorency-Laval), and Benjamin Constant.

Having returned from the isle of Réunion, Benoît de Boigne received the title of Field Marshal on 20 October 1814, and the Croix de Saint-Louis (Order of Saint Louis) on 6 December. His wife was pleased. On 27 February 1815, Louis XVIII gave him the Legion of Honor for services rendered as President of the Conseil général du département du Mont-Blanc. De Boigne was a fervent royalist, and ardent partisan of the Savoy government. Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia, king of Sardinia and Savoy, gave him the title of Count in 1816, and Charles Felix of Sardinia conferred upon him the Grand Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. In 1814 and 1816 he was named General in France and in Savoy.

During the last years of his life, Benoît de Boigne occupied himself in managing his immense fortune. He bought much land in the vicinity of Chambéry and of Geneva, and also in the west of the modern département of Savoie, including, in 1816, the château de Lucey. He spent much of his time on the development of his native city. He was a member of the city council of Chambéry in 1816. Although he no longer served in the military, he received the title of lieutenant-general in the armies of the king of Sardinia in 1822. On 26 December 1824 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Belles-Lettres of Savoy, with the academic title "Effectif."

From 1814 until his death, de Boigne made many donations to the city of Chambéry, financing public and religious organizations, for welfare, education, and public works. He had no children with Adèle d'Osmond, so he made the decision to legitimize and naturalize his son Charles-Alexandre from his first marriage to Hélène (Noor). On 21 June 1830, Benoît de Boigne died in Chambéry. He was buried inside the church of Saint-Pierre-le-Lémenc. A funeral oration was given for him on 19 August 1830, in the metropolitan church of Chambéry, by the Canon Vibert, pro-vicar-general of the diocese and member of the royal academic society of Savoy.

Descendants of Benoît de Boigne
Charles-Alexandre de Boigne was born in Delhi, India in 1791. He married Césarine Viallet de Montbel in 1816. The marriage had been encouraged by his father. Césarine Viallet de Montbel was from a large Savoy family who had been parliamentarians and later ennobled. They had thirteen children. Charles-Alexandre, educated in England, had studied law, but spent most of his life as a minor courtier at the Savoy court, managing his land and inheritance. He was assisted by Thomas Morand, a Chambéry notary who had been chosen by Benoît de Boigne. Charles-Alexandre also had to liquidate the foundations and donations of his father. Charles-Alexandre died on 23 July 1853. His son Ernest acceded to the title. Ernest married Delphine de Sabran-Pontevès. Ernest de Boigne became captain of the firemen of the city of Chambéry, but soon became involved in politics. He was elected to the Savoy parliament, then became a deputy to the legislative body in 1860. He was twice reelected, as a conservative, in 1863 and 1869. He was decorated with the Legion of Honor. At the fall of the Second Empire, he lost his election in 1877. He became the mayor of Lucey. He died in 1895 at Buisson-Rond.

Benefactor of Chambéry
At his death, Benoît de Boigne left a fortune estimated at 20 million French francs of the time. Altogether, his donations to his native city amounted to about 3,484,850 francs. He left a permanent fund of 6500 pounds yearly to the metropolitan church of Chambéry for, among other things, the choir. He gave a second fund of 1250 pounds to the Compagnie des nobles Chevaliers-Tireurs-à-l'Arc (Company of noble knight archers).

De Boigne gave many donations for charity, including giving beds to hospitals. He donated 22,400 francs for three hospital beds at the Hôtel-Dieu, a charity hospital, and later gave 24,000 francs for another four beds for poor, sick foreign travelers of any nation or religion. He paid 63,000 francs for the construction of various buildings at the Hôtel-Dieu of Chambéry, and gave a beggars' home the sum of 649,150 francs. He founded an old age home, the Maison de Saint-Benoît, which cost him 900,000 francs. He also paid for a place in the orphanage for 7300 francs, and ten beds at the charity hospital, for patients with contagious illnesses, who could not be admitted to Hôtel-Dieu. De Boigne also gave a trust fund of 1650 pounds a year, about 33,000 francs, to help poor prisoners every week with laundry and food. He gave another perpetual trust of 1200 pounds or 24,000 francs to the poor "shameful" of the city, to be distributed at their homes. Finally, he left a trust fund of 1200 pounds to the firemen of Chambéry to help the sick and wounded. De Boigne gave 30,000 francs to build the church of the Capucins, and 60,000 francs to build a theater. Among his other numerous donations, two were important. One was 320,000 francs for various works, as well as the ownership without usufruct of the property of Châtenay. The second donation was for 300,000 francs to demolish the cabornes [stone huts] and open up a wide avenue across the city. He also gave 30,000 francs for the repair of the city hall and 5000 francs for the bell-tower of Barberaz.

De Boigne also gave four major donations to education. He gave 270,000 francs to reorganize the collège of Chambéry; he gave a trust fund of 1000 pounds a year, 20,000 francs, to the Société royale académique de Chambéry for the encouragement of agriculture, arts, and letters; he gave two trust funds of 150 pounds apiece, or 3000 francs, to the Frères des Écoles chrétiennes (Brothers of Christian Schools) and to the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Both of these groups gave a free education to children, the first to poor children, the second to girls.

title: Benoît de Boigne