Byng
Byng names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Byng SIR JULIAN HEDWORTH GEORGE, a British soldier
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR JULIAN HEDWORTH GEORGE, a British soldier; born in 1862. He chose a military career and joined the 10th Royal Hussars in 1883, rising through the various grades until he became colonel in 1901. He served with distinction in the Soudan Expedition and GENERAL SIR JULIAN BYNG the Boer War. It was in the World War, however, that he gained fame as an army commander on the western front, especially at Cambrai, where he broke the German lines by a surprise attack, and later as leader of the vanguard in driving the enemy from France in the summer and fall of 1918. 297.
Byng GEORGE, VISCOUNT TOR- RINGTON
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE, VISCOUNT TOR- RINGTON, an English admiral, born at Wrotham, Kent, in 1663, and entered the navy at the age of 15. In 1688 he recommended himself to William of Orange, and for his gallant conduct at the sea-fight of Malaga was knighted by Queen Anne. In 1718 he commanded the English fleet sent to Sicily for the protection otection of the neutrality of Italy, and on July 31st utterly destroyed the Spanish fleet off Messina. In 1721 he was created Viscount Torrington. He died Jan. 17, 1733.
Byng JOHN, a British admiral
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN, a British admiral, born in 1704, entered the navy in 1727, and served under his father, Admiral George Byng. He was sent to relieve Minorca, blockaded by a French fleet, but failed, it was thought, through hesitation in engaging the enemy. The public odium of the failure was such that the ministry allowed Byng, who was condemned by a court-martial, to be shot, at Portsmouth, March 14, 1757.
Byng SIR JULIAN (Baron Byng of Vimy)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR JULIAN (Baron Byng of Vimy), appointed Governor-General of Canada, June 3, 1921.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught Sir Julian Byng in 1921 at the moment of his appointment as Governor-General of Canada, and could not know what the post would bring. In 1926 he refused Prime Minister Mackenzie King's request for a dissolution of Parliament, the "King-Byng affair" that is still taught in Canada as a landmark in the decline of Crown discretion; he was made a viscount in 1928, served as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and died in 1935. Collier's praise of Cambrai as the battle where he "broke the German lines by a surprise attack" is now tempered by historians, who stress that the German counter-attack of late November 1917 recovered most of the ground. Admiral John Byng, shot at Portsmouth in 1757, remains the last British officer executed for failing to do his utmost; descendants' campaigns for a posthumous pardon have been refused, most recently in the 2000s.
Written for this edition, 2026.