Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes
Récits d’un bourgeois de Valenciennes aka The Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes is a vivid 14th-century vernacular chronicle written by an anonymous urban chronicler from Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut. It survives in a manuscript that describes local and regional history from about 1253 to 1366, blending chronology, narrative episodes, and eyewitness-style accounts of political, military, and social events in medieval France, Flanders, and the Low Countries. The work begins with a chronological framework of events affecting Valenciennes and its region under rulers such as King Philip VI of France and the shifting allegiances of local nobility. It includes accounts of conflicts, sieges, diplomatic manoeuvres, and the impact of broader struggles like the Hundred Years’ War on urban life in Hainaut. Written from the perspective of a burgher (bourgeois) rather than a monastery or royal court, the chronicle offers a rare lay viewpoint on high politics and warfare, reflecting how merchants, townspeople, and civic institutions experienced the turbulence of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its narrative style combines straightforward reporting of events with moral and civic observations, making it a valuable source for readers interested in medieval urban society, regional politics, and the lived experience of war and governance in pre-modern Europe.
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On 25th May 1865 George Allardice 1st Baron Riddell was born.
The London Gazette 28275. Whitehall, July 28, 1909.
The King was pleased on Thursday, the 22nd July, to confer the honour of Knighthood upon the following Gentlemen at BucKingham Palace:
Thomas Edward Thorpe, Esq., C.B., F.R.S., Principal of the Government Laboratories;
John James Baddeley, Esq., Sheriff of the City of London.
Thomas Arthur Bramsdon, Esq., M.P.;
Francis Joseph Campbell, Esq., LL.D., Principal of the Royal Normal College for the Blind;
Arthur Chapman, Esq., formerly Consul General at Rio de Janeiro;
Merton Russell Cotes, Esq., East Cliff Hall, Bournemouth;
Samuel Dill, Esq., LittD., LL.D., Member of the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland;
John Duncan, Esq., Dros-y-Mor, Penarth, Cardiff;
Francis Stanhope Hanson, Esq., Alderman and Sheriff of the City of London;
Lieutenant-Colonel George Kemp, Beechwood, Rochdale;
Hugh Percy Lane, Esq., Honorary Director, Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin, and Governor of National Gallery, Ireland;
Joseph Larmor, Esq., D.Sc., F.R.S., Secretary of the Royal Society, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge;
Lieutenant-Colonel William Boog Leishman, M.B., R.A.M.C.;
Henry William Lucy, Esq.;
Richard Mackie, Esq., Leith;
Thomas Mason, Esq., Glasgow;
Thomas Matthews, Esq., Chief Engineer of the Trinity House
Walter Menzies, Esq., M.P.;
Mark Oldroyd, Esq., Dewsbury;
Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave, Esq., F.R.S., Henstead Hall, near Wrentham;
Edwin Pears, Esq.;
Arthur Wing Pinero, Esq.;
William Edward Briggs Priestley, Esq., M.P.;
George Allardice Riddell (age 44), Esq.;
William Alexander Smith, Esq., Founder and Organizer of the Boys' Brigade;
Arthur John Tedder, Esq., Chief Inspector of Excise;
John Edward Thrift, Esq., Chief Inspector of Stamps and Taxes, Inland Revenue Department;
Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Esq.;
Major Henry Francis Trippel, Onslow Hall, The Green, Richmond, Surrey;
James Henry Yoxall, Esq., M.P.;
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The London Gazette 30527. Whitehall, February 14, 1918.
Letters Patent have passed the Great Seal of i the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland conferring the dignity of a Baronet of the said United Kingdom upon the undermentioned gentlemen and the heirs male of their bodies lawfully begotten:
Sir Francis William Lowe, of Edgbaston, in the City of Birmingham, Knight.
Sir George Allardice Riddell (age 52), of Walton Heath, in the County of Surrey, Knight.
James Craig, of Craigavon, in the County of Down, Esquire.
Thomas Cope, of Osbaston Hall, in the parish of Market Bosworth, in the County of Leicester, Esquire.
1919. William Orpen (age 40). Portrait of George Allardice 1st Baron Riddell (age 53).
The London Gazette 31712. Central Chancery Of The Orders Of Knighthood. St. James's Palace, S.W., 1st January, 1920
The King has been graciously pleased to signify His Majesty's intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom on the following:
To be an Earl
The Right Honourable Sir William St. John Fremantle Brodrick (age 63), Viscount Midleton, K.P.
To be Barons.
Sir Bertrand Edward Dawson, G.C.V.O., C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician-in-Ordinary to The King; Physician, London Hospital; Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Member of Senate, University of London; Chairman of Consultative Council, Ministry of Health; Public Services in connection with Health matters.
Sir George Allardice Riddell (age 54), Bart., Vice-Chairman of Newspaper Proprietors' Association, Ltd.; In charge of all the British Press and Colonial Press throughout the Peace Conference in Paris; Public Services.
The Right Honourable Sir Albert Henry Stanley, M.P., late President of the Board of Trade
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The London Gazette 31761. Whitehall, January 29, 1920.
The King has been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to confer the dignity of a Baron of the said. United Kingdom upon Sir George Allardice Riddell (age 54), Baronet, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style and title of Baron Riddell, of Walton Heath, in the county of Surrey.
On 5th December 1934 George Allardice 1st Baron Riddell (age 69) died. Baron Riddell of Walton Heath in Surrey and Baronet Allardice of Walton Heath in Surrey extinct.