The British Technology Group (BTG) is a government-appointed organisation formed in 1981 by the merger of the National Enterprise Board (NEB) and the National Research and Development Corporation (NRDC). Its purpose is to encourage technological development by providing finance for new scientific and engineering products and processes discovered through research at UK universities, polytechnics, research councils, and government research establishments. Research British Technology Group
The British Telecommunications Corporation was formed in 1981 as a public corporation to control the UKtelephone and telecommunications system, which had previously been the responsibility of the Post Office. In 1984 this corporation became British Telecommunications plc, when 51% of the shares were sold to the public.
British Telecom is now licensed to run telecommunications throughout the UK. Research British Telecom
Catholic Emancipation was the abolition of those civil and ecclesiastical restraints to which the Roman Catholics of Great Britain, and particularly of Ireland, were once subjected. By the statutes of William III. Roman Catholics were forbidden to hold property in land, and their spiritual instructors were open to the penalties of felony; and although latterly these restrictions had not been enforced, they remained unrepealed in England until 1778. The proposal to repeal similar enactments on the Scotch statute-books was delayed by the strenuous opposition of the Protestant associations, in connection with which the Lord Gordon riots occurred. In 1791, however, a bill was passed allowing Roman Catholics who took the oath of allegiance to hold landed property, enter the legal profession, and enjoy freedom of education.
In Ireland the Roman Catholics had been even more unjustly treated. Their public worship was proscribed, all offices and the learned professions were closed against them, they were deprived of the guardianship of their children, and if they had landed estates they were forbidden to marry Protestants. Burke and a strong body of followers took up their cause, and in 1792 and 1793 the worst of the disabilities were removed by the Irish parliament. Restraints on worship, education, and disposition of property were removed; they were admitted to the franchise, and to some of the higher civil and military offices, and to the honours and endowments of the Dublin University. They continued to be excluded, however, from thirty public offices, and from parliament = an arrangement which could not be changed without a repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts. It was part of Pitt's scheme when the union with Ireland was formulated in 1799 to admit Irish Roman Catholics to the parliament of the United Kingdom and to offices of state.
To this proposal, however, George III. was strongly hostile, and in 1801 Pitt was compelled to resign. Between that year and 1828 numerous attempts were made to abolish remaining disabilities, but without success, the Lords throwing out the bills passed latterly in the Commons, and George IV proving not less unyielding than his father. At length, on April the 10th 1829 an emancipation bill was carried through the Commons by Mr. Peel, and through the Lords by the Duke of Wellington. By this act Catholics became eligible to all offices of state, excepting the lord-chancellorships of England and Ireland, the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, the office of regent or guardian of the United Kingdom, and that of High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland. They were still excluded from the right of presentation to livings, and all places connected with the ecclesiastical courts and establishment. The church patronage attached to any office in the hands of a Catholic was vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury. Attached to the bill was a clause for the gradual suppression of the Jesuits and monastic orders (religious establishments of females excepted). During the 20th century full emancipation was realised. Research Catholic Emancipation
A chartulary is a record or register in which the charters, title-deeds, etc, of any corporation were copied for safety and convenience of reference. They were often kept by private families. Research Chartulary
The City and Guilds of London Institute is an association established by the Corporation and Livery Companies of the City of London for the promotion of technical education in all its branches. It was founded in 1878, and incorporated by royal charter. Research City and Guilds
The Compagnie des Indes, or Company of the Indies, was a corporation organized in Paris by John Law in 1719, by combination of the Guinea)Company, the Company of the West, the East India Company and the China Company. It was the basis of his great credit operations, in connection with his bank, and of the Mississippi Bubble, but is of importance in American history because it for several years owned the state of Louisiana. Research Compagnie des Indes
The Corporation and Test Acts were two acts of note in English history. The Corporation Act, passed in 1661, prevented any person from being legally elected to any office belonging to the government of any city or corporation in England, unless he had, within the twelve months preceding, received the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the rites of the Church of England. The Test Act, passed in 1673, required all officers, civil and military, to take the oaths, and subscribe a declaration against transubstantiation in the courts of King's Bench or Chancery, within six months after their admission; and also within the same time to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the usage of the Church of England, in some public church. The Corporation Act was principally directed against Protestant Nonconformists; the Test Act against Roman Catholics. In the year 1828 they were both repealed. Research Corporation and Test Acts
The Council for New England was a Council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ordering, ruling and governing of New England in America. It was incorporated on November the 3rd, 1620, and was little else than the reorganization of the Plymouth, or North Virginia Company of 1606. Ferdinando Gorges was the moving spirit of the new corporation. Bradford obtained from this company a patent permitting the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers. In 1631 Gorges obtained an additional grant of territory called Laconia, which comprised parts of the present States of Maine and New Hampshire. The lands of the new company, which now extended from Long Island to the Bay of Fundy, were distributed among twenty noblemen. Research Council For New England
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward was a celebrated American legal case brought to the Supreme Court of the United States upon writ of error from the Superior Court of the State of New Hampshire, and decided in 1819. WilliamWoodward had been appointed secretary and treasurer of the corporation of Dartmouth College by the trustees of the college, twelve in number, as designated by the ancient charter granted by George III. in 1769 to Governor Wentworth, Eleazar Wheelock and ten others. Woodward was removed from office by the trustees on August the 27th, 1816, and refused to give up certain goods, chattels and property then in his keeping, but belonging to Dartmouth College. On June the 27th 1816, the New Hampshire Legislature, under the influence of the Democrats, had passed an act amending the charter and enlarging and altering the (Federalist) corporation of Dartmouth College; that is, the number of trustees was increased to twenty-one, there were twenty-five special overseers appointed, and the State was to have a general supervision of the affairs of the college. This act, and a similar one, passed on December the 26th, 1816, to enforce the first, were wholly repugnant to the trustees, who refused to obey them. William Woodward had been appointed secretary and treasurer of the new board of twenty-one trustees selected by the State. Suit was brought against him by the old trustees to recover the property of the college then in his keeping. The Superior Court of New Hampshire gave a verdict for the defendant. The US Supreme Court reversed and annulled this decision, allowing the plaintiffs $20,000 damages. It was decided by the court that the charter of Dartmouth College is a contract within the meaning of that clause of the Constitution which prohibits the States from passing any law impairing the obligation of contracts. Hence the New Hampshire law was declared unconstitutional. Daniel Webster was chief counsel for the plaintiff. Research Dartmouth College Vs Woodward
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research British Coal Corporation
