Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers were typically businessmen or colonial administrators, and most flights carried about 20 passengers or fewer. Accidents were frequent: in the first six years, 32 people died in seven incidents. Imperial Airways never achieved the levels of technological innovation of its competitors and was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939. BOAC in turn merged with the British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
The All Red Line was a system of electrical telegraphs that linked much of the British Empire. It was inaugurated on 31 October 1902. The informal name derives from the common practice of colouring the territory of the British Empire red or pink on political maps.
Cape Beale Lightstation is an active manned lighthouse on Vancouver Island in British Columbia., Canada.
The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.
A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as "wickies" because of their job trimming the wicks.
The Imperial Towers of Ontario were six of the earliest lighthouses built on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, all constructed primarily of stone, by the Province of Canada. The origin of the designation Imperial is not certain, but some historians speculate that because the towers were public construction built under the colonial administration while Canada was a self-governing colony of Britain, the name would assure at least some funding from the British Empire's Board of Trade.
John Brown (1809–1876) was a Canadian builder of Scottish origin.
Tuskar Rock is a group of rocks topped by a lighthouse 11 kilometres off the southeast coast of County Wexford, Ireland. The rocks have probably destroyed more ships than any other Irish coastal feature. One hundred and seventy-six wrecks are listed for the Tuskar Rock area at Irish Wrecks Online.
Point Clark Lighthouse is located on in a beach community, Point Clark, Ontario, near a point that protrudes into Lake Huron. Built between 1855 and 1859 under the instructions of the Board of Works, Canada West, it is one of the few on the Great Lakes to be made primarily from stone. It is one of the Imperial Towers, a group of six nearly identical towers built by contractor John Brown for the "Province of Canada" on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, all completed by 1859. The location for the Point Clark lighthouse was selected to warn sailors of the shoals (sandbars) 2 miles (3.2 km) off the Lake Huron coast. It is still functioning as an automated light. A restoration that eventually exceeded $2.3 million started in 2011 and the facility reopened for tourism in June 2015.
The Cove Island Light, at Gig Point on the island, is located in Fathom Five National Marine Park, but is not part of the Park. It is situated on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario Canada. It has been a navigational aid in the narrow channel between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay since 30 October 1858. It was the first of six stone Imperial Towers to be completed; all were illuminated by 1859. Most other lighthouses of the era were built of brick, wood, iron or concrete.
George Halpin (Sr.), was a prominent civil engineer and lighthouse builder, responsible for the construction of much of the Port of Dublin, several of Dublin's bridges, and a number of lighthouses; he is considered the founding father of the Irish lighthouse service. His son, George Halpin , was also a well-known lighthouse builder.
Light dues are the charges levied on ships for the maintenance of lighthouses and other aids to navigation.
The Minicoy Island Lighthouse, which was established on 2 February 1885 at the southern end of the Minicoy Island in the Indian state of Lakshadweep during the British regime, is 49.5 metres (162 ft) in height and has now a range of 40 nautical miles (74 km) it is built in brick masonry and has a lantern and gallery.
The Chantry Island Lighthouse, officially known as Chantry Island Lightstation Tower, is a lightstation on Chantry Island, off the coast of Southampton, Ontario in Lake Huron. It was constructed in the years 1855 through to 1859, by John Brown of Thorold, Ontario, under the authority of the Province of Canada and is recognized as one of the six Imperial Towers. Virtually identical, they were completed in 1858-1859 on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay and are among the few lighthouses on the Great Lakes made of cut limestone and granite.
The Inisheer, Inis Oírr or Fardurris Point Lighthouse, is an active 19th century lighthouse located on the island of Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands, in County Galway, Ireland. It marks the south-eastern entrance to Galway bay and the port of Galway known as the South Sound, with a red sector of the light marking the Finnis Rock. The Eeragh Lighthouse which marks the North Sound entrance to the bay on the north-western side of the islands, was also constructed at the same time. Inisheer and Eeragh both became operational in 1857.
Eeragh Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located on Rock Island, one of the Brannock Islands, part of the Aran Islands archipelago in County Galway, Ireland. It marks the north-western entrance to Galway Bay and the port of Galway known as the North Sound. Due to its location it is also known as the Aran North Lighthouse. The lighthouse on Inisheer at the south-eastern end of the islands was also constructed at the same time. Eeragh and Inisheer both became operational in 1857.
Straw Island Lighthouse is an active aid to navigation on an islet of the same name in Killeany Bay, northeast of Inishmore in County Galway, Ireland. Completed in 1878, it was the last of four lighthouses built in the 19th century on the Aran Islands. The commissioning of Straw Island marked the culmination of a lengthy 24 year campaign by the local islanders to have a lighthouse for safe passage into Killeany Bay and the harbour at Kilronan.
Mew Island Lighthouse is an active lighthouse within the Copeland Islands of County Down in Northern Ireland. The current 19th-century tower is the most recent in a series of lighthouses that have been built in the islands, which have helped to guide shipping around the archipelago and into Belfast Lough.
