On This Day, October 25, 1415, the Battle of Agincourt, one of the most remarkable battles of the Middle Ages, unfolded near Azincourt in northern France. King Henry V of England led his exhausted troops into battle against French forces during the Hundred Years’ War.

Henry’s campaign in France had already taken a heavy toll. After capturing the town of Harfleur, his army faced disease, fatigue, and dwindling supplies. His soldiers were marching towards Calais when a French army blocked their route.

The English were in a dangerous position. They had endured a grueling march, and the French appeared to have the advantage in numbers and heavily armored knights.

But the battlefield would change everything.

The ground was muddy, and the narrow field between wooded areas restricted the movement of the advancing French forces. Henry’s army made effective use of its English longbowmen, whose powerful volleys of arrows disrupted the French advance.

As French soldiers struggled through the mud and crowded battlefield, their formations became increasingly difficult to maintain. The English archers and men-at-arms took advantage of the confusion, turning what appeared to be an overwhelming challenge into a stunning victory.

The French suffered devastating losses, including many members of their nobility. Henry V emerged from the battle with a victory that strengthened his reputation and helped pave the way for further English campaigns in France.

Yet Agincourt did not end the Hundred Years’ War. The conflict continued for decades, and England eventually lost nearly all its possessions in France.

The battle’s legacy grew even larger centuries later through William Shakespeare’s play Henry V, which immortalized the king’s stirring call to his soldiers and the famous phrase, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

More than six centuries later, Agincourt remains a powerful story of leadership, battlefield strategy, and the unpredictable nature of war.

1851

Horatio Nelson lost his right eye in Corsica in 1794, right arm by amputation in 1797 Tenerife, abdominal hernia in St Vincent 1797, hit by shrapnel in 1798 in the Nile,

On This Day, October 21, 1805, Britain won the Battle of Trafalgar, one of the most decisive naval battles in history.

The waters off the coast of Spain became a battlefield that would change the course of European history.

Napoleon Bonaparte was dominating much of Europe. His ambitions threatened Britain, and a French invasion across the English Channel remained a serious concern.

To challenge British naval power, France joined forces with Spain. Together, they assembled a powerful fleet.

But standing in their way was one of Britain's most celebrated naval commanders: Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson.

On the morning of October 21, Nelson led the British fleet towards the combined French and Spanish forces near Cape Trafalgar.

The numbers appeared to favor the enemy.

The British had 27 ships of the line. The opposing fleet had 33.

Then the fighting began.

Instead of approaching in a conventional line, Nelson sent his ships forward in two columns, cutting through the enemy formation. The British attack shattered the opposing fleet's line and triggered hours of brutal, close-range combat.

Cannons roared. Wooden warships collided and became entangled. Sailors fought amid flying splinters, thick smoke, and devastating gunfire.

At the heart of the battle was Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory.

As the fighting intensified, the Victory engaged the French ship Redoutable. A French marksman fired from the enemy vessel, and a musket ball struck Nelson in the shoulder, passing through his body and fatally injuring him.

He was carried below deck as the battle continued above.

Despite his mortal wound, Nelson lived long enough to learn that his fleet had won.

By the end of the battle, the British had captured 17 enemy ships, and another had been destroyed. No British ship was lost during the engagement.

But the victory came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of British sailors were killed, thousands were wounded, and losses among the French and Spanish forces were even greater.

Nelson died aboard HMS Victory on the very day of his greatest triumph.

His death turned the victory into a national tragedy. He became a lasting symbol of British naval history, remembered for his leadership and courage.

The Battle of Trafalgar destroyed the combined fleet's ability to challenge British naval power on the same scale and effectively ended Napoleon's hopes of invading Britain by sea.

The Napoleonic Wars continued for another decade, but Trafalgar helped secure Britain's command of the seas for years to come.

On This Day, October 20, 1827, one of the most decisive naval battles of the 19th century erupted in Navarino Bay, off the coast of modern-day Greece.

For years, Greek revolutionaries had been fighting to break free from the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But by 1827, their struggle for independence was in serious danger.

Then three powerful European nations intervened.

Britain, France, and Russia sent a combined fleet to pressure the Ottoman Empire and Egypt to stop the fighting and accept an agreement aimed at securing greater autonomy for Greece.

But the situation soon turned deadly.

On October 20, the allied fleets entered Navarino Bay, where the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet was anchored.

At first, the confrontation was tense but uncertain. Then gunfire erupted following a clash involving smaller boats, and the conflict escalated into a devastating naval battle.

Cannons thundered across the bay. Thick smoke filled the air as wooden warships exchanged deadly broadsides. Ships caught fire, crews fought for survival, and vessels were shattered by relentless gunfire.

The British, French, and Russian fleets fought together with devastating effectiveness.

By the end of the battle, the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet had suffered a catastrophic defeat. Dozens of its ships were destroyed or disabled, and thousands of sailors were estimated to have been killed.

The allied fleets suffered casualties too, but none of their ships were lost.

The victory dealt a major blow to Ottoman-Egyptian efforts to suppress the Greek uprising.

It did not make Greece independent overnight. However, it dramatically weakened the forces opposing Greek independence and helped pave the way for the creation of an independent Greek state.

The Battle of Navarino also became famous for another reason: it is generally regarded as the last major naval battle fought entirely by sailing ships.

The Battle of Navarino proved that a single naval engagement could change the destiny of an entire nation.

The poem was published in the Scots Observer in 1890 and then again in Kipling's seminal poetry collection "Barrack-Room Balads" in 1892.

Written as a dramatic monologue in the voice of a working class Cockney soldier, it lays out a long standing grievance that was now becoming impossible to ignore: the same public that shunned men in uniform during peacetime would call them heroes the moment war broke out.

“Tommy” was, and still remains, a nickname in Britain for the ordinary rank-and-file soldier. The ironic contrast between "Tommy, go away" and "Thank you, Mister Atkins" sharpens with each repetition.

The poem has outlasted most of the other Barrack-Room Balads because its subject refuses to become historical. British soldiers carried it through the First World War, and its refrain has been cited in parliamentary debates about veterans' welfare. That the poem helped shift public attitudes toward the British soldier in the 1890s was noted in Punch as early as the Christmas 1890 issue. Kipling gave the common soldier something no previous poet had offered: a voice that spoke in his own dialect, on his own terms, with a fury controlled enough to sound like wit but sharp enough to draw blood.

Tommy:

I went into a public 'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."

The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,

I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";

But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play

The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,

O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,

They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;

They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,

But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";

But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide

The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,

O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep

Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap.

An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit

Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"

But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll

The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,

O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,

But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;

An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,

Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Tommy, fall be'ind,"

But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind

There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,

O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' Chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

I have this book in my possession. It was gifted to me by my now deceased great uncle. His own uncle worked for the firm who produced the book and was killed in action at Ypres in October 1918.

I'm at a bit of a loss what to do with the book , I will obviously look after it but it seems a waste to have this gathering dust on my bookshelf. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing more of the obituary photos from within or could recommend anywhere I could upload the images where they might be appreciated. The volume runs to over 100 pages with a photograph of each of the employees of the company killed during the war.

A Sikh fella, in Canada, wearing a Scottish uniform, and absolutely crushing it. God save the King.