Die hard is a phrase coined by Lieutenant-Colonel William Inglis of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot during the Battle of Albuera. Its original literal meaning has evolved to describe any person who will not be swayed from a belief. The metaphorical sense was first applied almost exclusively to right wing politics, but since the latter half of the 20th century, it has come into general use with wide application.
The phrase die hard was first used during the Battle of Albuera (1811) in the Peninsular War. During the battle, Lieutenant-Colonel William Inglis of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was wounded by canister shot. Despite his injuries, Inglis refused to retire from the battle but remained with the regimental colours, encouraging his men with the words "Die hard 57th, die hard!" as they came under intense pressure from a French attack. [1] The 'Die Hards' subsequently became the West Middlesex's regimental nickname. [1]
The term was later used to deride several senior officers of the Army who sought to maintain the system bequeathed to them by the Duke of Wellington and who strenuously resisted military reforms enacted by Parliament starting in the late 1860s.
In British politics the adjective "die-hard" (best written with a hyphen) was first used to describe those who, during the crisis caused by the Lords' rejection of David Lloyd George's "People's Budget" of 1909, refused to accept the diminution of the House of Lords' powers by the Parliament Act 1911, and who generally held right wing views, most notably Richard Verney, 19th Baron Willoughby de Broke. [2]
It was subsequently used to describe right-wing critics of Lloyd George's Coalition Government 1918–1922, several of whom had been die-hards before the War such as Leopold Maxse. There was at this time a "higher proportion of Irishmen in the Diehard group than in the rest of the parliamentary Conservative Party". [3]
It was later revived to describe a grouping of members of the Conservative Party in the 1930s, including Henry Page Croft who had been prominent among both the earlier die-hards, who amongst other things refused to accept any moves towards Indian independence. But this time it also included some who "did not necessarily share the general views of the right on other matters", [4] such as Winston Churchill who had been a bête noire of the original die-hards. Some of the die-hards, though not Churchill, flirted with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and/or supported Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement.
The term is now commonly used to describe any person who will not be swayed from a belief, and was used as the title of the popular action movie series Die Hard , all starring Bruce Willis as police officer John McClane.
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning as an alliance of Whigs, free trade–supporting Peelites and reformist Radicals in the 1850s, by the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and won a landslide victory in the 1906 general election.
Andrew Bonar Law, PC was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, was a British Conservative politician and barrister who attained high office in the early 20th century, in particular as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a skilled orator, noted for his staunch opposition to Irish nationalism, his wit, pugnacious views, and hard living and drinking. He is perhaps best remembered today as Winston Churchill's greatest personal and political friend until Birkenhead's death aged 58 from pneumonia caused by cirrhosis of the liver.
The Battle of Albuera was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.
Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby,, was a Welsh politician and cabinet minister. The younger son of David Lloyd George, he served as Home Secretary from 1954 to 1957.
Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton,, known as Philip Lloyd-Greame until 1924 and as The Viscount Swinton between 1935 and 1955, was a prominent British Conservative politician from the 1920s until the 1950s. He was notable through the 1940s and 1950s as being firstly the Minister for Aviation, and then being on the steering committee for the Convention on International Civil Aviation. he retired from politics in 1955 and his status was raised to an earldom.
Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, was a British hereditary peer, author, and monarchist. In 1941, at the age of two, he succeeded his first cousin once removed, Richard Hanbury-Tracy, 6th Baron Sudeley, to the Barony of Sudeley and until the reforms of House of Lords Act 1999, he regularly sat as a hereditary peer.
Walter Hume Long, 1st Viscount Long,, was a British Unionist politician. In a political career spanning over 40 years, he held office as President of the Board of Agriculture, President of the Local Government Board, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the Colonies and First Lord of the Admiralty. He is also remembered for his links with Irish Unionism, and served as Leader of the Irish Unionist Party in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1910.
Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Arbuthnot, KCB was a British military commander during the Napoleonic Wars. He was a general in the army, a colonel in the 76th Regiment. He was a brigadier general in the Portuguese Service and was appointed a Knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal (KTS).
John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone,, also known as Jack Seely, was a British Army general and politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1904 and a Liberal MP from 1904 to 1922 and from 1923 to 1924. He was Secretary of State for War for the two years prior to the First World War, before being forced to resign as a result of the Curragh Incident. He led one of the last great cavalry charges in history at the Battle of Moreuil Wood on his war horse Warrior in March 1918. Seely was a great friend of Winston Churchill and the only former cabinet minister to go to the front in 1914 and still be there four years later.
Hugh William Fortescue, 5th Earl Fortescue,, styled Viscount Ebrington from 1905 until 1932, of Castle Hill in the parish of Filleigh, of Weare Giffard Hall, both in Devon and of Ebrington Manor in Gloucestershire, was a British peer, military officer, and Conservative politician.
The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th (West Middlesex) and 77th (East Middlesex) Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.
The 57th Regiment of Foot was a regiment of line infantry in the British Army, raised in 1755. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 77th Regiment of Foot to form the Middlesex Regiment in 1881.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Ward was an English Liberal Party politician, trade union leader and soldier.
Colonel George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan, 1st Baron Bingham,, known by the courtesy title of Lord Bingham from 1888 to 1914, was a British soldier and Conservative politician.His sister Rosalind Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, was a paternal great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 49th (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Charlotte of Wales's in 1881.
The British Cemetery at Elvas, Portugal is one of the oldest British Military Cemeteries in existence. It holds only five known graves but two of these are the only marked graves of the thousands of British soldiers who fell at the Battle of Albuera and another is the sole marked grave of the thousands who fell in the three sieges of Badajoz.
Lieutenant-General Sir William Inglis, KCB was a British officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Collis Spring was an Anglo-Irish British Army officer of the Napoleonic Wars.
Lilias Margaret Frances, Countess Bathurst was a British newspaper publisher who owned The Morning Post. Her father, Algernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk, owned the paper and passed control to her upon his death in 1908. She led the paper as the only female owner of a major newspaper in the world, reorienting it to focus on political and diplomatic affairs. Lady Bathurst herself was an anti-feminist, supporting movements against women's suffrage.